The House of Representatives is preparing a rare weekend meeting as congressional leaders race against the clock on a partial government shutdown.

The House Rules Committee, which acts as a gatekeeper before most legislation sees a chamber-wide vote, is expected to meet on Sunday at 4 p.m. to consider a federal funding deal that is poised to pass the Senate on Friday.

It means the full House could vote on the bill as early as Monday, three days after Congress’ deadline to avert a shutdown.

The plans are still tentative and expected to be finalized ahead of a 4:30 p.m. House GOP strategy call on Friday afternoon, but they are a sign that Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., is looking to move with urgency once the deal passes the Senate.

Senate Democrats walked away from a bipartisan deal to fully fund the federal government for the remainder of fiscal year (FY) 2026 amid fallout over President Donald Trump’s surge of federal law enforcement in Minneapolis.

Federal officers shot and killed two U.S. citizens in the Midwest city during separate demonstrations against Trump’s immigration crackdown. In response, Democrats threatened to hold up a massive federal funding bill that also includes dollars for the departments of War, Labor, Health and Human Services, Transportation and others unless funding for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) were stripped out.

The deal reached would fund all but DHS through Sept. 30, while funding DHS with a two-week extension of current spending levels to give Congress time to hash out a compromise that would include stricter guardrails on immigration enforcement agencies under the department’s purview.

It rankled House Republicans all the way up to Johnson, who signaled he was not happy with the outcome but would work with his counterparts in the Senate to quickly end the expected shutdown.

‘I’ve been very consistent and insistent that they should take the House’s bills that we sent over and negotiated very carefully in bipartisan fashion, and pass them,’ Johnson told reporters on Friday. ‘We can work out decisions in the area of DHS, but we should not interrupt the funding of government in the meantime.’

A senior GOP aide close to House conservatives said the two-week stopgap for DHS was ‘crazy.’

‘That hands more leverage to Democrats to derail immigration enforcement, and we’d be right back here again in two weeks with more crazy demands from the radical Left,’ the aide told Fox News Digital.

Whether the legislation will survive the House Rules Committee remains to be seen.

Three members of the conservative House Freedom Caucus — Reps. Chip Roy, R-Texas, Ralph Norman, R-S.C., and Morgan Griffith, R-Va. — sit on the panel. Roy and Griffith have not said how they feel about the deal.

But Norman told Fox News Digital after details emerged on Thursday, ‘THERE IS NO RATIONAL REASON TO REMOVE DHS FROM THE APPROVAL PROCESS.’

Norman accused Democrats of trying to ‘demonize’ and ‘bludgeon’ DHS, adding, ‘IF THE DEMOCRATS WANT TO SHUT THE GOVERNMENT DOWN, ‘DO IT’!!’

Senate Republicans and Democrats shattered through partisan rancor and sent a retooled government spending package to the House on Friday evening after President Donald Trump struck a deal to sate Democrats’ demands. 

Though lawmakers were able to advance the revamped five-bill package, without the controversial Department of Homeland Security (DHS) funding bill and a two-week funding extension to keep the agency afloat, a partial government shutdown is all but guaranteed. 

That’s because modifications to the package, and the inclusion of a short-term continuing resolution (CR) for DHS, must be approved by the House. And lawmakers in the lower chamber aren’t set to return to Washington, D.C., until early next week. 

Schumer and his caucus are determined to get a series of extra reforms attached, and dropped three categories of restrictions on Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) on Wednesday that many Republicans have balked at.

‘These are not radical demands,’ Schumer said on the Senate floor. ‘They’re basic standards the American people already expect from law enforcement. I hope we can get voting quickly here in the Senate today, so we can move forward on the important work of reining in ICE. The clock is ticking.’

Democrats argued that the tweaks were common sense, and geared toward reducing further incidents during immigration operations around the country on the heels of two fatal shootings by federal agents in Minneapolis, Minn., this month. 

‘This is not like some wish list,’ Sen. Tina Smith, D-Minn., said. ‘This is like, really practical, common sense stuff that would actually go a long way towards minimizing the harm that we’re seeing in Minnesota.’

Among the most difficult requests is the requirement of judicial warrants, rather than administrative warrants, for ICE agents to make arrests. 

Sen. Eric Schmitt, R-Mo., argued that while Republicans didn’t want to have a government shutdown, they wouldn’t legislate ‘stupid s—’ into the DHS bill. 

‘We’re not like telling [ICE] they need judicial warrants when they already have administrative warrants,’ Schmitt said. ‘We’re not doing that.’

