Iranian Official Says Tehran Will Match U.S. Strike Pause

A senior Iranian official said Tehran would halt its attacks for as long as the United States maintains its bombing pause following 13 consecutive nights of U.S. airstrikes.

The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told Reuters on Sunday that Iran would follow an “attack for attack” policy. Tehran would stop its operations if U.S. strikes ceased, the official said, adding that Iran had already delivered that message to Washington.

The Pentagon suspended the campaign late Friday. No American attacks were reported Saturday or Sunday, and Iran also held fire during those two days.

Iran had answered the nightly U.S. strikes with attacks on neighboring countries that host American military bases.

Mike Waltz, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, said President Donald Trump paused the bombing to give diplomacy more room.

“He’s giving talks some space, he’s giving it a little bit of room,” Waltz said Sunday on “Fox News Sunday.” He offered no details about the talks.

An unnamed U.S. official gave Reuters a separate account of the military considerations behind the decision. The official said commanders had advised Trump that the campaign had largely exhausted its preselected target lists.

The strikes sought to deter Iranian threats to shipping in the Strait of Hormuz, a key flashpoint in the conflict.

The same official said Gen. Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, privately cautioned Trump that resuming major operations could further strain U.S. munitions stocks. The concern included air-defense interceptors used by American forces in the Middle East.

Caine’s office and U.S. Central Command declined to comment on the reported private advice.

Waltz told NBC’s “Meet the Press” that the U.S. military had everything it needed. He also said Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth had “inherited a depleted situation” when he took office.

Drone Incidents Reported Monday

Jordan reported Monday that it had shot down two drones. Iraqi security sources separately said drones struck a base used by Iranian Kurdish opposition fighters in northern Iraq.

No casualties were reported in either incident. Reuters did not identify who launched the drones and described the incidents only as a possible test of the pause.

Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmail Baghaei said Monday that Tehran was not seeking to resume peace talks with the United States.

Baghaei said messages continued to pass through mediators and that Iran had not abandoned diplomacy, but he called reports that Tehran had requested negotiations fabricated.