Negotiations between Iran and the United States are hitting a rough patch over divergent visions for the future of the Islamic Republic’s nuclear program.
Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi made clear on Wednesday that Iran is open to assuring that its nuclear enrichment is kept below the levels necessary for weaponization, but would not be willing to denuclearize completely.
“Iran’s enrichment is a real, accepted matter,” Araghchi told reporters. “We are ready to build confidence in response to possible concerns, but the issue of enrichment is non-negotiable.”
The statement is a direct rebuke of U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff, who said on Tuesday that nuclear enrichment is a requirement for any deal with President Donald Trump’s administration.
“A deal with Iran will only be completed if it is a Trump deal,” Witkoff said via social media on Tuesday. “Any final arrangement must set a framework for peace, stability, and prosperity in the Middle East — meaning that Iran must stop and eliminate its nuclear enrichment and weaponization program.”
The statement Witkoff released to social media was a reversal from his own comments just a day before in an interview with Fox News, during which he alluded to the idea that the U.S. would be satisfied keeping Iranian nuclear enrichment at approximately 3.7%.
Witkoff told Fox News that the U.S. was seeking “verification on the enrichment program and then ultimately verification on weaponization. That includes … the type of missiles that they have stockpiled there. And it includes the trigger for a bomb.”
That position echoed the Iran nuclear deal struck under former President Barack Obama, which placed similar limits on the program in order to accommodate energy production without allowing the possibility of weaponization.
Witkoff’s pivot on Tuesday seems to be a correction to bring U.S. rhetoric more in line with Trump’s desire for total denuclearization of Iran.
“It is imperative for the world that we create a tough, fair deal that will endure, and that is what President Trump has asked me to do,” Witkoff said in his Tuesday statement.
Iran is seeking relief from U.S. sanctions and investment boycotts that have contributed to the nation’s economic stagnation.
Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei has attempted to downplay the importance of the negotiations, previously describing the regime as “neither overly optimistic nor pessimistic” about the outcome.
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“These talks are just one of dozens of tasks for the Foreign Ministry,” Khamenei told high-ranking officials on Tuesday. “Don’t tie the country’s affairs to them.”
The U.S. and Israel are threatening severe consequences if a deal cannot be struck, including military strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities.
Iran and the U.S. left the previous round of indirect talks in Oman voicing optimism, with the White House calling them “positive and constructive.”
The next round of discussions is set for this weekend in Rome.