Trump calls off ‘locked and loaded’ Iran attacks, again declares deal on table
The US will step back from escalating its attacks on Iran despite being “locked and loaded and ready to go”, President Donald Trump has said, claiming the “perimeters” of a deal had been agreed to.
“The USA is locked and loaded and ready to go against the Islamic Republic of Iran, at levels of Military Terror, Strength, and Power not seen since World War II,” Trump wrote on Truth Social early this afternoon.
President Donald Trump says the US will call off planned escalated strikes on Iran. AP
“Despite this, we have just been asked by Iran, and other Middle Eastern Countries, to hold off any attack in that the perimeters of a deal has been agreed to.”
This deal would include “the Immediate, Complete, and Total OPENING OF THE HORMUZ STRAIT, and an end to Iran’s nuclear threat”, Trump said.
“Based on this request, I have agreed, for the future benefit of the WORLD and, likewise, the survival of a successful and prosperous Iran, to cancel the attack, subject to being able to rapidly make a DEAL,” he wrote.
“The Country of Israel joins me in this commitment. Get to work, everybody, and get it DONE.”
It’s understood the White House had been pondering its military options in relation to the war after a “surprise attack” from Iran last week on US assets in the Middle East.
Some, including Vice President JD Vance and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Dan Caine, spoke against escalation, with Caine warning that while the mission was achievable, it would leave the US munitions stockpile depleted.
But as recently as yesterday, Trump was signalling that more intense conflict was on the cards.
“We’ll be hitting them very hard,” Trump told reporters at the presidential Camp David retreat, according to Associated Press.
“You know, at some point they’re going to say, ‘We just can’t take it anymore.’”
Trump throughout the war has made a habit of escalating threatening rhetoric before claiming some breakthrough rendered the use of increased force unnecessary.
US forces have attacked Iran’s nuclear complexes during the war. AP
He has previously threatened to destroy Iranian “civilisation” in an apparent nuclear threat, which may also be behind his recent post’s WWII reference.
The US has held off on attacking Iran since June 30 (Australia time), when it launched a round of reprisal strikes for Iran’s attack on US bases.
Prior to that, both countries had established a hiatus in the conflict after consecutive days of US strikes followed by Iranian reprisals.
The Strait of Hormuz is one of the world's most critical energy supply routes. Getty
Iran’s leadership has consistently said the Strait of Hormuz, a crucial trade waterway through which about a fifth of the world’s oil and fertiliser supplies passed prior to the war, cannot return to pre-war conditions.
But multiple other countries claim the strait must return to the international waterway it was used as before the war.
Both Saudi Arabia and a UK-France coalition have pledged to helm multinational maritime defence efforts to secure free trade through shipping channels in the Red Sea and Persian Gulf.
Australia has pledged to aid the UK-France coalition in some capacity.
How Tehran will square their consistent public stance with Trump’s declaration that a prospective peace deal include the opening of the strait is yet to be seen.
Negotiations with Iran have also proved fraught in the past as US officials claim elements within the regime continue to undermine or overrule one another.
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