Trump: We halted attacks to give negotiations a chance

US President Donald Trump, in an interview with the news site Axios, made a statement regarding why they halted attacks on Iran. Stating that the US decided to stop its attacks on Iran to give the ongoing negotiations with Iran another chance, Trump said, "We stopped the attacks on Iran to give negotiations another chance."

Stating that he could order the resumption of large-scale military operations if diplomacy fails, Trump said, "We are conducting very comprehensive talks with Iran. If they do not yield results, we will return to very strong military operations." When asked how much time he would give diplomacy, Trump replied, "Not much. It either moves quickly or it doesn't move at all."

Trump stated that he decided to halt the attacks last Friday at the request of mediating countries, saying, "Everyone involved in the Iran issue told me, 'Stop the attacks,'" and added that he believes Iran wants to reach a deal. When asked why he accepted the mediators' request, Trump said, "We didn't win or lose anything," noting that after the attacks were halted, oil prices fell and stock markets rose.

Trump stated that he would meet with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the White House tomorrow, saying, "I will tell Netanyahu that if I were not president, Iran would have had a nuclear weapon by now and Israel would have been destroyed."

The US, which had carried out 13 waves of attacks on Iran since July 7, had paused the attacks on Iran on July 24.