President Donald Trump speaks to the press aboard Air Force One on Aug. 2, 2026. Aaron Schwartz / AFP via Getty Images
President Donald Trump told reporters Aug. 2 that he called off planned military strikes on Iran the night before at the urging of regional allies and that negotiations with Iran will begin on Monday.
“I was asked to by Saudi Arabia, by UAE, and by Qatar, and by Iran,” Trump said aboard Air Force One on Sunday. “We were all set to go.”
Trump initially announced the pause in an Aug. 1 Truth Social post, writing that he had agreed to cancel the attack “subject to being able to rapidly make a deal.”
The president said some parties, including Saudi Arabia, believe a deal is imminent involving the Strait of Hormuz, to be followed by what he called “the denuclearization of Iran.”
“Now what we’re doing is we’re talking to them in the form of a negotiation,” he said. “It begins tomorrow afternoon and we’ll see.”
Trump said the planned strike “would have been by far the biggest attack since World War II” and that the United States remains ready to execute the military option if diplomacy fails again. “We’re ready to go any time we want,” he said.
This is a developing news story and will be updated.
