Name: Irans future as Gulf states jump in to push diplomacy
Uploaded: 2026-01-16T18:05:48.725Z
Duration: 3 min 2 s
Description: Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Egypt and Oman jumped in to push diplomacy and lower tensions between Iran and the U.S., according to a Gulf official. This comes after weeks of intense anti-government protests in Iran.

Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Egypt and Oman jumped in to push diplomacy and lower tensions between Iran and the U.S., according to a Gulf official. This comes after weeks of intense anti-government protests in Iran.

Tehran

The United States has warned Iran that all options remain on the table in response to its violent suppression of anti-government protests, which reportedly resulted in thousands of deaths. At the same time, key U.S. allies in the Middle East—including Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Oman, and Egypt—have engaged in diplomatic efforts to dissuade the U.S. from launching military strikes, citing potential security and economic consequences for the region.

President Trump shifted his stance after receiving assurances from Iran that the killings had stopped and no executions would take place, though U.S. officials maintain that all options are still being considered. Despite a slowdown in protests, Iranian authorities have restricted internet access and reported thousands of arrests, as anger against the regime persists.

Iran's future as Gulf states jump in to push diplomacy

The U.S. has warned Iran that all options are on the table to stop its deadly crackdown of anti-government protesters. Representatives from both countries faced off at the UN Security Council yesterday. We're also learning key U.S. allies in the Middle East are being engaged in intense diplomatic efforts to prevent an armed conflict between the U.S. and Iran. For more on this, we're joined by CBS News senior foreign correspondent Holly Williams, who continues to follow developments for us from neighboring Iraq. Holly, good to see you. So, what can you tell us about these latest diplomatic efforts? Hey there, Vlad and Adriana. Well, we understand that Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Oman and Egypt, so all key U.S. allies here in the Middle East, worked very hard to try and persuade President Trump to not carry out strikes against Iran. Their argument, apparently, was that strikes had security and economic risks that would play out across the region and would also have ramifications for the U.S. That's quite striking because at least some of those countries don't have great relationships with Iran. And I'm thinking there in particular of Saudi Arabia, which has been engaged in proxy conflicts with Iran here in the Middle East. Remember, the background to this is that President Trump repeatedly threatened to hit Iran hard. And U.S. officials told CBS News that he'd been briefed on an array of options for actions to take against the Iranian regime, including military strikes. But then on Wednesday, and this is after a violent crackdown that we understand left thousands of people dead in Iran. President Trump said he'd had assurances that the killings had stopped and that there would be no executions carried out by the regime. Now, that is obviously a sudden and major change in tone from President Trump. It also seems like a major concession from the Iranian regime. Remember, authoritarian regimes tend to like to to have the threat of violence at their fingertips as a way of maintaining control. Now, U.S. officials have said that all options are still on the table. But President Trump's special envoy, Steve Whitkoff, speaking at a conference yesterday, said that he preferred a diplomatic solution. Let's see how that plays out, because there's clearly enormous anger in Iran with the regime. Following this violent crackdown, you assume that anger must have grown. And authoritarian regimes have a tendency to want to cling on to power at any cost. What do you know about what's going on inside Iran? How are people feeling? I mean, I imagine there's a bit of a sigh of relief because the crackdown has subsided for now, but you never know when it's going to flare back up again. Right. So the protest movement seems to have slowed. That said, I just saw a social media post that purported to show a video of another protest in a small Iranian city. The problem, of course, Adriana, is that the Internet has been cut off now for a week. And that clearly is an attempt by the authorities to stop protests from organizing and posting videos online for the world to see what's happening inside Iran. Now, the Iranian authorities say that they have made 3000 arrests in connection with the protests and a senior official has promised swift justice. All right, Holly Williams reporting from Iraq for us. Thank you, Holly.

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Breakdown