After Trump calls off bombing, Iran signals it will halt strikes as long as US does
Written by: Parisa Hafezi and Raphael Satter
DUBAI/WASHINGTON, July 26 (Reuters) – Iran will halt its own attacks as long as the United States maintains a halt to its airstrikes, a senior Iranian official told Reuters on Sunday, after President Donald Trump abruptly canceled a two-week bombing campaign.
After intensifying US airstrikes against Iran for 13 nights, the Pentagon abruptly suspended the campaign late Friday, and no US strikes were reported either Saturday or Sunday.
Iran, which follows US attacks on neighboring countries hosting its bases with its own attacks every night, has also paused its fire for two days so far.
US Ambassador to the United Nations Mike Waltz told Fox News on Sunday that Trump decided to pause US attacks to give more time for diplomacy.
“It gives the speeches some space, some space,” Waltz said, without giving further details.
US media such as CNN, New York Times and Axios reported that Trump canceled the attack campaign after being advised by his top military and civilian aides not to further escalate the war he started with Israel in February.
A senior Iranian source, speaking on condition of anonymity, told Reuters: “Iran’s stance remains ‘attack on attack’: if the attacks stop, Iran will also stop its operations. This message has already been conveyed to the US.”
Asked about the pause, a senior Trump administration official said Saturday that the President “has always been clear that his preference is diplomacy, but he’s showing Iran what will happen if they don’t come to the table seriously.”
The senior Iranian source said Tehran had little hope that Trump’s decision to halt the strikes meant a major change in the US negotiating position.
“There is more skepticism than optimism about stopping the attacks. The prevailing view is that the pause is tactical rather than real. Iran has accumulated enough bitter experience with what it sees as US deception,” the source said.
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For the past two weeks, US forces have been striking Iran nightly in what Washington says is retaliation for Iranian attacks on ships in the Strait of Hormuz. Iran says it aims to retain control of the strait, through which one-fifth of global oil flows passed before the war.
Renewed US military action has effectively undermined last month’s interim agreement aimed at ending the war.
Trump’s decision to pause the strikes followed what many media outlets described as a meeting on Friday in which some of his top military and political advisers expressed concerns.
CNN and the New York Times said Pentagon Chief of Staff Dan Caine pointed out that stocks of Patriot air defense missiles, which US forces rely on to defend bases in the Middle East, have been depleted. Vice President J.D. Vance also expressed reservations, CNN said.
The Axios news site reported that Admiral Brad Cooper, the overall commander of US forces in the Middle East, recommended halting the US bombing campaign because it had reached the limits of its effectiveness.
Axios cited two sources with knowledge of Cooper’s position who said the briefing to Trump represented an acknowledgment by both civilian and military officials that there were limits to what could be accomplished with a military operation, especially air power.
People living in Iran are still worried. Nader, 49, who owns an import-export business in Tehran, said he doubted any pause in the strikes would last long.
“They keep announcing pauses, and then the war starts again. Everyone in the country is stuck in limbo,” he told Reuters by telephone. “Trump is playing games with Iran. He is neither ending the war and leaving the region, nor is he attacking decisively. This is very tiring.”
Trump’s decision to halt the attacks marked a turning point in the war; Both sides were testing the limits of tensions they had identified before a ceasefire ended major fighting in April and an interim agreement reopened Hormuz in June.
US forces have already struck bridges and tunnels in southern Iran, prompting Iran to attack water desalination plants that nearby Gulf Arab states use to make desert cities habitable.
Last week, Iran’s Houthi allies in Yemen announced a blockade of Saudi oil in the Red Sea, potentially closing a second major transit point for energy transportation.
This pushed the benchmark price of Brent crude above $100 for the first time since May. On Saturday, the Houthis opened fire on oil targets in the Saudi Red Sea for the first time in years.
(Writing by Peter Graff; Editing by Alexander Smith and Ros Russell)
