Level 1 — Absolute Beginner
President Trump speaks about Iran. He says Iran is ready to fold up. This means he thinks Iran will give up soon.
He talks on Thursday night in Texas. He says the war will end right after the election, maybe before it. He says he offers Iran nothing.
In Iran, a religious leader speaks on Friday. He is in the city of Mashhad. He says some Iranian officials did not follow the Supreme Leader.
The United States is also sending about 9,000 more soldiers to the Middle East. The two countries still talk through other countries.
- president
- the leader of a country
- war
- a fight between countries with weapons
- election
- a day when people vote for leaders
- soldier
- a person who fights for a country
- leader
- a person who guides other people
- officials
- people who work for a government
- fold up
- to give up or stop
- Friday
- the day after Thursday
Level 2 — Elementary
President Donald Trump said on Thursday night that Iran is ready to fold up. He spoke at a truck factory in Denton, Texas. He said the war will end right after the election, and maybe even before it.
Mr Trump also said that American and Iranian negotiators are talking through mediators. But he said he has offered Iran nothing to get a peace deal. The United States is sending about 9,000 more troops to the Middle East.
On Friday, a prayer leader in the Iranian city of Mashhad, Ahmad Alamolhoda, said that Iranian officials had acted against the orders of Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei. He was talking about the officials who went to New York for talks.
Another cleric, Masoud Shahdosti, warned that Iran will not show restraint if anyone attacks it from the land or sky of a nearby country.
- negotiator
- a person who talks to reach an agreement
- mediator
- a person or country that helps two sides talk
- troops
- soldiers in a group
- prayer leader
- a religious person who leads prayers
- restraint
- careful control over what you do
- Supreme Leader
- the top religious and political leader of Iran
- peace deal
- an agreement to stop a war
- warn
- to tell someone about a danger
Level 3 — Intermediate
Speaking at a Peterbilt truck plant in Denton, Texas, on Thursday night, President Donald Trump said Iran "is ready to fold up" and predicted that the war would be won "right after the election," though he added that it might happen before. He said American and Iranian negotiators were communicating through mediators, but insisted he had offered Tehran nothing in return for a peace deal.
The remarks came as roughly 9,000 additional American troops headed toward the Middle East, and as Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Iran had loaded no crude oil at all in September, according to a report by Breitbart.
Inside Iran the message was less united. On Friday, Ahmad Alamolhoda, the Friday prayer leader in Mashhad, said that officials who held talks during a recent visit to New York had acted against the instructions of Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei. Such a public rebuke suggests a real argument inside the system over whether to negotiate.
Another preacher, Masoud Shahdosti, warned that Tehran would not show restraint if an attack were launched from the territory or airspace of regional countries, saying that neither the region nor Europe would then remain safe.
- insist
- to say something firmly, even when others doubt it
- additional
- more than what you already have
- instruction
- an order that tells you what to do
- rebuke
- a sharp public criticism
- airspace
- the sky above a country
- regional
- connected to a particular area of the world
- crude oil
- oil in its natural form, before it is refined
- launch
- to start an attack or a project
Level 4 — Advanced
Addressing workers at a Peterbilt plant in Denton, Texas, on Thursday night, President Donald Trump declared that Iran "is ready to fold up" and that the war would be brought to a close "right after the election," before conceding it might end sooner. He acknowledged that negotiators were exchanging messages through intermediaries yet maintained that he had "offered them nothing" to secure a settlement, a posture that casts the diplomacy as Tehran's to lose.
The rhetoric arrived alongside hard signals of pressure. Roughly 9,000 additional American troops are moving toward the region, and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent was reported to have said that Iran loaded no crude at all in September, a claim that, if accurate, would mean the pressure is biting on its main source of revenue.
Tehran's own messaging is anything but monolithic. On Friday, Ahmad Alamolhoda, the Friday prayer leader in Mashhad, asserted that the officials who negotiated during a recent visit to New York had defied the explicit instructions of Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei. A rebuke delivered from a pulpit is rarely accidental, and it hints at a factional struggle over whether any concession is tolerable.
Hardliners also moved to deter the other flank. Masoud Shahdosti cautioned in his sermon that Iran would abandon restraint if it were attacked from the territory or airspace of neighbouring states, adding that "neither the region will see peace, nor will Europe remain safe," a warning aimed as much at Gulf hosts of American forces as at Washington.
- concede
- to admit that something is true, often reluctantly
- intermediary
- a person or country that carries messages between two sides
- posture
- a stance or attitude taken toward an issue
- monolithic
- uniform and unified, with no internal differences
- defy
- to openly refuse to obey
- factional
- relating to rival groups within a larger group
- deter
- to discourage someone from acting through fear of the result
- pulpit
- a raised platform from which a preacher speaks
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