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Nevilledog

(54,958 posts)
Wed Mar 4, 2026, 02:16 PM 17 hrs ago

Diplomats claim Trump's special envoy undermined Iran talks

https://www.ms.now/news/exclusive-diplomats-claim-witkoff-undermined-iran-talks

President Donald Trump’s special envoy to the Middle East, Steve Witkoff, said Monday on Fox News that Iranian negotiators bragged to him that Iran had enough enriched uranium to make nearly a dozen nuclear bombs.

The account fits a key piece of the administration’s evolving rationale for joining with Israel to preemptively strike Iran: Trump himself has said he believes the Iranian regime was close to having nuclear weapons, as well as missiles capable of carrying them to the United States.

“In that first meeting, both the Iranian negotiators said to us directly, with no shame, that they controlled 460 kilograms of 60%,” Witkoff said in the Fox interview, referring to the uranium’s level of enrichment. “And they’re aware that that could make 11 nuclear bombs, and that was the beginning of their negotiating stance.”

“They were proud of it,” Witkoff added. “They were proud that they had evaded all sorts of oversight protocols to get to a place where they could deliver 11 nuclear bombs.”

However, a Persian Gulf diplomat with direct knowledge of the talks told MS NOW that Witkoff’s description of the conversation was false.

The Iranians told Witkoff that Iran was willing to give up the enriched uranium as part of a new agreement with Trump, according to the Persian Gulf diplomat, who spoke on condition of anonymity. The Iranians also told Witkoff that Iran enriched the uranium after Trump pulled out of a 2017 nuclear agreement brokered by the Obama administration.

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