President Trump said on Monday 9 November that the United States will not launch a renewed military offensive against Iran for the time being, according to The Times of Israel and The National. He made the announcement on Truth Social after a closed-door White House meeting with Qatar’s prime minister, Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, a key mediator in the talks.
Trump cited “positive momentum” towards ending the conflict. By his account, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Bahrain, Kuwait and other Gulf states prefer to keep the current pressure, including the US naval blockade of Iran’s ports, rather than see escalation. He said the US remains ready to act if circumstances change but described that as quite unlikely. In a later appearance at the White House he said there was a good chance of a deal. The Qatari prime minister said the talks covered ways to advance US–Iran negotiations.
The National describes a nine-month conflict in which Iran has effectively choked traffic through the Strait of Hormuz, which normally carries about a fifth of the world’s oil and liquefied natural gas, pushing up fuel prices. The Times of Israel’s live blog separately cited a Financial Times report that Prime Minister Netanyahu has been pressing Trump to resume strikes, although another source in the same entry said there was no current push. It also reported that Mohsen Rezaei, head of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, told the US to stop “manufacturing fake news” about talks, a claim carried only in that live-blog summary.
Reporting note: The description of the Gulf states’ positions is Trump’s own and was not confirmed by those governments in the reports read. The Netanyahu claim is second-hand and attributed to unnamed sources, and Iran’s response is known only through a summary. Details of the blockade were not given in the reports.
Photo: NASA / Public domain / Wikimedia Commons
