Trump halts Iran strikes as deal talks restart in region

Iran strikes were ready before President Trump canceled the operation, he said, tying the halt to new talks and regional appeals.

Trump’s Las Vegas claim

President Trump used a Wednesday rally in Las Vegas to restate his account of a near military escalation with Iran. Speaking at the Red Rock Casino Resort and Spa, he said the U.S. had prepared an attack before he reversed course.

Trump described the planned operation in sweeping terms. "We were all set for the biggest attack since World War II, and they called me, and they said, 'Please don't do it, let's talk,'" he told the crowd.

Saturday calls and cancellation

The president’s account centers on events over the weekend, when he said he canceled the planned attack and opened space for discussions. In a Saturday evening social media post, Trump said he had agreed "to cancel the attack" after receiving requests from "Iran, and other Middle Eastern Countries, to hold off."

The source account also cited unnamed people as saying the U.S. and Israel had been preparing another round of joint strikes against Iran. It further said Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman spoke with Trump on Saturday and warned against carrying out the operation.

Trump has framed the pause as a choice between force and a negotiated settlement. He also claimed the U.S. is "knocking the hell out of" Iran, while adding that he would "rather make a deal, because I don't want to kill people."

Talks test military pressure

The immediate issue is whether the claimed diplomatic opening becomes a formal negotiation or remains a presidential account of back-channel pressure. On Tuesday night, Trump told reporters that a deal could arrive as soon as Wednesday or Thursday, according to the supplied material.

For Washington, the sequence links military readiness, allied coordination and Gulf diplomacy in one volatile file. If talks proceed, the White House can argue that the threat of force helped bring Iran and regional governments to the table. If talks stall, the same military planning could return quickly, increasing pressure on U.S. commanders and regional partners.

The global effect would run through risk channels rather than confirmed economic data in the supplied material. If the pause holds, markets and governments would likely focus on whether diplomacy reduces the chance of wider conflict. If the pause breaks, energy, shipping and aviation sectors would face renewed uncertainty because military action in the region can disrupt routes, insurance pricing and security planning.

Israel is the key security partner named in the account, while Saudi Arabia is presented as a restraining voice. That split matters for the wider region: one path favors coordinated pressure on Iran, while another gives Gulf diplomacy more weight in White House decision-making. The open questions are whether Iran has accepted any specific terms, whether Israel remains aligned with the pause, and whether Trump’s timeline for a deal survives contact with negotiations.