Witkoff says Iran must end enrichment, hours after mooting modest cap

Iranian academic and political analyst Sadegh Zibakalam said Tehran's need to negotiate with US President Donald Trump despite his repeated threats of military action comes after it spurned lasting accommodation with more dovish leaders.

"By negotiating with Trump, Iran is in a way paying for its past actions — for how it treated Carter who stood for freedom and human rights, for how it treated the civilized and cultured Obama and for how it treated Biden who wasn’t confrontational or aggressive," Zibakalam told Iran's Student News Network (SNN).

Under Trump’s leadership, White House special envoy Steve Witkoff “is working to resolve our differences with Iran through dialogue and diplomacy, if that is possible,” a State Department spokesperson told Iran International.

"This diplomacy is being led by Ambassador Witkoff, who is coordinating with Secretary Rubio," the spokesperson said.

"Secretary Rubio has repeatedly echoed what President Trump has said: Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon," the spokesperson added.

Former Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett said on Tuesday that any agreement with Iran must lead to the full dismantling of its nuclear program, an end to its regional activities, and a halt to missile development.

“The only deal worth making with Iran is one that: 1. Fully and permanently dismantles its nuclear program. 2. Ends all export of Iranian terrorism. 3. Fully stops ballistic missile development,” Bennett wrote on X.

He praised what he called unprecedented US leverage under President Donald Trump, saying Iran and its allies are now “temporarily weaker than ever, almost defenseless.”

“It would be a historic miss to allow Iran to regroup and threaten us—the US, Israel and the rest of the world—again,” he added.

Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett said on Tuesday that any agreement with Iran must lead to the full dismantling of its nuclear program, an end to its regional activities, and a halt to missile development.

“The only deal worth making with Iran is one that: 1. Fully and permanently dismantles its nuclear program. 2. Ends all export of Iranian terrorism. 3. Fully stops ballistic missile development,” Bennett wrote on X.

He praised what he called unprecedented US leverage under President Donald Trump, saying Iran and its allies are now “temporarily weaker than ever, almost defenseless.”

“It would be a historic miss to allow Iran to regroup and threaten us—the US, Israel and the rest of the world—again,” he added.

In a scathing response to an op-ed article by former US Secretary of State John Kerry, Iran's hardline Kayhan daily dismissed his assertion that Tehran is backed into a corner due to recent developments.

Kayhan’s editorial, responding to a Wall Street Journal op-ed by John Kerry and Thomas Kaplan that suggested President Donald Trump now has an opportunity for a broader nuclear deal with Iran due to Tehran’s weakened regional position, dismissed the analysis as based on false premises and a fundamental misunderstanding of Iran’s strengths.

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