Trump cancels Iran attack and says deal will be made ‘rapidly’ in major U-turn

Craig Munro | Senior Politics Reporter Published August 2, 2026 8:18am Updated August 2, 2026 8:18am Donald Trump leaving a cabinet meeting on Friday (Picture: Nathan Howard – Pool/ Getty Images) Donald Trump has once again pulled back from the brink after threatening ‘very hard’ strikes on Iran. The US President said his decision to cancel the attack was ‘subject to being able to rapidly make a DEAL’ in a post on his Truth Social site. But there appears to be little progress on securing a lasting end to the war, after the US military carried out a ‘heavy wave’ of strikes on Thursday in retaliation for attempted Iranian strikes on Tuesday. In a cabinet meeting on Friday, Trump said: ‘We will be hitting them very hard. At some point they’re going to say, “We just can’t take it anymore.”‘ Th