Trump Awkwardly Explains His Latest Iran Bait and Switch

President Donald Trump has awkwardly explained the latest backflip in his ongoing war days after threatening Iran with the "biggest" strikes since World War II.

"We will be hitting them very hard," Trump said on Friday during a televised cabinet meeting at Camp David. "And you know at some point, they're going to say, 'We just can't take it anymore.'"

By Saturday evening, however, he was calling off scheduled attacks on Iran, now the eighth time he has halted planned strikes during his five-month conflict, according to the Associated Press.

Claiming that "we were all set to go," Trump said he was "asked" to call off the attacks by Saudi Arabia, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates and "specifically" by Iran.

"It would have been a massive attack," Trump said, "But when the allies ask to call it off, you got to sort of say, well, let's see."

Trump flagged an imminent "deal on Hormuz and... I call it the denuclearization of Iran."

Trump said negotiations with Iran will begin on Monday afternoon, but referenced the conflicting messages between himself and Iran over a deal.

"We'll see if it's true," Trump added. "I'd love to do that. Save a lot of lives. Save a lot of unnecessary power to be honest with you."

He used the same language about the size of the strikes repeatedly, saying the U.S. is "ready to go anytime we want," and claimed Iran "obviously...don't want to be attacked and they knew they knew the extent of the attack because they saw it forming."

"Would I rather make a deal?," Trump asked rhetorically. "I'm not looking to kill people, because people die. A lot of people die and we don't want that."

The president then claimed his planned strike on Iran would have been "disastrous" for them. "And they didn't want us to do it," he said. "And frankly Saudi Arabia didn't want it either. They thought that a deal is imminent."