Behind the Scenes: 4 Arab Nations and Netanyahu Convinced Trump to Abort Iran Strike

A frantic 48-hour diplomatic blitz involving four major Arab nations and a surprising request from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu successfully persuaded President Donald Trump to abort an imminent military strike on Iran, according to new reports. Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Oman, and Egypt engaged in intense back-channel negotiations earlier this week, warning the White House that a U.S. attack could “blow up the region” and cause catastrophic economic damage.
The diplomatic intervention was two-pronged. While warning Washington of the risks of regional conflagration, these Arab states simultaneously pressured Tehran, telling the Iranian regime that any retaliation against U.S. bases in the Gulf would permanently wreck their relations with neighboring states. This dual pressure campaign appears to have created the necessary breathing room for de-escalation.
Crucially, a decisive factor in Trump’s hesitation came from an unexpected source: Israel. According to Axios, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu urged Trump to wait, arguing that Israel needed more time to prepare its own defenses and offensive capabilities. Furthermore, Israeli officials reportedly viewed the current U.S. operational plan as neither strong nor effective enough to achieve decisive results.
“What we understood is that Trump decided to take more time to think about it,” an Israeli source close to Netanyahu told Axios. The sentiment in Jerusalem is that a premature or “limited” strike could trigger a massive Iranian response without actually neutralizing the regime’s nuclear or military threat, leaving Israel exposed.
The result of this high-stakes maneuvering is a temporary stand-down. Trump’s refusal to answer questions about a strike during his NBC interview, coupled with his comments about “waiting and seeing,” reflects a President who has been talked off the ledge—at least for the moment. However, with the USS Abraham Lincoln still steaming toward the region and the underlying crisis unresolved, the pause remains fragile.