Image source: Reuters
Reuters revealed that US President Donald Trump is considering withdrawing from launching new military strikes against Iran, if Tehran and the Houthis in Yemen refrain from carrying out new attacks or provocations, at a time when Israel continues to press for the resumption of military operations, amid US moves to strengthen the military presence in the region.
On Saturday, Reuters reported, citing three people familiar with the discussions, that Trump informed his senior advisors in recent days that he was considering suspending attacks on Iran, after a series of meetings with the national security team and intelligence briefings on developments in the war.
This comes in light of Trump's positions varying between threatening to escalate military operations and threatening to end hostilities, while current and former officials say that he has not yet decided on how to end the war that the United States and Israel started against Iran last February.
According to the sources, the American President showed understanding of the positions of regional allies who asked him to avoid returning to a large-scale war.
“I can end it immediately, but at the request of the countries that I seek to protect, we are taking a slightly longer and more civilized path,” Trump said in an interview with sportscaster Stephen A. Smith on Thursday.
Commenting on these reports, a White House official confirmed that Trump is the final decision-maker regarding military movements, noting that the United States enjoys a strong position in light of its control, he said, over the Strait of Hormuz and the deterioration of the Iranian economy.
The official added that only the president knows what he will do and when he will make his decision.
The CIA and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence did not respond to Reuters' requests for comment.
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Saudi Arabia and Turkey warn against resuming the war
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According to Reuters, during the past two weeks, Trump made phone calls with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, during which he asked for their opinion regarding the resumption of attacks on Iran.
The agency quoted a senior American official and another person familiar with the talks as saying that the two leaders urged Trump not to resume military strikes, but he did not make any commitment regarding his final decision.
Two people familiar with a call that took place on October 31 revealed that Trump informed the Saudi Crown Prince of his intention to launch new attacks after the midterm elections for the US Congress.
However, Mohammed bin Salman urged him to be patient, considering that the economic sanctions imposed on Iran are achieving results, and that continuing economic pressure may be more effective than returning to military confrontation.
The Saudi Ministry of Foreign Affairs did not respond to a request for comment.
As for the Turkish side, Trump has spoken with Erdogan three times since October 28, according to the Turkish presidency.
The official statement issued following their call on November 7 stressed the need to end tensions between the United States and Iran.
In the same context, Reuters quoted US officials who had seen intelligence assessments that the naval blockade and US economic sanctions are causing damage to the Iranian economy, and they are expected to continue to put pressure on Tehran.
Washington also seeks to expand the scope of restrictions imposed on Iran, by preventing the entry of weapons and sanctioned materials across the land borders or the Caspian Sea, in addition to the naval blockade that has been ongoing for months.
A third American aircraft carrier is heading to the region
Despite indications of a possible calm, the United States continues to prepare for additional military options.
Reuters quoted three people familiar with US military planning that a third aircraft carrier is heading to the Middle East in the coming days, to replace one of the two aircraft carriers currently in the region.
But the sources explained that Washington may decide to keep the three aircraft carriers in the region if military developments require it.
The options before Trump include carrying out new strikes against Iranian underground nuclear facilities, although American forces have previously targeted these facilities, and the effectiveness of any additional attacks is still unclear.
According to US officials, intelligence assessments concluded that resuming air strikes would likely not lead to a fundamental change in Iranian demands during the negotiations.
In return, Trump received briefings on US weapons stockpiles, some of which had fallen to alarming levels.
Reuters reported in August that the United States had consumed “almost all” of its long-range precision munitions, while a source familiar with the matter said that these stocks had not yet been replenished.
But a White House official denied that there was a shortage that might hinder military operations, stressing that the US Army possesses enough ammunition to achieve all of the president’s strategic goals.
Israeli pressure to resume strikes
In exchange for Saudi and Turkish calls for calm, Israeli officials continue to pressure the Trump administration to engage in a new military campaign against Iran, according to a US official who spoke to Reuters.
This week, Trump hinted that the United States had already achieved what could be achieved from negotiations with Tehran, without clarifying whether he would order the resumption of attacks.
