Intense diplomatic efforts to dissuade Donald Trump from striking Iran, including communication between the Islamic republic and the US administration, have de-escalated tensions in the Gulf, according to three people close to Arab governments.
Regional states including Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Qatar, Oman and Egypt have been urging restraint on the Trump administration, warning of the potential damage to Iran’s neighbours in the event of a US strike on the Iranian regime, including higher global oil and gas prices.
“Things have de-escalated for now,” said one Arab official. “The US is giving time for talks with Iran and to see where they go from here.”
Communication between the US and the Islamic republic allowed Iranian officials to assure Trump that there would be no executions of protesters and the death toll was not as high as was being reported outside the country.
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The official said hopes were now growing that the communication between Tehran and Washington, some of which may have been assisted by a third party such as Russia or Oman, could develop into further talks in the coming days.
Tensions had soared over the past couple of days after the US president on Tuesday suggested US action against the regime was imminent, posting on social media that “HELP IS ON ITS WAY” as Iranian demonstrators faced a harsh crackdown.
Amnesty International said Iranian authorities had committed “mass unlawful killings on an unprecedented scale” to crush the mostly peaceful protests that broke out in late December, with the death toll rising to 2,000 by “official admission”.
On Wednesday, however, Trump said he had received assurances that Iran had stopped killing protesters and there were no plans for executions.
“We’ve been told that the killing in Iran is stopping, and it’s stopped. It’s stopping, and there’s no plan for executions or an execution,” Trump said in the Oval Office. He did not specify the source of his information.
His statement caused global oil prices to fall as traders became less concerned about the potential for military action constraining Iranian production or Iranian retaliation against export supply routes through the Strait of Hormuz.
The US on Thursday announced new sanctions against Iranian regime leaders they said were involved in orchestrating the crackdown, as well as individuals and entities they accused of laundering Iran’s oil revenues.
Among the 18 people and entities under sanction were Ali Larijani, secretary of the Supreme Council for National Security, who Washington said was one of the first Iranian leaders to call for violence to suppress the protesters. The US also placed provincial commanders from Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guards under sanction.
“Our message to the Iranian people is clear. Your demands are legitimate,” said US Treasury secretary Scott Bessent in a video message. “You are protesting for a noble cause and the United States supports you and your efforts.”
He said the administration’s message to Iran’s leadership was that “there’s still time, if you choose to join us. As President Trump has said, stop the violence and stand with the people of Iran.”
As regional tensions rose on Wednesday, Washington withdrew personnel and aircraft from Al Udeid airbase in Qatar, the US regional military command that hosts about 10,000 troops, fuelling speculation of an imminent US strike on Tehran.
The USS Abraham Lincoln carrier group is heading to the region, according to a diplomat and satellite analysis by Ollie Ballinger, a geocomputation lecturer at University College London.
It is unclear whether the apparent deployment was a prelude to a strike or meant to confuse Iran, diplomats said.
While the US is weighing the effectiveness of possible strikes, military options remain on the table, said one of the people.
“Trump is ready to pull the trigger and claim the de-escalation a bluff,” the person said.
But the US president wanted a “snappy, defined outcome”, as achieved by his military intervention in Venezuela.
The unrest in Iran and renewed possibility of US intervention have spurred countries in the region to forge closer defence relationships.
Turkey has held talks on deepening defence ties with Saudi Arabia and Pakistan, which formed a mutual defence pact last year, Turkey’s foreign minister Hakan Fidan said.
“Stability in the region can only be achieved by its lead countries. But we have been bedevilled by lack of trust ... resolve that trust deficit and 80 per cent of our problems will be solved,” Fidan told reporters on Thursday. “We definitely need defence stability in the region.” – Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2026
