White House says U.S. working on modified plan ahead of talks with Iran

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said Wednesday that Washington is working on a modified peace plan ahead of closed-door talks beginning soon in Islamabad.

Leavitt said at a White House press briefing that "the president's red lines, namely, the end of uranium enrichment in Iran, have not changed."

Leavitt claimed that U.S. willingness to hold talks is contingent on the reopening of the crucial global energy waterway "with no limitations or delays."

Iran has suspended tanker traffic through the Strait of Hormuz following Israeli attacks on Lebanon, the semi-official Fars news agency reported earlier on Wednesday.

"Lebanon is not part of the ceasefire. That has been relayed to all parties involved in the ceasefire," Leavitt said.

"This will continue to be discussed, I am sure, between the president and Prime Minister Netanyahu, the United States and Israel and all of the parties involved," Leavitt added.

Iranian Foreign Minister Seyed Abbas Araghchi said Wednesday that the United States must choose between upholding a ceasefire or pursuing what he described as "continued war via Israel," referring to Israel's continuing to strike Lebanon.

"The Iran-U.S. Ceasefire terms are clear and explicit: the U.S. must choose -- ceasefire or continued war via Israel. It cannot have both," Araghchi wrote on X. "The ball is in the U.S. court, and the world is watching whether it will act on its commitments."

Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps has warned it will respond if "aggressions" against Lebanon do not immediately cease, the country's state broadcaster IRIB reported Wednesday.

Israeli warplanes launched a series of airstrikes across Lebanon on Wednesday, killing at least 87 people and injuring 722, officials said, with densely populated neighborhoods in the capital, Beirut, among the hardest hit.