U.S. Foreign Policy and Iran

President Trump held off on ordering strikes against Iran after phone consultations with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who asked for a delay so Israel could better prepare and because U.S. options were seen as too limited, while the White House and advisers warned a strike might not topple the regime and regional allies urged restraint. At the same time U.S. envoys and Israeli officials sketched possible diplomatic terms — curbs on uranium enrichment, removal of roughly 2,000 kg of enriched uranium, reductions in Iran’s ballistic‑missile inventory and an end to support for regional proxies — even as Gulf states privately lobbied Washington against escalation.