US envoy Steve Witkoff said on Saturday that President Donald Trump is questioning why Iran has not yielded in the face of Washington’s military build-up intended to pressure Tehran into agreeing to a nuclear deal.
The United States and Iran this week resumed talks in Geneva, mediated by Oman, in a bid to avert possible military action. The renewed diplomacy follows Washington’s deployment of two aircraft carriers, fighter jets and additional weaponry to the region to reinforce its warnings.
In an interview with Fox News, conducted by Trump’s daughter-in-law Lara, Witkoff said the president was “curious” about Iran’s stance after cautioning that severe consequences would follow if no agreement were reached.
“I don’t want to use the word ‘frustrated,’ because he understands he has plenty of alternatives, but he’s curious as to why they haven’t… I don’t want to use the word ‘capitulated,’ but why haven’t they capitulated?” Witkoff said.
“Why, under this pressure, with the amount of seapower and naval power over there, have they not come to us and said, ‘We profess we don’t want a weapon, so here’s what we’re prepared to do’? It’s proving difficult to get them to that position,” he added.
The envoy also confirmed he had met with Reza Pahlavi, who has lived outside Iran since before the 1979 Islamic Revolution that overthrew the monarchy.
“I met him at the direction of the president,” Witkoff said, without elaborating.
Pahlavi, who is based in the United States, recently told an audience in Munich that he was prepared to guide Iran towards a “secular democratic future”, after Trump suggested that regime change might be the best outcome for the country.
Witkoff’s remarks follow comments by Iran’s Foreign Minister, Abbas Araghchi, who said a draft agreement with Washington could be ready within days.
Trump stated on Thursday that Iran had no more than 15 days to reach a deal addressing concerns beginning with its nuclear programme.
Meanwhile, as negotiations continued in Geneva, Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ali Khamenei, declared that Trump would not succeed in dismantling the Islamic Republic.
Western governments accuse Iran of seeking to develop nuclear weapons — an allegation Tehran denies — while maintaining that it is entitled to uranium enrichment for civilian purposes.
Iran, for its part, is aiming to secure relief from sanctions that have weighed heavily on its economy and contributed to anti-government protests in December.