{"id":39042,"date":"2026-04-23T03:59:22","date_gmt":"2026-04-23T03:59:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/39042\/"},"modified":"2026-04-23T03:59:22","modified_gmt":"2026-04-23T03:59:22","slug":"us-says-it-is-awaiting-unified-iranian-position-amid-reports-of-fractured-leadership","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/39042\/","title":{"rendered":"US says it is awaiting ‘unified’ Iranian position, amid reports of fractured leadership"},"content":{"rendered":"

US President Donald Trump wants to see a \u201cunified\u201d response from Iran\u2019s leadership to US proposals to end hostilities, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said on Wednesday.<\/p>\n

Leavitt told reporters that Trump had not set a deadline for an end to the ceasefire extension he announced on Tuesday, and indicated that the talks were focused on Tehran\u2019s nuclear program.<\/p>\n

Axios, quoting a US official, reported that Washington was giving the fragmented Iranian leadership a window of three to five days to \u201cget their shit together\u201d and respond to a proposed deal and return to negotiations, or risk the collapse of the current ceasefire.<\/p>\n

An official told Axios<\/a> that the window of time was meant to give the Iranians time to come back with a unified response.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe saw that there is an absolute fracture inside Iran between the negotiators and the military \u2014 with neither side having access to the supreme leader [Mojtaba Khamenei], who is not responsive,\u201d the official said.<\/p>\n

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Israel\u2019s Kan and Ynet outlets offered a similar timeframe, saying the Israeli understanding was that Tehran was being given until Sunday to offer a coherent position.<\/p>\n

Leavitt refuted the reports, saying\u00a0\u201cThe president has not set a firm deadline to receive an Iranian proposal, unlike some of the reporting we\u2019ve seen today.\u201d<\/p>\n

In extending the ceasefire with Iran on Tuesday, Trump offered \u201ca bit of flexibility\u201d to a regime suffering from \u201ca lot of internal division\u201d as a result of the war, Leavitt said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is a battle between the pragmatists and the hardliners in Iran right now, and the president wants a unified response,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n

In the meantime, \u201cOperation Economic Fury\u201d will continue, Leavitt said, offering a new term for the sanctions and blockade measures that Washington has taken against Iran.<\/p>\n

In the meantime, Iran has adopted a defiant posture and has not committed to resuming negotiations. On Wednesday, it fired on ships in the Strait of Hormuz<\/a> and said it had seized two.<\/p>\n

\t\"\"<\/a>
\n\t\tA tanker sits anchored in the Strait of Hormuz off the coast of Qeshm Island, Iran, April 18, 2026. (AP Photo\/Asghar Besharati)<\/p>\n

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said an alleged US breach of commitments, its blockade of Iranian ports and its threats were the main obstacles to \u201cgenuine negotiations.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201c[The] world sees your endless hypocritical rhetoric and contradiction between claims and actions,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf also decried the blockade and asserted that the US and Israel \u201cdid not achieve their goals through military aggression, and they will not achieve them through bullying.\u201d<\/p>\n

Earlier in the day, Trump claimed that Iran was \u201ccollapsing financially\u201d over the closure of the strait.<\/p>\n

Talks focused on nuclear file<\/p>\n

Leavitt indicated that talks with Iran were focused on the nuclear file.<\/p>\n

Fox News asked Leavitt whether humanitarian issues would also be part of the talks.<\/p>\n

\u201cHumanitarian issues are of a great concern to this president, but with respect to the negotiations that are ongoing, he has made his red lines very clear: Iran can never obtain a nuclear bomb to threaten the United States and our allies, and they must turn over the enriched uranium that\u2019s in their possession,\u201d Leavitt said.<\/p>\n

\t\"\"<\/a>
\n\t\tWhite House press secretary Karoline Leavitt speaks with reporters in the James Brady Press Briefing Room at the White House, on April 15, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo\/Alex Brandon)<\/p>\n

\u201cWhile it is very far into the ground thanks to the success of Operation Midnight Hammer,\u201d she said, referring to the June 2025 US bombing of Iranian nuclear sites, \u201cit\u2019s important to the president that they hand that enriched uranium over.\u201d<\/p>\n

Iran has indicated willingness to negotiate over the issue, but has reportedly offered to down-blend the highly enriched uranium rather than have it transferred out of the country.<\/p>\n

Leavitt notably made no mention of Iran\u2019s missile program and support for proxies, which Israel has insisted must also be part of any deal reached with Tehran. According to a CBS news report<\/a> Wednesday, Iran maintains more military assets following the recent war than the US has publicly acknowledged. <\/p>\n

