US can't allow Iran to retain even 1% enrichment capability, Witkoff tells ABC
President Donald Trump’s envoy to the Middle East said Washington will not accept any level of uranium enrichment in a potential agreement with Tehran, adding that the next round of negotiations may take place in Europe in the coming days.
“We cannot allow even 1 percent of an enrichment capability,” Steven Witkoff told ABC News. “Everything begins from our standpoint with a deal that does not include enrichment. We cannot have that.”
Witkoff said the US has delivered a proposal aimed at resolving the dispute “without disrespecting” Iran.
He emphasized that Trump is seeking a diplomatic resolution. “He has directly sent letters to the supreme leader. I have been dispatched to deliver that message as well, and I've delivered it."
“The president has been very clear—he wants to solve this conflict diplomatically and with dialogue,” Witkoff added.
Earlier in the day Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said the next round of talks with the United States has been set but did not provide further details of the location or date of the meeting.
Witkoff, however, said talks with Iran may take place in Europe.
“We think that we will be meeting sometime this week in Europe. And we hope that it will lead to some real positivity,” he said.
Kamal Kharrazi, a foreign policy advisor to Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, said on Sunday that Iran remains open to negotiations but stressed that its nuclear capabilities are irreversible and cannot be dismantled through pressure.
“We will not allow anyone to threaten Iran. Anyone who threatens Iran will face a response,” Kharrazi said at the Tehran Dialogue Forum. “Iran’s nuclear technology has reached an irreversible stage. It is based on indigenous knowledge and cannot be eliminated,"
Kharrazi, who also leads the country’s Strategic Council on Foreign Relations, said Tehran would consider limiting uranium enrichment to 3.67 percent if US sanctions are lifted.
Deputy Foreign Minister Majid Takht-Ravanchi said Iran has not held talks on a nuclear consortium but acknowledged that related ideas have been proposed.
“We have not discussed a nuclear consortium, but some ideas have been raised,” he said. “If the talks progress and it’s seriously proposed, we may consider it.”
Tehran does not see Arab economic growth as a threat, Ali Akbar Velayati, senior adviser to Iran’s Supreme Leader, told The New York Times.
He also dismissed Donald Trump’s remarks during his regional tour.
He said Iran’s strength compels global powers to seek a deal: “We are independent, self-confident and powerful.”
