Middle East allies in blitz of diplomacy urged Trump to hold off on Iran strikes, diplomat says

WASHINGTON — Several Middle Eastern allies of the United States have urged the Trump administration to hold off on strikes against Iran for the government's deadly crackdown on protesters, according to an Arab diplomat familiar with the matter.

Top officials from Egypt, Oman, Saudi Arabia and Qatar have raised concerns in the last 48 hours that a U.S. military intervention would shake the global economy and destabilize an already volatile region, said the diplomat who spoke on condition of anonymity to describe the sensitive conversations.

Oil prices fell on Thursday as the markets appeared to take note of President Donald Trump's shifting tone as a sign that he's leaning away from attacking Iran after days of launching blistering threats at Tehran for its brutal crackdown.

Nevertheless, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt on Thursday maintained that ''all options remain on the table'' for Trump as he deals with Iran.

''The truth is only President Trump knows what he's going to do and a very, very small team of advisers are read into his thinking on that,'' Leavitt said. She added, ''He continues to closely monitor the situation on the ground in Iran.''

The nationwide protests challenging Iran's theocracy appeared increasingly smothered Thursday, a week after authorities shut the country off from the world and escalated a bloody crackdown that activists say has killed at least 2,637 people.

The delicate diplomacy from Arab officials comes during a period of rhetorical whiplash from Trump.

The Arab officials also urged senior Iranian officials to quickly end the violent repression of protesters. They warned that any Iranian response to a U.S. action against the U.S. or other targets in the region would have significant repercussions for Iran, the diplomat said.

Asked about reports of allies asking Trump to hold off on the strikes at a White House briefing, Leavitt did not directly address the matter.

Ambassador Mike Waltz, the U.S. envoy to the United Nations, said military action is an option that remains in play.

''President Trump is a man of action, not endless talk like we see at the United Nations,'' Waltz said in remarks at a meeting of the U.N. Security Council to discuss the Iran protests. ''He has made it clear all options are on the table to stop the slaughter.''

But Trump himself appeared to send signals he could be backing away from a potential U.S. strike on Iran after days of threatening one was in the offing.

Iranian state media denied Soltani had been condemned to death. Iranian judicial authorities said Soltani was being held in a detention facility outside of the capital.

Alongside other protesters, he has been accused of ''propaganda activities against the regime,'' state media said.

''This is good news. Hopefully, it will continue!'' Trump said in his post about the reported pause in the execution of the shopkeeper. The White House later asserted that Iran had halted 800 scheduled executions.

Trump has been known to purposefully display ambiguity about his intentions to maintain an element of surprise.

Last June, as Trump was weighing whether to follow Israel as it carried out strikes on Iran, Leavitt read a message to reporters that she said came ''directly from the president'' in which Trump said he would decide whether to strike Iran ''within the next two weeks.''

Jeremy Shapiro, research director of the European Council on Foreign Relations, said Trump may have decided to hold off on strikes because of concerns about the current U.S. force posture in the Middle East.

There are currently no U.S. aircraft carriers, considered a critical asset a significant military operation, in the region after the USS Gerald R. Ford and its strike group were deployed to the U.S. Southern Command region as the part of a massive counter-narcotics operation focused on Venezuela.

''It might be that they're delaying things and using the time for getting that posture correct,'' Shapiro said.

The Trump administration on Thursday also announced new sanction s against Iran.

Included in Thursday's sanctions is the secretary of the Supreme Council for National Security, whom the Treasury Department accuses of being one of the first officials to call for violence against Iranian protesters.

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