WASHINGTON/DUBAI, May 19 (Reuters) – US President Donald Trump said on Tuesday that the US may need to attack Iran again and that he was an hour away from ordering an attack before postponing it.
Trump spoke to reporters at the White House a day after saying he had halted a planned resumption of hostilities following a new proposal from Tehran to end the US and Israel’s war on Iran.
“I was an hour away from making the decision to go today,” Trump declared on Tuesday.
Iran’s leaders are begging for a deal, he said, adding that a new US strike would come in the coming days if no deal is reached.
‘Well, I mean, I’m talking about two or three days, maybe Friday, Saturday, Sunday, something, maybe early next week, a limited period of time, because we can’t allow them to have a new nuclear weapon.’
In Tehran, Ebrahim Azizi, head of the Iranian Parliament’s national security committee, said on X that the pause in an attack was due to Trump’s perception that any action against Iran would mean ‘facing a decisive military response’.
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Iranian state media reported that Tehran’s latest peace proposal involves an end to hostilities on all fronts, including Lebanon, the withdrawal of US forces from areas close to Iran and reparations for the destruction caused by Israeli and US attacks.
Tehran also seeks the lifting of sanctions, the release of frozen funds and the end of the US maritime blockade, according to Deputy Foreign Minister Kazem Gharibabadi, cited by the IRNA news agency.
The terms outlined in the Iranian reports appeared to have changed little from Iran’s previous offer, which Trump rejected last week as ‘garbage’.
BOTH SIDES CHANGE OBJECTIVES, SAYS PAKISTAN SOURCE
Reuters was unable to determine whether military preparations had been made for attacks that would mark a resumption of the war started by Trump in late February.
He is under pressure to reach a deal that would reopen the Strait of Hormuz — a key supply route for global supplies of oil and other commodities. Trump had already expressed the hope that an agreement was close to ending the conflict and, in the same way, threatened to attack Iran heavily if an agreement was not reached.
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Trump declared on Monday that Washington would be satisfied if it could reach a deal that would prevent Tehran from obtaining a nuclear weapon.
‘There seems to be a very good chance that they will be able to reach an agreement. If we can do this without bombing them, I would be very happy,” Trump told reporters.
A Pakistani source confirmed that Islamabad, which has been relaying messages between the sides since hosting the only round of peace talks last month, shared the Iranian proposal with Washington.
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The sides ‘keep changing their objectives,’ the Pakistani source said, adding: ‘We don’t have much time.’
Israeli and American bombings killed thousands of people in Iran before being lifted in a ceasefire in early April.
Israel has killed thousands more and driven hundreds of thousands of people from their homes in Lebanon, which it has invaded in pursuit of the Iran-backed Hezbollah militia.
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Iranian attacks on Israel and neighboring Gulf countries have killed dozens of people.
The ceasefire with Iran has mostly held, although drones have recently been launched from Iraq toward Gulf countries, including Saudi Arabia and Kuwait, apparently by Iran and its allies.
