NIGERIA PERSPECTIVE

Abuja, May 18, 2026. US President Donald Trump announced on Monday that he had suspended a planned military strike against Iran, initially scheduled for Tuesday, at the express request of Qatari, Saudi, and UAE leaders. Nigerian press, led by Punch Nigeria and Vanguard Nigeria, closely follows this episode, highlighting that the escalation around the Strait of Hormuz weakens oil markets, on which Nigeria remains dependent.

According to the two titles, Trump published on his Truth Social platform that Gulf leaders had asked him to 'defer the planned military attack on the Islamic Republic of Iran, with serious negotiations underway.' The US President, however, clarified that he had ordered the US military to remain 'ready to carry out a large-scale offensive against Iran at any time, if an acceptable agreement is not reached.' The day before, he warned that 'the clock is ticking' and that 'nothing' would remain of Iran in the absence of a peace agreement.

The US and Israel have been at war with Iran since the joint strikes launched at the end of February. A fragile ceasefire has been in place for about six weeks, but the two parties have only held one formal negotiation cycle, in Pakistan. Tehran, whose Supreme Leader was killed in the initial strikes on February 28, conditions any agreement on the release of its frozen assets abroad, the lifting of long-standing sanctions, and compensation for the conflict, which the Iranian Foreign Ministry's spokesman, Esmaeil Baqaei, has described as 'illegal and unfounded.'

Iran has also institutionalized its control over the Strait of Hormuz by creating the Persian Gulf Strait Authority (PGSA), a new body that now publishes 'real-time updates' on operations in this strategic maritime corridor. Any unauthorized passage is now considered illegal by Tehran. Washington demands the reopening of the Strait as a precondition for any agreement.

Nigerian press also reports that Washington has submitted a list of five points, including the demand that Iran maintain only one active nuclear site and transfer its highly enriched uranium stock to the US. In response, the Iranian Tasnim agency cites a source close to the negotiation team, stating that Washington would have agreed to suspend oil sanctions during the negotiation period – a move described as a minor concession.