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Department of State Press Briefing — $214 Million in Grant Cancellations, Iran Talks, and the Bukele Visit, Apr. 15, 2025

April 15, 2025 · U.S. Department of State · 0:33:35

Embedded from the source channel — never re-uploaded. Watch on YouTube

What happened

Spokesperson Tammy Bruce opened with tariffs, saying, as she stated it, that President Trump’s actions on tariffs have shown enemies and allies alike that the United States should not be taken for granted, and that over 130 countries are coming to renegotiate their trade relationship with the United States, as she stated it. She announced, as she stated it, that the State Department canceled another 139 grants worth $214 million under Secretary Rubio’s direction, quoting the Secretary that American taxpayers should not be funding misguided programs, as she stated it.

Bruce recapped, as she stated it, Ambassador Steven Witkoff’s talks with the Iranian foreign minister hosted by the Omani foreign minister the prior weekend, quoting the White House description of the discussions as very positive and constructive with the sides agreeing to meet again the next Saturday, and quoting Witkoff that any final arrangement must require Iran to stop and eliminate its nuclear enrichment and weaponization program, as she stated it.

She also noted, as she stated it, the opening of Expo 2025 Osaka with its 31,000-square-foot USA Pavilion; Secretary Rubio joining President Trump in welcoming President Bukele the previous day and the deportation of MS-13 and Tren de Aragua gang members to El Salvador, as she stated it; and the FDA’s plan to phase out various animal testing requirements, which she applauded, as she stated it. Spokesperson Bruce is not among this site’s tracked officials, so the page carries no official tag.

Why it matters

The grant cancellations are the State Department’s piece of the administration-wide spending purge, announced with a specific count and dollar figure, and the same briefing states the terms the U.S. envoy carried into the Iran talks — no enrichment, no weaponization.

Scoreboard watch

The grant figures announced at this briefing — another 139 grants worth $214 million canceled under Secretary Rubio’s direction, as stated by Spokesperson Bruce — are checkable against the department’s grant record. Flagged as a scoreboard candidate for the editor; no verdict is published from this page.

Sources: U.S. Department of State, “Department of State Press Briefing - April 15, 2025”, 2025-04-15 (official upload, embedded above; published 2025-04-15). Transcript via Supadata (private research store, paraphrased and attributed, not republished). All figures and characterizations as stated by the speakers.