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Trump cancels Iran attack citing parameters of a deal

2 August 2026

President Trump announced in a social media post on the evening of Saturday 1 August 2026 that he had agreed “to cancel the attack, subject to being able to rapidly make a DEAL,” claiming Mideast allies had reached the parameters of a deal to end the war that “would include the Immediate, Complete, and Total OPENING OF THE HORMUZ STRAIT, and an end to Iran’s nuclear threat”; the same post said the U.S. military remained “locked and loaded” and prepared to display “levels of Military Terror, Strength, and Power not seen since World War II.” Israel, he said, agreed to join the commitment to complete the agreement; Iran offered no immediate public reaction.1 The Associated Press reported that Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman raised concerns about escalation in a call with Trump earlier Saturday — a discussion first reported by Axios — after sending Defense Minister Khalid bin Salman to Washington on Wednesday to meet Trump and Vice President Vance; Trump met Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the White House on Tuesday, their first in-person meeting since the war began on 28 February.1 The cancellation cut off a strike plan in preparation: the Wall Street Journal reported Trump had ordered a new attack “as soon as this weekend” to convince Tehran “to surrender,” and CBS News reported joint US-Israeli planning for “one of the harshest bombing campaigns to date” against Iranian energy infrastructure, timed “to conclude by the time financial markets open Monday” — with an Israeli official telling CBS that Israel was “unaware of a decision to restart full military operations.”23 On Friday Trump had told reporters “we just want to win” and that the U.S. would hit Iran “very hard”; White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Tehran had signed the June memorandum and then “broke it, shot at commercial ships, and killed American soldiers” (see Islamabad memorandum ends US-Iran war and Two weeks after ceasefire collapse, Houthis embargo Saudi-bound shipping).1

  1. Saudi Arabia occupied both ends of the week: on 28 July U.S. Central Command and the Saudi Arabian Armed Forces “conducted precision strikes in Iraq … against Iran-aligned terrorists that the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) directed to attack U.S. forces and Saudi energy infrastructure,” in CENTCOM’s words “a strong response to over 30 IRGC-directed aerial drone attacks in the last 72 hours” — Iraq’s Popular Mobilization Forces claimed at least 20 of its members killed, and Iranian media reported at least four IRGC deaths — while by Saturday the crown prince was brokering the pullback, with the AP reporting Saudi concern that strikes on Iranian energy infrastructure would draw Iranian attacks on Gulf energy facilities.451

  2. The war reached Kuwait, a third Gulf host of U.S. forces, in the week before the halt: Iran’s army claimed a 31 July drone attack on U.S. facilities at Ahmad Al-Jaber Air Base — a claim neither the United States nor Kuwait confirmed — and at dawn on 1 August drones struck a government facility in northern Kuwait and damaged civilian vehicles on Boubyan Island, with no casualties; Kuwait condemned “the continued heinous Iranian aggression,” its defense ministry said interceptors destroyed hostile drones, and its foreign ministry called the attacks a breach of “UN Security Council Resolution 2817.”67 The AP separately reported a thwarted Iranian surprise attack on a U.S. base in Jordan earlier in the week.1

  3. The maritime chokepoints priced the escalation before the halt: Kpler ship-tracking data showed Hormuz transits falling 77 percent on Thursday 30 July, from 22 vessels to five; the Houthis claimed 25 July attacks on Saudi Aramco facilities at Jizan and Yanbu that Saudi authorities did not confirm; and the Security Council on 14 July adopted Resolution 2826 by 13-0 with China and Russia abstaining, extending the Secretary-General’s monthly Red Sea reporting mandate to 15 January 2027. Brent crude fell 8.7 percent to $88.36 on 27 July on reports Iran might halt attacks and settled back at $90.74 on 29 July as strike preparations surfaced.891011

  4. The Pentagon’s casualty accounting changed as the toll passed 600: CNN reported from updated Defense Casualty Analysis System data on 26 July that “18 troops have died and another 624 have been wounded since the US launched its war against Iran on Feb. 28,” while the four service members killed 17-19 July — three soldiers in Jordan and one in northern Iraq — are carried in a new “Overseas Operations” category with a 7 July start date, outside the main war tally.12

Footnotes

  1. Associated Press, “Trump claims Mideast allies have reached outlines of deal to end Iran war,” 1-2 August 2026 (the Saturday-evening post: “cancel the attack, subject to being able to rapidly make a DEAL”; “the Immediate, Complete, and Total OPENING OF THE HORMUZ STRAIT, and an end to Iran’s nuclear threat”; “locked and loaded”; the bin Salman call, first reported by Axios; the Khalid bin Salman Washington meetings; the Tuesday Netanyahu meeting; Friday’s “we just want to win”; Leavitt: Tehran “broke it, shot at commercial ships, and killed American soldiers”; State Department security alerts covering ten countries). https://apnews.com/article/iran-war-trump-saudi-crown-prince-call-814164417aa284dc8a6d34ac22ea1a8e ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5

  2. Fortune, “Trump orders Iran attack as soon as this weekend, WSJ says,” 31 July 2026 (Wall Street Journal reporting, per unnamed US officials, of an ordered multi-day attack intended “to convince Tehran to surrender”; Trump at a Cabinet meeting: “We’ll be hitting them very hard … And at some point they’ll say we just can’t take it anymore.”). https://fortune.com/2026/07/31/trump-iran-attack-weekend-energy-infrastructure/ ↩

