Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel has asked President Trump to postpone any plans for an American military attack on Iran, a senior U.S. official said on Thursday, even as the Iranian government continues to grapple with nationwide protests.
Mr. Netanyahu spoke to Mr. Trump on Wednesday, the same day the American president said he had received information from “very important sources on the other side” that Iran had stopped killing protesters and was not going forward with executions. That appeared to signal that Mr. Trump was backing away from a potential U.S. attack on Iran, which he has been weighing for days.
However, Mr. Trump sent a similar ambiguous signal last June even after he had largely made up his mind to order an attack on Iran. And a senior U.S. official said late Wednesday that Mr. Trump had not set aside the military options his commanders had presented in recent days, and whether he ordered an attack depends on what Iranian security agencies do next in regard to the mass protests.
Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Oman and Egypt, all partners of Washington, have also been asking the Trump administration not to attack Iran, said an official from a Gulf Arab nation. Senior officials from those countries have been calling U.S. officials with that message over the last two days, the official said. They have told the Americans that a U.S. attack could lead to a wider regional conflict.
At the same time, those Arab nations have been telling Iranian officials not to attack countries in the region if the United States decides to strike Iran, the official said. The four nations have been coordinating their messaging to both Washington and Tehran, the official said. Two diplomats in the region also said several Arab nations have pressed the Trump administration not to attack Iran.
“We believe in dialogue and we believe in solving any disagreements at the negotiating table,” Adel al-Jubeir, the foreign minister of Saudi Arabia, said at a minerals forum in Riyadh, the kingdom’s capital.
The White House declined to comment. The Israeli prime minister’s office did not have immediate comment.
Iran ordered its air space closed to commercial flights late Wednesday, but has reopened it.
U.S. officials have been preparing for Iran to retaliate against an attack by striking American military assets in the region, mainly a U.S. air base in Qatar or troops stationed in Iraq and Syria. But Israel could also be a target for Iran.
Iran fired many ballistic missiles at Israel during a 12-day war between the two nations in June that the United States also took part in by striking three Iranian nuclear sites. Some of the Iranian missiles got past Israeli air defenses and killed civilians.
To retaliate against the U.S. strikes in June, Iran fired ballistic missiles at Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar, the largest American military base in the Middle East. About 10,000 troops are stationed there. The Iranian barrage caused no deaths or injuries.
In recent days, the Pentagon had begun moving some troops from the base as Mr. Trump weighed options for a U.S. strike on Iran. A Pentagon official said on Thursday that the Defense Department has lowered the alert level at the air base and that troops have been returning.
The Iranian government has cut off internet service across the country, and it has been difficult to get information about the events unfolding there. Security forces have killed hundreds or thousands of protesters to try to end the broad anti-government demonstrations that have been taking place across Iran since late December, according to Iranian officials and human rights groups outside the country. Two Iranian officials told The New York Times on Monday that at least 3,000 people had been killed.
Mr. Trump has said since Jan. 2 that he could order an attack on Iran if the government harms protesters, even though he has denounced people who demonstrate against his policies in the United States. On Tuesday, he wrote on social media that Iranian protesters should take over government institutions, and that “HELP IS ON ITS WAY.”
Iran’s judiciary said on Thursday that it had not issued a death sentence for Erfan Soltani, a protester whose execution had been widely reported as imminent and drawn international attention. The comments were reported by Iran’s state broadcaster, and were published on social media.
“This is good news,” Mr. Trump said on Thursday on social media, citing an unspecified Fox News report that said an unnamed Iranian protester and others would not be sentenced to death. “Hopefully, it will continue!” he said.
Reporting was contributed by Eric Schmitt from Washington, Aaron Boxerman from Jerusalem, Vivian Nereim from Riyadh and Abdi Latif Dahir from Beirut.
Edward Wong reports on global affairs, U.S. foreign policy and the State Department for The Times.
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