Trump: Gulf Allies Request to Delay Military Strike on Iran by "Two or Three Days"

Xinhua News Agency, Washington, May 18 (Reporters Huang Qiang, Xu Jianmei) On the 18th, U.S. President Trump said that Saudi Arabia, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, and several other countries requested him to "postpone the military strike against Iran for two to three days," as they believe that the U.S.-Iran agreement is "very close to being reached."

On that day, during an event at the White House, Trump told reporters that the U.S. was prepared to launch a "very significant" attack on Iran on the 19th. However, "I have postponed it for a short period of time, hoping that this may be permanent, but it could also just be temporary. Because we have had very significant discussions with Iran, and we will see what the results of these discussions will be."

Trump stated that there has been some "very positive progress" in the negotiations, and the aforementioned Gulf allies have the opportunity to facilitate an agreement. He also mentioned that this situation is "slightly different" from previous occasions when the U.S. believed it was about to reach an agreement with Iran.

Earlier that day, Trump posted on social media that, at the request of the leaders of Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates, he had ordered the postponement of the military strike against Iran that was originally scheduled for tomorrow (the 19th).

In his post, he wrote that serious negotiations are underway between the U.S. and Iran, and the leaders of the three countries believe that the U.S. and Iran will eventually reach an agreement that is "acceptable to the U.S., the Middle East, and even a broader range of countries." Importantly, the agreement will stipulate that "Iran must not possess nuclear weapons." At the same time, he called for the U.S. military to be prepared to launch a "comprehensive, large-scale" attack on Iran if a satisfactory agreement cannot be reached.

Following Trump's post, international oil prices fell in response.

International media pointed out that the U.S. had not previously announced plans to attack Iran on the 19th.