Trump Postpones Iran Strikes After Gulf Pressure

US President Donald Trump told reporters at the White House on Tuesday that he had decided to delay the resumption of attacks on Iran because Saudi Arabia, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates and unspecified "others" had told him a deal to fully end the war was close to being sealed. "If we can do that, where there's no nuclear weapon going into the hands of Iran, and if they're satisfied, we will be probably satisfied also," he said. Pressed on whether he expected to follow through, Trump added: "There seems to be a very good chance that they can work something out. If we can do that without bombing the hell out of 'em, I'd be very happy."

Trump said he informed Israel and "other people in the Middle East" of the decision, and the delay reads as the latest step in a negotiating posture he has been incrementally settling into since signalling on Air Force One last week that a 20-year moratorium on Iran's nuclear program could be enough. Newt Gingrich publicly framed the trade-off on May 12 as a "very difficult choice" between the president's base and a settlement. The strike-postponement does not commit Washington to a timetable or terms and leaves military options on the table if the diplomatic track collapses.

On the same day, US intelligence agencies told reporters that Chinese companies have continued to negotiate weapons shipments to Iran in April and May 2026, in direct contradiction of Xi Jinping's May 15 personal pledge to Trump that Beijing would halt arms transfers. The pipeline includes man-portable air-defence systems (MANPADS), advanced radar systems and spare parts for anti-aircraft missiles, with African intermediaries used to obscure the origin of the weapons. Officials separately said Beijing has been supplying Iran with dual-use technologies, intelligence on US troop movements, and a reconnaissance satellite acquired in late 2025 -- a picture of Chinese involvement well beyond the public diplomatic posture.

Iran's response was not conciliatory. The army said it would "open new fronts" if the United States resumed strikes, while a senior military commander warned Washington against a new "strategic mistake" and said Iranian forces were "more prepared and stronger than before." Qatar said the diplomatic process "needs more time" to succeed. In Israel, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu convened his security cabinet to discuss the possibility of renewed fighting, Hebrew media reported, and Channel 12 said the US has asked to keep dozens of US refueling aircraft at Ben Gurion Airport through the end of the year.

Domestically, a mass shooting at the Islamic Center of San Diego killed five people including two suspected attackers. San Diego Police Chief Scott Wahl described the dead as three adult males plus the two shooters and named one of the victims as a security guard at the centre. Wahl said authorities would treat the case as a hate crime "until it's not" and were coordinating with the FBI; all children at the centre's on-site school were safe, he said. UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, via spokesperson Stephane Dujarric, condemned the attack as "particularly heinous" and called for a full investigation.

Brent and US crude both fell after Trump's announcement, reversing some of the war-premium pricing of recent weeks, while a separate readout described the Iran enrichment deadlock as unresolved, with the US zero-enrichment demand reported as untenable. In southern California, satellite imagery from May 19 confirmed the scale of two uncontrolled wildfires: the Sandy Fire in Simi Valley has burned 1,364 acres and triggered evacuation orders for more than 10,000 homes, and a separate Santa Rosa Island blaze has consumed 14,600 acres.