Netanyahu asked Trump to postpone the attack on Iran

WashingtonAfter days of threatening an attack on Iran in response to the regime's brutal repression of the protests, On Wednesday afternoon, Donald Trump changed his tune. From the Oval Office, he asserted that he had been informed that executions in Tehran had stopped and that the regime had ceased killing protesters, indirectly indicating that the possibility of an operation against the ayatollahs was diminishing. This Thursday, administration sources explained to New York Times That same afternoon, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had asked the president to postpone any plans for a US military attack against Iran.

Subsequently, the White House confirmed the existence of the call. "It is true that the president spoke with Prime Minister Netanyahu, but I would never offer details of their conversation without the president's express approval," said press secretary Karoline Leavitt.

Tel Aviv would not have been the only country to ask Washington to halt any possible military action. Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Oman, and Egypt, all Washington allies, have also asked the Trump administration not to attack Iran, according to what he said. New York Times An official from an Arab country in the Gulf. Senior officials from these countries reportedly called US officials with this message over the past two days, warning that A US attack could lead to a wider regional conflict.

Both Arab countries and Israel are reportedly pressuring the White House to restrain itself. For now, it seems to have worked, although Trump has proven unpredictable. In June of last year, when he bombed Iranian nuclear facilities, the Republican also played at sending ambiguous signals, even after he had already decided to send warplanes.

At Thursday's press conference, the White House spokeswoman reaffirmed Trump's statements from the previous day and asserted that Iran had halted 800 executions scheduled for Wednesday after the US president warned of "grave consequences" if it continued. "The president and his team have communicated to the Iranian regime that if the killings continue, there will be grave consequences. The president received a message […] indicating that the killings and executions would cease. Today, the president learned that 800 executions scheduled for yesterday have been suspended," Leavitt said. Despite the statement, the press secretary insisted that the government is "closely monitoring the situation and all options remain on the table."

Sanctions against the "architects" of the repression

Meanwhile, the United States announced new sanctions against Iran on Thursday, taking "action against the architects of the Iranian regime's brutal repression of peaceful protesters," according to a statement from the Treasury Department. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent asserted in the statement that they would use "all the tools" at their disposal to apply further pressure to the regime. Trump had previously announced that he would also impose 25% tariffs on all countries that trade with the ayatollahs. Washington has sanctioned several senior Iranian officials "who oversee elements of the security forces that violently repress the Iranian people," including the secretary of Iran's Supreme Council for National Security, Ali Larijani, who was "one of the first Iranian leaders to incite violence in response." The Treasury Department also targeted 18 individuals and entities as part of the clandestine "parallel banking" networks of the sanctioned Iranian financial institutions Bank Melli and Shahr Bank. He claims that "they play a vital role in laundering the proceeds from the sale of Iranian oil and petrochemicals in foreign markets."