A deferral instruction associated with a transaction is executed in a transaction execution computing environment with transactional memory. Based on executing the deferral instruction, a processor sets a defer-state indicating that pending disruptive events such as interrupts or conflicting memory accesses are to be deferred. A pending disruptive event is deferred based on the set defer-state, and the transaction is completed based on the disruptive event being deferred. The progress of the transaction may be monitored during a deferral period. The length of such deferral period may be specified by the deferral instruction. Whether the deferral period has expired may be determined based on the monitored progress of the transaction. If the deferral period has expired, the transaction may be aborted and the disruptive event may be processed.