US President Donald Trump said on Monday he will hold off on further military strikes against Iran for now, citing appeals from regional countries, while maintaining a naval blockade of the Strait of Hormuz as diplomatic efforts to end the conflict intensify.
Speaking in a Reuters interview and later in the White House press briefing room, Trump said Washington remains fully prepared for combat but sees no immediate need to escalate.
Gulf Neighbours Urge Restraint
The president said he was acting at the request of Iran’s neighbours, naming Qatar, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Kuwait among those who prefer the US refrain from new attacks.
“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 added that he was acting “at the behest of countries that are their neighbors.”
His remarks followed a White House meeting with Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani, a key intermediary with Tehran, as efforts to wind down the war gather pace after last week’s US midterm elections.
Diplomacy Yields No Breakthrough
More than eight months into the conflict, which Trump launched alongside Israel on February 28, the president has downplayed the prospect of major warfare resuming soon but remains unwilling to accept Iran’s existing truce proposal. Senior US and Gulf officials have cast doubt on the chances of an imminent deal.
Al-Thani, who serves as both prime minister and foreign minister of Qatar, met Trump after visiting Tehran last week and described his talks with the president and Vice President JD Vance as positive.
“Grateful for the positive discussions on reaching a deal and bringing peace to the region,” he said on X.
Iranian security council chief Mohsen Rezaei struck a harder line on the same platform, saying Washington should “stop manufacturing fake news about imaginary talks” and that it was “time to surrender to the seven conditions Iran has repeatedly set out.”
Tehran’s proposal would end the US blockade of its ports, lift some sanctions and halt bombing in exchange for Iran ending its own blockade of the Strait of Hormuz, with talks on its nuclear programme and further sanctions to follow.
Washington has repeatedly rejected the plan. Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Sunday called Tehran’s conditions “outrageous and ridiculous and really not realistic,” while Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei defended the offer on Monday as the most reasonable on the table.
Domestic Pressure Mounts
Senior Republicans, including Vance, have blamed the party’s midterm losses on the Iran war. Despite growing political pressure to end the conflict, Rubio said he did not believe a diplomatic breakthrough was imminent.
A senior Emirati official, Anwar Gargash, echoed that assessment on Monday, saying a comprehensive political settlement between Washington and Tehran appeared difficult to achieve.
“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 negotiations for a short-lived truce in June, was also due to meet Al-Thani, whose country has served as a prime mediator since early in the war, relaying messages between the sides and proposing ways to bridge their differences.
Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said on Monday 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.
Attacks Continue Despite Pause
Mutual strikes have persisted. Iranian state media reported that the US struck Iran’s Qeshm island overnight, though a provincial official told the semi-official Fars news agency that vital infrastructure and services were not affected. The US has not commented on the reports.
A senior Iranian source told Reuters that US strikes were targeting radar systems serving both air defence and ship navigation, as well as bases for missile launchers and mine-laying equipment.
Iran has attacked tankers in the Gulf and the Strait of Hormuz this month, while its Yemeni Houthi allies have struck Saudi Arabia. Figures from international maritime agencies showed last week that attacks on vessels surged sharply in October and have continued at the highest rate since the war began.
Iran, which typically does not acknowledge striking vessels that report being hit by projectiles, said on Sunday that a tanker had struck a mine east of the Strait of Hormuz. A state television reporter said on Monday that 11 tankers had been “disabled” over the past 10 days.
