U.S. President Donald Trump said Sunday he decided to hold off on ordering American forces to carry out new strikes against Iran at the urging of Gulf allies Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. He said a plan had been in place for U.S. forces to carry out "the biggest attack since World War II," but he decided to give diplomacy more time after hearing from key Gulf leaders and requests from unnamed Iranian officials.
Trump said Monday that the two sides are resuming talks to wind down the war, and he called the negotiations the "last chance" for Iran to forge a deal to reopen the Strait of Hormuz and address his concerns about its nuclear program. He also said, "Whether Iran wants to admit it or not, we are, in fact, talking." On Truth Social, he wrote, "Iranian Leadership is unbelievably duplicitous!"
Tehran Denies Direct Negotiations
The Iranian Foreign Ministry said the country wasn't currently holding negotiations with the United States. Esmail Baghaei, an agency spokesperson, said Monday that ongoing talks were with Oman and were focused only on establishing a temporary route for safe navigation through the Strait of Hormuz. Nine vessels transited through the strait Sunday, most of them using an Iranian-controlled route, according to trade data and analytics platform Kpler.
Iran's denial of direct talks while simultaneously engaging through intermediaries highlights the pattern of duplicity Trump referenced. The regime's refusal to acknowledge negotiations even as ships begin moving through the strait suggests Tehran's leadership remains committed to maintaining deniability while testing whether American resolve has weakened.
Gaza Violence Continues Despite Disarmament Deal
In Gaza, an Israeli strike Monday evening hit a car in Gaza City, killing two men, according to Shifa Hospital, where the casualties were taken. Over the weekend, Israeli attacks left at least 17 people dead, including children, according to hospitals in Gaza. The Israeli military said the weekend strikes targeted militants and confirmed Monday's strike, saying it would release more information later.
The continued military operations come days after the U.S. and Hamas reached a deal to disarm the militant group, a potential step toward ending the war in Gaza. A top official overseeing Gaza's postwar transition met Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday, in part to press him to halt military attacks on the territory. Nikolay Mladenov, the high representative for Gaza on the Board of Peace, also discussed with Netanyahu the need to decommission all weapons in the enclave, the international body established by the U.S. said in a statement.
The timing of the strikes reveals the fundamental challenge facing any Gaza settlement: Israel won't fully cease operations until Hamas's military infrastructure is verifiably dismantled, while international pressure mounts for an immediate halt to all military action regardless of whether disarmament is actually proceeding.
Humanitarian Crisis in Displacement Camps
Soaring temperatures in Gaza this summer have turned the makeshift tents sheltering hundreds of thousands of displaced Palestinians into suffocating ovens. Made of plastic sheets, the shelters trap heat during the day and offer little ventilation, forcing many families to spend hours outside. With limited access to clean water, electricity and sanitation, residents of the overcrowded camps are at high risk of dehydration, heat-related illnesses and the spread of skin infections, diarrheal diseases and other communicable illnesses, humanitarian agencies warn.
Aida Abu Hadeesha, a woman displaced from the town of Rafah near the border with Egypt, said, "There is no breeze, nothing. Our kids are suffering."
The dire conditions in displacement camps underscore the human cost of Hamas's decision to launch attacks that triggered the conflict and its subsequent refusal to surrender or release hostages unconditionally. The suffering of Gaza's civilians continues while the group that governs them negotiates disarmament terms rather than prioritizing immediate relief for the population.
Why This Matters:
Trump's decision to postpone what he described as the largest American military operation since World War II demonstrates the delicate balance between maintaining credible deterrence against Iran and avoiding a regional conflagration that could destabilize global energy markets. Iran's denial of direct talks while simultaneously negotiating through Omani intermediaries reveals the regime's pattern of duplicity that has characterized its approach to international diplomacy for decades. In Gaza, the gap between the disarmament agreement reached days earlier and the continued Israeli strikes highlights the enforcement challenge that has plagued every ceasefire attempt: how to verify compliance when dealing with a militant organization that has repeatedly violated agreements and rebuilt military capabilities during previous truces. The humanitarian crisis in displacement camps, while devastating for Palestinian civilians, underscores the cost of Hamas's governance model, which has prioritized military infrastructure over civilian welfare and rejected every opportunity for peaceful resolution that would have prevented this suffering.