Middle East live: Trump holds off on striking Iran, calls for 'rapid' deal to end the conflict
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By: FRANCE 24 A banner with a picture of US President Donald Trump next to an Iranian missile system at Azadi Square in Tehran, Iran, July 30, 2026. © Majid Asgaripour, West Asia News Agency via Reuters US President Donald Trump said Saturday that the United States and Israel had agreed to hold off on new strikes on Iran – provided a deal to end the months-long conflict is "rapidly" reached. Iran's acting defence minister said his country would "neither be caught off guard nor remain passive" in the face of new US threats. Follow our liveblog for all the latest.
Iran's Mehr news agency denied Donald Trump's claim that the Islamic republic asked the United States to refrain from conducting new strikes.
Citing military officials, the agency said the allegation "was nothing but a new lie" and that the Iranian armed forces were "on high alert and ready for any eventuality".
Tehran views every threat from its adversaries as "real and credible" even if made as part of psychological warfare, Iran's acting defence minister, Majid Ibn al-Reza, said on Sunday according to state media.
"We will neither be caught off guard nor remain passive," he said, adding that Iran would use threats as a basis to increase its military readiness, strengthen deterrence and enhance its military capabilities.
Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman stressed in a phone call with U.S. President Donald Trump the
"necessity of prioritizing dialogue to de-escalate tensions" in the Middle East, according to Saudi Arabia's state news agency.
Overnight Israeli strikes on Gaza hit multiple residential buildings and killed at least eight people, authorities said Sunday, despite despite US President Donald Trump's announcementof a breakthrough in efforts to implement last year's Gaza ceasefire agreement.
Hamas said Friday it had agreed to a plan championed by US President Donald Trump that includes provisions for handing over its weapons and the gradual withdrawal of Israeli forces from the Gaza Strip.
Gaza civil defence officials said Sunday eight people were killed in strikes around midnight that hit multiple residential buildings.
In one attack near the central Gaza Strip, a man and his wife were killed and several others were wounded when an Israeli military helicopter struck an apartment, a civil defence spokesman said.
An elderly man and a child were killed in another attack on an apartment west of Gaza City, and three people, including a child, were targeted when a strike hit another apartment northwest of Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip.
Authorities reported earlier Saturday that eight other people had been killed in strikes that damaged a hospital's medical supplies and targeted a rooftop.
Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the kingdom’s de facto leader, in a phone call with President Donald Trump on Saturday raised concerns about the US potentially escalating the conflict with Iran, according to a person familiar with the leaders’ discussion.
The Saudis, according to the person briefed on the substance of the call but not authorized to comment publicly, are concerned that if the US targets Iran’s energy infrastructure or carries out massive strikes on other key infrastructure that Tehran could respond by carrying out attacks on the kingdom’s and other Gulf countries’ energy infrastructure.
The emerging deal “would include the Immediate, Complete, and Total OPENING OF THE HORMUZ STRAIT, and an end to Iran’s nuclear threat,” Trump wrote in a Saturday evening social media post.
“Based on this request, I have agreed, for the future benefit of the WORLD and, likewise, the survival of a successful and prosperous Iran, to cancel the attack, subject to being able to rapidly make a DEAL,” Trump said.
Israel agreed to join the U.S. in the commitment to try to complete the agreement with Iran that would bring about an end to the war, he added. Iran did not offer any immediate public reaction to the announcement.
President Donald Trump said Saturday that the United States and Israel had agreed to hold off on new strikes on Iran - provided a deal to end the months-long conflict is "rapidly" reached.
The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations said Saturday it had received reports of two maritime incidents off Oman , including one in which a tanker was struck by an unknown projectile.
Kuwait 's army it had detected and destroyed hostile drones in the country's airspace and that what it described as an Iranian attack had targeted several vital facilities.
US embassies in capitals across the Middle East on Saturday warned their citizens to beware of "unforeseen escalation" in the regional conflict and urged them to be ready to leave.
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