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President Donald Trump ordered the U.S. military not to strike Iran last night, Axios reported on July 25, citing two sources with knowledge of the directive.
It was the first night in nearly two weeks that the U.S. did not carry out strikes against the Islamic Republic, which also halted fire.
The decision to call off the strikes came as the Israeli military had reportedly prepared for a significant escalation in the conflict, though Axios and Channel 12 reporter Barak Ravid report that the U.S. strikes planned for that night were no different in scale than those carried out over the previous 13 nights.
The sources tell Axios that the U.S. military is still preparing plans for a major return to combat, but that Trump has not yet ordered any such move and is currently favoring giving negotiations more time to progress.
While the order to halt strikes against Iran represents a serious de-escalation by the U.S., the situation is closer to a tactical pause.
In what appears to be a push toward war, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his team are planning to present Trump with fresh intelligence on Iran’s military and nuclear recovery efforts during their planned meeting at the White House on July 28, according to Channel 12.
The news channel said the intelligence includes what Israeli officials believe are accelerated efforts under wartime-elected Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei to advance toward a nuclear weapon.
The report, citing Israeli sources, does not elaborate on the alleged recovery efforts or the intelligence Israel intends to present.
Previous private presentations by Netanyahu to Trump on Iran’s nuclear activities reportedly played a significant role in persuading the U.S. to attack Iran.
The Israeli premier’s efforts will likely succeed again. A senior Israeli official even told Channel 12 that “the chances of reaching an agreement between the United States and Iran are virtually nonexistent,” calling an eventual escalation in the conflict “inevitable.”
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