US President Donald Trump on Tuesday, May 19, said he was an hour away from deciding to restart attacks on Iran, but put it off after receiving a call from interlocutors, including Qatar and the UAE, on Tehran being “reasonable” in the peace talks.
“I was an hour away. We were all set to go… it would have been happening right now,” Trump told reporters at the White House.
Trump was briefing reporters about the progress on the ballroom coming up at the East Wing of the White House, at the site as workers went about their construction job at the highly fortified structure.
“We would probably not be talking about a beautiful ballroom today. We’d be talking about that. And no, we were where I had made the decision. So they called up. They had heard I made the decision. They said, ‘Sir, could you give us a couple more days because we think they’re being reasonable,’” Trump said.
The US President said the negotiators said they had made a lot of progress in talks with Iran over the last two days.
“They called over the last two days to say they made a lot of progress. Because we have them negotiating with us. And primarily, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, UAE, Kuwait, a little bit of Bahrain, and some of the others. And we have them negotiating with them. We’re all working together. It’s like a team,” Trump said.
Trump said he’s giving Iran “a limited period of time” to make a deal because we can’t let them have a nuclear weapon.” “There’s no question in my mind that they’d use it, there’s no question—and I deal with these people. They’re extremely radicalised,” he said.
Trump slaps new sanctions on Iranian exchange firm
The Trump administration has imposed fresh sanctions on an Iranian foreign currency exchange house and several alleged front companies accused of facilitating transactions for Iranian banks.
The US Treasury Department said the sanctions target Iran-based Amin Exchange, also known as Ebrahimi and Associates Partnership Company, which it claims operates a vast network of front firms across multiple jurisdictions, including the UAE, Turkiye and Hong Kong.
Separately, the US also sanctioned 19 vessels allegedly involved in transporting Iranian petroleum and petrochemical products to overseas buyers.
Iran ready to confront any military aggression: Deputy FM
Iran’s Deputy Foreign Minister for Legal and International Affairs, Kazem Gharibabadi, said Tehran is prepared to respond to any military attack, reacting to US President Donald Trump’s remarks about postponing a planned strike on Iran.
“It speaks of readiness for a massive assault at any moment,” Gharibabadi wrote on X, referring to Trump’s post. “This means calling ‘threat’ by the name of ‘opportunity for peace’,” he added.
“Iran, united and resolutely, is prepared to confront any military aggression.”
Trump says Xi assured him China is not sending weapons to Iran
US President Donald Trump said Chinese President Xi Jinping assured him that Beijing was not supplying weapons to Iran.
“[Xi] promised me that he is not sending any weapons to Iran. That’s a beautiful promise. I take him at his word. I appreciated it,” Trump told reporters at the White House.
China last month dismissed reports alleging it planned to send weapons to Iran, calling the claims “groundless.”
UAE says air defences intercepted six drones in 48 hours
The UAE Defence Ministry said the country’s air defences intercepted six drones over the past 48 hours that were aimed at “civilian and vital areas”.
In a statement, the ministry said no casualties or property damage were reported.
It added that the drones targeting the Barakah nuclear facility on Sunday had originated from Iraqi territory.
G7 calls for reopening of Strait of Hormuz
Finance ministers of the G7 nations have stressed the need to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, while underscoring the importance of addressing global current account imbalances.
In a joint statement, the group also reaffirmed its commitment to multilateral cooperation to tackle risks facing the global economy.
Israel intercepts another Gaza-bound flotilla vessel
Israeli forces have intercepted another vessel linked to the Global Sumud Flotilla, stopping it about 82 nautical miles (roughly 150km) from Gaza, according to the flotilla’s online tracker.
A livestream from the flotilla showed Israeli personnel approaching the vessel, named “Andros”, in a dinghy as activists aboard raised their hands.
The broadcast later cut out, displaying a message that the boat had been intercepted.
The Global Sumud Flotilla’s tracker says Israeli forces have intercepted 61 vessels so far, while nine boats remain en route to Gaza.
Video, satellite photos show Iran war oil spill on Persian Gulf island
A mysterious attack on an Iranian oil refinery during the Iran war caused an oil spill that affected a nearby Persian Gulf island that’s a protected breeding ground for wildlife, videos and satellite photos show.
The oil-soaked waves lapping onto Shidvar Island, an uninhabited island, represent yet another sign of the ecological damage wrought by the war.
Oily rain has also fallen on the Iranian capital, Tehran, after airstrikes targeted oil facilities there. Iranian attacks on ships passing through the Persian Gulf, the Strait of Hormuz and the Gulf of Oman also caused environmental damage.
Mobile phone footage shot April 9 by an Iranian named Ehsan Jalali shows thick black smoke rising after the strike on an oil refinery on Lavan, an island just off mainland Iran near Shidvar.
The footage corresponds with known features of both islands and was posted by Jalali to Instagram in the last few days as Iran’s theocratic government has shut off access to the wider internet for weeks. Other footage shot by Jalali shows a lifeless bird and crab covered in oil, while a man holds up a dead swordfish.
Photographs taken on April 10 from an Airbus DS Pleiades Neo, a high-resolution optical satellite, and analysed by The Associated Press on Tuesday show the fire still burning at the refinery two days after the attack.
An oil slick stains the surrounding waters of the Persian Gulf, wrapping around Shidvar Island, which is also known locally as Maroo Island.
Shidvar Island, only some 3.3 square miles large, is designated as a wetland of international importance under the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands. It had been known as one of the most important breeding grounds for terns, a seabird, in Iran. Iran has considered the island as a wildlife refuge since 1972.
Iranian officials have not acknowledged any environmental damage caused by the attack at the Lavan oil refinery, which came hours after the United States and Israel agreed to a ceasefire in the war with Iran.
The US also had asked Israel to halt its attacks on oil infrastructure after earlier striking facilities associated with Iran’s offshore South Pars natural gas field. That attack sparked major Iranian assaults targeting oil and gas facilities across the Gulf Arab states, with Qatar being particularly hard hit.
