Trump puts off threat to bomb Iran power grid

Pakistan, Turkiye, Egypt reportedly mediate to end conflict

WASHINGTON:  US President Donald Trump said on Monday he had given orders to postpone any military strikes against Iranian power plants for five days, hours ahead of a deadline that threatened further escalation in the conflict now in its fourth week.

Trump claimed in a post on his Truth Social platform that the US and Iran had had “VERY GOOD AND PRODUCTIVE” conversations over the past two days about a “COMPLETE AND TOTAL RESOLUTION OF HOSTILITIES IN THE MIDDLE EAST”.

The White House did not respond to questions about the content of the talks, who participated or where they were held.

A reporter for the US news outlet Axios said Turkiye, Egypt and Pakistan had met White House envoy Steve Witkoff and, separately, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi.

The reporter, Barak Ravid, cited an unnamed US source as saying the discussion was about ending the war and resolving all outstanding issues.

Araghchi’s ministry said there were “initiatives” to reduce tensions, the Mehr news agency reported, adding that Tehran wanted Washington, as the party that began the war, to be a direct participant.

In his message, written entirely in capital letters, Trump said he had instructed the defence department to postpone the strikes pending the outcome of the talks.

He claimed while speaking to Fox Business Network that Iran wanted “badly to make a deal”, which could come within five days.

A source briefed on Israel’s war plans said Washington had kept it informed of its talks with Tehran, and that Israel was likely to follow Washington in suspending any targeting of Iranian power plants and energy infrastructure.

The Israeli prime minister’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment on reported talks with Iran or Washington’s decision to suspend strikes on some Iranian targets.

Trump’s comments briefly sent the price of the Brent crude oil benchmark down around 13 per cent to back below $100 a barrel. Global markets also recovered sharply, with US stock futures reversing losses to gain around 1.3pc. On Saturday, Trump had warned that Iranian power plants would be destroyed if Tehran failed to “fully open” the Strait of Hormuz to all shipping within 48 hours. Trump set a deadline of around 7:44pm EDT (2344 GMT) on Monday. Monitoring Desk