US President Donald Trump reportedly informed Iran that he won’t be ordering a strike on the country over its deadly crackdown on protesters after the leaders of four Arab countries convinced him to hold off.

Trump had threatened to hit Iran in recent days if the regime killed protesters who have been pouring into the streets across the country in demonstrations against the Islamic Republic. Several thousand are reportedly dead as part of the crackdown, but Trump declared Wednesday that he had been told, apparently by Tehran, that the killing in Iran had stopped and that the regime would not be executing any protesters.

Iran’s Ambassador to Pakistan Reza Amiri Moghadam said in remarks during a Thursday visit to a Pakistani ministry that Trump had informed Tehran that he does not want a war and urged the regime to exercise restraint and not target US assets in the region.

The US did, however, offer similarly de-escalatory messaging last June before Trump ordered a major strike on three of Iran’s nuclear sites.

But a senior Saudi official and a second Gulf official indicated that the same strategy is not being applied this time, as Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Oman and Egypt led efforts to talk Trump out of an attack on Iran.

The four countries “led a long, frantic, diplomatic last-minute effort to convince President Trump to give Iran a chance to show good intentions,” the Saudi official said on condition of anonymity.

The US moved some personnel out of the Al Udeid air base in Qatar on Wednesday, and staff at US missions in Saudi Arabia and Kuwait were warned to exercise caution as fears mounted of a US attack over Iran’s crackdown on protesters.

But by Thursday, the security warning level at the base in Qatar was lowered back down, three sources briefed on the situation told Reuters. US aircraft that were moved out of Al Udeid are gradually returning to the base, one of the sources added.

Iran launched missiles at Al Udeid last year in response to US airstrikes on its nuclear installations during the 12-day war between........

© The Times of Israel