Several key U.S. allies in the Middle East are aiming to stave off a military conflict between Iran and the United States by engaging in 72 hours of intensive diplomacy, a Gulf official told CBS News.
The countries involved in the diplomatic push include Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Egypt and Oman, according to the Gulf official. The talks have focused on lowering the temperature in public rhetoric and avoiding military action that these states feared could trigger wider regional instability.
To the U.S., the message has been to refrain from strikes on Iran, citing the region’s security and economic vulnerabilities, while highlighting the risk that the U.S. could ultimately be affected as well.
To Iran, the four Arab states conveyed that any counterattack on U.S. facilities in the Gulf would have serious consequences for Iran’s relations with countries across the region.
Thousands of American forces who are stationed in the Gulf region could be targets of potential Iranian retaliation in the event of a U.S. attack on Iran. The U.S. withdrew some personnel from Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar this week as a “precautionary measure,” a U.S. official told CBS News.
Two diplomatic sources told CBS News on Wednesday that Iran explicitly informed a number of countries that they would be targets of an Iranian missile attack if the U.S. were to strike. The U.S. embassies in Qatar and Saudi Arabia told Americans on Wednesday to avoid going to military bases in those two countries.
“Collectively, there’s an agreement that once this spirals into an armed military escalation, there could be lots of consequences,” the Gulf official told CBS News. “Tensions have cooled temporarily, but we’ve still yet to see. The next period will also be crucial.”
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters earlier Wednesday that many stories on Iran “have been based on anonymous sources who are pretending or guessing to know the president’s thinking.” Leavitt said Mr. Trump “continues to closely monitor” the situation in Iran, and will “keep all of his options on the table.”
Asked for comment, the White House referred CBS News to Leavitt’s remarks.
President Trump has repeatedly threatened to take action against Iran if its security forces continue their violent crackdown on the nationwide protests that have gripped the country — which raised expectations that the U.S. could carry out military strikes. Mr. Trump told CBS News on Tuesday the U.S. would “take very strong action” if Iranian authorities began hanging protesters.
The president has been briefed on a range of options that can be used against Iran, including conventional airstrikes as well as cyber and psychological operations aimed at disrupting the country’s communications and state media, CBS News has previously reported.
Meanwhile, Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has warned Mr. Trump against military strikes, urging U.S. officials to “halt their deceitful actions” earlier this week. Iran temporarily closed its airspace overnight on Wednesday, indicating it may have been preparing for possible military action.
But on Wednesday, the president suggested a military strike on Iran may not be imminent, telling reporters he’d heard the “killing in Iran is stopping.” Asked if that means military options are off the table, Mr. Trump said: “We’re going to watch and see what the process is.”
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi spoke on the phone with Qatar’s prime minister and Saudi Arabia’s foreign minister on Thursday, the latter two countries announced on X.
The diplomatic campaign comes seven months after Mr. Trump ordered airstrikes on three Iranian nuclear facilities, amid a days-long conflict between Iran and Israel. That conflict ended in a ceasefire after just under two weeks.
So far, the latest round of diplomacy has not focused directly on any potential U.S.-Iran nuclear deal. The current efforts are aimed at preventing attacks or further escalation, with the goal of creating space for eventual discussions on a nuclear deal and other issues.