Successfully moving the bill from one chamber to the other was not an easy lift for Republicans. A cohort of Senate Republicans pushed back against the underlying, original package because of the billions in earmark funding it included. 

And Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., was enraged over the House’s decision to include a repeal of a provision that would allow senators, like himself, to sue for up to $500,000 if they had their phone records subpoenaed by former Special Counsel Jack Smith as part of his Arctic Frost probe. 

‘You jammed me, Speaker Johnson. I won’t forget this. I got a lot of good friends in the House. If you think I’m going to give up on this, you really don’t know me.’

He demanded votes on expanding the number of people and organizations who were affected by Smith’s Arctic Frost probe that can sue, along with a vote on his legislation that would criminalize the conduct of officials who operate sanctuary cities. 

But he didn’t tee them up for an amendment vote, instead contending he’d be okay with floor action after the two-week CR lapsed. 

Meanwhile, moving the package through the House could be a heavier lift than expected.

House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., expected the earliest he could move on the package was by Monday, three days into the partial shutdown, given that lawmakers are away from Washington, D.C., until next week. 

One House GOP source suggested to Fox News Digital that passing the legislation under suspension of the rules could be a pathway to success, because it would fast track the bills past a House-wide procedural hurdle called a ‘rule vote’ that normally falls along party lines.

But that would require raising the threshold for passage from a simple majority to two-thirds, meaning a significant number of Democrats would be needed for the bills to proceed.

That does not appear to be the route House leaders are taking, however, at least for now. Two other sources told Fox News Digital on Friday morning that the House Rules Committee is expected to meet for a rare Sunday hearing to consider the bill. 

The House Rules Committee is the final gatekeeper before most legislation gets a chamber-wide vote, meaning its advancement of the package Sunday could set up further action as early as Monday.

House Republican resistance to the modified package, particularly the DHS CR, has already fomented among members of the House Freedom Caucus.

 House Freedom Caucus Chair Andy Harris told Fox News Digital that ‘the Democrats’ desire to keep millions of illegal aliens in the United States will not suddenly disappear in a week or a month with a Continuing Resolution.’

‘Delaying full year funding for the Department of Homeland Security any further is a bad idea,’ Harris said. 

Senate Republicans and Democrats locked in an agreement to move forward with a behemoth funding package, smashing through resistance on both sides of the aisle. 

Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., teed up the final vote for the package Friday after hours of quelling resistance among Senate Republicans. Lawmakers will plow through several amendments before voting on the package, which is expected to pass and head to the House. 

That also means that, despite their best efforts, a government shutdown is all but guaranteed given that the deadline to fund the government is midnight Friday. 

The move came after President Donald Trump intervened to strike a deal with Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., Thursday, which will strip out the controversial Department of Homeland Security funding bill and tee up a two-week funding extension to keep the agency afloat. 

Trump urged Senate Republicans to support the plan in a post on Truth Social, where he argued that the only thing ‘that can slow our Country down is another long and damaging Government Shutdown’

‘I am working hard with Congress to ensure that we are able to fully fund the Government, without delay,’ Trump said. ‘Republicans and Democrats in Congress have come together to get the vast majority of the Government funded until September, while at the same time providing an extension to the Department of Homeland Security (including the very important Coast Guard, which we are expanding and rebuilding like never before).

‘Hopefully, both Republicans and Democrats will give a very much-needed Bipartisan ‘YES’ Vote,’ he continued.

It’s a bitter pill for Senate Republicans, who pushed onward with the original six-bill funding package despite Senate Democrats making clear that they would not support it if the DHS bill was still attached. 

Still, the successful first step virtually guarantees that the new, skinnier five-bill bundle and two-week continuing resolution (CR) will advance out of the Senate.

But it won’t prevent a partial government shutdown. 

That’s because the modification to the package, coupled with the CR for DHS, will need to be agreed to by the House, which is not in session until next week, at the earliest. From there, it is unclear how long it will take lawmakers in the lower chamber to process the bill, and resistance is mounting among angry fiscal hawks.

But Democrats aren’t walking away with everything they want, either. Before rapidly unifying behind the plan to block the DHS bill, Democratic leadership argued that a CR of any kind would effectively allow Trump to have a ‘slush fund’ for immigration operations.

Renegotiating the Homeland Security funding bill could backfire, too, given that congressional Democrats originally agreed to the restrictions baked into the current legislation and Republicans aren’t thrilled to relitigate the bill.

