Trump: “An Hour Away” from Strike; Iran Leaders “Begging for a Deal”
President Donald Trump told reporters at the White House on Tuesday that he had been “an hour away from making the decision to go today” on the cancelled US strike against Iran, before the joint intervention of the Qatari Emir, the Saudi Crown Prince and the Emirati President. Trump said Iran’s leaders are “begging for a deal” and a new US attack would happen in coming days if no agreement was reached. Ebrahim Azizi, head of the Iranian parliament’s national security committee, said on X that Trump’s pausing of the attack was due to the realisation that any move against Iran would mean “facing a decisive military response”.
Trump is, “under intense political pressure at home to reach an accord” before the November congressional elections; his approval rating has “plummeted” with gasoline prices remaining elevated. The Wall Street Journal reported overnight that the US has seized an Iran-linked oil tanker, the Skywave, in the Indian Ocean — sanctioned by the US in March for its role in transporting Iranian oil. The US Treasury yesterday separately sanctioned the Amin Exchange and 19 vessels linked to illicit Iranian oil exports. US Central Command has now redirected 88 commercial vessels and disabled four since the blockade of Iranian ports began on 13 April. The Iran war, Trump and Netanyahu said at its launch, was designed to dismantle Iran’s nuclear programme, destroy its missile capabilities and create conditions for Iranians to topple their rulers; the war has yet to achieve any of those.