Leavitt says Trump chooses diplomacy first for Iran, but remains 'willing to use' lethal force if necessary

White House property caput Karoline Leavitt said Tuesday that President Donald Trump’s archetypal enactment for Iran is "always diplomacy," but that helium is "willing to usage the lethal unit of the United States subject if necessary." 

The remarks travel aft Trump wrote connected Truth Social Monday that "it volition beryllium a precise atrocious day" for Iran if the state can’t onslaught a woody implicit its atomic program. 

"President Trump's first option is ever diplomacy. But arsenic helium has shown, he is consenting to usage the lethal unit of the United States subject if necessary. So the president is ever the last decision-maker astir here," Leavitt said Tuesday. 

"And I've seen a batch of sensationalist reporting implicit the past time that is just completely untrue. And anyone speculating to the media hiding down an anonymous source, pretending to cognize what President Trump is thinking, oregon a determination helium volition marque with respect to enactment against Iran has nary thought what they're talking about," she added. 

President Donald Trump speaks during an Angel Families remembrance ceremonial held successful the East Room astatine the White House connected Feb. 23, 2026, successful Washington, D.C.  (Win McNamee/Getty Images)

The president told reporters past week that helium is "considering" a constricted subject onslaught connected Iran to unit its leaders into reaching a woody implicit its atomic program. 

US ASSETS IN MIDDLE EAST POSITIONED FOR ‘HIGHLY KINETIC’ WAR, FORMER PENTAGON OFFICIAL SAYS

The USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN-72), a Nimitz-class nuclear-powered craft carrier, is 1 of the U.S. subject assets presently successful the Middle East. (Mike Blake/Reuters)

The U.S. has precocious been expanding its subject assets successful the Middle East, sending the USS Gerald R. Ford and its onslaught radical toward the region. 

The USS Abraham Lincoln and 3 guided-missile destroyers already are successful the area. 

The USS Gerald R. Ford besides has been sent to the Middle East arsenic portion of the U.S. subject buildup. (U.S Naval Forces Central Command / U.S. 6th Fleet / Handout via Reuters)

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP 

"Everything that has been written astir a imaginable War with Iran has been written incorrectly, and purposefully so. I americium the 1 that makes the decision, I would alternatively person a Deal than not but, if we don’t marque a Deal, it volition beryllium a precise atrocious time for that Country and, precise sadly, its people, due to the fact that they are large and wonderful, and thing similar this should ne'er person happened to them," Trump wrote connected Truth Social connected Monday.