For the Umpteenth Time, Trump Calls Off the Announced Attack on Iran

Once again — and for the umpteenth time (the previous instances on this front are too numerous to count!) — President Donald Trump announced in the early hours of Sunday, August 2, the "cancellation" of the "large-scale" attack that had been described as "imminent" against the Iranian regime.

In recent days, the US Administration had fueled — through extensive media fanfare — an atmosphere suggesting that a major attack targeting the Islamic Republic's energy infrastructure was planned for that weekend.

The announcement of these large-scale military operations was accompanied by statements from President Trump and senior American officials condemning the conduct of Iran's leaders and denouncing, in very harsh terms, their negative attitude and deceptive behavior during talks with US negotiators.

Setting aside this hard-line stance entirely, however, President Trump announced in the early hours of Sunday that the attack had been called off "at Iran's request" (!) and at the request of certain countries in the region, indicating that an agreement had been reached regarding Iran's nuclear program and the immediate, unimpeded reopening of the Strait of Hormuz… except that Iran's official news agency shortly afterward denied any agreement concerning that strategic waterway!

One must acknowledge — and above all lament — that these repeated U-turns by President Trump, which have led him, on numerous occasions, to back down at the last minute after threatening to attack Iran, can only do serious damage to his credibility and, by the same token, serve to strengthen the radical wing of the Iranian regime.

That said, in announcing the cancellation of the planned strikes, the head of the White House once again declared that "if a deal is not negotiated very quickly, we will carry out the most powerful strikes the world has seen since World War II."

Yet the public tends to no longer take the American president's threats seriously.

This decision, announced on the social media platform Truth Social, came after a week filled with tensions and developments.

On Tuesday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had held a meeting with President Trump in Washington, on the sidelines of a ceremony honoring the late American Senator Lindsey Graham.

The absence of a joint press conference between the two men reignited speculation about the persistence of disagreements between the two leaders.

Iranian threats

Regardless, it was becoming increasingly clear as the week wore on that Israel and the United States were preparing for a new attack against Iran, even as the Jewish state had been sidelined from the most recent military escalation against Tehran.

On Saturday, strikes against Iranian energy sites were being discussed — the very same strike threats that had preceded the first ceasefire announced by Trump on April 8. US embassies in the region had warned American citizens on Saturday against any travel to the Middle East.

It is worth noting, in an attempt to explain President Trump's reversal, that the announcement canceling the attack was preceded by contacts initiated on Saturday by Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi with his Saudi and Turkish counterparts, as well as with the commander of the Pakistani army.

At the same time, Mr. Araghchi issued threats against the United States, warning Americans against "any hasty decision." Meanwhile, sources from the regime's radical wing launched a campaign of outright blackmail, warning on Saturday that if the US military followed through on its threats, the populations of Gulf countries, Jordan, and Israel would no longer know peace.

Against this backdrop of Iranian blackmail, Secretary of State Marco Rubio stated Saturday evening in an interview with Fox News that "the Iranian regime must change, as it is a regime that was not seeking to govern its own country but to govern the entire region."

Rubio went on to emphasize that "Iranian leaders must be made to pay a heavy price for these practices, so that they abandon their aspirations for regional hegemony."

The Iraqi question and Hamas's weapons

In any case, the Iranian regime has once again demonstrated its capacity for disruption through its proxies in recent days. Yemen's Houthi rebels opened a new front on the Red Sea and raised the threat of a complete closure of another strait — the Bab el-Mandeb.

However, beyond Hezbollah in Lebanon and the Houthis in Yemen, another actor entered the fray this week. The pro-Iranian Iraqi group Hashd al-Shaabi carried out drone strikes against Saudi territory, prompting a joint American-Saudi response earlier in the week targeting the group's sites in Iraq.

Regardless, by the end of the week, despite repeated pledges by Iraqi authorities to prevent any strikes from being launched from their territory, Jordan threatened to attack pro-Iranian Iraqi groups if its territory were targeted again.

This widening of the conflict zone was confirmed by an unprecedented strike on Wednesday against an Egyptian port, targeting a gas tanker owned by an American company — the first time Egypt has been drawn into this conflict.

Another major development concerning Iran's regional allies: Hamas, now led by Khalil al-Hayya, approved an agreement leading to its disarmament, which, according to the group, stipulates a gradual withdrawal of Israeli forces from the Gaza Strip.

An agreement that is expected to be implemented by the Peace Council established by Trump in January.

Finally, it is worth noting that Lebanese President Joseph Aoun was received mid-week by his Turkish counterpart, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, in Ankara.