White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters that the United States is still engaged in “productive” peace talks with Iran, even after Tehran rejected the reported plan to end the war offered by the Trump administration.
Leavitt opened her Wednesday press briefing by claiming that President Donald Trump‘s Operation Epic Fury had decimated Iran’s defense capabilities, killed the bulk of Iran’s civilian and military leadership, and that the threat over the weekend to strike Iran’s energy infrastructure finally moved Tehran to begin negotiations.
“It was made clear to the United States that Iran wanted to talk. President Trump is willing to listen,” she claimed. “But if Iran fails to accept the reality of the current moment, if they fail to understand that they have been defeated militarily and will continue to be, President Trump will ensure they are hit harder than they have ever been hit before. President Trump did not bluff, and he is prepared to unleash hell. Iran should not miscalculate again.”
Throughout the briefing, Leavitt repeatedly declined to discuss the possibility of U.S. troops being deployed in Iran and the “nitty gritty” of the ongoing negotiations. She did stress that talks will continue through the end of Trump’s stated five-day negotiating window and potentially even beyond, but indicated that Trump may drop his halt in offensive strikes if Trump decides the Iranians aren’t negotiating in good faith.
“You’re asking me to tell you if the commander-in-chief would authorize very strong strikes against the Iranian regime,” she told the Washington Examiner when asked about the fluidity of Trump’s negotiating window. “That’s not something I would ever reveal from this podium, true or not.”
Earlier in the day, reports indicated that the proposal submitted to Tehran included the following demands of the Iranians: allow unfettered commerce through the Strait of Hormuz, limit Iran’s missile program to defensive uses, a complete dismantling of Iran’s nuclear capabilities and facilities, the confiscation of Iran’s enriched uranium stockpiles, allow international inspections of their nuclear facilities, and the cease of hostilities against Israel and other Gulf States.
Furthermore, the plan circulated by the press indicated that the U.S. would lend support to Iran’s civilian nuclear program and end all sanctions on Iran, including the “snap-back” mechanism to reinstitute sanctions from the U.S. and Western allies.
However, Leavitt poured cold water on the specifics of that reported proposal at Wednesday’s briefing, telling reporters “there are elements of truth to it, but some of the stories [she’d] read were not entirely factual.
“If you’ve heard it from the president of the United States, obviously it’s true,” she said later in the briefing when asked to confirm which parts of the reported plan were accurate. “But this full 15-point plan that’s been floating around in many of your outlets, there’s a lot of misinformation to that as well, and, again, I would caution you from taking things from anonymous sources rather than verifying them directly with the White House.”
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You can watch Leavitt’s briefing in full below.