Trump interested in calling on Arab states to help pay for Iran war, White House says

U.S. President Donald Trump is interested in calling on Arab countries to pay for the cost of the Iran war, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said on Monday, adding talks with Tehran to end the conflict are progressing well.

Leavitt, asked at a news briefing whether Arab countries would step up to help pay for the war, said she would not get ahead of the Republican president but that it was an idea that Trump had.

“I think it’s something the President would be quite interested in calling them to do,” Leavitt said.

“It’s an idea that I know that he has and something that I think you’ll hear more from him on.”

Leavitt said that what Tehran says publicly differs from what it tells U.S. officials in private and that Iran had privately agreed to some of Washington’s points.

“Despite all of the public posturing you hear from the regime and false reporting, talks are continuing and going well. What is said publicly is, of course, much different than what’s being communicated to us privately,” Leavitt said.

Trump earlier on Monday warned that Iran’s energy plants and oil wells would be obliterated if it did not open the Strait of Hormuz, after Tehran described U.S. peace proposals as “unrealistic” and fired waves of missiles at Israel.

Trump has said that negotiations with Tehran were going well and suggested that “regime change” in Iran is complete.

“We’ve had regime change, if you look, already, because the one regime was decimated, destroyed, they’re all dead. The next regime is mostly dead. And the third regime, we’re dealing with different people than anybody’s dealt with before. It’s a whole different group of people,” Trump told reporters on Sunday.

“So I would consider that regime change, and frankly, they’ve been very reasonable.”

But U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Good Morning America on Monday that while it would be good news if Iran had new leadership and people in charge “who have a more reasonable vision of the future,” the U.S. also had to “be prepared for the possibility, maybe even the probability, that that is not the case.”

Leavitt, asked on Monday how the U.S. will ensure it is making a deal with people who can implement it, warned that anything Iran says to Washington privately will be tested and that the U.S. would ensure that Tehran is held accountable.

“If they are not, the President has laid out the military consequences that the Iranian regime will see if they don’t hold true to the words that we are hearing privately behind the scenes,” she said.

白宫新闻秘书卡罗琳·莱维特周一表示，美国总统唐纳德·特朗普有意呼吁阿拉伯国家承担伊朗战争的费用，并补充说，与德黑兰就结束冲突进行的谈判进展顺利。

在新闻发布会上，当被问及阿拉伯国家是否会加大力度帮助支付战争费用时，莱维特表示她不会抢在共和党总统之前表态，但这确实是特朗普的一个想法。

“我认为总统会很乐意召集他们去做这件事，”利维特说。

“我知道他有这个想法，而且我认为你会从他那里听到更多关于这方面的内容。”

利维特表示，德黑兰公开的说法与它私下告诉美国官员的说法不同，而且伊朗私下里已经同意了华盛顿的一些观点。

“尽管你们听到该政权各种公开姿态和虚假报道，但谈判仍在继续，而且进展顺利。当然，公开场合的说法与他们私下传达给我们的信息大相径庭，”利维特说。

周一早些时候，特朗普警告称，如果伊朗不开放霍尔木兹海峡，其能源工厂和油井将被摧毁。此前，德黑兰方面称美国的和平提议“不切实际”，并向以色列发射了多枚导弹。

特朗普曾表示与德黑兰的谈判进展顺利，并暗示伊朗的“政权更迭”已经完成。

“如果你仔细观察，就会发现我们已经经历了政权更迭，因为上一届政权已被彻底摧毁，他们全都死了。下一届政权也基本垮台了。至于第三届政权，我们面对的是一群与以往任何人都不同的人。这是一群完全不同的人，”特朗普周日告诉记者。

“所以我认为应该考虑政权更迭，坦白说，他们一直都很通情达理。”

但美国国务卿马可·卢比奥周一在《早安美国》节目中表示，如果伊朗有新的领导层和“对未来有更合理愿景”的掌权者，那将是好消息，但美国也必须“做好准备，以防这种情况并非如此，甚至很有可能并非如此”。

周一，当被问及美国将如何确保与能够执行协议的人达成协议时，利维特警告说，伊朗私下对华盛顿说的任何话都将受到考验，美国将确保德黑兰承担责任。

“如果他们不这样做，总统已经阐明了伊朗政权如果不遵守我们从幕后私下听到的话，将会面临的军事后果，”她说。