President Donald Trump said Friday that the United States has directly communicated expectations to Iran as pressure mounts for Tehran to accept a nuclear deal, even as Iranian officials publicly signal interest in talks.

Asked whether Iran faces a deadline to make a deal, Trump suggested the timeline already had been conveyed privately. 

‘Only they know for sure,’ he said, confirming when pressed that the message had been delivered directly to Iranian leaders.

Trump also tied the growing U.S. naval presence in the region explicitly to Iran, saying American warships ‘have to float someplace’ and ‘might as well float near Iran’ as Washington weighs its next steps.

Meanwhile, Iran is ready to discuss its nuclear program with the U.S. ‘on an equal footing,’ Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said Friday, as Washington dramatically ramps up military pressure in the Middle East amid growing doubts about Tehran’s willingness to accept verifiable limits on its nuclear ambitions.

The U.S. has long insisted Iran give up its ability to enrich uranium — the material used to build a nuclear weapon — while Iran maintains it has never pursued a bomb and says its nuclear program is intended for energy and civilian purposes.

Araghchi said no meeting was currently scheduled with U.S. officials, but left the door open to talks under specific conditions.

‘If the negotiations are fair and on an equal footing, the Islamic Republic of Iran is ready to participate,’ he said, adding that talks could not happen immediately. ‘Preparations are needed, both in terms of the form and subject of the discussions and the venue.’

U.S. and allied officials, however, remain deeply skeptical. 

Iran’s record under the 2015 nuclear deal — agreeing to stringent limits and international inspections only to later exceed enrichment caps and restrict monitoring — has fueled doubts about whether its latest overtures would translate into meaningful action.

That trust deficit was further strained in 2025, when diplomatic efforts unfolded alongside military action. 

In June 2025, the U.S. military joined Israel in striking three Iranian nuclear facilities — including the Fordo, Natanz and Isfahan sites — in an operation aimed at degrading Tehran’s nuclear capabilities even as indirect talks were underway. Iranian officials later cited the strikes as evidence that Washington was unwilling to negotiate in good faith.

But time may be running out for diplomacy. Trump warned Thursday that Iran must end its nuclear program and halt the killing of protesters or face the possibility of U.S. military action.

‘We have a lot of very big, very powerful ships sailing to Iran right now, and it would be great if we didn’t have to use them,’ Trump said.

The USS Abraham Lincoln, which arrived in the region at the end of January, is operating with a carrier strike group that includes multiple destroyers and air squadrons flying F-35C Lightning II jets, F/A-18E/F Super Hornets, EA-18G Growlers, E-2D Hawkeyes, CMV-22B Ospreys and MH-60R/S Seahawk helicopters.

Trump reinforced his message Wednesday on Truth Social, writing: ‘Hopefully Iran will quickly ‘Come to the Table’ and negotiate a fair and equitable deal – NO NUCLEAR WEAPONS.’

Tensions broke out once again at the start of January amid mass anti-government protests in Iran and a brutal crackdown resulting in thousands of deaths.

Trump envoy Steve Witkoff has called for an end to Iran’s nuclear program, the transfer of enriched uranium out of the country, limits on its missile program and an end to financial support for proxy groups such as Hezbollah, the Houthis and Hamas.

Iran has long denied seeking nuclear weapons — an assertion U.S. and Israeli officials continue to dispute, arguing Tehran’s enrichment advances and reduced cooperation with international inspectors have brought it closer than ever to a potential nuclear breakout.

Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., urged House Republicans on a lawmaker-only call to rally behind President Donald Trump after the commander in chief struck a deal with Senate Democrats to avert a prolonged government shutdown, Fox News Digital was told Friday evening.

The top House Republican admitted to being ‘frustrated’ by the result, sources told Fox News Digital, but he lauded Trump’s deal-making ability and called for lawmakers to back the president’s decision.

The Senate passed a revamped government funding deal Friday that will set the federal budget through the end of the fiscal year Sept. 30, save for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).

It comes after Democrats walked away from a bipartisan plan to fully fund the federal government over demands for stricter guardrails on Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) than what the initial House-passed package included.

Johnson told House Republicans he went to the White House Wednesday to lay out his arguments for sticking to the initial plan and warned, ‘Opening the Pandora’s Box of amending this thing could be a dangerous prospect,’ sources said.

Trump nevertheless struck an agreement with Senate Democrats. 

Fox News Digital was told that Johnson conceded, ‘The president has made a play call, and we have to support him on it.’

