Trump says US could halt military operations if Iran is kept from nuclear weapon

WASHINGTON — US President Donald Trump said the United States could stop its military operations now, provided Iran does not obtain a nuclear weapon, according to posts published by Al Jazeera on Telegram early on 20 October 2026.

The first post, on the Al Jazeera Arabic channel at 01:13 GMT, carried the headline "Trump: We can stop military operations now while ensuring Iran does not get a nuclear weapon". The channel did not say where or when Mr Trump made the remark. It gave no further detail in the post.

A second post followed four minutes later on the Al Jazeera Mubasher channel. It said Mr Trump stated that the remaining Iranian leaders had asked for the attacks to stop. According to the post, they demanded guarantees that they would not meet the fate of leaders who were killed.

Both posts were breaking-news headlines on Telegram. Neither included the full text of Mr Trump's remarks, a video or a transcript. Zenga News has not seen the original statement and has not independently verified what Mr Trump said.

What is unconfirmed

The posts do not say whether Mr Trump spoke in a speech, an interview or a written statement. They do not identify which Iranian leaders he was referring to, or how, when and where the leaders who were killed died.

There is no indication in the posts of how any guarantee on Iran's nuclear programme would be defined or verified. They also do not set out what conditions the United States would attach to ending operations, or whether any talks are under way.

No response from the Iranian government appears in the source material. The claim that remaining Iranian leaders asked for the attacks to stop is attributed only to Mr Trump, as relayed by Al Jazeera. It has not been confirmed by Iranian officials in the material available.

Background

The posts refer to military operations and attacks, and to Iranian leaders who were killed. They do not describe the scale, timing or parties involved in those operations beyond Mr Trump's remarks as summarised in the headlines. Further details on the military campaign and the deaths of the leaders were not part of the source material.

Zenga News will update this report if the full remarks, an official US statement or an Iranian response becomes available.