The US has halted attacks on Iran and will take part in talks with Tehran aimed at reaching a new ceasefire, President Donald Trump has said.
He said the goal is the “total opening” of the Strait of Hormuz and an “end to Iran’s nuclear threat”.
His announcement on Truth Social early on Sunday follows the collapse of the peace agreement struck in June and weeks of bombing by both sides, which included near-daily Iranian strikes on Bahrain, Kuwait and Jordan, and led to Yemen's Tehran-supported Houthi rebels attacking ships in the Red Sea.
US media reports had earlier said that Washington was planning intense strikes on Iran this weekend, and embassies had urged Americans in the Middle East to be prepared to leave.
Mr Trump said the US was "locked and loaded and ready to go against the Islamic Republic of Iran, at levels of Military Terror, Strength, and Power not seen since World War II".
"Despite this, we have just been asked by Iran, and other Middle Eastern countries, to hold off any attack in that the perimeters of a deal has been agreed to. This would include the Immediate, Complete, and Total OPENING OF THE HORMUZ STRAIT, and an end to Iran’s nuclear threat," he wrote.
“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. The country of Israel joins me in this commitment. Get to work, everybody, and get it DONE."
'Position of strength'
Speaking to Fox News, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio claimed that the offensive since June had made Iran more willing to negotiate. The administration has been under pressure domestically to justify the surging costs of the war, and has reportedly been pressed by Gulf allies whose economies have been hit hard by Iranian bombing and the closure of the strait.
“They still have missiles and they still have drones, and they can still do damage,” Mr Rubio said, but he added that Iran no longer had a “conventional shield that they were going to hide behind”.
“And that’s changed the whole dynamic. It’s the only reason why they are now willing and in some cases, seem eager, to do a deal on denuclearisation, to do a deal on the straits. Because we are now approaching them from a position of strength, not from a position of weakness."
