Witkoff: Iran’s enrichment facilities must be dismantled.
According to Al Jazeera, Steve Whittaker, the US President’s special envoy for the Middle East, said in an interview with Breitbart: “Trump believes in peace through strength and his core belief is that war is not necessarily in our best interest.”
He continued in the interview: “Peace through strength means that war is not necessarily the best way to achieve a ceasefire or a lasting peace. Trump does not believe that military force is effective in many cases. Since force is not always effective, Trump seeks dialogue and diplomacy every time.”
Trump’s special envoy also said: “I really believe in trying to resolve the conflict with Iran through dialogue and this solution is more sustainable than any other alternative. If we convince Iran to abandon its enrichment program, we will ensure a permanent situation in which it will not obtain a nuclear weapon. This is the best solution and we hope that it is what Iran wants because the alternative is not good for it.”
In another part of the interview, Whittaker said: Iran has agreed not to have a nuclear bomb and we will take that seriously. We have made it clear to the Iranians that they cannot have a nuclear bomb and they have confirmed that they do not want a nuclear bomb.
The American official claimed: Iran’s enrichment facilities must be dismantled and Tehran cannot have centrifuges. The Iranians must reduce the amount of uranium enrichment in the centrifuges and send it to a remote location. Iran must convert its nuclear program to a civilian program. No uranium enrichment program in Iran can ever be resumed. Iran’s three enrichment facilities in Natanz, Fordow and Isfahan must be dismantled.
Continuing his claims, Whittaker added: Iran is more fragile than it was ten years ago when the Obama agreement was reached. I believe Iran has no choice but to accept our terms for an agreement that dismantles its military nuclear program. It is unwise for the Iranians to test President Trump. We will not accept a bad deal with Iran, and if the proposed deal is not strong, we will walk away from it.
He also said, as the US position on the talks continued to change, that Iran does not need to have the ability to enrich uranium to carry out a civilian nuclear program. If the talks with Iran next Sunday are not productive, they will not continue and we will have to take a different path. The talks with Iran may later expand to include cultural and economic aspects. We intend to pressure Iran later to stop financing and arming groups like Hamas, Hezbollah, and the Houthis. Our talks with Iran are currently limited to the nuclear issue. We do not want to disrupt the nuclear talks with other issues, because this is a vital issue for us that must be resolved quickly.