Washington, DC – United States special envoy Steve Witkoff has said that Tehran “must stop and eliminate” its nuclear enrichment programme to reach a deal with Washington, seemingly raising the bar of US demands ahead of another round of talks with Iranian officials.
Witkoff’s remarks on Tuesday appear to contradict his suggestion a day earlier that the US would be satisfied with Iran enriching uranium at a low level to produce energy.
“Any final arrangement must set a framework for peace, stability, and prosperity in the Middle East – meaning that Iran must stop and eliminate its nuclear enrichment and weaponization program,” Witkoff said in a statement on Tuesday.
“It is imperative for the world that we create a tough, fair deal that will endure, and that is what President Trump has asked me to do.”
Witkoff’s official title is special envoy to the Middle East, but US President Donald Trump has given him several high-stakes responsibilities beyond the region, including spearheading talks with Russia as well as Iran.
The US envoy held a round of negotiations with Iranian officials and was in direct contact with Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi in Oman on Saturday. Further talks are scheduled for April 19.
Speaking to Fox News on Monday, Witkoff suggested that the US wants Iran to cap its uranium enrichment, a process of changing the atomic composition of uranium to produce nuclear fuel. When enriched at 90 percent, uranium can be used for weapons.
“They do not need to enrich past 3.67 percent,” Witkoff said. “In some circumstances, they’re at 60 percent. In other circumstances, 20 percent. That cannot be. And you do not need to run — as they claim — a civil nuclear programme where you’re enriching past 3.67 percent, so this is going to be much about verification on the enrichment programme.”
That assertion garnered criticism from conservative hawks who have been calling for abolishing the Iranian enrichment programme altogether.
This is not the first time in recent years that the US has sought to negotiate limits for Iran’s nuclear capabilities.
In 2015, the US was a key party in the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), a deal that would have seen Iran scale back its uranium enrichment to 3.67 percent in exchange for the lifting of international sanctions against its economy.
The US administration of then-President Barack Obama, a Democrat, hailed that deal as a means of preventing Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons. But when Trump, a Republican, took office for his first term in 2017, he moved to nix that agreement — and did so the following year.
Since then, the US has been piling sanctions on Iran, and Tehran has escalated its nuclear programme in response. After returning to the White House for a second term this year, Trump re-launched his so-called maximum pressure campaign against Iran, with the aim of choking off Iranian oil exports, particularly to China.
During his interview with Fox, Witkoff implied that the Trump administration is seeking concessions from Iran beyond the JCPOA, particularly over the missile programme.
He said Washington is seeking “verification on weaponisation” from Iran, including “the type of missiles that they have stockpiled there”.
However, his statement on Tuesday seems to indicate the US would like to see all uranium enrichment in Iran cease.
While Iranian officials have been saying for decades that the country is not seeking a nuclear bomb, they have also stressed that their country has a right to use and create nuclear energy.
Tensions between the two countries have been particularly high over the last month.
In mid-March, Trump threatened to retaliate against Iran should one of its regional allies, the Houthi group in Yemen, continue its attacks on shipping vessels in the Red Sea.
“Every shot fired by the Houthis will be looked upon, from this point forward, as being a shot fired from the weapons and leadership of IRAN, and IRAN will be held responsible, and suffer the consequences, and those consequences will be dire!” Trump wrote on his platform Truth Social.
Still, the US president has also stressed that he prefers a diplomatic deal to ensure that Tehran never acquires a nuclear weapon.
On Monday, Trump called for speedy negotiations to resolve the issue and again threatened to take “harsh” action against Tehran.
With the talks under way, foreign policy hawks have cautioned Trump against drawn-out negotiations or entering a deal that resembles the JCPOA.
Last week, nine Republican Congress members — including Claudia Tenney of New York and Barry Loudermilk of Georgia — penned a letter to Trump calling for “permanently stripping Tehran of the ability to enrich uranium”.
“The regime in Tehran has mastered the art of delay and deception, using diplomatic negotiations as a shield while advancing its nuclear ambitions,” the lawmakers wrote.
“We cannot afford another failed agreement that enables Iran to play for time. Nor can we repeat the mistakes of the past by permitting Iran to enrich uranium or maintain the capability to ever reconstitute its nuclear program.”
Israel — the US’s top ally in the region — is widely believed to have an undeclared nuclear arsenal.
Iranian officials have also expressed doubt about a new deal, noting that Tehran lived up to its commitments under the JCPOA while the US abandoned the agreement.
“The negotiations may or may not yield results,” Iran’s Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said on Tuesday, according to the Islamic Republic News Agency. “We are neither too optimistic nor too pessimistic about them. Of course, we are very sceptical of the other party, but confident in our own capabilities.”