US President Donald Trump said on Monday he had suspended a planned military strike on Iran after Tehran submitted a revised peace proposal, while Iran said a new US proposal offered to temporarily waive sanctions on Iranian oil exports during negotiations.
These developments raised hopes of a possible breakthrough in talks over Iran’s nuclear programme.
Trump said on his Truth Social platform that the United States would “NOT be doing the scheduled attack of Iran tomorrow,” but warned that the military had been ordered to remain ready to launch “a full, large scale assault” at a moment’s notice if an acceptable agreement was not reached.
Speaking later to reporters, Trump said there was a “very good chance” that the two sides could reach a deal that would prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon.
“If we can do that without bombing the hell out of them, I would be very happy,” he said.
Trump added that the leaders of Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates had urged him to delay military action, saying they believed a deal acceptable to the United States and the wider Middle East was within reach.
According to a source close to the Iranian negotiating team, cited by Iran’s Tasnim news agency, the latest US proposal includes a temporary waiver of sanctions on Iran’s oil exports for the duration of the negotiations.
The proposed measure would suspend restrictions imposed by the US Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) until a final agreement is reached.
Iran has maintained, however, that any lasting accord must include the full removal of all US sanctions, not just a temporary waiver.
In a related development, US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent announced a 30-day extension of a sanctions waiver allowing “energy-vulnerable” countries affected by the Iran conflict to continue purchasing Russian seaborne oil and petroleum products.
The waiver, which had expired on Saturday, permits temporary access to Russian cargoes stranded on tankers without violating US sanctions on major Russian oil producers.
Drop in approval rating
Trump's latest announcement on Iran comes amid a drop in his approval rating and as polls show the war is increasingly unpopular at home. Some 64% of voters believe it was the wrong decision to go to war with Iran, according to a New York Times/Siena poll published on Monday.
The survey also found that just 37% of voters approve of Trump's job performance as president. The polling underscores the challenge Republicans face in the midterm elections, in a moment of growing public frustration with the war and Trump's handling of the economy and immigration, among other issues, said the BBC report.
A major factor at play here is the fear Gulf Arab states have over how Iran is likely to retaliate after any further attacks by the US.
Iran is known to retain a significant number of drones and missiles with which it could resume its full-scale attacks on neighbouring states, their airports, petrochemical facilities and even the crucial desalination plants that provide drinking water as summer temperatures in the Gulf build up.
