Witkoff on Iran: Not even 1% of enrichment capability

The U.S. special envoy reiterated that the Trump administration “will not allow” Tehran to produce a nuclear bomb. Washington will not accept enrichment of uranium in any deal with Tehran, U.S. Special Envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff said on Sunday. “We have one very, very clear red line, and that is enrichment. We cannot allow even 1% of an enrichment capability,” Witkoff said in an interview with ABC’s “This Week.”

An indispensable condition for an accord with Iran from U.S. President Donald Trump’s perspective, the envoy continued, is that it “does not include enrichment. We cannot have that. Because enrichment enables weaponization. And we will not allow a bomb to get here.” He added that U.S.-Iran talks will resume this week in Europe, expressing optimism that they “will lead to some real positivity.”

The Islamic Republic swiftly rejected Witkoff’s demand.“Unrealistic expectations stop negotiations, enrichment in Iran is not something that can be stopped,” the semi-official Tasnim news agency quoted Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi as saying. “I think [Witkoff] is completely at a distance from the reality of the negotiations,” Araqchi added.  (Read More)