U.S. President Donald Trump on Sunday said negotiations with Iran will resume from Monday (today), as he deferred another round of strikes against the Islamic republic to pursue a deal.
“Obviously, they don’t want to be attacked. They knew the extent of the attack because they saw it forming,” he told reporters aboard Air Force One. “Now what we’re doing is we’re talking to them in the form of a negotiation. It begins tomorrow afternoon,” he added.
Last week, Trump had threatened “devastating” strikes on Iran before pulling back from the threat. Explaining the decision on Sunday, he said Iran, as well as U.S. partners Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar, had urged him to hold off on the strikes.
“When the allies asked to call it off, you’ve got to sort of say ‘Well, let’s see.’ And the reason they ask is they think there’s a deal,” he said. “There’s a deal on Hormuz, and then there will be a deal on the nuclear, or you might call it the denuclearization of Iran,” he added.
He maintained the scale of the planned strikes would have been “the biggest attack since World War II.” Adding it would have taken years for Iran to build back from it.
According to the U.S. president, Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman had also urged against the strikes, warning of possible unintended consequences. “I mean, will they be flooded with people pouring into their country and disaster? A lot of bad things can happen,” he said.
The latest round of hostilities began after a previous ceasefire deal collapsed, with Iran tightening control over the Strait of Hormuz.
According to Iranian state media, Iran Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi called his Saudi counterpart, Prince Faisal bin Farhan, and Pakistan Army chief Field Marshal Asim Munir on Sunday to discuss diplomatic efforts. IRNA, separately, reported that negotiations between Tehran and Oman over the Strait of Hormuz were in their final stages.