Gulf Allies Sway U.S. In Pivot To Talks With Iran --- Trump calls off escalation of strikes after mediators offer new Hormuz plan

“President Trump held off on a new attack on Iran as mediators made fresh progress on a plan to open the strategic Strait of Hormuz and some Persian Gulf states pressed the president to pursue dialogue with Tehran, people familiar with the matter said.

 

Trump's abrupt announcement on social media, posted early Sunday in the Middle East, that he had called off the strikes eased tensions between the U.S. and Iran -- at least for the moment.

 

The question now is whether Trump's Gulf partners can make enough headway in the days ahead to reopen the strait to shipping and lay the groundwork for eventual talks on Iran's nuclear ambitions.

 

Previous efforts on both fronts have failed for months, though there were initial signs of progress Sunday on reopening the waterway. Oman and Iran noted they were making progress.

 

Trump said the U.S. would engage in talks beginning Monday afternoon. He said that he had been prepared to launch the biggest military attack since World War II but had been talked down by U.S. allies.

 

"We were all set to go, but when the allies asked to call it off, you got to sort of say, 'Well, let's see,'" he said.

 

Still, if talks falter as they have in the past, Trump could once again fall into a familiar cycle of reviving his military threats shortly after he shelved them.

 

"He is trying his hand now at a diplomatic solution to avoid military escalation. But there's no clear path, either diplomatically or militarily, to get Trump to a place where he can declare victory," said Vali Nasr, an Iran expert at Johns Hopkins University.

 

This cycle has destabilized the Middle East and complicated the domestic agenda for Trump, a Republican. Iran in recent weeks has carried out attacks on a number of U.S. allies in the region, including Jordan, Bahrain and Kuwait, while its proxies in Iraq have launched drones at Saudi Arabia.

 

Iran's ability to essentially shut down the Strait of Hormuz has pushed up the price of gasoline and forced the U.S. and other counties to eat into their oil reserves. Meanwhile, Republicans in Congress, with just three months until the midterm elections, have pressed the White House to better articulate the goals for the Iran war and explain how it will end.

 

That concern was underscored when three U.S. soldiers were killed in an Iranian missile attack against their base in Jordan, bringing the total to 18 service personnel killed in action since February.

 

When he ordered attacks on Iran in late February, Trump began the war with limited international support and public opinion polls that showed many Americans hadn't been convinced that Tehran presented an urgent nuclear threat.

 

Trump sought to reassure a restive public that rising gasoline prices wouldn't last long, projecting that the conflict could be over in four to six weeks. His reservoir of support, abroad and at home, has shrunk as the war has entered its sixth month.

 

Trump's supporters said that his drumbeat of threats and visible impatience had encouraged a flurry of diplomatic activity that could result in a long-sought agreement that will finally bring the war to a close.

 

Trump wrote in a social-media post Saturday night that Iran and other Middle East countries were imploring him to cancel his attack because the "perimeters of a deal" had been hammered out.

 

Trump delivered that message after talking with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. Trump said he asked him, "Would you rather have us do this or not?" He said that the prince replied that "we would much prefer a deal as opposed to an attack because you don't know where these attacks lead."

 

But Trump didn't call Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, with whom he launched the war, and who remains the loudest voice in the president's ear for more military action.

 

There were initial signs of a diplomatic opening Sunday.

 

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said talks with Oman about a mechanism for ships to traverse the strait was "nearing completion and in their final stages," according to Iranian state media. Left unsaid was whether Tehran is prepared to permanently drop its demand that it should be able to collect tolls from transiting commercial vessels and if those negotiations would lead to a fully reopened waterway.

 

Araghchi also called his Saudi counterpart, Prince Faisal bin Farhan, to discuss further de-escalatory measures, according to a readout from Riyadh.

 

Trump's critics say the president's abrupt twists and turns reflect his unhappiness with his remaining military and diplomatic options and don't reflect a carefully calibrated strategy.

 

"His flailing is a terrible blow to U.S. deterrence," said Daniel Shapiro, a senior Pentagon official during the Biden administration who also served as U.S. ambassador to Israel under President Barack Obama. "No one believes anything he says -- not allies and certainly not our Iranian adversaries."

 

The diplomatic pathway has insulated Trump from the risks of major military actions, at least for now. But diplomacy carries its own risks, including that Iran may view Trump's vacillation as a reason to try to maximize its leverage in the talks.

 

"Negotiating a resolution that preserves freedom of navigation won't be quick or easy," said Suzanne Maloney, vice president for foreign policy and an Iran expert at the Brookings Institution. "It's not obvious that this administration has either the bandwidth or the attention span needed."” [1]

 

1. Gulf Allies Sway U.S. In Pivot To Talks With Iran --- Trump calls off escalation of strikes after mediators offer new Hormuz plan. Gordon, Michael R; Ward, Alexander; Wegmann, Philip.  Wall Street Journal, Eastern edition; New York, N.Y.. 03 Aug 2026: A1.