Trump Cancels Iran Strikes, Tehran Denies Pleading
The U.S. president says Iran and regional states asked him to hold off strikes because a deal's outline was accepted. Iranian military sources say nobody asked for anything.
U.S. President Donald Trump announced late on Saturday, August 1, on Truth Social that he had called off planned strikes on Iran, saying Tehran and several other countries in the region had asked him to hold off because the outline of a deal had been accepted. Less than twenty four hours later, Iranian military sources rejected that version of events. We reported this morning on the American order for new strikes and on the demand for surrender, and since then both the order and the story of who asked whom have changed. For Serbia, which imports most of its oil and gas, this is not a distant matter: the Strait of Hormuz remains closed, and under normal conditions close to a fifth of the world’s oil and liquefied natural gas shipments pass through it.
In his post, Trump said American forces had been ready to act and that he changed course at the other side’s request.
We were just asked by Iran and other Middle Eastern countries to hold off on any attack, because the outline of a deal has been accepted.
The rollback comes with a condition. In the same post, the president stressed that it only holds if a deal is reached quickly, without specifying a deadline or saying who is mediating.
What the Deal Would Cover
Trump reduced what Washington is demanding to two points, both written in capital letters:
The immediate, full and complete OPENING OF THE STRAIT OF HORMUZ, and an end to the Iranian nuclear threat.
The first point is exactly where the previous ceasefire collapsed, the one brokered in June by Islamabad and Doha. A dispute over the rules of passage through the strait brought that deal down within weeks. Tehran has not shifted its position since: it insists the pre war status quo will not return, offering instead joint management of maritime traffic with Oman, an option Washington and its Gulf partners reject.
A day earlier, on Friday, the message out of the White House had been the opposite. Trump had announced that Iran would be hit “very hard.” American media reported that a strike on Iran’s energy infrastructure was being prepared, and the State Department issued security warnings on Saturday for U.S. citizens in ten countries in the region, advising them to consider leaving.
Diplomatic channels kept working in the meantime. Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman called Trump on Saturday and pushed for de-escalation and a return to the negotiating table, Axios reported. Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, in a call with his Saudi counterpart the same day, warned of a proportionate response to any American or Israeli attack, as well as to the involvement of any country in the region in such an action.
Who Asked Whom?
Tehran has issued no official response to Trump’s post, but Iranian military sources, speaking to the Mehr news agency on Sunday, rejected the central claim in his account and described it as pressure on the leaders of Gulf states.
Trump backed down from his hollow threats, and dressed up that retreat as a favor to the world.
The same sources say Iran’s armed forces are at their highest level of readiness. The semi-official Fars news agency went further, reporting that the American president had run out of strength. Acting Defense Minister Majid Ebn-e Reza said on Sunday that Tehran treats every threat from its adversary as real, even one framed as psychological warfare, and that the country will not be caught off guard.
The two versions agree on one point: no strike took place. They disagree on who backed down, and that question carries a price on the home front of both sides.
Interceptor Stockpiles and Washington’s Calculations
The war entered its 156th day on August 2, counting from February 28, 2026, when American and Israeli strikes began. Five months of fighting have drained U.S. stockpiles too. According to the Center for Strategic and International Studies, the number of Patriot interceptors has fallen from about 2,300 before the war to fewer than 827, roughly a third of the pre war level. Democratic Senator Chris Van Hollen told ABC that interceptors are running low and are needed to protect American troops, adding that they are being used up daily even as conflicts loom elsewhere in the world. The president rejects that assessment.
What to Expect by the End of the Week
Pakistani and Qatari mediators, who together with regional partners persuaded Washington to hold off on new strikes, expressed cautious optimism and said a resumption of American-Iranian talks could come by the end of this week. For now, that is the only deadline named in the entire story.
For the region and for Europe’s energy market, one point is decisive: with the Strait of Hormuz closed and shipping in the Red Sea disrupted by Yemen’s Houthis, the halt in strikes buys a respite, not a resolution. The previous pause, without a clear agreement on the strait, lasted a few weeks. This one begins with the two sides publicly disputing what even happened.
