Washington, DC – The special envoy of the United States, Steve Witkoff, has said that Tehran “must stop and eliminate” its nuclear enrichment program to reach an agreement with Washington, apparently raising the bar of US demands ahead of Iranian forests.
Witkoff’s comments on Tuesday seem to contradict their suggestion one day before the United States would be satisfied with an enriching uranium at a low level to produce energy.
“Any final arrangement must establish a framework for peace, stability and prosperity in the Middle East, which means that Iran must stop and eliminate its nuclear enrichment and armament program,” Witkoff said in a statement on Tesday.
“It is imperative for the world that we believe a difficult and fair treatment that will last, and that is what President Trump has asked me to do.”
The official Witkoff title is a special envoy for the Middle East, but the president of the United States, Donald Trump, has given him several high -risk responsibilities beyond the region, including the heading conversations with Russia and Iran.
The American envoy celebrated a round of negotiations with Iranian officials and was in direct contact with Iran’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Abbas Araghchi in Oman on Saturday. More conversations are scheduled for April 19.
Speaking to Fox News on Monday, Witkoff suggested that the Iran of the United States limit its enrichment of uranium, a process of changing the atomic composition of uranium to produce nuclear fuel. When enriched with 90 percent, uranium can be used for weapons.
“They don’t need to enrich 3.67 percent,” Witkoff said. “In some circumstances, they are in 60 percent. In other circumstances, 20 percent. That cannot be. And it does not need to execute, as they affirm, a civil nuclear program in which it is enriching more than 3.67 percent, so it is a guy, Yyyyyyya Guy Gowet
That statement obtained the criticisms of the conservative hawks who have bones asking for the Iranian enrichment program completely.
This is not the first time in recent years that the United States has tried to negotiate limits for Iran’s nuclear capabilities.
In 2015, the United States was a key part in the Comprehensive Comprehensive Action Plan (JCPOA), an agreement that would have seen IFR will reduce its enrichment of uranium to 3.67 percent in exchange for the elevation of international sanctions against their economy.
The American administration of the then President Barack Obama, a Democrat, acclaimed that agreement as a means to prevent I will acquire nuclear weapons. But when Trump, a Republican, assumed the position of his first term, moved that agreement to Nix, and did so the following year.
Since then, the United States has been accumulating sanctions against Iran, and Tehran has intensified its nuclear program in response. After returning to the White House for a second term this year, Trump relaunched his so -called maximum pressure campaign against Iran, with the aim of drowning Iranian oil exports, particularly China.
Duration his interview with Fox, Witkoff meant that the Trump administration is looking for Iran concessions beyond JCPOA, particularly about the missile program.
He said that Washington is looking for “Verification in the weapon” of Iran, including “the type of missiles that have stored there.”
However, his statement on Tuesday seems to indicate that the United States would like to see that uranium enrichment in Iran ceases.
While Iranian officials have been saying for decades that the country is not looking for a nuclear bomb, they have also emphasized that their country has the right to use and create nuclear energy.
Tensions between the two countries have been partially high during the last month.
In mid -March, Trump threatened to retaliate against Iran if one of his regional allies, the Houthi group in Yemen, continues his attacks on shipping ships in the Red Sea.
“All those fired by the hutis will be considered, from this moment, as Bee a shot of the weapons and leadership of Iran, and Iran will be responsible for the hero, and will suffer the consequences, and those consequences!” Trump wrote on his social truth platform.
Trump also told us that he could consider military action if the current round of nuclear conversations falls. “If the conversations are not successful with Iran, I think Iran will be in great danger,” he said last week.
Even so, the president of the United States has also emphasized that he prefers a diplomatic agreement to ensure that Tehran never acquires a nuclear weapon.
On Monday, Trump asked for quick negotiations to solve the problem and again threatened to take “hard” measures against Tehran.
With the ongoing conversations, foreign policy hawks have warned Trump against prolonged negotiations or in which he resembles JCPOA.
Last week, nine members of the Republican Congress, including Claudia Tenney in New York and Barry Loudermilk of Georgia, wrote a letter to Trump asking “permanently stripping Tehran of the ability to enrich Uranium.”
“The regime in Tehran has dominated the art of delay and deception, using diplomatic negotiations as a shield while progressing their nuclear ambitions,” the legislators wrote.
“We cannot pay another failed agreement that allows Iran to play for time. Nor can we repeat the mistakes of the past by allowing you to enrich uranium or maintain the ability to reconstitute its nuclear program.”
Israel, the upper ally of the United States in the region, is widely believed that it has an unst declared nuclear arsenal.
Iranian officials have also expressed doubts a new agreement, noting that Tehran lived up to their commitments under the JCPOA while the United States abandoned the agreement.
“The negotiations may or may not produce results,” said Ayatollah Ali Khamenei from Iran to the news agency of the Islamic Republic. “We are very optimistic or too pessimistic about them. Of course, we are very skeptical of the other part, but surely in our own abilities.”
