White House says Iran's No. 1 priority was nuclear weapon - Spectrum News

WASHINGTON — White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt on Wednesday forcefully pushed back on mounting criticism about whether the administration adequately prepared to help Americans in the Middle East ahead of its strikes on Iran while declaring the ongoing operations thus far a “resounding success.”

In her first briefing since the U.S. joined with Israel to launch the attacks Saturday, Leavitt made the case that Iran’s “No. 1 priority” was securing a nuclear weapon, something President Donald Trump has stressed must not occur. She laid out further details of what the U.S. offered the Iranian regime during talks taking place between the two sides in Geneva ahead of the strikes, including sanctions relief and free nuclear fuel for a civil nuclear program in exchange for giving up their enrichment capacity to potentially develop a weapon.

“But Iran rejected. They accepted none of these generous and unprecedented offers by the United States,” Leavitt said. “Simply put, they refused to say yes to peace.”

Leavitt appeared to confirm reporting from Axios that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called Trump ahead of the attacks to inform him that Iran’s supreme leader and his top officials would be meeting and could be hit at one time. She referred to the conversation as “important” to his decision making. But — as the administration faces questions from Democrats about whether it was forced into the war by Israel — she emphasized that the president already had a “good feeling” that Iran was going to target U.S. assets and personnel in the region, echoing Trump’s assertion Tuesday that he believed Tehran was going to attack first.

Leavitt also offered a fierce defense of the administration's efforts to assist Americans in the Middle East seeking to return to the U.S. as some Democrats are slamming the president for not ensuring the government was prepared to help.

“On the one hand, the Trump Administration is encouraging Americans in the Middle East to leave the region immediately,” Sen. Tammy Duckworth, D-Ill., wrote in a post on X. “On the other, their illegal war has closed most of the region’s airports and airspace—and they're telling them "’they're on their own.’”

Those criticisms were heightened Tuesday when Trump told reporters it all “happened very quickly” when asked about a lack of an evacuation plan for Americans in the region.

Trump’s top spokesperson argued that the State Department was “all hands on deck on advising extreme caution and do-not-travel alerts to Americans in the region” ahead of time, pointing to travel advisories issued for several countries in the area dating back to January.

Leavitt said a State Department hotline warning callers it could not rely on help from the government to leave had been corrected and said the administration was chartering free flights and booking commercial options for those who reach out for assistance.

“There are some commercial flights that are taking off intermittently from these countries, and we plan to get Americans on board as quickly as possible, again at no charge to them,” she said. “We have some additional measures that I think will be announced in the coming days. Again, I can also reiterate, from the president's perspective, this is something he's brought up directly with our allies and partners in the region that we expect their help in getting Americans home.”

The State Department said Wednesday that more than 17,500 Americans have returned to the U.S. — including 8,500 Tuesday — since the start of the war

Leavitt also took her first appearance at the podium since the weekend’s strikes to reiterate the four objectives for the war Trump laid out Monday, which include destroying Iran’s missile capabilities, annihilating its navy, ensuring it can never have a nuclear weapon and stopping Tehran from being able to fund proxy groups in the region.

Asked specifically whether regime change was a goal, Leavitt noted that it was not one of the four primary objectives but said “any day the United States of America is taking out a terrorist is a good day for our country.”

Trump said Tuesday that the “worst-case” scenario in Iran would be the person who ends up in power being just as “bad” as the previous leader that was killed over the weekend.

Leavitt also said U.S. troops on the ground in Iran is not “part of the plan” at this time but joined the president and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth in leaving open the door for the possibility.

Six U.S. service members have died as part of the operations since its start. As part of her opening to the briefing, Leavitt acknowledged their “sacrifice” and announced Trump would attend the dignified transfer of their remains at Dover Air Force Base when it is scheduled.