The initial bipartisan DHS bill included guardrails for ICE, such as mandating body-worn cameras and training for public engagement and de-escalation. But Democrats are now demanding significantly more after a second deadly shooting of a U.S. citizen by federal law enforcement during demonstrations against Trump’s immigration crackdown in Minneapolis.

The new deal struck with Democrats would only extend current DHS funding levels for two weeks to keep other critical agencies under the department’s purview funded while new bipartisan negotiations on immigration enforcement play out.

Multiple Republican lawmakers have both publicly and privately expressed concern about the deal, arguing it could potentially give Democrats more ability to constrain the administration. 

One House Republican voiced such concerns on the lawmaker-only call on Friday, Fox News Digital was told. Johnson, according to sources, agreed he was ‘frustrated … but I’ve got to tip my hat to the president. He knows the art of the deal.’

Johnson told House Republicans that Trump now needed their support to ‘navigate the next two weeks’ of deal-making with Democrats.

Trump said on Truth Social of his deal with Democrats, ‘I am working hard with Congress to ensure that we are able to fully fund the Government, without delay. Republicans and Democrats in Congress have come together to get the vast majority of the Government funded until September, while at the same time providing an extension to the Department of Homeland Security (including the very important Coast Guard, which we are expanding and rebuilding like never before).’

Sources said the speaker did sound optimistic about Republicans still having leverage in the talks, however. Johnson noted that ICE had already been funded under Trump’s ‘big, beautiful bill’ and that it would be offices like the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) and Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) that would run low on funds.

Sources said Johnson said of Democrats, ‘We can hang that on their necks.’

The House is expected to take up the legislation by Monday evening.

A Panamanian court has voided a port contract held by a Hong Kong subsidiary, prompting assurances from President José Raúl Mulino that canal traffic will not be disrupted.

The court ruled Thursday that the port concession granted to Panama Ports Company — a subsidiary of Hong Kong’s CK Hutchison Holdings — was unconstitutional. 

The decision was welcomed by the U.S. and criticized by Beijing, according to The Associated Press.

‘Beijing plays rough. Trump plays rougher,’ China expert Gordon Chang told Fox News Digital in an email. ‘The American president just showed the Chinese who’s boss in the Western Hemisphere.

‘President Trump, by extracting Nicolás Maduro and his wife from Caracas, ended Chinese influence in Venezuela,’ Chang added. ‘With the termination of the Hutchison port concessions in Panama, countries are getting the message that Trump is determined to drive China out of the region and that they should get on board with the American president.’

Mulino said Friday that port operations at both ends of the canal will continue as the ruling is carried out, adding that Panama’s Maritime Authority will work with Panama Ports Company to keep the ports running, the AP reported.

Once the concession is formally terminated, Mulino said, a local subsidiary of Danish shipping giant A.P. Moller-Maersk will temporarily operate the ports while the government opens a new bidding process for a long-term concession.

The court decision followed an audit by Panama’s comptroller that identified irregularities in a 25-year extension of the concession granted in 2021, according to the AP.

The ruling aligns with long-standing U.S. concerns over China’s presence near the Panama Canal. 

Limiting Beijing’s influence in the region has been a priority of the Trump administration, and Panama was the first overseas stop this year for U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, the AP reported.

‘The United States is encouraged by the recent Panamanian Supreme Court’s decision to rule port concessions to China unconstitutional,’ Rubio posted to X on Friday.

Panama Ports Company said it has not been formally notified of the ruling and argued it lacks legal basis, warning it could harm thousands of Panamanian families and undermine legal certainty. The Hong Kong government also rejected the ruling, according to the AP.

A federal judge on Friday struck down key portions of President Donald Trump’s executive order aimed at tightening citizenship verification for voter registration and absentee ballot applications, ruling the White House overstepped its constitutional authority.

U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly said the Constitution gives states and Congress, not the president, the power to set rules for federal elections. 

Kollar-Kotelly blocked provisions in the executive order that would have required documentary proof of American citizenship on federal voter registration and absentee ballot forms.

‘The Constitution does not allow the President to impose unilateral changes to federal election procedures,’ Kollar-Kotelly wrote, permanently enjoining the administration from implementing the challenged provisions of the order.

Trump signed the order, titled ‘Preserving and Protecting the Integrity of American Elections,’ on March 25.

The White House did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.

This is a developing story, check back later for updates. 

Senate Republicans and Democrats cut through partisan rancor and sent a retooled government spending package to the House Friday evening after President Donald Trump struck a deal to sate Democrats’ demands. 

