Trump curious why Iran has not ‘capitulated’ amid US military buildup, says Witkoff
February 22 (Reuters) – As Washington builds its military capacity in the Middle East, U.S. President Donald Trump wonders why Iran has not yet “surrendered” and agreed to restrict its nuclear program, Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff said.
“I don’t want to use the word ‘frustrated,’ because he understands he had a lot of alternatives, but he wonders why they didn’t… I don’t want to use the word ‘surrender,’ but why didn’t they surrender,” Witkoff said Saturday in a Fox News interview titled “My Perspective on Lara Trump,” hosted by the president’s daughter-in-law.
“Why, under this pressure, with so many naval and maritime powers there, why didn’t they come to us and say, ‘We claim we don’t want weapons, so here’s what we’re prepared to do’? But it’s still a little difficult to get them to that place.”
Trump has ordered a massive buildup of forces in the Middle East and preparations for a possible airstrike on Iran that will last several weeks. Iran has threatened to strike US bases if attacked.
IRAN DENIES THAT IT IS SEEKING NUCLEAR WEAPONS
The United States wants Iran to give up enriched uranium, which Washington says could potentially be used to make bombs, to stop supporting militants in the Middle East and to limit its missile program.
Tehran says its nuclear program is peaceful but is willing to accept some limits in exchange for the lifting of financial sanctions. He refuses to link this to other issues such as missiles and support for armed groups.
“They’re getting richer, way beyond what you need for civil nuclear. That’s up to 60% (fissile purity),” Witkoff said. “We’re probably a week away from having industrial, industrial-grade bomb-making material, and that’s really dangerous.”
Iran and the United States still have different views on sanctions relief in talks, a senior Iranian official told Reuters on Sunday.
Witkoff also said that, on Trump’s instructions, he met with Iranian opposition figure Reza Pahlavi, the son of the Shah who was overthrown in Iran’s 1979 Islamic Revolution. He did not provide further details about the meeting.
Pahlavi, who lives in exile, served as a rallying figure for some of the Iranian opposition during last month’s anti-government demonstrations in which thousands of people are believed to have died; These demonstrations resulted in the worst civil unrest since the revolutionary period.
In early February, Pahlavi said US military intervention in Iran could save lives and urged Washington not to negotiate the nuclear deal with Tehran’s clerical rulers for too long.
(Reporting by Gursimran Kaur in Bengaluru. Editing by Peter Graff)
