Hours after threatening to hit Iran “very hard tonight”, United States President Donald Trump has called off his planned attack, signalling instead that a possible breakthrough in ceasefire negotiations had been reached.
The Thursday post on Truth Social came roughly five hours after he warned the US military would be “taking Kharg Island” and other Iranian “oil infrastructure points in the not too distant future”.
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“Based on the fact that discussions with the Islamic Republic of Iran have been brought to the highest level of Iranian leadership and approved, I have, as President of the United States of America, cancelled the scheduled strikes and bombings against Iran this evening,” Trump wrote.
“Discussions and final points have been, in both concept and great detail, approved by all parties involved, including the United States, Israel, Saudi Arabia, UAE, Qatar, Turkey, Pakistan, Bahrain, Kuwait, Jordan, Egypt, and others.”
Trump added that the US naval blockade of Iranian ports “will remain in full force and effect until this Transaction is finalized — Time and place of the signing to be announced shortly”.
Iran did not immediately respond to the statement, which capped two days of strikes that threatened to derail ongoing negotiations for a lasting ceasefire.
About-face on threats
Earlier on Thursday, Trump had said the US would soon launch a third wave of strikes, continuing a string of attacks that started on Tuesday.
“At some point in the not too distant future, we will be taking Kharg Island, and other oil infrastructure points, and assume total control of their Oil and Gas Markets,” Trump wrote.
He compared his plans for Iran to a military offensive the US carried out earlier this year against Venezuela.
On January 3, US armed forces attacked the South American country and abducted its then-president, Nicolas Maduro. Since then, the US has retained control over the country’s oil exports.
Under US pressure, Maduro’s replacement, Delcy Rodriguez, has also overseen business-friendly reforms to the country’s state-controlled oil industry, opening it to foreign investors.
Kharg Island, known as the “Forbidden Island” due to its strict military control, processes 90 percent of Iran’s crude exports.
In a subsequent interview on Thursday morning with Fox News, Trump said taking Kharg Island has always been his “preference”.
“I don’t know that America has the stomach for it, to be honest,” he added, saying he was still averse to deploying boots on the ground in Iran.
Trump’s statements came after Iran’s Foreign Ministry said the latest round of US strikes rendered the April 8 ceasefire deal “practically meaningless”.
On Thursday, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, Iran’s top negotiator, wrote in a social media post on X that “wrong strategies and impulsive decisions will reset the entire board for the worse, explode energy infrastructure and markets and create an endless quagmire that you will be stuck in for years”.
Iran’s top joint military command, Khatam al-Anbiya Central Headquarters, also said that Iran would respond more severely than before if the US launched further attacks, according to Iranian state media.
Recent US strikes have targeted the port city of Bandar Abbas, Qeshm Island, and the southern towns of Sirik, Minab and Karaj west of Tehran.
Iran, meanwhile, has attacked US bases in Bahrain, Kuwait and Jordan. Trump has also accused Iran of downing a US helicopter in the Strait of Hormuz on Monday.
Following the latest round of US strikes, Iran announced the full closure of the strait, the arterial waterway that has emerged as Tehran’s key point of leverage in the conflict.
Elusive deal
US officials have for weeks been signalling that a deal is close, but they have offered few specifics.
Points of disagreement include what the future of Iran’s nuclear programme might be, who might control the Strait of Hormuz and whether to release Iranian funds frozen by sanctions.
Previously, in 2018, Trump withdrew from a multilateral deal to restrict Iran’s nuclear programme, the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).
Analysts say the Trump administration is now forced to seek a deal with better terms, or else lose face.
Since taking office last year, Trump has authorised US involvement in two wars against Iran — one in June 2025 and the other ongoing — amid negotiations over the country’s nuclear programme.
On Thursday, US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent vowed that any damage Iran “inflicts on our allies in the Gulf will be paid for with funds extracted” from Iran’s frozen assets, which are estimated to total about $100bn globally.
Reporting from Washington, DC, Al Jazeera correspondent Kimberly Halkett said Trump appears to be using military pressure and inflammatory language to try to push Iran towards a deal.
“So what’s clear is that the US president is continuing with this Truth Social post to mix public threats with what he believes is still possible, and that is diplomacy at the barrel of a gun,” Halkett said.
Speaking to Al Jazeera, Abas Aslani, a senior research fellow at the Centre for Middle East Strategic Studies, said the Trump administration “wants to escalate in order to create leverage at the negotiating table to pressure Tehran to make concessions that they did not in the past”.
Tehran, meanwhile, is concerned with “restoring deterrence against additional attacks on the country”.
“And for Iran, this is also important because the previous response to the US attack was not enough to ensure that they will not attack Iran again,” Aslani said. “That is why they might be escalating to de-escalate [the situation].”
On Thursday, US Central Command (CENTCOM) also announced that the military had disabled three oil tankers in the Gulf of Oman amid its ongoing blockade of Iranian ports.
India has called on the US to cease attacks on Thursday, saying three Indian crew members were killed in one US strike on a vessel.
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