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Special Envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff was adamant Friday that the Trump administration will not allow Iran to develop a nuclear weapon, describing the provocative action as a “red line” — but said that the US would still be open to compromise ahead of talks with the adversary.
“I think our position begins with dismantlement of your program. That is our position today,” Witkoff told the Wall Street Journal, explaining what he plans on telling Iranian officials on Saturday in Oman.
“That doesn’t mean, by the way, that at the margin we’re not going to find other ways to find compromise between the two countries,” the special envoy added, suggesting there are some accommodations the Trump administration might be willing to provide the theocratic regime in order to get it to scrap possible nuclear ambitions.
“Where our red line will be, there can’t be weaponization of your nuclear capability,” Witkoff asserted.
The United Nations’ nuclear watchdog discovered in February that Iran was stockpiling enriched uranium just below the threshold needed to produce a nuclear weapon.
“The significantly increased production and accumulation of high enriched uranium by Iran, the only non-nuclear weapon State to produce such nuclear material, is of serious concern,” read the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) report on Iran’s nuclear program.
The report noted that Tehran had also refused to grant the IAEA’s request to bring in additional inspectors.
Iran maintains that it is not enriching uranium to build a weapon and has long refused calls for it to dismantle its nuclear program.
“Trump wants a new deal: End Iran’s regional influence, dismantle its nuclear program and halt its missile work. These are unacceptable to Tehran,” one senior Iranian official told Reuters earlier this week.
“Our nuclear program cannot be dismantled,” the officials added.
Esmaeil Baqaei, a spokesman for Iran’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, indicated, however, that regime officials would be going into Saturday’s meeting open-minded.
“We neither prejudge nor predict,” Baqaei said Friday, according to the Wall Street Journal. “We plan to assess the intentions and seriousness of the other side on Saturday and adjust our next moves accordingly.”
Iran is expected to demand a rollback of economic sanctions and the restoration of business ties with the US as part of any deal with the Trump administration.
Witkoff said Saturday’s meeting “is about trust building.”
“It is about talking about why it is so important for us to get to a deal, not the exact terms of the deal,” the Trump administration official said, noting that any agreement would need to have verification measures to make sure Iran isn’t working toward building a nuclear weapon
Witkoff told the WSJ that it will be up to President Trump to determine how to proceed if Iran balks at paring back its nuclear program.
