Leavitt Says Iran Would Be ‘Wise to Make a Deal’ as Trump Escalates Military Buildup in Region

U.S. and Iranian negotiators remain “very far apart” on Iran’s nuclear program, a White House official said Wednesday, as President Donald Trump’s military buildup in the region draws increasing speculation about the prospects of military action.

The negotiators “made a little bit of progress” but are still “very far apart on some issues,” White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters on Wednesday, referring to meetings with Iranian officials in Geneva a day earlier that included U.S. Special Envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law. “I believe the Iranians are expected to come back to us with some more detail in the next couple of weeks,” Leavitt said, a possible signal that strikes against Iran aren’t imminent.

Trump threatened to attack the Islamic Republic of Iran in January when Iranian security forces killed, by some estimates, tens of thousands of people protesting the government’s handling of an economic crisis that has led to a currency collapse, spiking inflation and shortages of essential goods.

Read more: Iran on the Edge

Over the past several weeks, the U.S. military has amassed a large amount of firepower in the waters near Iran. The USS Abraham Lincoln carries F/A-18 and F-35 fighter jets and is already in waters near Iran. The USS Mitscher and USS Michael Murphy, both guided-missile destroyers, are in the Persian Gulf near the Strait of Hormuz, a key oil shipping passage, according to a tracker of the American fleet kept by the U.S. Naval Institute. “We have a lot of very big, very powerful ships sailing to Iran right now, and it would be great if we didn’t have to use them,” Trump said at the end of January.

Last June, Trump authorized a coordinated bombing of Iranian nuclear facilities at Fordow, Natanz, and Esfahan, the most significant American military strike against Iran in decades.

Leavitt said that Trump would prefer to negotiate with Iran rather than launch another strike or larger military operation. “The President has always been very clear though with respect to Iran or any country around the world, diplomacy is always his first option, and Iran would be very wise to make a deal with President Trump and with his Administration,” Leavitt said. 

Asked how long Trump would wait for Iran to agree to his terms, Leavitt said,  “I’m not going to set deadlines on behalf of the President of the United States.” Trump has been closely coordinating with Israel on Iran, including during Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s visit to the White House earlier this month, Leavitt said. 

Asked if Trump would coordinate war plans with Israel for any potential strike against Iran, Leavitt added, “The United States government is of course always in close communication with the state of Israel and that starts right at the top with the President.”