Middle East crisis live: Trump claims Iran attack ‘on hold’ due to request from Gulf allies

Trump claims Iran attack 'on hold' due to request from Gulf countries

We are restarting our live coverage of the US-Israeli war on Iran and the other conflicts in the Middle East. Donald Trump says he has called off a planned attack on Iran on Tuesday at the request of Gulf states so peace talks could continue.

In a post on Truth Social on Monday, the US president said he had been asked to do so by the leaders of Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.

Trump said he had been told a deal would be made that is “very acceptable” to the US, adding there would be “no nuclear weapons for Iran”.

He said, however, that he had informed his military leaders “to be prepared to go forward with a full, large scale assault of Iran, on a moment’s notice, in the event that an acceptable Deal is not reached”.

The announcement came as Iran’s foreign military spokesperson, Esmail Baghaei, claimed Pakistan has shared Tehran’s latest proposal with the US.

Trump has repeatedly threatened to launch new strikes on Iran, only to retreat at the last minute. The war on Iran is deeply unpopular with the American public and is hitting consumers hard with increased oil and fertiliser costs resulting from the reduced flow of vessels through the critical strait of Hormuz. ‘

Negotiations on Iran’s nuclear programme and the strait of Hormuz have reached a deadlock and the US’s blockade of Iranian ports is failing to force Tehran into making painful concessions even though Iran is suffering an escalating economic crisis.

Trump did not say what targets the US had planned to strike on Tuesday, but officials said the military could have targeted Iran’s ballistic missile sites, according to the New York Times.