KVIG Informative

The United States had warplanes ready for what officials called the largest strike on Iran in 80 years. Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Qatar talked Trump out of it in the final hours.

President Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One that the U.S. was fully prepared to launch a massive attack on Iran over the weekend before regional allies intervened. We were all set to go, just about at this time right now, and it would have been a massive attack, Trump said, adding that Gulf states asked him to hold off because they believed a deal was within reach. War Secretary Pete Hegseth confirmed the military had been poised to execute the strikes Saturday night.

Trump described the proposed agreement in two phases. The first phase is the opening of the straits, the second phase will be the denuclearization, and that will take a little while, he said Monday from the Oval Office, calling the current round of talks Iran’s last chance and warning of decapitation if Tehran fails to sign. A regional official involved in mediation told the Associated Press the framework would have Washington and Tehran resume negotiations on reopening the Strait of Hormuz and halting regional attacks, including those by Iran-backed militias on Gulf states and Jordan, in exchange for the U.S. lifting its naval blockade and letting Iran resume oil exports.

Iran is telling a different story about who is at the table. Foreign ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baqaei said Monday that no direct talks with the U.S. are underway, and Iran’s only active negotiations are with Oman, which has spent the past week in what officials called constructive discussions over a temporary alternate shipping route through the strait. Trump accused Iranian leaders of being unbelievably duplicitous, saying they privately request meetings and then publicly deny holding them.

CENTCOM said Monday that U.S. forces have redirected 44 commercial vessels since restarting the blockade on Iranian ports this month, disabling two vessels outright and boarding two others. Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps struck two tankers on Friday that attempted to transit the strait under U.S. military escort, while four others reversed course. Iran has required vessels to use a single Iranian-controlled route through its territorial waters since June 19, using the strait as leverage in the standoff.

The economic damage is already done regardless of how the talks end. Iran’s own government has reported that the war knocked out part of its gas production, disabled Bushehr Airport and killed 350 government employees. Trade Minister Mohammad Atabak traveled to Pakistan on Monday specifically to ease shipping delays and move Iranian goods through Pakistani ports while the naval blockade remains in place, an acknowledgment that Tehran is planning for the blockade to outlast the diplomacy.

Trump said he spoke directly with Saudi Arabia’s crown prince, who told him he would prefer a negotiated deal to another round of strikes. That preference is the only reason talks are happening at all. Trump has called off strikes on Iran more than once already this year. Asked Monday how many times, he said simply: I don’t know.