Iranian negotiators told American officials last month that the Islamic Republic had accumulated enough highly enriched uranium to produce 11 nuclear weapons — and delivered that message without hesitation, President Trump’s special envoy said Monday night.

“They controlled 460 kilograms of 60% enriched uranium,” Steve Witkoff said during an interview on Fox News. “And they’re aware that that could make 11 nuclear bombs. That was the beginning of their negotiating stance.”

The remarks offer the most detailed account yet of the behind-the-scenes diplomacy that preceded U.S. and Israeli strikes on Iranian targets. Witkoff, alongside Jared Kushner, participated in three rounds of indirect talks beginning Feb. 6 in Oman and concluding Feb. 26 in Geneva. The discussions were mediated by Omani officials and were widely viewed as a final effort to avert military confrontation.

According to Witkoff, the tone was confrontational from the outset. Iranian representatives opened by asserting what they described as an “inalienable right” to enrich all nuclear material in their possession to any level they deemed appropriate.

“We responded that the president feels we have the inalienable right to stop you dead in your tracks,” Witkoff said.

He described a negotiating table defined less by compromise than by brinkmanship. Iran’s delegation, he said, made clear that continued enrichment was not merely a policy preference but a starting condition.

At one point, Witkoff recalled exchanging a glance with Kushner, realizing the scale of the impasse. “We’re really in for it now,” he said they concluded privately.

Witkoff had already made headlines before the Geneva session by warning that Iran was “probably a week away” from possessing industrial-grade bomb-making material.

On Monday, he elaborated, claiming Iran holds roughly 10,000 kilograms of fissionable material. That stockpile includes approximately 460 kilograms enriched to 60% purity and another 1,000 kilograms enriched to 20%.

The leap from 60% to 90% enrichment — the threshold considered weapons-grade — could be achieved in roughly one week, perhaps ten days at most, Witkoff said. Material enriched to 20% could reach weapons-grade within three to four weeks. Iran manufactures its own centrifuges, he added, dramatically limiting outside leverage.

“There’s almost no stopping them,” Witkoff said. “They have an endless supply.”

Perhaps most striking was his description of the Iranian posture. “They were proud of it,” he said. “Proud that they had evaded oversight protocols to get to a place where they could deliver 11 nuclear bombs.”

Witkoff said the United States attempted to offer a sweeping alternative. Washington would guarantee nuclear fuel for Iran’s civilian energy needs for the next decade, he said, provided Tehran dismantled its pathway to weapons-grade enrichment. The proposal was rejected outright.

“That told us at that moment they had no notion of doing anything other than retaining enrichment for the purpose of weaponizing,” Witkoff said.

By the end of the second round, he suggested, it was evident that diplomacy was faltering. Still, the U.S. team returned for a third meeting in Geneva in what he described as a final attempt to test Tehran’s seriousness.

“It was not positive,” he said.

With the U.S.-Israel campaign against Iran now underway, Witkoff framed the failed talks as proof that military action had become unavoidable. He said President Trump’s objectives were clear: dismantle Iran’s missile program, eliminate its support for regional proxy forces, neutralize naval threats to freedom of navigation in the Strait of Hormuz, and permanently block any path to a nuclear weapon.

“They thought they could strong-arm us,” Witkoff said. “It was very clear that it was going to be impossible.”

Iran has not publicly confirmed Witkoff’s version of events. But if his account is accurate, the negotiations collapsed not over procedural disputes or sanctions relief — but over a declaration of nuclear capacity that U.S. officials believed placed the region on the brink.

According to the president’s envoy, Iran did not come to the table pleading for relief. It came asserting it had enough fuel for 11 bombs — and daring Washington to respond.

(YWN World Headquarters – NYC)