Riyadh: Gulf countries including Oman, Saudi Arabia and Qatar led efforts to talk US President Donald Trump out of an attack on Iran, fearing "grave blowbacks in the region", a senior Saudi official on Thursday.
The GCC states "led a long, frantic, diplomatic last-minute effort to convince President Trump to give Iran a chance to show good intention", the official said on condition of anonymity, adding that dialogue was continuing.
Some personnel were moved out of a major US military base in Qatar on Wednesday, and staff at US missions in Saudi Arabia and Kuwait were warned to exercise caution as fears
mounted of a US attack over Iran's crackdown on protesters
The Gulf efforts aimed to "avoid an uncontrollable situation in the region", the Saudi official said.
"We told Washington that an attack on Iran would open the way for a series of grave blow backs in the region," the official added.
"It was a sleepless night to defuse more bombs in the region... the communication is still underway to consolidate the gained trust and the current good spirit."
Another Gulf official said "the message conveyed to Iran has been that an attack on US facilities in the Gulf would have consequences on relations with countries in the region".
US President Donald Trump said he had been told that killings in Iran’s crackdown on protests were easing and that he believed there was no current plan for large-scale executions, adopting a wait-and-see posture after earlier threatening intervention. After Iran's foreign minister said Iran had "no plan" to hang people, Iranian state media on Thursday reported that a 26-year-old man arrested during protests in the city of Karaj would not be given the death sentence.
Rights organisation Hengaw, which reported earlier this week that Erfan Soltani was due to be executed on Wednesday, said a previously communicated order for his execution had been postponed, citing his relatives.
Fears are high in Iran of an attack by the US or Israel as the wave of nationwide protests appears to have been largely quelled for the time being.
Activists and analysts have reported far fewer street protests in the last few days, although a week-long internet shutdown has made getting reliable information out of the country difficult.
In a social media post on Thursday, Trump responded to a news report that an Iranian protester was no longer being sentenced to death, writing: "This is good news. Hopefully, it will continue!"
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said on Thursday the government was trying to address some of the economic problems that first spurred the protests, saying it intended to tackle issues of corruption and foreign exchange rates and that this would improve purchasing power for poorer people.
Oil prices fell more than 3 per cent on Thursday after US President Donald Trump said killings of demonstrators in nationwide protests in Iran were stopping, easing concerns over potential military action and supply disruptions.
Brent futures fell $2.19, or 3.3 per cent, to $64.33 a barrel, while US West Texas Intermediate crude dropped $2.07, or 3.34 per cent, to $59.95.
“Trump turned the oil market mood by saying he had received assurances that killings of demonstrators in Iran had stopped,” said John Evans, analyst at PVM, adding that prices now reflect expectations of near-term oversupply. — Agencies
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