THE NEW YORK TIMES: Israel, Arab nations ask Donald Trump to postpone US military action in Iran

WASHINGTON — Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel has asked President Donald Trump to postpone any plans for a US military attack on Iran, a senior US official said Thursday, even as the Iranian Government continues to grapple with nationwide protests.

Mr Netanyahu spoke to Mr Trump on Wednesday, the same day the US President said he had received information from “very important sources on the other side” that Iran had stopped killing protesters and was not going forward with executions.

That appeared to signal that Mr Trump was backing away from a potential US attack on Iran, which he has been weighing for days.

However, Mr Trump sent a similar ambiguous signal in June, even after he had largely made up his mind to order an attack on Iran. And a senior US official said late Wednesday that Mr Trump had not set aside the military options his commanders had presented in recent days, and whether he ordered an attack depends on what Iranian security agencies do next in regard to the mass protests.

Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Oman and Egypt, all partners of Washington, have also been asking the Trump administration not to attack Iran, said an official from a Gulf Arab nation.

Senior officials from those countries have been calling US officials with that message over the last two days, the official said. They have told the Americans that a US attack could lead to a wider regional conflict.

At the same time, those Arab nations have been telling Iranian officials not to attack countries in the region if the United States decides to strike Iran, the official said. The four nations have been coordinating their messaging to both Washington and Tehran, the official said. Two diplomats in the region also said several Arab nations have pressed the Trump administration not to attack Iran.

“We believe in dialogue, and we believe in solving any disagreements at the negotiating table,” Adel al-Jubeir, a Saudi minister of state, said at a minerals forum in Riyadh, the kingdom’s capital.

Mr Netanyahu also spoke to Vice President JD Vance on Tuesday, the same day that top Trump aides met in the White House to review military options, US officials said.

The White House declined to comment. The Israeli Prime Minister’s office did not reply to requests for comment.

Karoline Leavitt, the White House Press Secretary, said Thursday that US officials had gotten reports that Iran had held off on planned executions, reiterating a comment that Mr Trump made the previous day.

“The President and his team have communicated to the Iranian regime that if the killing continues, there will be grave consequences,” she said.

Israeli defence officials have assessed that the rate of the killings of protesters in Iran has dropped, two Israeli officials said. That is largely because the Government’s lethal crackdown and cutting of internet service across the country have resulted in smaller protests since Sunday. The anti-government protests have been taking place since late December and could be the largest in Iran in decades.

Iran ordered its airspace closed to commercial flights late Wednesday but has reopened it.

US officials have been preparing for Iran to retaliate against an attack by striking US military assets in the region, mainly a US air base in Qatar or troops stationed in Iraq and Syria. But Israel could also be a target for Iran.

Iran fired many ballistic missiles at Israel during a 12-day war between the two nations in June that the United States also took part in by striking three Iranian nuclear sites. Some of the Iranian missiles got past Israeli air defences and killed civilians.

To retaliate against the US strikes in June, Iran fired ballistic missiles at Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar, the largest US military base in the Middle East. About 10,000 troops are stationed there. The Iranian barrage caused no deaths or injuries.

In recent days, the Pentagon had begun moving some troops from the base as Mr Trump weighed options for a US strike on Iran. A Pentagon official said Thursday that the Defence Department has lowered the alert level at the air base and that troops have been returning.

The Iranian Government has cut off internet service across the country, and it has been difficult to get information about the events unfolding there. Security forces have killed hundreds or thousands of protesters to try to end the broad anti-government demonstrations, according to Iranian officials and human rights groups outside the country. Two Iranian officials told The New York Times on Monday that at least 3,000 people had been killed.

More than 2,500 people have been killed since the protests began, according to Human Rights Activists in Iran, or HRANA, an organisation based in Washington. Norway-based Iran Human Rights said that more than 3,400 had been killed and thousands of others injured. One of those killed was a Canadian citizen, Canadian Foreign Minister Anita Anand said in a post on social media Thursday.

Mr Trump has said since January 2 that he could order an attack on Iran if the Government harms protesters, even though he has denounced people who demonstrate against his policies in the United States.

On Tuesday, he wrote on social media that Iranian protesters should take over Government institutions and that “HELP IS ON ITS WAY.”

Iran’s judiciary said Thursday that it had not issued a death sentence for Erfan Soltani, a protester whose execution had been widely reported as imminent and drawn international attention. The comments were reported by Iran’s state broadcaster and were published on social media.

“This is good news,” Mr Trump said Thursday on social media, citing an unspecified Fox News report that said an unnamed Iranian protester and others would not be sentenced to death. “Hopefully, it will continue!” he said.

Analysts say that the Iranian Government is trying to make a distinction between ordinary protesters and those whom it calls rioters and terrorists, backed by foreign powers.

That nuance of messaging, the analysts said, was intended to put pressure on citizens and dissuade them from protesting.

This article originally appeared in The New York Times.

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