White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt on Tuesday said the Iranian regime would have “hell to pay” if it fails to strike a deal with the Trump administration.
The president has “made it very clear to Iran [that] they have a choice to make,” Leavitt said during a press briefing. “You can strike a deal with the president, you can negotiate, or there will be hell to pay. And as the president said yesterday, if they don’t choose to move forward with diplomacy and a deal which is the direction we do see them headed in, there will be grave consequences to pay.”
Leavitt’s comments come the day after President Donald Trump made a similar threat when announcing American and Iranian officials would be meeting for direct, high-level talks on Saturday.
“I think if the talks aren’t successful with Iran, I think Iran is going to be in great danger,” Trump said. “It’s not a complicated formula. Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon, that’s all there is.”
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi stated that talks would be indirect in a post to X on Monday.
“Iran and the United States will meet in Oman on Saturday for indirect high-level talks,” he wrote. “It is as much an opportunity as it is a test. The ball is in America’s court.”
Iranian state-run media reported that the talks would be between Araqchi and the U.S. Presidential Envoy Steve Witkoff, with Oman’s foreign minister Badr al-Busaidi serving as a mediator, according to Reuters.
The talks follow the United States’ strike on the Houthis, an Iranian proxy group in Yemen that has disrupted global trade and fired ballistic missiles at Israel.
“I think everybody agrees that doing a deal will be preferable to doing the obvious. And obvious is not something I want to be involved with or frankly that Israel wants to be involved with if they can avoid it,” Trump said. “So we’re going to see if we can avoid it, but it’s getting to be very dangerous territory.”
Trump announced the talks during his Oval Office meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who fiercely opposed President Barack Obama’s 2015 Iran deal. Trump withdrew from the deal during his first term in 2018, calling it “one of the worst and most one-sided transactions the United States has ever entered into.”
Last month, during an interview with Fox News’ Maria Bartiromo, Trump said Iran can be handled militarily or through making a deal.
In the same interview, the president said he had written a letter to the Iranian regime asking to negotiate. “I’ve written them a letter saying, ‘I hope you’re going to negotiate,’ because if we have to go in militarily, it’s going to be a terrible thing for them.”
“I would prefer to make a deal, because I’m not looking to hurt Iran,” Trump continued. “They’re great people. I know so many Iranians from this country.”
“I would rather negotiate a deal,” he added. “I’m not sure that everybody agrees with me, but we can make a deal that would be just as good as if you won militarily. But the time is happening now. The time is coming up. Something’s going to happen one way or the other.”
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[[{“value”:”
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt on Tuesday said the Iranian regime would have “hell to pay” if it fails to strike a deal with the Trump administration.
The president has “made it very clear to Iran [that] they have a choice to make,” Leavitt said during a press briefing. “You can strike a deal with the president, you can negotiate, or there will be hell to pay. And as the president said yesterday, if they don’t choose to move forward with diplomacy and a deal which is the direction we do see them headed in, there will be grave consequences to pay.”
Leavitt’s comments come the day after President Donald Trump made a similar threat when announcing American and Iranian officials would be meeting for direct, high-level talks on Saturday.
“I think if the talks aren’t successful with Iran, I think Iran is going to be in great danger,” Trump said. “It’s not a complicated formula. Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon, that’s all there is.”
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi stated that talks would be indirect in a post to X on Monday.
“Iran and the United States will meet in Oman on Saturday for indirect high-level talks,” he wrote. “It is as much an opportunity as it is a test. The ball is in America’s court.”
Iranian state-run media reported that the talks would be between Araqchi and the U.S. Presidential Envoy Steve Witkoff, with Oman’s foreign minister Badr al-Busaidi serving as a mediator, according to Reuters.
The talks follow the United States’ strike on the Houthis, an Iranian proxy group in Yemen that has disrupted global trade and fired ballistic missiles at Israel.
“I think everybody agrees that doing a deal will be preferable to doing the obvious. And obvious is not something I want to be involved with or frankly that Israel wants to be involved with if they can avoid it,” Trump said. “So we’re going to see if we can avoid it, but it’s getting to be very dangerous territory.”
Trump announced the talks during his Oval Office meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who fiercely opposed President Barack Obama’s 2015 Iran deal. Trump withdrew from the deal during his first term in 2018, calling it “one of the worst and most one-sided transactions the United States has ever entered into.”
Last month, during an interview with Fox News’ Maria Bartiromo, Trump said Iran can be handled militarily or through making a deal.
In the same interview, the president said he had written a letter to the Iranian regime asking to negotiate. “I’ve written them a letter saying, ‘I hope you’re going to negotiate,’ because if we have to go in militarily, it’s going to be a terrible thing for them.”
“I would prefer to make a deal, because I’m not looking to hurt Iran,” Trump continued. “They’re great people. I know so many Iranians from this country.”
“I would rather negotiate a deal,” he added. “I’m not sure that everybody agrees with me, but we can make a deal that would be just as good as if you won militarily. But the time is happening now. The time is coming up. Something’s going to happen one way or the other.”
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