Trump ‘delayed US nuclear strikes to deceive Iran’

Donald Trump has claimed he postponed the US strikes against Iran’s nuclear sites for 24 hours last month after CNN aired the military’s attack plans.

A B-2 Spirit multi-role bomber conducting air refuelling operations with a KC-135 Stratotanker over the Pacific Ocean as the US attacked Iran nuclear sites. Picture: AFP.

Donald Trump has claimed he postponed the US strikes against Iran’s nuclear sites for 24 hours last month after CNN got hold of the military’s attack plans.

Speaking at a White House lunch for faith leaders, Mr Trump said he had been watching “horrible, horrible” CNN, shortly before the attack was scheduled and saw it was airing the timing of B-52s and fighter jets entering Iranian airspace.

“I saw that they had basically the plans of when we’re going in, when we would be entering Iranian air space and I said, you know, that’s weird,” he said.

The US President phoned Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth and the head of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Dan Caine, and asked: “Wouldn’t a surprise be better?”

He said he cancelled the strike, announcing publicly that the military would go in in two weeks' time.

“Everyone knew it was being cancelled. (But then) I said, let’s leave it the exact same time we were supposed to leave, the following day,” he said.

“That’s the only time they knew we wouldn’t be going in,” he added to applause.

Trump: I watched horrible, horrible CNN. I saw that they had basically the plans of when we're going in, when we would be entering Iranian oil air space and I said, you know, that's weird.. I said, but wouldn't a surprise be better? Yeah, it would be better. I said, well, then… pic.twitter.com/2EiUcoZFla

— Acyn (@Acyn) July 14, 2025

Mr Trump spoke as Iran said there would be no new nuclear talks with the US if they were conditional on Tehran abandoning its uranium enrichment activities.

Since the end of the 12-day war between Israel and Iran, both Tehran and Washington have signalled willingness to return to the table, but Iran has said it will not renounce its right to the peaceful use of nuclear power.

“If the negotiations must be conditioned on stopping enrichment, such negotiations will not take place,” Ali Velayati, an adviser to supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, was quoted as saying by state news agency IRNA.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei said Iran had not set a date for any meeting with the US.

“For now, no specific date, time or location has been determined regarding this matter,” Mr Baqaei said of plans for a meeting between Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi and US envoy Steve Witkoff.

Mr Araghchi and Mr Witkoff had previously failed to conclude a deal after five rounds of talks that began in April and were the highest-level contact between the two countries since Washington abandoned a landmark nuclear agreement in 2018.

The Omani-mediated negotiations were halted as Israel launched its surprise attack on Iranian nuclear and military facilities on June 13, with the US later joining its ally and carrying out limited strikes.

“We have been serious in diplomacy and the negotiation process, we entered with good faith, but as everyone witnessed, before the sixth round the Zionist regime, in co-ordination with the United States, committed military aggression against Iran,” Mr Baqaei said.

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said in a statement on Monday that Iran “supports diplomacy and constructive engagement”.

“We continue to believe that the window for diplomacy remains open, and we will seriously pursue this peaceful path,” he said.

Israel and Western nations accuse Iran of pursuing nuclear weapons, a charge Tehran has consistently denied.

While it is the only non-nuclear weapons power to enrich uranium to 60 per cent purity – close to the level needed for a warhead – the UN’s atomic energy watchdog has said it had no indication Iran was working to weaponise its stockpiles.