Iran…Trump…Conflict/War…Evening…5/18/2026….’They Talked Me Out of a Iran Another Attack’….

Good alibi Donald…..

We KNOW you don’t REALLY want go back to attacking Iran…..

First time wrecked Oil/Gas prices and IS giving Iran control of the Strait of Hormuz….

Soooooo?

We hear the Middle East leader talked ya out of shooting again?

Donald?

Iran is NOT gonna roll over…..

It seems you have come down to one REAL demand?

Uranium?

Israel continues to hunt Hezbollah and Hamas leaders under the nose of cease-fires….

 

Axios…..

President Trump said Monday that he’d planned to strike Iran“tomorrow” but was holding off to give negotiations another chance. He claimed he made the decision at the request of several Arab leaders.

Why it matters: The White House saw an updated peace proposal Iran sent Sunday as insufficient, leading to a growing expectation — including inside the White House — that Trump was about to strike.

• Trump has extended deadlines and postponed planned attacks on Iran at least half a dozen times since the war began.

Driving the news: Trump was expected to convene his top national security team in the Situation Room on Tuesday to discuss military options, two U.S. officials told Axios.

• A senior U.S. official told Axios on Monday morning that if Iran didn’t shift its position, the U.S. would have to continue the negotiations “through bombs.”

What he’s saying: “I have been asked by the Emir of Qatar, the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia and the President of the United Arab Emirates to hold off on our planned Military attack of the Islamic Republic of Iran, which was scheduled for tomorrow,” Trump wrote Monday on Truth Social.

• He added that the Arab leaders told him that “serious negotiations are now taking place, and that, in their opinion, as Great Leaders and Allies, a Deal will be made, which will be very acceptable to the United States of America, as well as all Countries in the Middle East, and beyond.”
• Trump claimed the deal would make sure that Iran doesn’t have nuclear weapons.
• He has made repeated claims about progress toward a deal since the war began, but there have been no recent breakthroughs….

More….

The Guardian….

• Donald Trump said he postponed a planned military attack on Iran set for Tuesday after it sent a peace proposal to Washington and that there was now a “very good chance” of reaching a deal limiting Iran’s nuclear program amid the “serious negotiations” under way.

• The US president said allies in the Middle East had told him they were “getting very close to making a deal” that would leave Iran without nuclear weapons. “It’s a very positive development,” he said, while warning earlier that the US Washington was ready for a “large scale assault of Iran, on a moment’s notice” if an acceptable deal wasn’t reached.

• Iran remained defiant in statements issued on state media after Trump’s announcement, warning the US and its allies against making any further “strategic mistakes or miscalculations” in striking Iran and saying Iranian armed forces were “more prepared and stronger than in the past”.

• The US announced another 30-day extension of a sanctions waiver allowing purchases of Russian seaborne oil to aid “energy-vulnerable” countries hit by the Iran war, reversing plans not to grant an extension.

• Off-site power was restored to a unit of the Barakah nuclear power plant in the United Arab Emirates after the drone strike on Sunday, the International Atomic Energy Agency said it had been told by the UAE.

• Iran’s top security body has announced the formation of a new body to manage the strait of Hormuz and wants to charge ships to traverse.

• Israeli strikes have killed more than 3,000 people in Lebanon since the start of the Hezbollah-Israel war on 2 March, the health ministry said on Monday.

• Lebanese president Joseph Aoun said he would do the “impossible” in order to stop the war with Israel after a ceasefire and direct talks between the countries failed to end the fighting.

• Iran’s Revolutionary Guard said its forces had struck groups linked to the US and Israel in the western Iranian province of Kurdistan, near the border with Iraq.

• Oil prices and stock markets worldwide swung through a shaky Monday. The price for Brent crude – the international standard – went from a high of $112 a barrel overnight to below $107 in the morning before turning back higher, and after settling at $112.10, then fell back below $109 after Trump’s announcement on holding off attacking Iran.

• Gaza’s health ministry said at least six people were killed and 40 others injured in Israeli attacks across the territory over the past day.

• One of Indian billionaire industrialist Gautam Adani’s companies will pay the US Treasury $275m to settle an investigation into whether it violated US sanctions against Iran, the Treasury said…..

…

ISW....Iran Update Special Report, May 18, 2026

1. Iran’s latest counterproposal does not appear to meet US demands. A senior US official and source briefed on the matter told Axios on May 18 that Iran’s counterproposal does not contain a commitment “about suspending uranium enrichment or handing over its existing stockpile of highly enriched uranium (HEU).” US demands have been and continue to be that Iran must give its HEU to the United States.
2. US President Donald Trump announced on Truth Social on May 18 that he canceled a scheduled US military strike against Iran that was planned for May 19. Trump’s announcement comes after Qatari, Emirati, and Saudi leaders asked Trump to suspend the strike “for two or three days” due to ongoing negotiations and concerns over Iranian retaliation. Trump, however, noted that he instructed the US military to remain prepared to launch a “full, large-scale assault” against Iran on short notice if negotiations fail.
3. Iran continues to formalize and institutionalize its claimed control over transit through the Strait of Hormuz in contravention of the UN Charter on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS). Iran has incorrectly asserted that this is ”legal” under the UNCLOS because the Strait of Hormuz is within Iran’s territorial waters.
4. IRGC-affiliated outlets continue to threaten commercial and digital activity linked to the Strait of Hormuz as part of broader regime efforts to institutionalize Iranian authority over the waterway.