WASHINGTON/DUBAI/TEL AVIV/ISLAMABAD - The United States on Wednesday issued a stern warning to Iran saying President Donald Trump would hit them harder if Tehran fails to accept that they have been “defeated militarily”, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said.

“President Trump does not bluff and he is prepared to unleash hell. Iran should not miscalculate again,” Leavitt told reporters in a press briefing. “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.

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White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt also said that the US remains ahead of schedule in its war against Iran after initially giving a timeline of four to six weeks. “From the outset, President Trump and the Department of War estimated it would take approximately four to six weeks to achieve this critical mission. Twenty-five days in, the greatest military the world has ever known is ahead of schedule and performing exceptionally,” Leavitt says during a press briefing.

She recalls Trump’s decision to push back his threat to bomb Iranian power plants after “it was made clear to the United States that Iran wanted to talk. President Trump is willing to listen.”

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“The remaining elements of the Iranian regime have another opportunity to cooperate with President Trump, permanently abandon their nuclear ambitions and cease actively threatening America and our allies,” Leavitt says.

Iran is still reviewing a U.S. proposal to end the war in the Gulf, despite an initial response that was negative, a senior Iranian official told Reuters on Wednesday, indicating that Tehran had so far stopped short of rejecting it outright.

Publicly, Iranian officials poured withering scorn on the prospect of any negotiations with the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump. But an apparent delay in delivering a formal response to Pakistan, which delivered a 15-point proposal on behalf of Washington, appeared to signal that at least some figures in Tehran may be considering it.

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The senior Iranian official’s comments that the proposal was still under review - though the initial response was “not positive” - appeared to contradict a report by Iran’s Press TV that cited an unidentified official as saying Iran had rejected it.

A senior Pakistani security official said that Pakistan had followed up with Iran’s foreign minister and was still awaiting a formal reply.

A second Pakistani source said: “The Iranians told us they will get back to us tonight. The media is reporting they’ve said no. But we have not received any official confirmation from Iran. So we are just waiting. They are all underground and communication is big challenge.”

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Iran on Wednesday rejected reports of talks with the United States, saying no negotiations have taken place since the start of the war in late February, while also outlining strict conditions for any potential end to the conflict, according to the Iranian media.

Iranian state television, citing an unidentified senior official, said Wednesday that Iran had rejected a peace plan proposed by the United States to end the Middle East war.

“Iran has responded negatively to an American proposal aimed at ending the ongoing imposed war,” the official said, according to the English language broadcaster Press TV. “The end of the war will occur when Iran decides it should end, not when Trump envisions its conclusion.”

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Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmail Baqaei said there had been no contact between Tehran and Washington in recent weeks and dismissed claims by US President Donald Trump about ongoing ceasefire discussions.

“We made it clear there is no talks or negotiations between Iran and the US,” Baqaei said, as quoted by Fars News Agency. He described past engagement with Washington as a “catastrophic experience” and a “betrayal of diplomacy.”

Separately, a senior Iranian political-security official told state-run Press TV that Tehran had rejected a US proposal aimed at ending the war, insisting that any ceasefire would only happen on Iran’s own terms and timeline.

“Iran will end the war when it decides to do so and when its own conditions are met,” the official said, adding that Washington’s proposals were viewed as unrealistic and disconnected from battlefield developments.

According to the official, Iran has set five key conditions for ending the conflict, including a complete halt to attacks, guarantees against future aggression, compensation for war damages, an end to hostilities across all fronts involving allied groups, and international recognition of Iran’s authority over the Strait of Hormuz.

The official said Tehran had conveyed its stance to mediators and stressed that no negotiations would take place unless all conditions were accepted. Iran also questioned the credibility of US and Israeli calls for talks, saying their actions had undermined trust in diplomatic efforts.

Iran could seize Bahraini and Emirati territory if the US “makes any mistakes,” says an analyst on Iranian state TV.

“Iran’s forces are fully prepared,” says Morteza Simiyari on Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting. “If the Americans make any mistake in the region, we will seize the coastlines of Bahrain and the UAE.”

The military has trained for the operation, he says, and seizing the coastlines “is on the agenda of our armed forces.”

If Iran tried such an operation, it would be doing so with almost no air cover or warships.

An Iranian military source told the IRGC-affiliated Tasnim that a new front could be opened in the Bab el-Mandeb Strait if the US tries to open the Strait of Hormuz by force, the opposition Iran International reports.

The Iranian-backed Houthis in Yemen attacked international shipping around the Red Sea after the Hamas invasion of Israel on October 7, 2023, and suspended their attacks when the Gaza ceasefire went into effect in October 2025.

Israel is working to urgently hit as many high-priority targets in Iran as it can due to concerns that US President Donald Trump could end the war suddenly, the New York Times reports, citing two senior Israeli officials and two people briefed on the matter.

According to the report, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday instructed the military to take out as much of Iran’s industry as possible in the coming 48 hours.

Netanyahu and Israel’s security chiefs do not believe that Trump’s 15-point plan would ensure that the Iranian nuclear and ballistic missile threat is removed.