Donald Trump announced on Monday that he has ordered a halt to bombings against Iran to make room for diplomatic negotiations, although he warned that attacks will resume if the talks do not succeed, according to the agency EFE.
The president made the statements aboard the presidential plane, en route to an event in Michigan, and attributed the initiative to Tehran: “They kindly asked us: 'Please, let’s stop, let’s meet'.”
"They want to meet, and we are meeting. Let's see what happens. There is a possibility that we can reach an agreement," Trump stated to the press.
The pause comes after 13 consecutive days of daily bombings against the Islamic Republic, which began on July 8 when Trump declared the truce agreed in June to be over during the NATO summit in Ankara.
The latest attack occurred last Thursday, on the thirteenth consecutive day of U.S. military offensive.
Trump justified military pressure as a condition for Iran to agree to negotiate: "We have largely destroyed their army. The only reason they want to meet is because we hit them very hard," he stated.
However, the leader was clear about the diplomatic timelines: "Not much time. Either they move quickly or they don't move at all," he responded when asked how much time he would dedicate to diplomacy.
In statements to the digital outlet Axios, Trump was even more direct: "We are in very deep discussions with Iran. If they do not yield results, we will return to strong military actions."
Iran, for its part, confirmed the absence of new attacks since Friday, but rejected Washington's narrative.
The spokesperson for the Iranian Foreign Ministry, Ismail Bagaei, stated at a press conference that "what currently exists cannot be called a ceasefire" and denied negotiating directly with the United States.
"We currently have no negotiations with the United States. The discussions we are engaged in are with Oman, and they focus on establishing the necessary measures regarding the Strait of Hormuz," Bagaei stated.
The Iranian spokesperson also dismissed reports from Pakistani and Arab media regarding a supposed ten-day ceasefire: "Don't pay too much attention to these media speculations," although he acknowledged that there may be exchanges of messages with Washington through mediators such as Pakistan and Qatar.
The markets reacted immediately to the announcement: the price of Brent oil fell by more than 5% and Wall Street opened higher, with the Dow Jones rising by 1.18% and the S&P 500 advancing by nearly 0.8%.
The announcement of the pause comes a day before Trump meets in Washington with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamín Netanyahu, who traveled to the U.S. capital to attend the funeral of Republican Senator Lindsey Graham.
Trump previewed the content of that conversation: "I’m going to talk to Bibi about the fact that if I weren’t president, Iran would already have nuclear weapons and Israel would have been destroyed."
On July 23, just four days before this announcement, Trump had ruled out a nuclear agreement with Iran "for now" at a rally in Georgia, stating that Iran "is not ready," highlighting the rapid evolution of the diplomatic situation.
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