Reuters: Trump postponed Iran strikes at the call of Erdoğan and bin Salman

US President Donald Trump has told senior advisers in recent days that he could abandon striking Iran if there is no new provocation from Tehran or from Iran-backed Houthis in Yemen. According to Reuters, which based its report on sources it did not name, Trump has not yet decided how to resolve the conflict he launched together with Israel in recent months, which has not found public support; for now he has given up on the strikes.

According to the sources, Trump considered postponing the strikes after meetings with his national security advisers and a series of intelligence meetings. It was stated that he showed understanding toward his allies in the region who asked that a full-scale war not be resumed.

According to a senior US official and another source familiar with the matter, Trump asked for the views of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and Turkish President Tayyip Erdoğan in the phone calls he held over the past two weeks. It was noted that both leaders called on Trump not to resume strikes on Iran, while Trump made no commitment in either direction.

According to two sources familiar with the conversation, Trump told bin Salman within the past two weeks that he planned to strike after the elections; the Crown Prince, arguing that economic sanctions on Iran were working, asked him to postpone the strike. According to Turkish Presidency data, Trump has met with Erdoğan three times since 28 October; an official statement on the 7 November conversation stressed that the tension between Iran and the US must end.

At the intelligence meetings, US officials reported that US intelligence agencies assessed that the blockade and economic sanctions against Iran were damaging Iran's economy and would maintain pressure on Tehran. It was stated that the US military, in addition to its months-long blockade of Iran's maritime traffic, was also trying to prevent the entry of weapons and other materials covered by sanctions into the country by land or via the Caspian Sea.

The war, which has raised global fuel prices, also drew a reaction among American voters who handed control of Congress to the Democrats in last week's midterm elections. In a Reuters/Ipsos poll conducted shortly before the 3 November elections, 55 percent of Americans said the war was not worth its cost, while Vice President JD Vance cited this war as the reason Republicans lost Congress.

A White House official said, "As commander-in-chief, President Trump is the architect and leader who holds all the cards and will ensure that America's interests are always protected; with the US holding control of the Strait of Hormuz and the collapse of Iran's economy, it is in a very strong position."