Trump calls off military strikes on Iran hours after threatening to escalate

U.S. President Donald Trump said Thursday he has called off new military strikes on Iran, hours after threatening to escalate the war by seizing control of the country’s oil industry. Trump said in a social media post that he made the move “based on the fact that discussions with the Islamic Republic of Iran have been brought to the highest level of Iranian leadership and approved.” The announcement came after two days of back-and-forth attacks between the U.S. and Iran had pushed the Middle East closer to the resumption of a full-scale war. Just hours after Trump posted on social media that the U.S. would hit Iran “VERY HARD TONIGHT” and take “total control” of Iran’s oil and gas industries, the president was suggesting that progress has been made in talks to extend the fragile ceasefire. He wrote that “discussions and final points have been, in both concept and great detail,” approved by the United States, Israel, and other regional allies. He did not offer details. Trump on multiple occasions over the last several weeks has claimed that the warring parties have been on the cusp of a deal without anything coming to fruition. Trump’s most recent threats were the latest example of him voicing frustration with the stalled negotiations to end the war. He warned earlier in the week that Tehran would “pay the price” for taking too long to reach a deal. Iran’s parliamentary speaker, Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf, warned in a social media post Thursday that “wrong strategies and impulsive decisions” would wreak havoc on energy markets and “create an endless quagmire that you will be stuck in for years.” While the most recent strikes have increased tensions in the region, they have been more limited compared to the early weeks of the war and negotiations between the U.S. and Iran are ongoing. Trump’s threats on Thursday represented his latest verbal escalation in the Iran war. In April, he warned Iran that “a whole civilization will die tonight, never to be brought b