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

WASHINGTON: U.S. President Donald Trump would be interested in calling on Arab countries to pay for the cost of the Iran war, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters on Monday, adding that she thinks Trump would have more to say on the issue.

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.”

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Leavitt said that talks with Iran were continuing and progressing well, adding 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.She warned that anything Iran says to Washington privately will be tested and that the U.S. would ensure that Tehran is held accountable to its word.

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.