With Iran, Trump Says Fighting Is Off and Talks Are On—For Now, Again
Time · LC · trust 72/100
U.S.-Iran talks are back on, President Donald Trump said after calling off major planned strikes.
In a late Saturday post on Truth Social, Trump said he had agreed to requests by Iran and other Middle Eastern countries to “hold off any attack in that the perimeters of a deal has been agreed to.” The framework agreement, Trump said, “would include the Immediate, Complete, and Total OPENING OF THE HORMUZ STRAIT, and an end to Iran’s nuclear threat.”
“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. “Get to work, everybody, and get it DONE.”
He added that Israel also agreed to join the U.S. “in this commitment.” Israel has not publicly announced a commitment to suspend attacks on Iran.
The U.S. President told reporters on Sunday that a new round of talks would begin on Monday afternoon but did not provide further details about the negotiations or a deadline for a deal.
But it’s far from the first time that the U.S. and Iran have agreed to pause attacks or signaled diplomatic progress, only to backtrack days later.
Trump has reportedly contemplated relaunching major operations in Iran and the U.S. has carried out weeks of strikes against Iran in an attempt to reopen the Strait, which Iran militarized in early March . In his Saturday post, Trump also warned that the U.S. “is locked and loaded and ready to go” against Iran “at levels of Military Terror, Strength, and Power not seen since World War II.”
Still, the President’s back may be up against the wall as the war, now in its sixth month, remains unpopular with Americans facing rising prices of gas and other goods . Months of attacks have also depleted the Pentagon’s stockpile of key munitions , and the widening conflict has entangled more countries in the Middle East, which could push the human and economic cost of the war even higher.
Since the U.S. and Israel launched the war against Iran on Feb. 28, the countries have paused and resumed fighting multiple times. The joint U.S.-Israeli strikes collapsed ongoing nuclear talks between the U.S. and Iran, and analysts previously told TIME that the attacks likely hardened Iran’s position towards negotiating with the U.S. Iran has consistently denied seeking a nuclear weapon.
On March 9, Trump said the war was “very complete, pretty much” and claimed that Iran’s military had been destroyed. Yet, fighting continued, and six days later Trump called on NATO allies and China to help reopen the Strait.
Late in March, with global energy prices soaring as Iran targeted Gulf refineries and ships crossing the Strait of Hormuz , Washington and Tehran began to exchange cease-fire proposals via Pakistan and other mediators. The two countries agreed to a two-week Pakistani-mediated cease-fire that began on April 8. The cease-fire suspended most of the intense fighting, but low-level exchanges especially around the Strait of Hormuz continued.
Israel also escalated its attacks on Lebanon , which Iran said was a cease-fire violation. Iran has repeatedly insisted that any cease-fire must include Lebanon, and analysts have said that Israel’s continued attacks—even after Trump later pressed Netanyahu to stop—could upend any U.S.-Iran deal.
Trump announced on April 21 that the cease-fire was extended indefinitely , even as the Strait remained closed, the U.S. continued to blockade Iranian ports, and clashes continued around the Strait. The U.S. insisted the cease-fire was still on and suspended its large-scale aerial campaign.
On May 1, Trump informed Congress that hostilities with Iran “have terminated,” arguing that the War Powers Resolution’s deadline for congressional authorization no longer applied. A week later, U.S. and Iranian forces exchanged fire around the Strait , with U.S. forces disabling two Iranian tankers. Later that month, Trump said he cancelled a planned attack because “serious negotiations” were underway. U.S. strikes resumed by the end of May after negotiations faltered .
Hours after threatening to hit Iran “VERY HARD,” Trump announced a negotiating “breakthrough.” On June 17, the U.S. and Iran signed a 14-point memorandum of understanding that halted military operations, ended the U.S. blockade, and reopened the Strait of Hormuz. The two parties began talks towards a fleshed out agreement to end the war that weekend in Switzerland.
But the issue of the Strait of Hormuz remained unresolved, and in late June, days after the MOU was signed, U.S. officials said Iran struck a commercial ship in the Strait . The U.S. retaliated with strikes on Iran and officials said Iran attacked another tanker. The U.N. maritime agency paused its escort mission for ships stranded in the Strait, as the renewed violence heightened uncertainty around when global energy prices might stabilize .
The U.S. and Iran held indirect talks with mediators in Doha beginning June 30. While Qatar and Pakistan announced “positive progress,” the next round of talks did not proceed as envisaged . In the midst of a weeklong funeral processions for Iran’s slain Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, in which officials and people called for his death to be avenged, three commercial ships were attacked. The U.S. retaliated against the suspected Iranian attacks with strikes on Iran on July 7.
On July 8, Trump declared the cease-fire “over.” The U.S. resumed its aerial campaign on Iran, including nearly two weeks of consecutive strikes, while Iran retaliated with missile and drone attacks against countries with U.S. bases.
Over the weekend of July 25, the U.S. and Iran paused fighting. Trump said he ordered U.S. forces to hold fire at the request of mediators, and Iran said it would halt its attacks for as long as the U.S. held off on strikes.
On July 28, Iran launched missiles at U.S. forces in Jordan. At the same time, Houthi rebels in Yemen…
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