President Donald Trump said Saturday night that the United States would hold off on any new strikes on Iran, as long as a deal to end the months-long conflict is reached quickly. The announcement came hours after Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman called Trump to push for de-escalation, and as Iran threatened decisive retaliation against its neighbors.

Trump posted that "the USA is locked and loaded" to strike Iran with "military terror, strength, and power not seen since World War II," while adding that he would delay strikes after being asked by Iran and other Middle Eastern countries to hold off. He said the prospective deal would include the "Immediate, Complete, and Total Opening of the Hormuz Strait" and an end to Iran's nuclear threat, according to CBS News. The Strait of Hormuz is a narrow shipping channel at the mouth of the Persian Gulf through which roughly a fifth of the world's oil supply passes.

The call between Trump and Prince Mohammed took place on Saturday, August 1, confirmed by a White House official speaking on condition of anonymity to the Associated Press, as well as by AP reporting. A source described as having knowledge of the conversation told Axios that the Saudi crown prince urged Trump to de-escalate and refrain from launching the strikes. The Associated Press, citing its own source, reported that the Saudis were concerned that if the US targets Iran's energy or other key infrastructure, Tehran could respond with similar attacks on the kingdom and other Gulf countries.

Those Saudi concerns were not hypothetical. Iran's foreign minister, Abbas Araqchi, told senior Turkish, Pakistani, and Saudi officials in separate phone calls on Saturday that any attacks by the US and Israel or participation by regional countries in such actions would be met with a "proportionate response." Nournews, a media outlet affiliated with Iran's top security body, was more specific: US attacks on Iranian energy infrastructure would prompt Iranian strikes on oilfields in Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, as well as the gasfields of Qatar and Israel.

Iranian threats already materialized in several locations. Kuwait reported being hit by Iranian drones on Saturday. The Kuwaiti army said it destroyed hostile drones launched against several vital facilities, though a government facility in northern Kuwait and civilian property belonging to a company on Bubiyan Island were hit by falling shrapnel, causing material damage but no casualties. The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations said it had received reports of two maritime incidents off Oman, including one in which a tanker was struck by an unknown projectile that damaged the engine room. Two ships were attacked off Oman in the Strait of Hormuz, according to The Guardian.

CBS News had reported that the US and Israel were planning joint strikes, possibly throughout the weekend, with oil refineries and power plants among possible targets. Saudi Arabia earlier in the week had joined the US in striking logistics and weapons sites used by Iranian-backed militias in Iraq, positioning Riyadh as a participant in the broader campaign against Iranian-aligned forces, even as it sought to prevent direct strikes on Iranian soil.

This is not the first time Trump has threatened catastrophic strikes on Iran only to pull back. In June, Axios reported that Trump announced he had canceled planned strikes and claimed Iran's leadership had "approved" a draft agreement, only for Iran to tell Reuters it had not reached a final decision. The Associated Press similarly reported that Trump called off new military strikes hours after threatening to escalate. A June 17 deal signed by Trump and Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian set a 60-day timeline for an agreement on unresolved issues, according to Britannica. That 60-day window is now closing, raising the stakes for whether a comprehensive settlement can be reached before it expires.

The pattern of escalation threats followed by pauses has occurred repeatedly throughout the 2026 Iran war. In March, Trump threatened to "massively blow up" the entire South Pars gasfield if Iran carried out further retaliatory strikes, and separately threatened to "blow up" all of South Pars if Tehran struck Qatar. Iranian strikes at that time also hit Saudi Arabia's Red Sea region. In April, crude oil prices opened higher after Trump threatened that Iran would be "living in Hell" if it did not open the Strait of Hormuz. At least 15 people were killed in strikes on Lebanon during the same period. Cathay Pacific suspended flights to and from Dubai. Israel denied "dragging" the US into war, with Netanyahu saying Trump had "asked us to hold" off.

In July, the US launched strikes on Iran, which retaliated by hitting US bases in Bahrain and Kuwait, per Reuters. Iran attacked Kuwait and Bahrain, both of which host US military bases. Trump addressed the conflict and deal while speaking at a NATO summit in Turkey. PBS NewsHour reported on August 1 that Trump was threatening more strikes amid tensions spanning Hormuz, Kuwait, and Gaza.

The broader context here is a confrontation in which every actor's threshold for escalation is being tested simultaneously. The Saudi intervention is particularly consequential: Riyadh has participated in strikes against Iranian proxies in Iraq, yet draws a firm line at direct strikes on Iranian energy infrastructure, calculating that the blowback would land on Gulf oilfields and LNG facilities rather than on US territory. Iran's willingness to launch drones against Kuwait and maritime attacks in the Strait of Hormuz lends credibility to the threats articulated through Nournews. The June 17 deal's 60-day timeline adds a structural deadline that compresses the diplomatic space. Whether Tehran will accept the terms Trump has outlined, particularly on Hormuz access and the nuclear file, or whether this pause dissolves into another cycle of strikes and counterstrikes, is the central question for the region's immediate future.