US President Trump said that he was "an hour away" from making the decision to attack Iran today before several Middle Eastern governments called to ask him to wait several days, while talking to reporters on Tuesday.
"We were all set to go. We were going to be striking. It would have been happening right now," Trump said.
Saudi Arabia, Qatar, the UAE, Kuwait, Bahrain, and "a few of the others" were working with the US "like a team," Trump said.
This followed a Truth Social post posted by the president on Monday, saying that the leaders of Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE asked Trump to postpone the US's planned attacks on Iran on Tuesday.
Trump said that he would be waiting between two days and early next week for Iran to come to an agreement.
Potential Iran deal to include removing enriched uranium
He specified that any deal would include removing Iran's enriched uranium "immediately," despite Iran's inability to reach it as a result of US-Israeli strikes burying it under rubble.
"I think it's important to get it, maybe psychologically more than anything else," Trump said, adding that only the US and China are believed to have the capability to extract the uranium.
He warned that if Iran were to have a nuclear weapon, it would lead to a "nuclear holocaust," in which Iran would bomb first Israel and then the rest of the Middle East.
Iranian official claims Trump's delay due to Iran's military strength
The head of the security commission of the Iranian parliament took to X to claim that Trump delayed the US attack not as a result of mediation but because he feared Iran's military response.
"Power is the only language he understands!" he wrote.