President Donald Trump’s special envoy to the Middle East, Steve Witkoff, said Monday on Fox News that Iranian negotiators bragged to him that Iran had enough enriched uranium to make nearly a dozen nuclear bombs.
The account fits a key piece of the administration’s evolving rationale for joining with Israel to preemptively strike Iran: Trump himself has said he believes the Iranian regime was close to having nuclear weapons, as well as missiles capable of carrying them to the United States.
“In that first meeting, both the Iranian negotiators said to us directly, with no shame, that they controlled 460 kilograms of 60%,” Witkoff said in the Fox interview, referring to the uranium’s level of enrichment. “And they’re aware that that could make 11 nuclear bombs, and that was the beginning of their negotiating stance.”
“They were proud of it,” Witkoff added. “They were proud that they had evaded all sorts of oversight protocols to get to a place where they could deliver 11 nuclear bombs.”
However, a Persian Gulf diplomat with direct knowledge of the talks told MS NOW that Witkoff’s description of the conversation was false.
The Iranians told Witkoff that Iran was willing to give up the enriched uranium as part of a new agreement with Trump, according to the Persian Gulf diplomat, who spoke on condition of anonymity. The Iranians also told Witkoff that Iran enriched the uranium after Trump pulled out of a 2017 nuclear agreement brokered by the Obama administration.
“I can categorically state that this is inaccurate,” said the diplomat, referring to Witkoff’s account. “He was explaining that all of this material can all go away should we have a deal and Iran can be relieved from sanctions.”
Anna Kelly, a White House spokesperson, dismissed the claims.
“Only MSDNC would allow themselves to be used and abused by the evil Iranian regime to push false, anti-American propaganda in order to attack President Trump,” Kelly said. “The President and special envoy Witkoff have always worked in good faith in order to eliminate threats posed to our homeland.
“Unfortunately, Iran refused to participate in serious negotiations with the United States,” Kelly added, “so the President took courageous action to destroy their ability to have a nuclear weapon, launch or produce ballistic missiles, or arm terrorist proxies.”
The starkly different accounts of how the negotiations unfolded appear to reflect long-running tensions and mistrust between Witkoff and Iranian officials. The public airing of the dispute could also complicate efforts to negotiate a ceasefire between the U.S. and Iran in a conflict that has now spread to a dozen countries in the Middle East.
In a call with reporters Tuesday, senior Trump administration officials speaking on condition of anonymity said the Iranians never offered to significantly compromise. Their proposals would have allowed Iran to continue to pursue a nuclear bomb, the U.S. officials said, and Iranian negotiators refused to discuss their country’s ballistic missiles and its funding of proxy groups, two vital issues for the Trump administration.
A second person with knowledge of the talks confirmed that Iranian officials declined to discuss their country’s ballistic missiles and its funding of proxy groups with Witkoff and Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law, and said those issues could be discussed in regional talks.
The first round of talks, held on Feb. 6 in Muscat, Oman, was primarily conducted indirectly, according to the Persian Gulf diplomat. Omani intermediaries held separate meetings with Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi and then with Witkoff and Kushner.
The Omanis later brought Witkoff, Kushner and Araghchi together in person at the end of the day, and they briefly exchanged pleasantries.
“The Iranian and U.S. delegations met for approximately 4 to 5 minutes together,” the Persian Gulf diplomat said. “The subject matter that Mr. Wikoff referred to did absolutely not come up during that brief meeting between the two delegations.” “Mr. Witkoff conducted himself in a manner not befitting the office he represented,” the Persian Gulf diplomat said. The Persian Gulf diplomat added that Araghchi said he was prepared to stay in Oman and continue talking with Witkoff and Kushner for as long as it took, “even if it’s one to two weeks.” But Witkoff and Kushner said they needed to leave the following day to visit the U.S. aircraft carrier Abraham Lincoln. The episode highlights a central challenge of efforts to avert war through negotiations: Some of the people involved in the talks did not view Witkoff as an honest broker, according to sources with direct knowledge of the U.S.-Iranian discussions. In December, the same Persian Gulf diplomat criticized Witkoff’s conduct in five rounds of negotiations that took place with Iranian officials last year, telling MS NOW that Witkoff presented a “bogus misrepresentation of himself as a ‘man of peace’” during the five rounds of talks, which ended when Israel, and then the U.S., carried out surprise air strikes on Iran in June 2025. “Mr. Witkoff conducted himself in a manner not befitting the office he represented,” the Persian Gulf diplomat said. Another person with knowledge of the 2025 talks who is not from Iran told MS NOW in December that Iranian officials came to believe they were misled by the U.S. Tehran viewed the talks with Witkoff as a ruse designed to keep Iran from expecting and preparing for the surprise June 2025 Israeli and U.S. strikes. “It’s seen by the Iranians as an insult,” the second person with direct knowledge of the talks said. The person said they were surprised that Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who also serves as national security adviser, did not participate in the talks. “We were surprised, given the importance of the talks, that Secretary Rubio, as America’s most senior diplomat and national security advisor, wasn’t diverted to Geneva to participate in the talks,” the person said. During the first round of talks in Oman on Feb. 6, Rubio attended the Winter Olympics in Milan. During the second round of talks in Geneva on Feb. 17, he attended meetings and briefings at the State Department and the White House, per his official schedule. And during the final round of talks in Geneva on Feb. 26, two days before the airstrikes began, Rubio was at the White House meeting with the Greek foreign minister.
Ian Sherwood is the director of international newsgathering for MS NOW, a former executive editor for NBC News and a former deputy Washington bureau chief for the BBC.
David Rohde
David Rohde is the senior national security reporter for MS NOW. Previously he was the senior executive editor for national security and law for NBC News. Recommended
