Courtesy of JNS. Photo credit: Freddie Everett/U.S. State Department
Tammy Bruce, the U.S. State Department spokeswoman, holds a daily press briefing on March 6, 2025
(JNS) — Tammy Bruce, the U.S. State Department spokeswoman, declined to confirm that the Trump administration supports a “two-state solution” to the Israel-Palestinian conflict.
“President Trump is realistic about the current state of affairs,” Bruce told reporters during a press briefing on Wednesday. “Clearly, Gaza is an uninhabitable place. It needs to be rebuilt with the help of Arab partners.”
“He has said previously that the nature of what has happened and what we have to get to — we don’t have a ceasefire yet,” Bruce said. “Hopefully that will change, but that is getting quite ahead of the dynamic in general, so that is what the president’s focused on.”
This wasn’t the first time that Bruce has demurred when asked whether the two-state solution remains the U.S. government’s policy.
Bruce noted the rapid changes in the region when asked about Trump’s revived pursuit of a ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas.
“The Middle East changed a couple of weeks ago very dramatically. It changed forever. And the work of the president of the United States — thank God for him — is going to make sure that this is not a lost opportunity,” Bruce said. “This is an opportunity in the midst of this new world to make a different kind of decision. He is optimistic.”
Trump is expected to focus on a ceasefire in his Oval Office meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday. Bruce said the goal is not to make it “the world’s longest ceasefire.”
“It’s going to be peace that’s achieved fundamentally by the changes on the ground, which we have already seen implemented over the last couple of weeks,” she told reporters.
Those changes have revolved around the result of the 12-day conflict between Israel and Iran, and U.S. strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities, which the Pentagon said on Wednesday set back Tehran’s nuclear enrichment program by one to two years.
‘Iran must cooperate fully’
Iran suspended cooperation with the International Atomic Energy Agency on Wednesday, alleging that its director-general, Rafael Grossi, took sides against the Islamic Republic.
Bruce called that Iranian decision “unacceptable,” especially “when it has a window of opportunity to reverse course and choose a path of peace and prosperity.”
“Iran must cooperate fully without further delay,” she said.
Bruce said that Iran “must fully comply with its safeguards agreement” under its Non-Nuclear Proliferation Treaty obligations, “including by providing the IAEA with information required to clarify and resolve longstanding questions regarding undeclared nuclear material in Iran, as well as provide unrestricted access to its newly announced enrichment facility.”
