Trump Reportedly Weighs Holding Off on New Iran Strikes Unless Provoked, Sources Say

President Donald Trump has told senior advisers he may hold off on new strikes on Iran if Tehran or the Iran-backed Houthis in Yemen offer no fresh provocations, according to three people familiar with the matter. The shift matters because the war, which Trump launched with Israel in February, has raised global fuel prices and is unpopular with U.S. voters, who gave Democrats control of Congress in last week's midterms.

Current and former officials say Trump has alternated between threatening escalation and winding down, and has not settled on how to end the conflict. On Thursday he told broadcaster Stephen A. Smith, “I could end it immediately,” but said he was proceeding more slowly at the request of nations he wants to protect. A week earlier he confirmed U.S. strikes on Iranian defense facilities on Qeshm island in the Strait of Hormuz, calling them minor. On Friday, Secretary of State Marco Rubio told the Federalist Society, “there's no need for military action because we've weakened them so much.”

Right-leaning outlets, the New York Post and Newsmax, lead with the Reuters-sourced report of restraint. The Post's headline says Trump weighs holding off and frames the story as mixed messaging. It sets the Smith interview beside Trump's Thursday vow to Salem News Channel to strike without hesitation and Rubio's declaration that the war is militarily over. Newsmax's excerpt keeps to the sourcing. The Hindu, carrying the same Reuters account, gives more room to the war's unpopularity, fuel prices and the midterm result, and does not feature Rubio or the Salem interview in its opening. Left-leaning outlets had not reported this story at the time of writing, while the other two sides had.