Don’t expect Iran to sue for peace anytime soon, experts warned.
Despite reports that Iranian leaders had reached out to their American counterparts, Iran publicly rejected President Donald Trump’s offer to resume negotiations as U.S. and Israeli strikes entered their third consecutive day on Monday.
Ali Larijani, secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, posted on X: “We will not negotiate with the United States.”
“Iran, unlike the United States, has prepared itself for a long war,” he said.
Larijani’s rejection of peace came after a Wall Street Journal report claimed he had reached out through Omani intermediaries to restart talks with Washington.
“Trump’s wishful thinking has dragged the whole region into an unnecessary war, and now he is rightly worried about more American casualties,” Larijani wrote. “He turned his self-made ‘America First’ slogan into ‘Israel First’ and sacrificed American soldiers for Israel’s power-hungry ambitions.”
The Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Dan Caine, said the U.S. is prepared to continue combat operations until all objectives are reached.
“This is not a single, overnight operation,” Caine said Monday. “The military objectives that CENTCOM and the Joint Force have been tasked with will take some time to achieve, and in some cases, will be difficult and gritty work.”
“We expect to take additional losses, and as always, we will work to minimize US losses,” he said.
Trump had told The Atlantic that Iran’s new leaders “want to talk” and that he had agreed to conversations.
“They want to talk, and I have agreed to talk, so I will be talking to them,” Trump said. “They should have done it sooner. They should have given what was very practical and easy to do sooner.”
Air strikes began on February 28, when U.S. and Israeli forces launched Operation Epic Fury, a joint campaign targeting Iran’s leadership, nuclear sites, missile infrastructure, and military command. Ayatollah Khamenei was swiftly killed, along with Defense Minister Aziz Nasirzadeh, Revolutionary Guard leader Mohammad Pakpour, and 40 other senior commanders. Iranian state media reported at least 201 killed and 700 wounded across the country, but the casualty rate is estimated to be much higher.
Iran retaliated Sunday with missile and drone attacks on Israel, U.S., and European assets, striking bases in Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar, the UAE, and Jordan. Three American service members have been killed.
A senior U.S. officer told Axios that American negotiators Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff had been “very explicit” with Iran about using military force if Tehran didn’t accept their offers. Rep. Anna Paulina Luna, R-F.L., said in a statement: “The U.S. pursued negotiations. Iran refused to end enrichment, rejected a reasonable deal, and chose arrogance over peace.”
Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth are expected to brief Congress on Monday.