US President Donald Trump’s envoy to the Middle East, Steve Witkoff, told Fox News in an interview on Saturday night that Trump is “curious" as to why Iran has not yet agreed to a deal on its nuclear program.
“He's curious as to why they haven't...I don't want to use the word capitulated, but why they haven't capitulated," Witkoff told Lara Trump, the President’s daughter-in-law.
He added, “[Trump is curious] why under this sort of pressure with the amount of naval power that we have over there, why they haven't come to us and said, ‘We profess that we don't want a weapon, so here's what we're prepared to do.’ And yet it's hard to sort of get them to that place."
Witkoff also said that Trump’s red lines for Iran stipulate they should have “zero enrichment" of uranium, adding that Iran has enriched uranium beyond what is required for civilian purposes.
The interview comes as Trump has called on Iran to reach a deal on its nuclear program, while also maintaining a military presence in the Middle East, should the talks with Iran fail.
On Friday, Trump urged Iran to "better negotiate a fair deal." He also cited a figure of 32,000 protesters killed in Iran, a number put forth by Iranian opposition groups, significantly higher than other estimates.
Meanwhile, Iran’s Foreign Minister, Abbas Araghchi, rejected reports of a US demand for a permanent halt to Iran’s uranium enrichment.
Speaking to MS NOW, Araghchi clarified that Iran has not "offered any suspension, and the US side has not asked for zero enrichment."