Iran’s military ‘virtually destroyed’ in US actions, Trump says

US President Donald Trump said on Monday several countries, including Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates, urged him to delay what he described as a planned “very major attack,” saying they believed a nuclear-related deal with Iran was close.

"Well, other countries have come to me, and they've said we were getting ready to do a very major attack tomorrow. I put it off for a little while, hopefully maybe forever, but possibly for a little while, because we've had very big discussions with Iran, and we'll see what they amount to. I was asked by Saudi Arabia, Qatar, UAE, and some others if we could put it off for two or three days, a short period of time, because they think that they are getting very close to making a deal, and if we can do that, where there's no nuclear weapon going into the hands of Iran, I think, and if they're satisfied, we will be probably satisfied also. We've informed Israel, we've informed other people in the Middle East that have been involved with us, and it's a very positive development, but we'll see whether or not it amounts to anything. We've had periods of time where we had, we thought, pretty much getting close to making a deal, and didn't work out, but this is a little bit different. Now we're already going tomorrow, very big, and not something I wanted to do, but we have no choice, because we cannot let Iran have a nuclear weapon," Trump said.

Trump said Qatar’s emir, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and UAE President Mohammed bin Zayed asked him to delay the attack, which he said had been planned for Tuesday, because they believed a deal could be reached that would be “very acceptable” to the United States, the Middle East and beyond.

“This Deal will include, importantly, NO NUCLEAR WEAPONS FOR IRAN!” Trump said in a post on Truth Social.

He said he instructed Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Gen. Daniel Caine and the US military not to carry out the strike, but warned that the order could be reversed if talks fail.

“I have further instructed them to be prepared to go forward with a full, large scale assault of Iran, on a moment’s notice, in the event that an acceptable Deal is not reached,” Trump said.

The diplomatic push came as details emerged about Tehran’s latest proposal to Washington.

Earlier in the day, Reuters reported, citing a senior Iranian source, that Tehran’s latest proposal calls for a permanent end to the war, sanctions relief, the release of all frozen Iranian funds and the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz, while leaving nuclear talks for later stages.

The source said Washington had so far agreed only to unfreeze 25% of Iran’s funds on a phased timetable, but had shown flexibility over limits on Tehran’s nuclear work.

Reconstruction fund for Iran

Iran's Revolutionary Guards-affiliated Tasnim news agency separately reported, citing a source close to Tehran's negotiating team, that Washington had proposed establishing a reconstruction and development fund and had accepted suspending Iran’s oil sanctions during negotiations through temporary waivers issued by the US Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control.

Tasnim also said major gaps remained between the two sides, particularly over the release of frozen Iranian funds and Tehran’s demand for compensation over the war.

The source said Iran rejected linking an end to the conflict to nuclear commitments and insisted Tehran would “by no means agree to ending the war in exchange for nuclear commitments.”

The claims of sanctions relief were quickly disputed in Washington. CNBC reporter Megan Cassella said a US official denied the report, saying Iranian state media claims that Washington had agreed to lift oil sanctions during talks were false.

Axios also reported, citing a senior US official and a source briefed on the issue, that Iran’s updated proposal was insufficient because it lacked detailed commitments on suspending uranium enrichment or handing over its stockpile of highly enriched uranium.

The US official cited by Axios said no sanctions relief would happen “for free” without reciprocal action by Iran, warning that talks may otherwise continue “through bombs.”

Trump later told the New York Post he was “not open” to concessions to Tehran and suggested Iran understood the risk of further US action.

“I can tell you they want to make a deal more than ever, because they know we’re—what’s going to be happening soon,” Trump said.

The Republican majority in the US Senate said the Obama and Biden administrations “appeased Iran” by providing billions of dollars in sanctions relief and allowing its nuclear infrastructure to advance, while crediting President Donald Trump with pursuing a “maximum economic pressure” campaign, in a post on X.

"The Obama and Biden administrations chose to appease Iran, handing over billions in sanctions relief while allowing their nuclear infrastructure to advance. President Trump has decimated their military and is using maximum economic pressure. Peace requires strength," the post said.

Ali Gholhaki a hardline Iranian influencer, said on Monday on X that Donald Trump planned a “Saturday night” strike on Iran but cancelled it the same morning after Qatar warned Tehran of the plan and following regional intervention.

"Trump had planned to attack on "Saturday night," but in the morning of that day, Qatar warned Iran; today as well, Trump has said that _he had a plan for an attack at dawn on Tuesday_ but backed off based on the request of three Arab leaders in the region. With all that said, the reason for postponing the attack on Iran seems to be something other than the request of the Arab leaders; striking the "main target bank" cannot, with certainty, be guaranteed for America and Israel! More than ever, we must be vigilant..." the post said.

Esmaeil Baghaei, spokesperson for Iran’s Foreign Ministry on Monday addressed German Chancellor Friedrich Merz on X, accused Western governments of “hypocrisy” for not condemning US and Israeli strikes on Iran’s secured nuclear facilities.

"The hypocrisy is obvious. Open attacks by the United States and the Israeli regime on Iran’s secured nuclear facilities do not provoke condemnation, but rather excuses and justifications. Yet when a supposed false-flag operation takes place—one whose authorship even the UAE has refused to officially attribute to Iran—those same voices suddenly invoke the solemn language of “international law” and “regional security," Baghaei said.