White House spokeswoman Carolyn Levitt said the Iran deal would be “wise” as the United States builds up more military assets in the Middle East.
Her statement came as part of a series of veiled threats from officials led by US President Donald Trump, as representatives of the US and Iran held a second round of indirect talks this month.
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Both sides appeared to present different accounts of the discussion. Iranian officials said the two sides had agreed on “guidelines”, but US Vice President JD Vance said Iran had not yet responded to all of Washington’s “red lines”.
During a press conference on Wednesday, Levitt explained the Trump administration’s position that Iran must comply with US demands.
“Iran would be very wise to make a deal with President Trump and his administration,” she told reporters.
Trump who repeatedly threatened Iran took military action in response to a crackdown on protests last month, a post on Truth Social on Wednesday also hinted at a possible escalation.
The post prompted United Kingdom Prime Minister Keir Starr to warn against the deal Agreed last year In which London controls the Chagos Islands in the middle of the Indian Ocean.
The agreement nevertheless allows the UK and the US to continue to lease and operate a joint airbase on the largest island, Diego Garcia.
“If Iran chooses not to strike a deal, the United States may need to use the airfields at Diego Garcia and Fairford to deter a potential attack by a highly unstable and dangerous regime,” Trump said. wrote.
“The United Kingdom could be attacked as well as other friendly countries.”
Meanwhile, speaking on the sidelines of a meeting of the International Energy Agency (IAE) in Paris, France, US Energy Secretary Chris Wright warned that Washington would prevent Tehran from acquiring nuclear weapons “one way or another”.
“They’re very clear about what they’re going to do with nuclear weapons. It’s totally unacceptable,” Wright said.
Military buildup
The threats come as the U.S. appears to be building up more military assets in the Middle East and raising fears of escalation.
As of Wednesday, the Pentagon had one aircraft carrier, the USS Abraham Lincoln, nine destroyers and three littoral combat ships in the region, an unnamed US official told AFP news agency, with more on the way.
It includes the world’s largest aircraft carrier, the USS Gerald R. Ford, which is plying the Atlantic Ocean.
According to open-source intelligence accounts from X and the flight-tracking website Flightradar24, the US has sent a large fleet of aircraft to the Middle East.
That deployment appears to include F-22 Raptor stealth fighters, F-15 and F-16 fighter jets and KC-135 aerial refueling aircraft, according to trackers.
The US had previously deployed aircraft and naval vessels to the region before striking three Iranian nuclear sites in June last year at the end of the 12-day war between Israel and Iran.
Iran ‘doesn’t want war’
For his part, Iranian President Massoud Pezeshkian said on Wednesday that the country “doesn’t want war” but would not accede to US demands.
“Since the day I took office, I have believed that war should be put aside. But if they are going to try to impose their will on us, insult us and demand that we bow our heads at any cost, should we accept it?” he asked.
Pezeshkian spoke shortly after Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps began exercises in a show of military might in the Strait of Hormuz on Monday.
Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has previously warned that any new US attack would lead to wider regional escalation.
Iran’s Foreign Affairs Ministry said in a statement on Wednesday that its top diplomat, Abbas Araghchi, had spoken by phone with Rafael Grossi, head of the UN nuclear watchdog.
Grossi emphasized “creating an initial and coherent framework for future discussions on the Islamic Republic of Iran’s nuclear program”, according to the statement.
During his first term in office in 2018, Trump withdrew from the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), which saw Iran curtail its nuclear program in exchange for sanctions relief. In the years since, they have imposed a “maximum pressure” campaign that includes new sanctions.
Efforts to strike a new nuclear deal have repeatedly stalled since Trump’s first term.
Tehran has called for the latest round of talks to focus solely on its nuclear program, which is used only for civilian purposes. He has also indicated that he is willing to make concessions in exchange for the lifting of sanctions.
Washington has pressed for a wide range of demands that are considered non-starters for Iran, including limits on its ballistic missile program, although its demands were not immediately clear in the latest round of talks.