Trump says he cancels scheduled strikes, bombings against Iran

U.S. President Donald Trump said on Truth Social that he has canceled scheduled strikes and bombings against Iran on Thursday evening, citing progress in ongoing negotiations.

But the president noted that the naval blockade will "remain in full force and effect" until a transaction is finalized, adding that time and place of the signing will be announced shortly.

Earlier on that day, Trump said that the United States will hit Iran "very hard tonight" and will soon take control of the country's oil and gas infrastructure.

"At some point in the not too distant future, we will be taking Kharg Island, and other oil infrastructure points, and assume total control of their Oil and Gas Markets, much like we have with Venezuela," Trump said on his social media platform.

In an interview with Fox News, Trump said the bombing would be "bigger, more powerful."

Trump said taking Kharg Island has been his "preference," but he was not sure if the U.S. public had "the appetite" for the major military campaign to take the oil export hub.

"I don't know that America has the stomach, I think they'd like to see us come home," he said.

The president claimed that Iran is "dying to make a deal" while he personally would "like to get a deal now, less than three or four weeks ago."

U.S. officials and military experts cautioned that any ground operation on Kharg Island or elsewhere would carry major risks, including the potential for heavy American casualties due to significant ground force deployments.

Ebrahim Azizi, chairman of the Iranian parliament's national security and foreign policy committee, said Thursday that Iran's armed forces are on the highest state of alert to respond to any action or threat against the country.

Iran's main military command, Khatam al-Anbiya Central Headquarters, warned that any future U.S. attack on Iran would trigger "a response even more severe than before," in a statement issued before Trump said he was canceling Thursday tonight's scheduled strikes against Iran.

The statement accused Washington of duplicity, saying on the one hand, the United States speaks of agreements and negotiations, while on the other it engages in hostile actions.

It added that this clear contradiction in America's words and deeds is the main source of instability in the region, and has endangered international trade and economic security, particularly in the Strait of Hormuz.

Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf in a social media post warned that wrong strategies and impulsive decisions will reset the entire board for the worse, explode energy infrastructure and markets and create an endless quagmire that the U.S. will be stuck in for years.

Kharg Island is a major oil terminal off the coast of Iran which handles roughly 90 percent of the country's crude oil exports.

Trump says he cancels scheduled strikes, bombings against Iran

The European Central Bank (ECB) decided on Thursday to raise all three key interest rates by 25 basis points.

The deposit facility rate through which the ECB steers the monetary policy stance will be lifted to 2.25 percent and the rates on the main refinancing operations and marginal lending facility will stand at 2.4 percent and 2.65 percent, respectively, the ECB said in a press release.

"The war in the Middle East is generating inflation pressures, and the decision to raise rates is robust across a range of scenarios mapping out how the shock might evolve and affect the medium-term outlook for the euro area," the ECB said.

The ECB's rate hike came at a time when inflation in the euro area was on the rise, driven mainly by energy price hikes due to the Iran conflict.

In its latest projections released on Thursday, the ECB raised its inflation forecasts for both 2026 and 2027 compared with its March outlook. Headline inflation is now expected to average 3.0 percent in 2026 and 2.3 percent in 2027, up from the previous projections of 2.6 percent and 2.0 percent, respectively.

"The outlook remains uncertain, with upside risks for inflation and downside risks for economic growth," the ECB said.

Inflation in the euro area rose to 3.2 percent in May from 3 percent in April as energy prices soared by 10.9 percent. The ECB believes the energy price hikes will push inflation even higher over the summer, noted ECB President Christine Lagarde.

The ECB also lowered its economic growth projections for 2026 and 2027 compared with the March forecast, as it said the euro area economy is expected to grow at 0.8 percent in 2026 and 1.2 percent in 2027.

The interest rate hike on Thursday is the first time that the ECB has lifted its key interest rates since September 2023. The central bank has put interest rates on hold since June last year.

ECB hikes interest rates amid inflationary pressures