US envoy Steve Witkoff said in an interview that aired Sunday that the US “cannot allow” Iran to maintain a civilian nuclear enrichment program, calling the issue a “red line” for the Trump administration.
“We have one very, very clear red line, and that is enrichment. We cannot allow even one percent of an enrichment capability,” Witkoff said.
Iranian officials have made clear that they’re ready to reduce uranium enrichment levels, but the idea of eliminating its enrichment program altogether is a non-starter, and the US’s insistence on that demand makes a deal unlikely.
Witkoff said the US has “delivered a proposal to the Iranians that we think addresses some of this without disrespecting them” and insisted the US is seeking “a deal that does not include enrichment.”
In response to Witkoff’s comments, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Aragchi vowed that Iran’s nuclear enrichment program would continue.
“If the US is interested in ensuring that Iran will not have nuclear weapons, a deal is within reach, and we are ready for a serious conversation to achieve a solution that will forever ensure that outcome,” Aragchi wrote on X. “Enrichment in Iran, however, will continue with or without a deal.”
The Trump administration is under significant pressure from Republicans in Congress to settle for nothing less than a deal that eliminates Iran’s nuclear enrichment program. More than 200 GOP lawmakers made the demand in a recent letter to President Trump, which was likely an effort to sabotage diplomacy to bring the US and Iran closer to war.
Trump has been threatening that the US will attack Iran if a deal isn’t reached on its nuclear program, even though his intelligence agencies recently reaffirmed that there’s no evidence Tehran is building a bomb or that Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has reversed his ban on the development of nuclear weapons.
