The White House says Iran rejected a US proposal to establish a joint civilian nuclear program with American investment in exchange for dismantling its uranium enrichment infrastructure before Washington and Israel launched strikes on the country.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said the offer was part of what she described as “good faith negotiations” conducted by President Donald Trump’s envoys in the weeks leading up to the attacks.
According to Leavitt, US negotiators offered to lift sanctions on Iran, supply nuclear fuel for peaceful purposes and support a joint civil nuclear program backed by American investment.
In return, Iran would have been required to permanently dismantle its enrichment facilities.
“They refused to say yes to peace,” Leavitt said. “And now they are reaping the consequences of that.”
The proposals emerged from three rounds of talks mediated by Oman before the strikes began. Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi met US envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner in discussions aimed at defusing tensions over Tehran’s nuclear program.
Oman’s foreign minister later said the US attacks came at a time when Tehran had already signaled readiness for unprecedented concessions related to its nuclear activities, raising questions about Washington’s characterization of the negotiations.
Iran has long maintained that its nuclear program is peaceful and insists it will not give up what it describes as its sovereign right to enrich uranium.
Iranian officials say enrichment for civilian purposes, including nuclear energy and medical uses, is permitted under international agreements, though they have expressed willingness in the past to accept limits and monitoring.
US President Donald Trump also suggested the conflict could further reshape Iran’s leadership.
“Their leadership is just rapidly going. Everybody that seems to want to be a leader, they end up dead,” Trump said on Wednesday, adding that the United States was in a “very strong position” in the conflict and rating the country’s military strength “about a 15” on a scale of 10.
The dispute over enrichment has remained the central obstacle in nuclear diplomacy between Tehran and Washington.
With negotiations now overtaken by military escalation, the collapse of the talks has pushed the long-running nuclear dispute into open conflict and raised fears the confrontation could widen across the region.
