Lead
US President Donald Trump has indicated he is prepared to wait a few more days for a diplomatic agreement with Iran before resuming military strikes, according to reports from TASS and Yonhap. Speaking to reporters on Wednesday at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland, Trump said he wants to give diplomacy a chance until early next week, while maintaining that Washington is "all ready to go" if the right answers from Tehran are not forthcoming.
Coverage Comparison
The news was reported by multiple outlets, including Russian state agency TASS and South Korea's Yonhap News Agency. Both sources focused on Trump's willingness to extend a limited window for negotiations, though they highlighted different aspects of his remarks. TASS emphasized the role of Qatar, the UAE, and Saudi Arabia in persuading the president to postpone hostilities, while Yonhap provided additional detail on Trump's assessment of Iranian negotiators and his refusal to provide sanctions relief before a deal.
Key Claims
According to TASS, Trump said he is ready to wait "a few days" for an agreement with Iran, adding that if the U.S. does not get the right answers, "it goes very quickly." The agency also reported that the president postponed the resumption of hostilities at the request of Qatar, the UAE, and Saudi Arabia, as there remains a possibility of reaching a deal with Tehran.
Yonhap's report includes direct quotes from Trump in which he said, "If I can save war by waiting a couple of days so I can save people (from) being killed by waiting a couple of days, I think it's a great thing." The South Korean wire service also quoted Trump as saying he will not give any sanctions relief to Iran until a peace deal is signed: "I am not doing any relief until they sign an agreement," he said. "No, we haven't offered anything."
Trump positively assessed Iranian negotiators, calling them "far more reasonable than the people that are really no longer with us," and expressing that they have "talent" and "good brain power." He reiterated that the United States is "all ready to go," which Yonhap interpreted as renewing his threat to resume military strikes if a deal is not reached.
A separate TASS report noted that Trump said the window for diplomacy might extend to "maybe Friday, Saturday, Sunday; something, maybe, early next week, a limited period of time," because "we can't let them have a new nuclear weapon."
Perspectives
TASS, as a Russian state news agency, presented the story with a neutral tone, focusing on the diplomatic dimension and the role of Gulf states in persuading Trump to hold off. Yonhap, representing a South Korean public broadcaster, gave more weight to Trump's domestic political framing and his pressure on Tehran, describing his remarks as "pressuring Tehran to reach a peace deal." Neither source disputed the facts, but they placed different emphasis on the reasons behind the postponement and the consequences if talks fail.
Note: The Yonhap article is dated May 20, 2026, and includes a reference to a photo released by the Associated Press, indicating that the events occurred in 2026, though no additional context was provided about the broader conflict.