White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Wednesday that President Donald Trump has not imposed a specific timeline on Iran to present a proposal to end the ongoing conflict, even as a temporary cease-fire remains in place.

Her remarks followed Trump’s announcement a day earlier that the cease-fire with Iran would be extended without a defined end date, allowing additional time for diplomatic developments.

Leavitt said the President is “maintaining and generously offering a bit of flexibility to a regime who has been completely tarnished because of Operation Epic Fury.”

She added that the situation inside Iran remains unsettled. “There’s obviously a lot of internal division [in Iran]. This is a battle between the pragmatists and the hardliners in Iran right now, and the President wants a unified response. And so as we await that response, there’s a ceasefire with the military and kinetic strikes, but Operation Economic Fury continues,” she stressed, “and the effective and successful naval blockade continues as well of ships and vessels that are moving to and from Iranian ports. We are completely strangling their economy through this blockade. They’re losing $500 million a day.”

Addressing reports suggesting a deadline had been set, Leavitt pushed back, saying, “The President has not set a firm deadline to receive an Iranian proposal, unlike some of the reporting I’ve seen today. Ultimately, the timeline will be dictated by the commander-in-chief and the president of the United States,” Leavitt stressed.

She also warned reporters not to rely too heavily on statements coming out of Tehran. “We all see a lot of different messaging and rhetoric coming out of Iran – and I would caution you against taking anything they say at face value. What they say publicly is much different than what they concede to the US and our negotiating team privately.”

Leavitt said the decision to prolong the cease-fire was intentional, placing the burden on Iran to respond. She explained that Trump “chose to extend the ceasefire because it’s Iran who needs to get their act together. The United States and President Trump have been very clear in our demands, and our red lines, and what we need to see…from the very beginning.”

Earlier in the day, an Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson indicated that Tehran had agreed to the American request for a cease-fire but has yet to decide whether it will formally engage in negotiations.

.@PressSec on Iran: "There's a ceasefire with the military and kinetic strikes, but Operation Economic Fury continues and… we are completely strangling their economy through this blockade. They're losing $500M/day… He's satisfied with that as we await their response." pic.twitter.com/SdtLveF1ZH

— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) April 22, 2026

At the same time, tensions persisted in the region, as Iran carried out three attacks on vessels traveling southbound through the Strait of Hormuz, underscoring the fragile nature of the current pause in hostilities.

{Matzav.com}