US President Donald Trump says that he called off a planned strike on Iran at the request of Gulf countries because they believed a deal between Washington and Tehran could be reached, adding that Iran has until early next week at most to come to an agreement.

“They called me over the last two days to say they made a lot of progress … primarily Saudi Arabia, Qatar, UAE, Kuwait, a little bit, Bahrain and some of the others,” Trump tells reporters.

Adding that these countries “know the people in Iran”, he says that he received a call asking him to postpone the attack, stating “we’re close to a deal”.

Asked how long Gulf states knew about the planned strike, Trump responds, “I never tell anybody when, but they knew we were very close.

“I had made the decision, so they called up, [and] they has heard I made the decision and said, ‘Sir, could you give us a couple more days? Because we think they’re being reasonable,” he adds.

When questioned about how much time Iran has to reach an agreement, Trump says, “I’m saying two or three days, maybe Friday, Saturday, Sunday, something maybe early next week. A limited period of time.”