He said in a post on social media on Thursday: “We do not need an agreement with Iran,” adding that the United States now controls hundreds of billions of dollars in Iranian funds and the Strait of Hormuz, as he put it.
These developments come at a time when domestic political pressure on Trump is increasing, after the Democrats won control of Congress in the midterm elections that took place on November 3.
A poll conducted by Reuters in cooperation with Ipsos before the elections showed that 55 percent of Americans believe that the war is not worth its cost.
Vice President J.D. Vance also considered that the war was one of the reasons for the Republicans' loss of control of Congress.
Iran announces the burning of four oil tankers near the Strait of Hormuz
On the ground, the naval forces of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard and the Iranian army announced on Saturday that four oil tankers were exposed to explosions and fires after colliding with sea mines while trying to cross areas near the Strait of Hormuz.
The Iranian Tasnim Agency and official media reported that the Revolutionary Guards said that two tankers attempted to cross the strait at night via what it described as an “unauthorized route,” after turning off radar and GPS devices, before they collided with naval mines and burst into flames.
The Revolutionary Guard added that one of the two ships was a giant oil tanker, and that the fire resulting from the explosion lit up the southern coast of the strait.
In two separate statements, the Iranian Navy announced that two other tankers collided with mines in restricted areas east of the strait, causing fires to break out in them.
The Iranian Navy warned shipping companies and ship owners against crossing the strait without coordination with the navigation traffic control center of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard.
Iran has imposed restrictions on the movement of ships in the Strait of Hormuz since the outbreak of war last February, and attacked ships that it says violated those restrictions, in an attempt to impose its control over the strategic waterway and put pressure on the United States.
The Strait of Hormuz is one of the most important sea lanes for transporting oil and gas globally, and the war and unrest it is witnessing have caused fuel prices to rise and disrupted navigation.
According to UN data contained in the reports, at least 25 sailors have been killed in attacks on more than 130 ships since the outbreak of war.
The Revolutionary Guard announces the downing of an American drone over Qeshm Island
In another military development, the Iranian Revolutionary Guard announced that it shot down a drone it said was an American MQ-1 over Qeshm Island in the south of the country, on Saturday.
Tasnim News Agency quoted the Revolutionary Guard as saying that an advanced air defense system belonging to its air force shot down the plane at 2:30 pm local time, i.e. 11 am GMT.
The Revolutionary Guard described the drone as a reconnaissance and combat aircraft belonging to the US Army, noting that it was the seventeenth aircraft of this model that it said it had shot down.
The agency added that the Revolutionary Guard announced the downing of a total of 17 MQ-1 drones and 56 MQ-9 drones since the start of military operations.
It was not possible to independently verify these numbers or the Iranian story regarding the downing of the march.
Tehran refuses to resume nuclear inspections under “abnormal circumstances”
On the nuclear level, the Iranian mission to the International Atomic Energy Agency rejected a report by the Agency’s Director General, Rafael Grossi, regarding the Iranian nuclear program, describing it as “one-sided.”
The mission confirmed, in a statement carried by Tasnim Agency on Saturday, that the usual nuclear inspection and safeguards procedures could not be resumed in light of what it described as “abnormal circumstances” resulting from the attacks that targeted Iranian nuclear facilities.
It considered that the attacks on facilities subject to International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) guarantees created unprecedented conditions and led to the disruption of inspections and the withdrawal of inspectors, which requires addressing Iranian security concerns before returning to usual procedures.
The mission accused the agency's Board of Governors of relying on decisions it described as technically and legally flawed.
The Iranian position comes after a report published by Reuters, on Friday, based on a secret International Atomic Energy Agency document, which stated that the agency is increasingly concerned about a uranium enrichment facility in Isfahan, which Tehran announced last year, but has not allowed inspectors to visit until now.
The United States and Israel inflicted severe damage on other Iranian enrichment facilities during a 12-day military campaign in June 2025.
These developments highlight the continuing dispute over the future of the Iranian nuclear program, at a time when Washington’s decision regarding the resumption of military strikes has not been decided, amid regional calls for calm and warnings of the expansion of the confrontation.
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