Trump says new talks with Iran set to begin after calling off attack

US President Donald Trump said negotiations with Iran will begin on Monday after he decided to hold off on new strikes against the Islamic republic to pursue a deal.
“Obviously, they don’t want to be attacked. They knew the extent of the attack because they saw it forming,” Trump told reporters on Sunday aboard Air Force One.
“Now what we’re doing is we’re talking to them in the form of a negotiation. It begins tomorrow afternoon,” Trump said without providing further details of the venue of the talks or the participants.
Explaining his decision-making, Trump said he had been asked by Iran as well as US partners Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar to hold off on the strikes.
“When the allies asked to call it off, you’ve got to sort [of] say: ‘Well, let’s see.’ And the reason they ask is they think there’s a deal,” Trump said.
“There’s a deal on (the Strait of) Hormuz and then there will be a deal on the nuclear, or you might call it the denuclearisation of Iran.”
He reiterated that the scale of the planned strikes would have been “the biggest attack since World War II”.
“It would take many, many years to ever build it back if it could - I don’t think it would even be buildable,” Trump said.

He said Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman had also urged against the strikes, warning of possible unintended consequences.
“I mean, will they be flooded with people pouring into their country and disaster? A lot of bad things can happen,” Trump said.
It was the latest in a pattern of announcements the US president has made to first threaten massive strikes and then later call them off.
The abrupt shifts have been a defining feature of the five-month conflict that has sent prices of oil and basic goods soaring – and the announcements to date have been upended by renewed attacks days or even hours after.
Here is a look at some of Trump’s past major announcements about pausing strikes against Iran:
April 7
The United States and Iran agree to a two-week ceasefire to end the intense fighting that began on February 28 with Israeli and US attacks. Trump makes the announcement fewer than two hours before a deadline he had set for Tehran to capitulate or face attacks on bridges and power plants – strikes he said would mean “a whole civilisation will die”.
April 21
Trump announces that the US is indefinitely extending its ceasefire with Iran a day before it was set to expire. He adds that he has been asked by mediators to hold off on attacks to give Iranian leaders time to come up with additional proposals. The fragile ceasefire lasts until May 8, when the US carried out strikes on Iranian tankers.
May 18
After a weekend of dire threats against Iran, Trump says he is holding off a major planned military strike because “serious negotiations” were under way. “There seems to be a very good chance that they can work something out. If we can do that without bombing the hell out of them, I’d be very happy,” he said. By May 27, US strikes were back on after negotiations faltered.

June 11
After two days of back-and-forth attacks, Trump threatens further escalation, saying the US would hit Iran “VERY HARD TONIGHT” and take “total control” of its oil and gas industries. Then, a few hours later, Trump posts on social media that there had been a breakthrough in negotiations and called off the strikes.
June 17
Trump signs an initial agreement with Iran that calls for a permanent end to hostilities and for reopening of the Strait of Hormuz, and starts a 60-day negotiating clock to reach a final deal on the future of Iran’s nuclear programme. Trump left the door open to abandoning it. “It’s a memorandum of understanding and if I don’t like it, we’ll go back to shooting at them, dropping bombs,” he said.
July 7
After Iranian attacks on commercial ships in the strait, Trump launches new strikes on Iran while he is in Ankara, Turkey, attending the Nato leaders’ summit. Later, he renews his threat to “just finish the job” on Iran after saying he believes the ceasefire is over.
July 27
Trump says he has paused two weeks of intense, daily US strikes on Iran to give negotiations another chance. During 13 days of strikes, the US military had targeted key military and commercial sites as clashes continued to escalate over shipping routes. In response, Iran had launched missiles and drones across the Middle East at countries that host US troops.
August 1
After telling reporters the US would hit Iran “very hard”, Trump says on social media that he has cancelled planned strikes, claiming Middle East allies had reached the parameters of a deal to end the war, including a reopening of the strait.
“Based on this request, I have agreed, for the future benefit of the WORLD and, likewise, the survival of a successful and prosperous Iran, to cancel the attack, subject to being able to rapidly make a DEAL,” Trump said. In response, Iran’s defence minister said the country was “neither surprised nor passive” following Trump’s announcement and said Iran continues to remain alert in the face of threats.
Reporting by Agence France-Presse, Associated Press