Washington: US President Donald Trump said that negotiations with Iran will begin Monday afternoon, noting that Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Qatar had asked the United States to call off planned strikes because “they think there’s a deal.”
“There’s a deal on (the Strait of) Hormuz, and then there will be a deal on the nuclear, or you might call it the denuclearization of Iran,” Trump told reporters on Air Force One en route to Joint Base Andrews.
Claiming that Iran had also asked the United States to pull back the planned strikes, Trump said that “now what we’re doing is we’re talking to them in the form of a negotiation.”
Saudi Crown Prince and Prime Minister Mohammed bin Salman Al Saud spoke on the phone with Trump on Saturday and “expressed concern and asked for clarity” about the proposed plan of action against Iran, a US official told news outlet Axios.
Pakistan, Qatar, the UAE, Turkiye and other countries have also called on the United States and Iran to de-escalate tensions and avoid further conflict, reports Xinhua news agency.
Earlier on Sunday, Trump said the United States had agreed to hold off a planned military attack on Iran after Tehran and several Middle Eastern countries requested a pause, claiming that the framework of a potential agreement had been reached.
In a post on Truth Social, Trump said the US remained fully prepared for military action but had decided to suspend the planned strike to allow diplomacy to move forward.
“The U.S.A. is locked and loaded and ready to go against the Islamic Republic of Iran, at levels of Military Terror, Strength, and Power not seen since World War II,” Trump wrote.
He said Iran and other countries in the Middle East had urged Washington to delay military action because “the perimeters of a deal has been agreed to.”
According to Trump, the proposed agreement would include the “Immediate, Complete, and Total OPENING OF THE HORMUZ STRAIT, and an end to Iran’s nuclear threat.”
“Based on this request, I have agreed, for the future benefit of the WORLD and, likewise, the survival of a successful and prosperous Iran, to cancel the attack, subject to being able to rapidly make a DEAL,” Trump said.
He also claimed that Israel supported the decision to pursue the diplomatic path.
(IANS)
