Trump: "I was an hour away" from striking Iran

Now to the latest in the war with Iran and its impacts on you. President Donald Trump says he's pausing an attack on Iran that was scheduled, by the way, for today. Mr. Trump says it's because the leaders of Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and the UAE asked him to hold off. So here's what the president told reporters earlier when he was asked just how close he came to ordering that attack. I was an hour away. We were all set to go. You're talking about yesterday?

Yes. We were going to be striking very-- it would have been happening right now.

What plans [INAUDIBLE]? Yeah, it was all done. The boats, the ships are all loaded. They're loaded to the brim, and we're all set to start. Translation, finger on the trigger, but they pulled back. Live now to CBS News correspondent Natalie Brand at the White House. Natalie, do we get a sense that those leaders who encouraged the president not to strike have an idea, at least in a concrete way, where Iran may stand on the president's demands? I'm thinking about, of course, the US demand about no nuclear weapons. Yeah, the president, in announcing this, didn't give details but said that there is kind of some new hope that a deal can be reached and that the Gulf allies who encouraged him to hold off believed that, again, a deal can be made with Iran. But the president has also given us more of a timeline for these negotiations, saying two to three days or perhaps later this week. And he's also warned that the military is ready if the negotiations don't work out and the US has to go forward with another attack against Iran. Yesterday, Reed, the sticking point was still the big issue of nuclear enrichment, which, of course, is the top priority for this administration. And we're waiting to see where things stand from Iran's perspective on that front. The vice president, who's going to be briefing shortly, JD Vance, you may remember he led negotiations in Pakistan with Iran a few weeks ago. There's no question during this briefing coming up, he's going to be asked about specifics in these negotiations and, really, the administration's thinking on what they're willing to accept. Just looking live right now inside the White House Press Briefing Room for our viewers. As soon as we see that happen, we'll bring it to you. But I have to ask-- because it looks like all of these discussions and revelations came while the president was giving a tour unlike we have seen there on White House grounds-- of course, the ballroom construction site. What did you see and hear and take from that? Yeah, the president invited pool reporters to see the construction site, and he went into great detail on the construction plans, essentially defending his decision to create this new ballroom. He also said that the funding for the ballroom itself would be all private is what he's argued but that it's the security enhancements and underneath the ballroom where there's plans for a bunker and hospital, that any security-related construction would be taxpayer funded. This all matters because the Senate parliamentarian, actually-- I believe it was this past weekend-- ruled against a provision in the budget reconciliation bill that would have provided funding for the ballroom. That's kind of been a flashpoint in Congress, with congressional Democrats raising concern about paying for this ballroom. So the administration was dealt kind of a blow there, and there's still questions about how Congress moves forward on this funding.

Natalie Brand live at the White House. Thank you so much.