{"id":24855,"date":"2026-08-02T05:12:21","date_gmt":"2026-08-02T00:12:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=24855"},"modified":"2026-08-02T05:12:21","modified_gmt":"2026-08-02T00:12:21","slug":"scoop-saudi-crown-prince-raises-concerns-over-trumps-plans-for-massive-iran-strikes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=24855","title":{"rendered":"Scoop: Saudi crown prince raises concerns over Trump&#039;s plans for massive Iran strikes"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><script>\r\n  atOptions = {\r\n    'key' : '644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6',\r\n    'format' : 'iframe',\r\n    'height' : 90,\r\n    'width' : 728,\r\n    'params' : {}\r\n  };\r\n<\/script>\r\n<script src=\"https:\/\/www.highperformanceformat.com\/644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<br \/>\n<br \/><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/images.axios.com\/OSFAxZKO_0geAzgDS10xG0CB_jg=\/0x0:7476x4205\/1366x768\/2026\/08\/01\/1785625656989.jpeg\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman spoke to President <a href=\"https:\/\/www.axios.com\/politics-policy\/donald-trump\" target=\"_blank\">Trump<\/a> on Saturday and expressed concern over his plans for massive new strikes against <a href=\"https:\/\/www.axios.com\/world\/iran\" target=\"_blank\">Iran<\/a>, according to two U.S. officials and a third source with knowledge of the call.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Why it matters:<\/strong> Trump is <a href=\"https:\/\/www.axios.com\/2026\/07\/31\/trump-iran-strikes-energy-infrastructure-war\" target=\"_blank\">seriously considering<\/a> attacking Iranian energy targets in the coming days in response to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.axios.com\/2026\/07\/28\/iran-missile-attack-us-base-jordan\" target=\"_blank\">Iran&#8217;s missile strike<\/a> on a U.S. base in Jordan and its continued disruption of shipping through the Strait of Hormuz. He has yet to issue final orders.<\/p>\n<hr>\n<p><strong>The big picture: <\/strong>Such an attack could lead to an unprecedented escalation in the five-month war, which has repeatedly paused as Trump opened the door to negotiations \u2014\u00a0only to resume when those diplomatic efforts failed.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Zoom in: <\/strong>Iran has threatened to retaliate by launching attacks against energy and infrastructure facilities in Israel and the Gulf countries.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>&#8220;The Saudis expressed concern and asked for clarity about the plan of action,&#8221; one U.S. official told Axios. <\/li>\n<li>A second source with knowledge of the call said MBS urged Trump to de-escalate and refrain from launching the strikes.<\/li>\n<li>The White House and the Saudi embassy in Washington declined to comment.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Catch up quick:<\/strong> Trump met Wednesday with Saudi Defense Minister Prince <a href=\"https:\/\/www.axios.com\/2026\/07\/29\/saudi-arabia-iraq-strikes-vance-deescalation-iran\" target=\"_blank\">Khalid bin Salman<\/a>, known as KBS.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>The meeting was added to the Saudi minister&#8217;s itinerary after he met with Vice President Vance and told him that <a href=\"https:\/\/www.axios.com\/2026\/07\/13\/trump-bin-salman-houthis-yemen\" target=\"_blank\">Saudi Arabia<\/a> favored de-escalation with Iran, a source familiar with the matter said.<\/li>\n<li>The message came despite this week&#8217;s joint U.S.-Saudi strike against pro-Iranian militias in Iraq.<\/li>\n<li>The source said the meetings were intended to convey MBS&#8217; views on the Iran war and the broader regional situation.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Between the lines: <\/strong>Saudi Arabia is one of Washington&#8217;s most important allies in the region. Despite periods of tension over the past five months, Riyadh has influenced Trump&#8217;s Iran policy at several critical moments since the war began.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Driving the news:<\/strong> Other regional powers, including Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Turkey and Pakistan, are also pressing the U.S. and Iran to de-escalate.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi spoke Saturday with Pakistani army chief Field Marshal Asim Munir, who has served as a key mediator between Washington and Tehran.<\/li>\n<li>Araghchi also spoke with the foreign ministers of Turkey and Saudi Arabia about the prospect of U.S. strikes.<\/li>\n<li>&#8220;Any hostile action by the U.S. or Israel \u2014 or participation or cooperation by regional countries in such actions \u2014 would be met with a decisive and proportionate response from Iran&#8217;s powerful armed forces,&#8221; Araghchi told his Saudi counterpart, according to a statement on his Telegram channel.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>What to watch:<\/strong> Qatari mediators held separate talks Saturday with Araghchi, White House envoy Steve Witkoff and Omani officials in an effort to secure an agreement to reopen the Strait of Hormuz.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>The talks made progress, a source with knowledge of the discussions said, though it remains unclear whether that will be enough to defuse the crisis.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<script async=\"async\" data-cfasync=\"false\" src=\"https:\/\/pl30214220.effectivecpmnetwork.com\/9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<div id=\"container-9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\"><\/div>\r\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman spoke to President Trump on Saturday and expressed concern over his plans for massive new strikes against Iran, according to two U.S. officials and a third source with knowledge of the call. Why it matters: Trump is seriously considering attacking Iranian energy targets in the coming days in response&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":24856,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/images.axios.com\/OSFAxZKO_0geAzgDS10xG0CB_jg=\/0x0:7476x4205\/1366x768\/2026\/08\/01\/1785625656989.jpeg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-24855","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-political-news"],"brizy_media":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24855","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=24855"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24855\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/24856"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=24855"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=24855"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=24855"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}