President Donald Trump’s Middle East envoy on Thursday revealed details about the negotiations with Iran leading up to Trump’s decision to attack almost four weeks ago.<\/p>\n
Steve Witkoff spoke at a Trump’s first Cabinet meeting since the war started, reading from prepared remarks to describe the talks he and Jared Kushner, the president’s son-in-law, had with Iranian negotiators prior to the start of the conflict.<\/p>\n
Witkoff listed some of the demands the U.S. made to the Iranian government concerning its nuclear program, including “no chance” on weaponizing it, the decommissioning of the Fordow nuclear facility — bombed by the U.S.<\/a> last summer — “no enrichment whatsoever,” a ban on stockpiling nuclear material and turning over enriched uranium to the U.S.<\/p>\n White House Special Envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff speaks during a Cabinet meeting at the White House, March 26, 2026, in Washington.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n Alex Brandon\/AP<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n He said the U.S. also demanded a cutback in Iran’s ballistic missile inventory and in their range capability.<\/p>\n The Iranians responded, he said, by arguing they had the “inalienable right to enrich,” and that\u00a0they “would not give up diplomatically what the U.S. could not win militarily.”<\/p>\n Witkoff said Iran again\u00a0miscalculated\u00a0the “total success” of Midnight Hammer, the strike last June on the country’s nuclear facilities.<\/p>\n Addressing Trump, he said, “These are incontrovertible signs among among many other signs that their regime had not given their negotiating team authority to make a deal required by you.”<\/p>\n “Throughout all of these\u00a0negotiations, and\u00a0we were repeatedly rebuffed on everything we asked for. I have no doubt that we exhausted all efforts on behalf of a peaceful resolution as you directed,” he told Trump.<\/p>\n Trump argued that the U.S. went to war, for, among other reasons, to prevent Iran from ever having a nuclear weapon and said that it would not commit to doing that prior to the hostilities.<\/p>\n With regard to the current bargaining, Witkoff said U.S. negotiators have had “multiple reach-outs” from the Middle East region and others he said want play a role in ending the conflict peacefully.<\/p>\n Cabinet members listen to special envoy Steve Witkoff speak during a cabinet meeting in the Cabinet Room of the White House in Washington, March 26, 2026.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n Jim Watson\/AFP via Getty Images<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Witkoff reiterated that the U.S. has presented a 15-point “action list’ to the Iranians, via the Pakistani government as a mediator, that “resulted in strong and positive messaging in talks.”<\/p>\n![\"Alex](\"https:\/\/i.abcnewsfe.com\/a\/cf84c162-3fab-4977-a507-16b0f69e64e0\/cabinet-19-ap-gmh-260326_1774539241170_hpMain.jpg?w=375 "\\"Alex")
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