\t\"\"<\/a>
\n\t\tSecurity personnel stand guard at a checkpoint near the Serena Hotel, which hosted the first round of US-Iran negotiations during the Middle East war, at the Red Zone area in Islamabad on April 21, 2026, amid heightened security measures ahead of the anticipated second round of US-Iran peace talks. (Asif HASSAN \/ AFP)<\/p>\n

Delayed negotiations<\/p>\n

Earlier this week, there were successive reports that US Vice President JD Vance, who is leading the American negotiating team, was headed to Islamabad, which hosted a round of marathon US-Iranian talks earlier this month. But Iran never committed to showing up, so Vance didn\u2019t travel.<\/p>\n

The Axios report said the state of limbo has frustrated Vance, who had his bags packed. His plane, Air Force Two, was reportedly ready to fly and waiting for hours on the tarmac at the Washington-area Joint Base Andrews.<\/p>\n

On Wednesday, the New York Post reported that a fresh round of negotiations between the US and Iran could take place in Pakistan as soon as Friday. The report cited Trump and unnamed Pakistani sources.<\/p>\n

According to the Post, the sources informed the outlet that following \u201cpositive mediation efforts with Tehran,\u201d both sides could return to the negotiating table within the next \u201c36 to 72 hours.\u201d<\/p>\n

Trump, contacted by the Post for comment, replied that \u201cit\u2019s possible\u201d that the sides could gather in Islamabad within that time frame.<\/p>\n

An unnamed source close to Trump told Axios that he seems to want to end the war.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt certainly looks like Trump doesn\u2019t want to use military force anymore and has made a decision to end the war,\u201d the source said.<\/p>\n

The outlet, citing American figures close to Trump, said the president appeared to believe the US had gotten all it could from military action and seemed determined to try every other avenue before resorting to force again.<\/p>\n

\t\"\"<\/a>
\n\t\tAn Iranian woman walks past an anti-Israel mural, in Tehran on April 21 2026. (ATTA KENARE \/ AFP) \/<\/p>\n

Israel, which Pakistan does not recognize, is not a party to the negotiations and has remained vague about the timeline, Kan reported. The report said Trump is not coordinating his steps with Jerusalem.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve only been staying updated on Trump\u2019s moves recently from the media and his social network,\u201d an Israeli official told the outlet.<\/p>\n

Iran\u2019s foreign ministry spokesman Esmail Baghaei said on Wednesday that the Islamic Republic appreciates Pakistan\u2019s efforts to end the war while \u201ctaking the necessary measures to safeguard Iran\u2019s national interests and security.\u201d<\/p>\n

But in comments reported by state television, he did not commit to a new round of talks.<\/p>\n

\u201cDiplomacy is a tool for securing national interests and security, and whenever we reach the conclusion that the necessary and reasonable conditions exist to use this tool to achieve national interests and to consolidate the achievements of the Iranian nation in thwarting the enemies\u2019 malicious objectives, we will take action,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Trump claims women\u2019s executions averted<\/p>\n

Trump on Wednesday thanked Iran for purportedly scrapping the executions of eight female citizens at his request.<\/p>\n

He had claimed on Tuesday that Iran was planning to hang eight women, citing an unverified post by a pro-Israel activist. A rights group later said that at least two of the eight had already been released when Trump issued the plea to Iran\u2019s leadership.<\/p>\n

\u201cVery good news! I have just been informed that the eight women protestors who were going to be executed tonight in Iran will no longer be killed,\u201d Trump wrote on social media. \u201cFour will be released immediately, and four will be sentenced to one month in prison.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI very much appreciate that Iran, and its leaders respected my request, as President of the United States, and terminated the planned execution,\u201d Trump added.<\/p>\n

Iran\u2019s judiciary described the claim as \u201cfalse news.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cDespite the claim from last night being exposed as a lie, Trump, just minutes ago in another post, claimed that the death sentences of eight protesting women who were supposed to be executed tonight in Iran have been cancelled, and thanked Iran!\u201d the judiciary\u2019s Mizan Online website posted on X.<\/p>\n

\u201cTrump\u2019s empty hand in the field has led him to fabricate achievements from false news,\u201d it said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"US President Donald Trump wants to see a \u201cunified\u201d response from Iran\u2019s leadership to US proposals to end…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":39043,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[23763,12,25391,13475,4125,10,11],"class_list":{"0":"post-39042","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-donald-trump","8":"tag-2026-us-israel-war-with-iran","9":"tag-donald-trump","10":"tag-esmaeil-baghaei","11":"tag-mohammad-bagher-ghalibaf","12":"tag-pakistan","13":"tag-potus","14":"tag-president-of-the-united-states"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@people\/116452023558991135","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39042","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=39042"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39042\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/39043"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=39042"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=39042"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=39042"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}