Though lawmakers were able to advance the revamped five-bill package without the controversial Department of Homeland Security (DHS) funding bill and a two-week funding extension to keep the agency afloat, a partial government shutdown is all but guaranteed after the 71-29 vote.

That’s because modifications to the package and the inclusion of a short-term continuing resolution (CR) for DHS must be approved by the House. And lawmakers in the lower chamber aren’t scheduled to return to Washington, D.C., until early next week. 

Schumer and his caucus are determined to get a series of extra reforms attached and dropped three categories of restrictions on Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) on Wednesday that many Republicans have balked at.

‘These are not radical demands,’ Schumer said on the Senate floor. ‘They’re basic standards the American people already expect from law enforcement. I hope we can get voting quickly here in the Senate today so we can move forward on the important work of reining in ICE. The clock is ticking.’

Democrats argued that the tweaks were common sense and geared toward reducing further incidents during immigration operations around the country after two fatal shootings by federal agents in Minneapolis this month. 

‘This is not like some wish list,’ Sen. Tina Smith, D-Minn., said. ‘This is, like, really practical, commonsense stuff that would actually go a long way towards minimizing the harm that we’re seeing in Minnesota.’

Among the most difficult requests is the requirement of judicial warrants, rather than administrative warrants, for ICE agents to make arrests. 

Sen. Eric Schmitt, R-Mo., argued that while Republicans didn’t want to have a government shutdown, they wouldn’t legislate ‘stupid s—‘ into the DHS bill. 

‘We’re not, like, telling [ICE] they need judicial warrants when they already have administrative warrants,’ Schmitt said. ‘We’re not doing that.’

Successfully moving the bill from one chamber to the other was not an easy lift for Republicans. A cohort of Senate Republicans pushed back against the underlying, original package because of the billions in earmarked funding it included. 

And Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., was enraged over the House’s decision to include a repeal of a provision that would allow senators, like himself, to sue for up to $500,000 if they had their phone records subpoenaed by former special counsel Jack Smith as part of his Arctic Frost probe. 

‘You jammed me, Speaker Johnson. I won’t forget this,’ Graham said. ‘I got a lot of good friends in the House. If you think I’m going to give up on this, you really don’t know me.’

He demanded votes on expanding the number of people and organizations who were affected by Smith’s Arctic Frost probe who can sue, along with a vote on his legislation that would criminalize the conduct of officials who operate sanctuary cities. 

But he didn’t tee them up for an amendment vote, instead contending he’d be OK with floor action after the two-week CR lapsed. 

Moving the package through the House could be a heavier lift than expected.

House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., expected the earliest he could move on the package was by Monday, three days into the partial shutdown, given that lawmakers are away from Washington, D.C., until next week. 

One House GOP source suggested to Fox News Digital that passing the legislation under suspension of the rules could be a pathway to success because it would fast-track the bills past a House-wide procedural hurdle called a ‘rule vote’ that normally falls along party lines.

But that would require raising the threshold for passage from a simple majority to two-thirds, meaning a significant number of Democrats would be needed for the bills to proceed.

That does not appear to be the route House leaders are taking, however, at least for now. Two other sources told Fox News Digital Friday morning that the House Rules Committee is expected to meet for a rare Sunday hearing to consider the bill. 

The House Rules Committee is the final gatekeeper before most legislation gets a chamber-wide vote, meaning its advancement of the package Sunday could set up further action as early as Monday.

House Republican resistance to the modified package, particularly the DHS CR, has already fomented among members of the House Freedom Caucus.

House Freedom Caucus Chair Andy Harris told Fox News Digital ‘the Democrats’ desire to keep millions of illegal aliens in the United States will not suddenly disappear in a week or a month with a continuing resolution.’

‘Delaying full year funding for the Department of Homeland Security any further is a bad idea,’ Harris said. 

The U.S. State Department late Friday announced it had approved two arms sales to Israel and Saudi Arabia worth $6.67 billion and $9 billion.

The sales come as the Trump administration moves forward with its peacekeeping plan in Gaza and amid the threat of U.S. military strikes in Iran.

Thirty Apache helicopters with rocket launchers make up the largest part of the sale to Israel, along with 3,250 light tactical vehicles, power packs for armored personnel carriers and a number of light utility helicopters.

The State Department said the sale would ‘enhance Israel’s capability to meet current and future threats by improving its ability to defend Israel’s borders, vital infrastructure and population centers.’

