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)