Trump Pauses Attacks on Iran to Make Space for Talks, U.S. Ambassador Says

WASHINGTON - President Donald Trump has paused U.S. attacks on Iran to open more room for diplomacy, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations said Sunday, as a weekend lull settled over a conflict that had seen nearly two weeks of nightly bombing.

Mike Waltz, the U.S. envoy to the U.N., told “Fox News Sunday” that the president is giving negotiations “some space” and “a little bit of room,” though he offered no detail on the substance of the talks. In a separate appearance on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” Waltz said discussions were underway at every level, from technical working sessions to the most senior officials, and that diplomatic activity had intensified over the past few days.

The comments came after the Pentagon halted its bombing raids over the weekend, following 13 consecutive nights of escalating strikes and repeated warnings from Trump of an even more aggressive campaign. U.S. Central Command has not announced new strikes for several days, and there were no weekend reports of Iranian attacks on neighboring countries.

Iran, which had answered each night of American strikes with attacks on nearby states hosting U.S. bases, has also held its fire. A senior Iranian source told Reuters that Tehran’s posture is one of “attack for attack”: if the U.S. strikes stop, Iran will halt its own operations, a message the source said had already been relayed to Washington. The same source cautioned that Iran was prepared to mount a broad response if the fighting resumed.

A senior administration official said Saturday that the president has consistently favored diplomacy but has also shown Iran the consequences of refusing to negotiate seriously. Waltz echoed that dual message, acknowledging in the NBC interview that “a lot of stockpiles are depleted” while insisting the United States still has everything it needs to sustain its military campaign.

A decision made on Friday

The pause traces to a pivotal meeting late last week. Trump and his top advisers discussed the possibility of a major escalation, and the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Dan Caine, raised concerns about the volume of munitions such a move would require, according to reporting by CNN.

Axios reported that the Pentagon had presented Trump with strike plans every afternoon for roughly two weeks, and that he had signed off each night — until Friday, when he declined to approve the latest plan. The decision marked a turning point in a war that both sides have used to test the boundaries of escalation.

How the conflict reached this point

Major fighting had subsided under a ceasefire in April, and an interim agreement reopened the Strait of Hormuz in June before hostilities flared again this month. In the latest round, U.S. forces struck bridges and tunnels in southern Iran, and Iran retaliated by hitting water desalination plants that Gulf Arab states depend on to supply their desert cities.

Tehran has sought to cast the current pause as a victory, with one official claiming it shows the United States is suffering what he called strategic decision-making fatigue. Iran also condemned a Ukrainian strike on an Iranian vessel in the Caspian Sea; Kyiv has said it targeted ships carrying military goods bound for Russia.

For now, the guns are largely quiet. Whether the opening Waltz described widens into a durable agreement or narrows back toward confrontation will depend on talks whose details neither side has been willing to disclose.