White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt on Tuesday reiterated the administration’s reasoning behind the military strikes on Iran, saying that if the U.S. had not acted swiftly, the Islamic republic would have threatened America with its nuclear program and ballistic missiles.
“We’ve taken out their ballistic missile capability, we can firmly, finally ensure that they can no longer be a nuclear bomb threat to the United States, our allies and our troops in the region,” Ms. Leavitt told reporters during the White House press briefing. “And that’s what President Trump is ultimately seeking to do.”
She said that Mr. Trump moved based on “facts” provided to him by his top negotiators, who said Tehran was not negotiating in good faith during talks to curb its nuclear program.
“The Iranian regime was lying,” she said about the talks, adding that they had rebuilt their ballistic program “rapidly and aggressively” and would have been a major threat by the end of the month.
“The president has reiterated, he has said, he was not going to sit back and allow the Iranian regime to threaten or to attack the United States of America,” she said.
Ms. Leavitt also made it clear that the president has not ruled out any options with the war in Iran, including deploying U.S. troops in the country.
“As for boots on the ground, the president has talked about this repeatedly. Wisely, he does not rule options out as commander in chief. So again, I would hesitate to confirm anything that a Democrat on Capitol Hill says right now about the president’s thinking,” she told reporters.
Ms. Leavitt appeared to be referring to comments made earlier Wednesday by Sen. Richard Blumenthal, Connecticut Democrat.
“We seem to be on a path toward deploying American troops on the ground in Iran to accomplish any of the potential objectives here,” Mr. Blumenthal told reporters.
Ms. Leavitt also said the Pentagon would soon release its report on a strike on a girls’ school in southern Iran that killed as many as 175 children. Iran has blamed the U.S. for the deaths.
Mr. Trump has cast doubt on those claims, saying that multiple nations possess “generic” Tomahawk missiles like the one used in the attack. The president hinted that another country could be responsible, including Iran itself. However, Iran does not possess any Tomahawks.
“The Department of War will do that — the investigation continues,” Ms. Leavitt said. “And as the president said yesterday at his press conference, he will accept the conclusion of that investigation, whatever it may be.”
When pressed about Mr. Trump’s comments, Ms. Leavitt told reporters, “We’re not going to get ahead of the Department of War and the conclusion of that investigation. The president has a right to share his opinions with the American public, but he has said he’ll accept the conclusion of that investigation.”
