Trump announces when new Iran talks to begin after calling off ‘massive’ weekend attack

ABOARD AIR FORCE ONE – President Trump announced new talks with Tehran will begin Monday after he called off a “massive” attack on Iran that had been planned this weekend.

Appeals from several Gulf state allies — along with Iran itself — led Trump to stand down. Saudi Arabia Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman Al Saud spoke privately with the president on Saturday.

“I was asked to by Saudi Arabia, by UAE, by Qatar, and by Iran,” he told reporters Sunday aboard Air Force One when asked why he aborted the plan to strike Iran.

President Trump said new talks with Iran would begin on Monday. Jim LoScalzo / Pool via CNP / SplashNews.com

“We were all set to go,” he said, adding it would have been a “massive attack.”

“I said to the crown prince, ‘What would you rather do? Would you rather us do this or not?’” Trump said. 

“They said we would much prefer a deal as opposed to an attack, because you don’t know where these attacks lead.”

But the Saudi crown prince reassured him that Iran was ready to make a deal.

“They thought that a deal is imminent,” Trump said, noting it would include the Strait of Hormuz and on Iran’s nuclear program.

Iranian Foreign Minister Seyed Abbas Araghchi during a press conference at the Iranian Embassy in New Delhi on May 15, 2026. India Today Group/Getty Images

The Trump administration has been clear he wants the strait — a critical waterway for global trade and oil shipments — open and free of tolls. They also want Tehran not to be able to access nuclear weapons.

Trump was circumspect on whether a deal could be reached with the Iranians – negotiations between the warring countries have routinely fallen apart over internal factions within the regime reportedly at odds – when talks begin again Monday afternoon.

“A lot of times they’ll say that to me, and then they’ll go out and say we don’t know what he’s talking about,” he said.

Trump spoke privately with Saudi Arabia Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman Al Saud on Sunday. AFP via Getty Images

He wouldn’t give a deadline for reaching an agreement but assured that the US military is ready to strike at any time.

“We’re ready to go anytime we want,” he said.

On Saturday night, Trump called off the strikes on Iran, saying a framework for a peace deal had been reached.

The announcement came after reports that US and Israeli officials were weighing an attack on Tehran’s energy infrastructure.

Trump refused to answer when asked Sunday whether that attack would have hit energy targets. 

Tehran had warned that any bombing of its energy sector would trigger retaliation against oil and gas facilities in Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar and Israel.

Trump administration officials, meanwhile, have maintained that any renewed negotiations would require Iran to first agree to a cease-fire.

“That’s the basis for any type of negotiation; it starts with a cease-fire, and it has to start with Iran,” a US official told The Post on Thursday.