  3. CBS News reporting of joint US-Israeli planning against Iranian energy-infrastructure targets (“one of the harshest bombing campaigns to date”; strikes “possible throughout the weekend,” aiming “to conclude by the time financial markets open Monday”; “The president has yet to give the final ‘go’ orders”; an Israeli official: “Israel is unaware of a decision to restart full military operations, nor has been requested of Israel to join any military actions against Iran”), via Yahoo News. https://www.yahoo.com/news/politics/articles/u-israel-preparing-bombard-energy-210627039.html ↩

  4. U.S. Central Command, “U.S., Saudi Forces Strike Iran-Backed Terrorist Sites in Iraq,” public release, 28 July 2026 (“precision strikes in Iraq, July 28, against Iran-aligned terrorists that the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) directed to attack U.S. forces and Saudi energy infrastructure”; “a strong response to over 30 IRGC-directed aerial drone attacks in the last 72 hours”; “more than 600 attempted attacks on U.S. citizens and facilities by Iran-aligned terrorist militias in Iraq” from February through April 2026). https://www.centcom.mil/MEDIA/PUBLIC-RELEASES/Article/4558191/us-saudi-forces-strike-iran-backed-terrorist-sites-in-iraq/ ↩

  5. Iraq’s Popular Mobilization Forces claim of at least 20 members killed and 32 wounded in the 28 July strikes, per Al Jazeera, “Saudi Arabia, US carry out strikes on Iran-backed groups in Iraq,” 29 July 2026 https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/7/29/saudi-arabia-us-carry-out-strikes-on-iran-backed-groups-in-iraq; Iranian media reports of at least four IRGC members killed, per the Tribune India (wire coverage). https://www.tribuneindia.com/news/centcom-iraq-strikes/at-least-4-irgc-members-killed-in-iraq-in-us-saudi-strikes-says-iranian-media ↩

  6. Al Jazeera, “IRGC strikes US targets in Kuwait a day after US hits Iran,” 31 July 2026 (Iranian army claim of drone strikes on “strategic US military facilities at Kuwait’s Ahmad Al-Jaber airbase,” described as retaliation for US strikes on Qeshm Island; “The US has not responded to Iran’s attack yet, and specific details about the damage and casualties are not known”). https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/7/31/irgc-strikes-us-targets-in-kuwait-a-day-after-us-hits-iran-latest-events ↩

  7. Kuwait Times (sourced to the Kuwait News Agency), “Kuwait slams heinous Iran attacks,” 1 August 2026 (“continued heinous Iranian aggression”; a government facility in the north and civilian vehicles on Boubyan Island damaged, no casualties; Defense Ministry spokesman Col. Saud Al-Atwan on interceptions; the Foreign Ministry calling the attacks a violation of sovereignty and a breach of “UN Security Council Resolution 2817”). https://kuwaittimes.com/article/47469/kuwait/other-news/kuwait-slams-heinous-iran-attacks/ ↩

  8. Gulf News, “Tanker hit: explosion reported off Oman as Strait of Hormuz shipping plunges,” 1 August 2026 (“Ship-tracking data from Kpler showed traffic through the strategic waterway dropped 77 per cent on Thursday, from 22 vessels the previous day to five”). https://gulfnews.com/world/mena/tanker-hit-explosion-reported-off-oman-strait-of-hormuz-shipping-under-pressure-1.500627424 ↩

  9. Times of Israel liveblog, “Yemen’s Houthis say they carried out operations against Aramco facilities in Saudi’s Jizan and Yanbu,” 25 July 2026 (Houthi military spokesman Yahya Sare’e’s announcement; smoke reported at the Jizan refinery; no Saudi confirmation and no casualty figures). https://www.timesofisrael.com/liveblog_entry/yemens-houthis-say-they-carried-out-operations-against-aramco-facilities-in-saudis-jizan-and-yanbu/ ↩

  10. United Nations, “Security Council Extends Secretary-General’s Reporting Mandate on Houthi Attacks in Red Sea for Six Months, Adopting Resolution 2826 (2026),” SC/16412, 14 July 2026 (13 in favour, none against, China and the Russian Federation abstaining; mandate extended through 15 January 2027). https://press.un.org/en/2026/sc16412.doc.htm ↩

  11. CNBC, “Oil prices slide as Iran reportedly may halt attacks,” 27 July 2026 (Brent settled −8.7 percent at $88.36) https://www.cnbc.com/2026/07/27/oil-price-wti-brent-slide-as-iran-reportedly-may-halt-attacks.html; CNBC, 29 July 2026 (Brent settled at $90.74, a 7.9 percent daily gain, after Trump said the U.S. would “hit Iran hard”). https://www.cnbc.com/2026/07/29/oil-prices-today-brent-wti-iran-us-hormuz.html ↩

  12. CNN, “Iran war casualty count passes 600 as Pentagon changes accounting,” 26 July 2026 (“18 troops have died and another 624 have been wounded since the US launched its war against Iran on Feb. 28”; the new “Overseas Operations” category with a 7 July start date carrying the three soldiers killed in Jordan and the soldier killed in northern Iraq). https://www.cnn.com/2026/07/26/politics/iran-war-casualties ↩

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