Iran will halt attacks as long as US maintains pause, Iranian source says after Trump calls off strikes

Iran has signaled it will cease its own attacks on neighboring countries as long as the United States maintains its recent pause on air strikes, a senior Iranian official told Reuters on Sunday. This comes after President Donald Trump abruptly called off his two-week bombing campaign.

Following 13 nights of intensifying US air strikes, the Pentagon suspended the campaign late Friday. Iran, which had retaliated each night with its own strikes on countries hosting US bases, has also held fire for two days. US Ambassador to the UN Mike Waltz stated on Fox News that Trump paused attacks to "give talks some space."

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Iran’s position remains ’attack for attack’: if the attacks stop, Iran will also halt its operations. That message has already been conveyed ​to the United States.

A senior Iranian source, speaking anonymously, conveyed that Iran's stance is "attack for attack." "If the attacks stop, Iran will also halt its operations. That message has already been conveyed to the United States," the source said, adding that Iran is prepared for a broad response if the US resumes attacks.

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He’s ​giving talks some space, he’s giving it a little bit of room.

However, Iran harbors skepticism about the US pause, viewing it as tactical rather than a genuine shift. "The prevailing view is that the pause is tactical rather than genuine. Iran has accumulated enough bitter experience with what it sees as US deception," the source stated. The two-week US military campaign had effectively torpedoed an interim agreement aimed at ending the war launched in February by the United States and Israel.

Reports from The New York Times and CNN indicated that Trump reconsidered escalating the war after some advisers, including Pentagon Chief of Staff Dan Caine and Vice President JD Vance, raised concerns about dwindling US missile defense stocks protecting regional bases.

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There is more scepticism ​than optimism about the halt in attacks. The prevailing view is that the pause is tactical rather than genuine. Iran has accumulated enough bitter experience with what ​it sees as US deception.