Trump Says Strikes On Iranian Energy Infrastructure Paused For 5 Days Amid Us-iran Talks

President Donald Trump said Monday the United States would pause “any and all military strikes against Iranian power plants and energy infrastructure” for five days as Tehran and Washington engage in diplomatic negotiations.

In a social media post, Trump wrote in all caps that the U.S. and Iran have had “very good and productive conversations” in the past two days and that the pause on strikes against energy infrastructure came as a direct result of the “in depth, detailed, and constructive conversations.” Trump added that the talks “will continue throughout the week.”

The move indicates that a diplomatic off-ramp to the conflict between the U.S. and Iran could be in reach. It also followed increasing unease from the U.S.’s allies in the Middle East and Europe over the conflict continuing to spiral.

Trump on Saturday threatened significant strikes on Iran’s energy infrastructure if the country didn’t “FULLY OPEN, WITHOUT THREAT,” the Strait of Hormuz, the critical waterway through which a significant part of the globe’s oil travels.

In an interview with POLITICO, UN Secretary-General António Guterres warned that strikes on Iran’s energy infrastructure could constitute war crimes.

The status of the strait has been of significant concern to Trump. The president has increasingly pressured historic American allies to play a role in securing safe passage for ships through the waterway, disparaging NATO as an unreliable partner when most European countries balked at his call.

Trump just days ago also downplayed the possibility of talks with Iran. On Friday, he told reporters at the White House that the U.S. and Iran “could have dialogue, but I don’t want to do a ceasefire,” saying any halt to military actions would be pointless “when you’re literally obliterating the other side.”

Hours after those comments, he suggested on Truth Social, the social media site that he owns, that the U.S. “is “getting very close to meeting our objectives as we consider winding down.”

One former defense official, granted anonymity to discuss the issue, expressed concern over the continued closure of the strait, saying the U.S. is “in a race against time to reopen the strait,” because the longer that commercial shipping stalled “we are demonstrating to the world that a middle power of relatively modest sophistication can deny command of the sea to the world's most powerful navy.”

The U.S. has two aircraft carriers in the region, although the Ford aircraft carrier had to head for an unplanned port visit last week after a fire on board injured several sailors and caused hundreds more to lose their sleeping spaces. There are dozens of fighter planes and bombers spread throughout the Middle East and at the British base at Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean that continue bombing runs, and two Marine units with around 5,000 Marines are currently en route from the Pacific.

Those units also come with their own air wings and the Marines could go ashore on Iran’s Kharg island in the Persian Gulf to seize Iran’s primary oil shipment point, essentially cutting off the flow of Iranian oil.

The closure of the strait has forced Trump to shift war aims from destroying Iran’s missile making capacity to opening the critical waterway, with Apache helicopters and A-10 fighter jets now engaged in the battle over shipping lanes by targeting remaining Iranian naval assets.

Iran still maintains a stockpile of thousands of sea mines that it has yet to employ in any large measure, but if used could shut down the narrow passage completely. Two of the U.S. Navy’s three minesweeper vessels are out of the Gulf on repair, and their return date is uncertain.

Ferdinand Knapp contributed to this report.