White House Warns Iran of Hell if Nuclear Deal Is Not Reached

President Trump does not bluff and he is prepared to unleash hell. Iran should not miscalculate again," White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters at a briefing on Wednesday, warning that Trump would hit Iran harder if Tehran failed to accept military defeat.

As the joint U.S.-Israeli war on Iran entered its fourth week, multiple countries including Pakistan, Turkey, and Egypt were working to mediate a resolution. Against that backdrop, Leavitt delivered some of the sharpest language yet from the White House podium. "If Iran fails to accept the reality of the current moment, if they fail to understand that they have been defeated militarily and will continue to be, President Trump will ensure they are hit harder than they have ever been hit before," she said.

Trump has in recent days repeatedly claimed progress in talks with Iran, even as Tehran denied any formal negotiations were taking place. Mediators in the region said work was ongoing behind the scenes. Leavitt insisted talks had not collapsed. "Talks continue. They are productive, as the president said on Monday, and they continue to be," she said.

The disconnect between Washington and Tehran was stark. Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi rejected the U.S. overture outright, saying "we do not intend to negotiate." "At present, our policy is the continuation of resistance," Araghchi said on state TV, adding that the United States "speaking of negotiations now is an admission of defeat" by Washington.

Iran was still reviewing a U.S. proposal to end the war, despite an initial response that was negative, a senior Iranian official told Reuters, indicating that Tehran had so far stopped short of rejecting it outright. Iran's state-owned Press TV, however, reported that Tehran had put forward its own five conditions for hostilities to end.

Speaking in the Oval Office, Trump claimed victory and offered a blunt account of how leadership had been degraded. "This war has been won," Trump said. "The only one that likes to keep it going is the fake news." When CBS News correspondent Ed O'Keefe asked which Iranians the U.S. was now negotiating with, Trump replied: "We killed all their leadership. And then they met to choose new leaders and we killed all of them. And now we have a new group, and we can easily do that, but let's see how they turn out."

According to the New York Times, citing anonymous officials, an American 15-point plan touches on Iran's contested nuclear and missile programmes, as well as "maritime routes." Tehran has largely blocked the vital Strait of Hormuz oil route in retaliation for the U.S.-Israeli attacks, pushing up global energy prices.

Trump is moving thousands of airborne troops and extra marines to the Gulf amid speculation that he might order a ground invasion to either seize Iranian oil assets or secure the strategic Strait of Hormuz. Iran's parliamentary speaker Ghalibaf warned Wednesday on X of the possible invasion of an Iranian island with the support of an unnamed regional country.

Leavitt declined to confirm reports that top U.S. officials, including Vice President JD Vance, were set to hold talks with Iranians in Pakistan, which has emerged as a key mediator. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Wednesday that the "overall campaign against Iran" remains "in full swing."

Trump also announced Wednesday that his visit to China to meet Xi Jinping had been rescheduled for mid-May, having postponed it by six weeks to deal with the conflict. The White House appeared to stick to the four-to-six-week timeline it had previously given for the war. With that window narrowing and Tehran showing no public sign of capitulation, whether Pakistan or another mediator can bridge the gap before Trump's deadline expires remains the central question of the conflict.