White House spokesperson Karoline Leavitt says Iran's initial 10-point ceasefire plan was 'literally thrown in the garbage' by the United States [File: Evelyn Hockstein/Reuters]By Al Jazeera StaffPublished On 8 Apr 20268 Apr 2026
The White House has said that the United States continues to reject any uranium enrichment inside Iran, reiterating that US President Donald Trump did not agree to a “wish list” submitted by Tehran.
Trump’s spokesperson, Karoline Leavitt, suggested on Wednesday that the 10-point proposal put forward by Iran as the basis for a ceasefire in the US-Israel war on Iran differs from the proposal published by the government in Tehran.
That plan said the US would accept Iran’s right to enrich uranium as well as sanctions relief and a permanent end to the attacks on Iran.
“The president’s red lines, namely the end of Iranian enrichment in Iran, have not changed,” Leavitt said.
Domestic uranium enrichment has been a major sticking point in previous talks between Tehran and Washington.
While Iran says it is not seeking nuclear weapons, it insists on enriching its own uranium as a national right.
The Trump administration, however, has been pushing for dismantling the Iranian nuclear programme altogether.
After more than 38 days of war, Washington and Tehran announced a two-week ceasefire that will see the US stop its attacks and Iran reopen the Strait of Hormuz, whose closure at the outset of the conflict sent energy prices soaring.
Leavitt said Iran’s initial 10-point proposal was “literally thrown in the garbage” by Trump’s team, but Tehran later put forward a revised plan.
“The idea that President Trump would ever accept an Iranian wish list as a deal is completely absurd,” she said.
“The president will only make a deal that serves in the best interests of the United States of America.”
Trump said late on Tuesday that the Iranian proposal was a “workable basis on which to negotiate”.
Leavitt said Trump and his aides will focus on talks with Iran over the next two weeks “so long as the Strait of Hormuz remains open with no limitations or delays”.
She confirmed that the first round of negotiations will take place in the Pakistani capital, Islamabad, on Saturday, and the US team will be led by Vice President JD Vance, Special Envoy Steve Witkoff and Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner.
But later on Wednesday, Iran’s Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf cast doubt over the fate of the talks.
He said the US and Israel have already violated the ceasefire by continuing the war in Lebanon, failing to stop their drones from entering Iranian airspace and denying Tehran’s right to uranium enrichment.
“Now, the very ‘workable basis on which to negotiate’ has been openly and clearly violated, even before the negotiations began. In such [a] situation, a bilateral ceasefire or negotiations is unreasonable,” Ghalibaf wrote on X.
For her part, Leavitt echoed the Pentagon in claiming victory against Iran, which also said it won the war.
“Their navy, their missiles, their defence industrial base, and their desire and their plan to build a nuclear bomb inside their country is no longer going to be allowed, can no longer happen, thanks to the remarkable success of Operation Epic Fury,” the White House spokeswoman said.
The Trump administration says US and Israeli attacks all but destroyed Iranian military capabilities, though Iran continued to fire missiles and drones against Israel and across the region throughout the conflict.
Washington has argued that the main reason for the war was to prevent Tehran from acquiring a nuclear weapon, but Trump had repeatedly said for eight months before the assault that the June 2025 US attacks “obliterated” Iran’s nuclear programme.
