Khamenei orders unrestricted retaliation as Qatar mediates, US weighs strikesOleshky evacuees reach Ukraine under truce as Russia hits power gridTankers burn in Hormuz as Iran offers two-day reopening on its termsFBI blames North Korea for Binance hack as exchange restores 90% of lossesTech selloff deepens as OpenAI reportedly cuts funding target by $10bnG20 foreign ministers end Atlanta meeting without consensusKhamenei orders unrestricted retaliation as Qatar mediates, US weighs strikesOleshky evacuees reach Ukraine under truce as Russia hits power gridTankers burn in Hormuz as Iran offers two-day reopening on its termsFBI blames North Korea for Binance hack as exchange restores 90% of lossesTech selloff deepens as OpenAI reportedly cuts funding target by $10bnG20 foreign ministers end Atlanta meeting without consensus
Bota
Symbolic image: Trump calls off Iran strike wave, citing outlines of a dealSymbolic image

Trump calls off Iran strike wave, citing outlines of a deal

14 sources

US President Donald Trump said on Saturday he had cancelled a planned major attack on Iran, saying Tehran and other Middle Eastern states had agreed the "outlines of a deal". He named two conditions: the complete opening of the Strait of Hormuz and an end to Iran's nuclear threat.

What happened

  • CBS News reported on Friday, 31 July, that the US and Israel were preparing strikes on Iran's energy infrastructure, possible over the weekend.
  • At Camp David the same day Trump said "We'll be hitting them very hard"; CBS and Axios reported no final execution order had been issued.
  • The war entered its 155th day on Saturday, 1 August, according to The American Conservative.
  • UKMTO reported an explosion near a tanker off Oman on Saturday morning; Kuwait's army said it intercepted Iranian drones.
  • Brent crude closed Friday just under $88 a barrel; AAA put the US average gasoline price at $4.10 a gallon.

The view from outside

FAZ reports that Iran's and Saudi Arabia's foreign ministers spoke as the strike plan circulated, a channel largely absent from US coverage; Bloomberg, citing Axios, reports Saudi concern about the plan itself.

What could happen next

  • No text of the agreement has been published; Trump made the halt conditional on reaching a deal quickly.
  • Whether Israel was ever committed is disputed: an Israeli official told CBS it knew of no decision to restart operations.
  • The strait's reopening remains unverified; the New York Times reported it closed as of Saturday.
  • In Congress, lawmakers from both parties press for withdrawal, including a bill to defund the campaign, Tehran Times reports.
How the camps see it

  • United States: Trump says the military is ready but he cancelled the attack to allow a rapid deal; the White House accuses Tehran of breaking last month's memorandum.

  • Iran: Tehran warns it will respond decisively to any new aggression and threatens to close Hormuz and other trade chokepoints more tightly if the war continues.

Also involved

IsraelSaudi Arabia

To the edition