White House: Many arguments for a strike on Iran, they’d be wise to make a deal |
The White House warned on Wednesday that Iran would be “wise” to do a deal with the United States as US President Donald Trump once again hinted at military action.
The two sides recently resumed indirect talks, mediated by Oman, after Trump repeatedly threatened military action against Iran over a deadly crackdown on protesters last month.
“Iran would be very wise to make a deal with President Trump and with his administration,” White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters.
On Wednesday, Trump again suggested the United States might strike Iran in a post on his Truth Social site, with a US military buildup underway in the Middle East.
He warned Britain against giving up sovereignty over the Chagos Islands in the Indian Ocean, saying that the archipelago’s Diego Garcia airbase might be needed were Iran not to agree a deal, “in order to eradicate a potential attack by a highly unstable and dangerous regime.”
Earlier on Wednesday, Tehran’s top diplomat, Abbas Araghchi, said Iran was “drafting” a framework for future talks with the US. However, a US official described those talks as a “nothing burger,” according to Channel 12.
Leavitt also gave a lukewarm assessment of Tuesday’s negotiations, saying “a little bit of progress” was made but that the sides are “still very far apart on some issues.”
“The Iranians are expected to come back to us with some more detail in the next couple of weeks, so the president will continue to watch how this plays out,” Leavitt added, speaking at a press briefing.
Asked why the US believed a strike was necessary, given that Trump claimed Washington had already “obliterated” Iran’s nuclear program in June, Leavitt said, “There are many reasons and arguments one could make for a strike against Iran.”
She added, “The president has been very clear with respect to Iran and any country around the world that diplomacy is always his first option and Iran would be very wise to make a deal.”
She did not give a deadline. The message is a repeat of what the US has conveyed in different variations for weeks as the world awaits a decision from Trump on whether he will authorize another strike on Iran.
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A senior US official told Reuters that in the wake of US-Iran talks in Geneva on Tuesday, Iran is expected to submit a written proposal on how to avoid its standoff with the United States.
Top national security advisers met in the White House Situation Room to discuss Iran and were told all US forces deployed to the region should be in place by mid-March, the official said. In the past few weeks, the US has moved two aircraft carriers and dozens of warships and fighter jets to the Middle East.
A US official also confirmed to The Times of Israel that US Secretary of State Marco Rubio will visit Israel on February 28 to meet with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, amid the heightened tensions over Iran.
Meanwhile, a Channel 12 report said that according to US officials, Trump is “very close” to giving orders for a major strike on Iran.
One official said Iran has until the end of the month to agree to a package of significant concessions on its nuclear program.
Tehran has repeatedly threatened to attack Israel and US targets if it is hit.
Israel has carried out meetings at all echelons to prepare for the possibility that Trump gives a green light for a strike, the network reported. Israel also agrees with the negative assessment of the Geneva talks expressed by the US official, according to the report.
“Timetables are growing shorter,” a senior Israeli official told Channel 12, “and that is the case in terms of military preparedness. In the end, there is one man who will decide.”
The IDF Home Front Command and other emergency agencies were instructed to make all necessary preparations for such an outcome, reported Channel 12.
However, a high-level Israeli security cabinet meeting scheduled for Thursday was delayed until Sunday.
Iran was also apparently readying for military conflict while taking steps to keep the talks alive.
On Wednesday, Araghchi held a phone call with Rafael Grossi, the head of the UN nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency.
In the call, Araghchi “stressed the Islamic Republic of Iran’s focus on drafting an initial and coherent framework to advance future talks,” according to a statement from the Iranian foreign ministry.
But an unnamed Iranian official told The Wall Street Journal that despite talks with the US continuing, Tehran is worried the disagreements with Washington cannot be bridged, making a military confrontation increasingly likely.
“Iran is facing its worst military threat since 1988,” when Iran was fighting a war with Iraq, Iran analyst Farzan Sabet of the Geneva Graduate Institute told the newspaper. “Iran is preparing for strikes by putting its security and political leadership on high alert to prevent decapitation and to protect its nuclear facilities.”
In anticipation of a strike, Iran has been pressing Hezbollah to join any potential war against Israel if one breaks out, Ynet reported.
The report, which did not cite any sources, said that Israel is “closely monitoring the situation and has conveyed very clear warnings to Hezbollah that if it decides to intervene, this time the blow will be very painful.”
According to Ynet, the IDF has prepared a plan to “significantly strike” Hezbollah, amid efforts by the Iran-backed terror proxy to rebuild in Lebanon following a yearlong war with Israel that eliminated its leadership and devastated its capabilities.
Following that war, Hezbollah stayed out of the fighting during the Israel-Iran conflict in June.
In recent months, there has been an uptick in Israeli strikes against Hezbollah operatives and assets in Lebanon, though the report claimed that the terror group’s recovery outpaces the military’s efforts to weaken it.
The report added that Israel is also prepared for the possibility that other Iranian proxies will join a war if one breaks out.
Negotiations between Iran and the US began earlier this month in Oman before the second round in Geneva. They followed Trump’s threats to attack Iran after its deadly crackdown on mass anti-regime protests last month.
Iran and the US also held a series of ultimately unsuccessful negotiations over the Iranian nuclear program last year, followed by the US striking Iranian nuclear facilities at the end of the war in June.
Iran has consistently denied seeking to acquire nuclear weapons. However, it enriched uranium to levels that have no peaceful application, obstructed international inspectors from checking its nuclear facilities, and expanded its ballistic missile capabilities. Before the June war, Israel said Iran had taken steps toward weaponization.
The moves toward a possible war came on the first day of Ramadan, which began Tuesday night across the region. In a greeting for the Muslim holy month, President Isaac Herzog wished that Iranians would see the fall of their regime.
“I want to send the people of Iran best wishes for the month of Ramadan,” he said. “I truly hope and pray that this reign of terror will end and that we will see a different era in the Middle East.”
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