WASHINGTON, D.C. — From the White House to Tehran, what has largely been a war of words and threats in recent weeks appeared close to a tipping point early Thursday.
Thursday morning, President Trump said the United States would hit Iran “very hard tonight” and threatened to take over Kharg Island, a small patch of land in the Persian Gulf that moves roughly 90% of Iran’s crude oil exports.
But those actions now appear to be cancelled. By mid-afternoon, the president hit the brakes on Truth Social, writing:
“Based on the fact that discussions with the Islamic Republic of Iran have been brought to the highest level of Iranian leadership and approved, I have, as President of the United States of America, cancelled the scheduled strikes and bombings against Iran this evening.”
Trump added that discussions and final points have been approved by all parties involved and that the naval blockade will remain until this transaction is finalized.
“We just made a great settlement of the war with Iran. And we’re going to be subject to finalization of documents which should be done pretty quickly,” said Trump on Thursday. “Most importantly, we have a deal that Iran will never have a nuclear weapon, which was the whole purpose of what we had to go through to get this, so it was a big.”
“We need to draw this to a close,” said Rep. Nick Langworthy, R-N.Y. “I do not want to see this end in a commitment for U.S. ground troops in any way.”
As negotiations and talks teeter, a consequential stalemate simultaneously unfolded on Capitol Hill over national security.
“The Democrats, 199 of them, voted against a clean three-week extension,” said House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La. “They are willing to jeopardize the safety and the security of the American people.”
The House failed to pass a short-term extension of Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, or FISA. The program allows U.S. government officials to monitor phone calls and messages of foreign targets in order to track national security threats.
Democrats blocked the extension over reforms for the program and because of Trump’s choice for acting director of national intelligence, Bill Pulte.
“Donald Trump decides to toss a hand grenade into the middle of those negotiations to blow them up because Donald Trump decided he wants to elevate Bill Pulte, who is nothing more than a malignant, political hack,” said House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y.
But by Thursday afternoon, the president tapped Jay Clayton, the current U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York and former chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission, for the role. Pulte will still serve as Acting DNI until the new replacement is confirmed by the Senate.
It’s unclear when Congress will extend FISA and whether Clayton’s nomination will expedite the process.
