White House official: Iran's 'new potential leadership' suggests it's open to talks and Trump says he's 'eventually' willing

By — Matthew Lee, Associated Press Matthew Lee, Associated Press By — David Klepper, Associated Press David Klepper, Associated Press Leave your feedback Share Copy URL Email Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Pinterest Tumblr Share on Facebook Share on Twitter White House official: Iran's 'new potential leadership' suggests it's open to talks and Trump says he's 'eventually' willing World Mar 1, 2026 2:47 PM EST WASHINGTON — A senior White House official said Sunday that Iran's "new potential leadership" has suggested it is open to talks with the United States after American and Israeli forces launched a major attack against Tehran, killing the country's supreme leader and other high-ranking officials. The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss internal administration deliberations, said President Donald Trump says he is "eventually" willing to talk but that for now the military operation "continues unabated." The official did not say who the potential new Iranian leaders are or how they made their alleged willingness to talk known. Trump told The Atlantic on Sunday that he planned to speak with Iran's new leadership. READ MORE: Inside Iran's succession process and who could be the country's next supreme leader "They want to talk, and I have agreed to talk, so I will be talking to them," he said, declining comment on the timing. The potential future diplomatic opening comes as new details are emerging about the detailed planning that went into the U.S.-Israeli strikes and some of the targets that were hit in Iran. U.S. Central Command said that B-2 stealth bombers struck Iran's ballistic missile facilities with 2,000-pound bombs. That mirrors the approach that the military took in June, when Trump agreed to deploy B-2 bombers to attack three key Iranian nuclear sites. Trump claimed in his State of the Union speech last week that Iran had been building ballistic missiles that could reach the U.S. homeland — a justification he repeated again Saturday as he a...