‘The United States is committed to the security of Israel, and it is vital to U.S. national interests to assist Israel to develop and maintain a strong and ready self-defense capability,’ it said.

Saudi Arabia will receive 730 Patriot missiles and related equipment that ‘will support the foreign policy and national security objectives of the United States by improving the security of a major non-NATO ally that is a force for political stability and economic progress in the Gulf Region,’ the department said.

‘This enhanced capability will protect land forces of Saudi Arabia, the United States and local allies and will significantly improve Saudi Arabia’s contribution’ to the integrated air and missile defense system in the region.

On Thursday during a Cabinet meeting, President Donald Trump and his Middle East envoy, Steve Witkoff, said they believe Hamas will disarm under a U.S.-backed Gaza ceasefire plan as it enters its second phase.

But regional analysts have warned the terror group has no intention of disarming and could even block Trump’s Gaza plan altogether.

‘Hamas will do all the possible and creative maneuvers and manipulations in order to keep its power and influence in the Gaza Strip,’ professor Kobi Michael, a senior researcher at the Institute for National Security Studies and the Misgav Institute, told Fox News Digital.

‘The Israel Defense Forces are the only entity that can disarm Hamas.’

Fox News’ Emma Bussey and the Associated Press contributed to this report. 

As President Donald Trump weighs his options on a possible military strike on Iran, a senior Gulf official told Fox News Saudi Arabia will not allow the U.S. to use its airspace or bases for such an attack.

A high-ranking government figure from a Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) state told Fox News that the ‘U.S. hasn’t shared objectives or plans’ regarding Iran with Gulf allies despite recent high-level Saudi meetings in Washington aimed at gaining clarity.

‘We said this as friends, [we] want to make sure they understand our position and our assessment in general. And we want to understand the U.S. assessment with as much clarity as possible,’ the senior official said. ‘I’d like to get full clarity, and we did not get there.’

Regarding U.S. military movements for a strike on Iran, the official said, ‘The plan is something other than using Saudi airspace.’

The official said the U.S. is welcome in Saudi Arabia, especially regarding Operation Inherent Resolve, the ongoing U.S.-led campaign against ISIS. Yet, the Saudi position now is ‘consistent’ with what it was during the 12-day conflict between Israel and Iran in April 2024, the official said.

‘Saudi Arabia wouldn’t allow airspace to be used to target Israel, Houthis, Iran. The position is the same now. Saudi Arabia wouldn’t allow airspace to be used in a war Saudi Arabia is not a part of,’ the official said.

Trump said Friday that the United States has directly communicated expectations to Iran as pressure mounts for Tehran to accept a nuclear deal, even as Iranian officials publicly signal interest in talks.

Asked whether Iran faces a deadline to make a deal, Trump suggested the timeline had been conveyed privately. 

‘Only they know for sure,’ he said when pressed that the message had been delivered directly to Iranian leaders.

Trump also tied the growing U.S. naval presence in the region explicitly to Iran, saying American warships ‘have to float someplace’ and ‘might as well float near Iran’ as Washington weighs its next steps.

Despite the president’s words that Iran wants to make a deal, the official cautioned that ‘Iran always wants to make a deal, but the question is what kind of deal? Is it acceptable to the U.S.?

‘We don’t see it coming together at this moment,’ the official said. ‘Everybody knows the U.S. is bringing capabilities to the region in general to deal not with whatever the plan is but whatever the ramification of the plan is.’

Regarding the success of future U.S. actions in Iran, the official said, ‘There is always a problem whether you make a decision or don’t. There’s a balance of … future in the Middle East. We advise the U.S. on a better outcome at the end, using all means, including diplomatic means, and advise Iranians too. … We understand that we’re all in this — the U.S., Iran and others — and we hope for better results.’

The official said that, in the Gulf allies’ assessment, the Trump administration’s strikes on Iran’s nuclear assets heavily degraded their capabilities so that they are ‘not in the same situation as before.’

That being said, they believe an ‘off ramp could be reached by Iranians doing the right thing.’

‘We want a prosperous country that supports their people. That’s what we think we should all be doing. Iran has real economic potential, energy. A lot of talent in Iran and especially abroad who live in other countries. … There’s a way to get out of it, and Iran could be a very constructive actor in the region and important actor in the region. I hope that they get there because the Iranian people deserve a lot.’ 

Though the U.S. has not shared its objectives or plans, the source said, ‘I hope that outcome is for a more stable Middle East, more prosperous.’