Iranian uranium enrichment facilities must be dismantled, says US Mideast envoy Witkoff

U.S. Special Envoy Steve Witkoff clarified on Thursday that the Iranian regime must not be allowed to keep its uranium facilities, essential for the development of nuclear bombs.

“They cannot have centrifuges. They have to downblend all of their fuel that they have there and send it to a far-away place,” Witkoff stated in an interview with the U.S. news outlet Breitbart. “An enrichment program can never exist in the state of Iran ever again. That’s our red line.”

Witkoff also said he believes they have no choice but to accept U.S. President Donald Trump’s enrichment ban.

“Obviously, they can say no, and they can test President Trump, but I think that would be an unwise thing to do,” he warned.

The senior U.S. diplomat's recent hawkish stance on Iran’s nuclear program appears to contradict his statement from last month, when he suggested that Washington expected Iran to limit – but not completely halt – its enrichment activities.

Trump appointed Witkoff to represent Washington in the ongoing negotiations with Tehran concerning Iran’s covert nuclear program.

In his interview with Breitbart, Witkoff argued that Iran would need to dismantle its main enrichment facilities, which are located in Isfahan, Fordow and Natanz.

However, the Trump administration has simultaneously indicated that Tehran could keep its smaller Bushehr reactor because “they have no ability to enrich, they have no ability to have centrifuges there, they can only use that facility for civilian purposes – making electricity and things of that sort of civilian purposes.”

“If that is what they choose to do, if they believe in that program, they ought to expand it if they want to,” Witkoff added. He emphasized that the U.S. aims to convince the ayatollah regime to “voluntarily shift away from an enrichment program,” saying that is “the most permanent way to make sure that they never get a weapon.”

The regime has so far refused to dismantle its enrichment capabilities.

Last month, Trump announced that he prefers a diplomatic solution to the nuclear threat posed by Iran before considering the military option.

“I’m not in a rush to do it,” Trump told media representatives. “Iran has a chance to have a great country, and to live happily without death, and I’d like to see that. That’s my first option,” he continued. However, the president stressed that he would not allow Iran to develop nuclear weapons and would, if necessary, use military force.

“If there’s a second option,” Trump assessed, “I think it would be very bad for Iran, and I think Iran is wanting to talk. I hope they’re wanting to talk. It’s going to be very good for them if they do… Iran can’t have a nuclear weapon. It’s pretty simple.”

Iran officially denies that it seeks nuclear weapons, a claim widely dismissed by Western and Israeli military experts. Furthermore, Tehran has insisted on enriching uranium to 60%, which is a significantly higher level than that required for using nuclear energy for civilian purposes. Nuclear experts view the 60% enrichment level as a short step away from the weapons-grade enrichment level.

Some critics argue that Washington’s current negotiations with Iran mainly focus on the nuclear capabilities while ignoring Tehran’s development of ballistic missiles and the ongoing threat emanating from its regional terror proxies – Hamas in Gaza, Hezbollah in Lebanon and the Houthis in Yemen.

However, Witkoff justified the Trump administration’s focus on the nuclear facilities.  

“We don’t want to confuse the nuclear discussion because that to us is the existential issue,” he said. “That’s the issue that needs to be solved today and quickly.”