President Donald Trump has told senior advisers in recent days that he may hold off on attacking Iran if the United States faces no new provocations from Tehran or the Iran-backed Houthis in Yemen, according to three people familiar with the matter.
Trump has swung between threatening to escalate the war with new strikes and winding hostilities down, and current and former officials say he does not yet appear to have made up his mind about how to resolve the conflict, which he launched in February alongside Israel.
In meetings with his national security advisers, and after a series of intelligence briefings, Trump said he was considering holding off on strikes, the people said. He has also shown sympathy for regional allies who have asked him not to return to a full-scale war.
“I could end it immediately, but at the request of the nations that I am looking to protect, we are doing it a little bit longer way, a bit more civilly,” Trump told sports broadcaster Stephen A. Smith on Thursday.
The war has pushed up global fuel prices and proved unpopular with American voters, who handed control of Congress to the Democrats in last week’s midterm elections. In a Reuters/Ipsos poll taken shortly before the November 3 vote, 55 percent of Americans said the war was not worth the cost, and Vice President JD Vance cited it as the reason Trump’s Republicans lost Congress.
Trump has spent the past two weeks sounding out regional leaders. In phone calls, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan both urged him not to resume attacks on Iran, according to a senior US official and another person familiar with the matter. Neither leader secured a commitment either way.
Trump told bin Salman on October 31 that he was planning to attack after the elections, but the crown prince pleaded for him to hold off, arguing that economic sanctions against Iran were working, according to two more people familiar with the discussion. Trump has spoken with Erdogan three times since October 28, according to Turkey’s presidency, and a readout from their November 7 call stressed that tensions between Iran and the United States need to end.
US intelligence agencies have assessed that the naval blockade and economic sanctions are hurting the Iranian economy and would continue to put pressure on Tehran, two US officials briefed on the intelligence said. The US military is also working to stop weapons and other sanctioned material entering Iran by land or through the Caspian Sea, building on its months-long blockade of Iranian sea traffic.
At the same time, the military is ready to escalate if needed, three more people familiar with US planning said. A third aircraft carrier is moving into the Middle East in the coming days to replace one of the two currently operating in the region, though all three could stay if required.
Trump could opt to bomb Iran’s underground nuclear facilities, one of the people familiar with his calls with the Saudi and Turkish leaders said. But the United States has already struck those facilities, and it is unclear whether further strikes would succeed. US intelligence has also assessed that renewed strikes would not significantly shift Iran’s demands in negotiations, two US officials said.
Trump was also briefed on US weapon stockpiles, some of which have fallen to worrying levels, the two people familiar with the intelligence briefings said. Reuters reported in August that the United States had used “virtually all” of its long-range precision munitions, and another person briefed on the matter said they have not been replenished. A White House official said the military has enough munitions “to serve all of the Commander-in-Chief’s strategic goals and beyond”.
Israeli officials have continued to lobby the administration to mount another military campaign, according to a US official. Trump signalled this week that the United States has already achieved what it could from negotiations, but did not say whether he would resume strikes. “We don’t need a deal with Iran,” he wrote in a social media post on Thursday. “We’ve got their money, Hundreds of Billions of Dollars, and we’ve got their Strait!”
The account is based on anonymous sources: three people familiar with the matter, and officials briefed on intelligence assessments. The CIA and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence did not respond to requests for comment, and Saudi Arabia’s Foreign Ministry did not respond either.
Sources: Reuters — “Trump tells advisers he may hold off on Iran attacks barring new provocations, sources say” (https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/trump-tells-advisers-he-may-hold-off-iran-attacks-barring-new-provocations-2026-11-14/)
