During the Monday White House press briefing, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt had some sharp words in response to a question about Iran and the ongoing Operation Epic Fury. It was an interesting comment, but what’s also interesting is what wasn’t said.
.@PressSec on negotiations with Iran: “Anything that they say to us privately will be tested, and we will ensure that they are being held accountable to their word. And if they are not, @POTUS has laid out the military consequences that the Iranian regime will see if they don’t… pic.twitter.com/niVUY3sYWu
— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) March 30, 2026
The post continues:
..will see if they don’t hold true to the words that we are hearing privately, behind the scenes.
The Press Secretary’s comment:
Well, that’s part of the ongoing process that is taking place and the ongoing negotiations. Of course, anything they say to us privately will be tested, and we will ensure they are being held accountable to their word, and if they are not, the President has laid out the military consequences that the Iranian regime will see if they don’t hold true to the words we hear privately behind the scenes.
When the President says ‘more reasonable,’ again, these folks are appearing more reasonable behind the scenes privately in these conversations than perhaps some of the previous leaders who are now no longer on planet Earth, because they lied to the United States and they strung us along in negotiations, and that was unacceptable to the President, which is why many of the previous leaders were killed.
Thanks to my friend and colleague Bob Hoge, we now know who President Trump is speaking with in Iran, and that person is not a name we might have expected:
It’s unclear why the Iranian Parliament Speaker, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, is any more trustworthy than anyone else in that regime. Since they seized Iran in 1979, the theocratic regime has been known above and beyond else for lying. Why would their Speaker be any different?
Secretary Leavitt concluded:
So again, this is another historic opportunity for Iran to do the right thing, to rid themselves of their nuclear ambitions and to come into a deal with this President and the administration. Or, again, they will see grave consequences of the United States armed forces which they are continuing to see every day throughout this operation.
Will they, though? Or will they dissemble, once again, try to run out the clock, and hope the problem just goes away? That’s the one strategy that Iran has left that may be viable; keep up the asymmetric attacks, keep launching drones as long as they have any left, and hope the United States and Israel get tired of the attempted death-by-a-thousand-cuts tactic and make a deal that leaves the regime in place – or at least, a shell of it.
While these talks are going on, of course, the fighting continues:
Read More: The State of the Game: New Developments As U.S., Israel Continue Pummeling Iran
The old saying perhaps applies, that it’s better to “jaw, jaw” than to “war, war.” But Iran has been at war with the civilized world since 1979. They have been lying to the civilized world since 1979. The only way anyone from the regime should be able to make a deal, the only condition that should be non-negotiable, should be that Iran will have internationally monitored, honest, clean elections, as soon as possible, with no current regime members to be on any ballot.
This still appears to be one of those situations where now that we’re involved, the only successful way out is through – or, as President Reagan reportedly said, “We win, they lose.”
Editor’s Note: For decades, former presidents have been all talk and no action. Now, Donald Trump is eliminating the threat from Iran once and for all.
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