Witkoff: Iran deal depends on uranium enrichment levels, weaponization

By Al Mayadeen English
Source: News websites
15 Apr 2025 06:04

White House special envoy Steve Witkoff says the prospect of a nuclear deal hinges on Iran’s uranium enrichment levels and issues that Tehran has already marked as red lines.

Listen

Steve Witkoff, White House special envoy for the Middle East, accompanied by White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt, speaks with reporters at the White House, Washington, on March 6, 2025. (AP)

A diplomatic agreement between the United States and Iran will depend on details about the country's level of uranium enrichment and weapons programs, White House special envoy Steve Witkoff told Fox News in an interview.

"This is going to be much about verification on the enrichment program, and then ultimately verification on weaponization," Witkoff said regarding negotiations with Tehran.

"That includes missiles, the type of missiles that they have stockpiled there, and it includes the trigger for a bomb," he added.

The US and Iran held their highest-level talks on Saturday, in Muscat, Oman, since the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) was unilaterally withdrawn from by the previous Donald Trump administration.

Oman mediated indirect talks between the countries' delegations, which were described as "constructive" by both sides.

However, Iran has made clear—both ahead of the indirect negotiations and following the initial meeting—that issues related to its national security will not be part of the discussions. This includes missile systems and the types of weapons that its armed forces procure.

Affirming that the next round of talks will remain indirect, Iran's Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baqaei said that they will also be held in Oman, after the Netherlands, via its foreign ministry, suggested they be held in Rome, Italy.

Baqaei had previously stressed that the next round of talks would be focused on "the nuclear issue and the lifting of sanctions."

Iran "will not have any talks with the American side on any other issue," the foreign ministry spokesperson underlined.