New Delhi, Aug 3: US President Donald Trump has said fresh negotiations with Iran will begin after he called off what he described as “massive” military strikes against the country.
Speaking to reporters aboard Air Force One on Sunday, Trump said the US was ready to launch a major attack but decided to delay military action after requests from Iran and key US allies in the Middle East.
“We’re talking to them in the form of a negotiation. It begins tomorrow afternoon,” Trump said.
However, he did not reveal where the talks would take place or who would participate.
Earlier, in a post on his Truth Social platform, Trump claimed that Iran and US allies had urged him to “hold off” on the attack because the broad outlines of an agreement had already been worked out.
Trump said Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, along with leaders of the United Arab Emirates and Qatar, had appealed to him not to carry out the strikes. He expressed confidence that agreements could soon be reached on both the Strait of Hormuz and Iran’s nuclear programme.
Iran has not officially responded to Trump’s announcement. However, Iran’s semi-official Mehr news agency denied that Tehran had asked the US to postpone any military action, calling Trump’s claim “nothing but a new lie”.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi was quoted by Iranian media as saying that negotiations with Oman on the Strait of Hormuz were progressing and close to completion.
Trump said the planned military operation would have been “the biggest attack since World War II” and could have damaged the chances of ending the months-long conflict through negotiations.
He did not set any deadline for reaching a deal, saying only that the US was prepared to act at any time if needed.
Following Trump’s announcement, global oil prices fell sharply in Asian trading.
Brent crude dropped 4.5 percent to $83.98 per barrel, while US crude fell 4.6 percent to $80.74. Oil prices have remained volatile since fighting began on February 28, as the conflict has threatened shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, a vital route that carries about one-fifth of the world’s crude oil and liquefied natural gas supplies.
Meanwhile, Iran’s acting Defence Minister Majid Ibn al-Reza said Tehran considered all military threats against the country to be “real and credible” and warned that Iran would neither be caught off guard nor remain passive.
Trump has repeatedly alternated between warning of overwhelming military action and expressing hope that diplomacy could resolve the crisis.
Earlier this year, his administration also held direct talks with Iran, but those negotiations failed to produce an agreement.
