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U.S. President Donald Trump said Sunday he decided to hold off on ordering American forces to carry out new strikes against Iran at the urging of Gulf allies Qatar, Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates. ( Video courtesy of Associated Press, US NETWORK POOL )

READ: https://mb.com.ph/2026/08/03/trump-says-gulf-leaders-input-weighed-heavily-in-decision-to-hold-off-on-ordering-new-iran-strikes


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Transcript
00:02I was asked to by Saudi Arabia, by UAE, by Qatar, and by Iran.
00:10We were all set to go, just about at this time right now, and it would have been a massive
00:17attack.
00:18We were all set to go, but when the Allies asked to call it off, you've got to sort of
00:25say, well, let's see.
00:27And the reason they asked is I think there's a deal.
00:30There's a deal on Hormuz, and then there will be a deal on the nuclear, or you might call it
00:35the denuclearization of Iran.
00:37I call it the denuclearization of Iran.
00:40So we're holding it.
00:42We'll just see.
00:43We can do it anytime we want.
00:46But we were asked by the three primary groups.
00:51We were also asked by Iran, very strongly, actually.
00:55They said we'd like to make a deal.
00:56What happens now?
00:58Well, now what we're doing is we're talking to them in the form of a negotiation.
01:02It begins tomorrow afternoon, and we'll see if it's true.
01:06I'd love to do that, save a lot of lives, save a lot of unnecessary power, to be honest with
01:13you.
01:13It would take many, many years to ever build it back.
01:16If it could, I don't think it would be even buildable back.
01:19So we had an attack that would be the biggest attack since World War II, and it would have been
01:27disastrous with them.
01:30And they didn't want us to do it.
01:31And frankly, Saudi Arabia didn't want it either.
01:34They thought that a deal is imminent.
01:38It was going to be a massive attack.
01:40It was going to be an attack that would have been by far the biggest attack since World War II.
01:44But they've asked us not to do it.
01:46They said, please don't do it.
01:48And other, their neighbors said that too.
01:51And so we're just going to see whether or not we can make a deal toward the denuclearization.
01:56I asked them, I asked Saudi Arabia, the king, I said, the crown prince.
02:01I said, what would you rather do?
02:03Would you rather have us do this or not?
02:05They said, we would much prefer a deal as opposed to an attack.
02:10Because you don't know where these attacks lead.
02:12I mean...
02:17You don't know where these attacks lead.
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