Talks are Continuing and Going Well Despite Iran's Denial, Says White House Press Secretary

Fox News

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt.

White House Press Secretary ‌Karoline Leavitt told reporters on Monday that talks with Iran were continuing and progressing well, adding that what Tehran says publicly differs from what it tells U.S. officials in private and that ‌Iran ⁠had privately agreed to some of Washington's points.

"Despite all of the public posturing you hear from the regime and false reporting, talks are continuing and going well. What is said publicly is, of course, much different than what's being ⁠communicated to us privately," Leavitt said.

She warned that anything Iran says to Washington privately will be tested and that the U.S. would ensure that Tehran is ⁠held accountable to its word.

President Trump earlier on Monday warned that Iran's energy plants and oil wells would be obliterated if it did not ⁠open the Strait of Hormuz, after Tehran described U.S. peace proposals as "unrealistic" and fired waves of missiles at Israel.

Leavitt further stated that U.S. President Donald Trump would be interested in calling on Arab countries to pay for the cost of the Iran war, adding that she thinks President Trump would have more to say on the issue.

Asked at a news briefing whether Arab countries would step up to help pay for the war, Leavitt said she would not get ahead of the Republican ⁠president but that it was an idea that President Trump had.

"I think it's something the President would be quite interested in calling them to do," Leavitt said. "It's an idea that I know that he has and something that I think you'll hear more from him on."

Earlier in the day, President Trump said Washington is negotiating with Iranian Parliamentary Speaker Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf and that the US would know within a week whether the two sides could work together.

“We're gonna find out,” President Trump told the New York Post. “I'll let you know that in about a week.”

Iran said it has not held any direct negotiations with the U.S., saying recent contacts were limited to messages conveyed through intermediaries.

President Trump described what he called a fundamental shift in Iran’s leadership, saying the previous leaders had been replaced by figures he found easier to engage.

"There has been total regime change because the regimes of the past are gone and we're dealing with a whole new set of people," he said, adding they were "much more reasonable."

On Iran’s new Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei, son of late Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, President Trump said the leader had not been seen publicly and was believed to be gravely wounded.

When asked whether Mojtaba was still alive, President Trump said Washington believed he probably is, but in “extraordinarily bad shape.”

Commenting on Iranian strikes on regional infrastructure, including attacks in Kuwait and Haifa in Israel, President Trump said the U.S. response would be seen shortly.

Source: Reuters, AA



PUKMEDIA