Trump says US will hold off on new Iran strikes after appeals from Middle East neighbours

• Trump said the US will pause new strikes on Iran after appeals from Qatar and other Middle East neighbours, but will keep its naval blockade in the Strait of Hormuz.
• Qatar’s Prime Minister met Trump and Vice-President J.D. Vance and called the talks positive, while Iran rejected US claims of talks and kept pressing its own peace plan.
• Fighting and tension continue, with reported US strikes on Qeshm island, tanker attacks in the Gulf, and warnings from Gulf and Turkish officials that no quick deal looks likely.

WASHINGTON/CAIRO/ABU DHABI – US President Donald Trump said on Nov 9 he plans to hold off on new military strikes against Iran for the time being after appeals from countries in the region, including from Qatar’s Prime Minister in White House talks.

Trump, in a Reuters interview and a later appearance in the White House press briefing room, said he plans, however, to keep up a naval blockade in the Strait of Hormuz for now.

“The United States of America is fully locked and loaded with the best equipment ever made, and we don’t think there’s going to be any reason to use it,” Trump told reporters.

He said he was acting “at the behest of countries that are their neighbours” and specifically cited Qatar, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Kuwait and others that prefer that the US not launch new attacks.

Trump spoke after meeting Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani, a key intermediary with Tehran, as efforts to end the war ramp up following last week’s US midterm election.

More than eight months into the conflict he launched alongside Israel on Feb 28, Trump has played down the likelihood of major warfare restarting soon, but remains unwilling to accept an existing Iranian truce plan. Senior US and Gulf officials have cast doubt on the chances of an imminent deal.

Mutual attacks continue, with the US striking Iran’s Qeshm island overnight, according to Iranian state media, and Iran attacking tankers in the Gulf and Strait of Hormuz in November while its Yemeni Houthi allies have hit Saudi Arabia.

Diplomatic moves

Al-Thani, who is both Prime Minister and Foreign Minister of Qatar, met Trump after visiting Tehran last week. The Prime Minister called his talks with both Trump and Vice-President J.D. Vance positive.

“Grateful for the positive discussions on reaching a deal and bringing peace to the region,” he said on social media platform X.

Meanwhile, Iranian security council chief Mohsen Rezaei said on X that the US should “stop manufacturing fake news about imaginary talks” and that it was “time to surrender to the seven conditions Iran has repeatedly set out”.

Iran’s proposal to end the war involves the US lifting its blockade of its ports, the removal of some sanctions and a halt to bombing in return for Tehran stopping its own blockade of the Strait of Hormuz, with talks on its nuclear programme and other sanctions to follow.

The US has repeatedly rejected that plan, with Secretary of State Marco Rubio describing Tehran’s conditions on Nov 8 as “outrageous and ridiculous, and really not realistic”.

Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei defended the plan on Nov 10 as the most reasonable offer on the table.

Senior US Republicans, including Vice-President Vance, have blamed their party’s losses in last week’s elections on the Iran war.

Despite the growing domestic political pressure to end the conflict, Rubio said he did not believe a diplomatic breakthrough was imminent.

A senior United Arab Emirates official, Anwar Gargash, echoed that view on Nov 9, saying a comprehensive political settlement between the US and Iran appeared difficult.

“We should... prepare for a long period of uncertainty in which neither a decisive resolution nor stable regional order can be taken for granted,” he said.

Vance, who led the negotiations for a short-lived truce in June, will also meet Al-Thani, whose country has been a prime mediator since early in the war, conveying messages between the sides and proposing ways to bridge their differences.

Anxiety over the war has pervaded the region for months, and Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said on Nov 9 he had told Trump that Ankara did not want to see a new escalation.

“We emphasise at every opportunity that it is possible to resolve these issues through dialogue and diplomacy. Unfortunately, we see a negative shift once again. We are doing our utmost to prevent this,” Erdogan told reporters.

Military action

Strikes on Qeshm island on the night of Nov 8 did not impact vital infrastructure or services, a provincial official told Iran’s semi-official Fars news agency on Nov 9. The US has not commented on the Iranian media reports.

A senior Iranian source told Reuters that US strikes were targeting Iranian radar systems serving both air defence and ship navigation, as well as bases for missile launchers and mine-laying systems.

Attacks on tankers in the Gulf and Strait of Hormuz ramped up sharply in October and have continued at the highest rate since the start of the war, figures from international maritime agencies showed last week.

Iran, which typically does not acknowledge striking vessels that report being hit by projectiles, said on Nov 8 that a tanker had hit a mine east of the Strait of Hormuz.

A state television reporter said on Nov 9 that 11 tankers had been “disabled” over the past 10 days. REUTERS