Witkoff: Goal of nuclear talks is for Iran to ‘voluntarily’ shift away from enrichment program

US special envoy to the Mideast Steve Witkoff says his goal in the ongoing Iran nuclear talks is for Tehran to “voluntarily shift away from an enrichment program where they can enrich to not have centrifuges, to not have material that can be enriched to weapons-grade levels 90 percent.”

“If we can get them to voluntarily do that, that is the most permanent way to make sure that they never get a weapon,” Witkoff says in an interview with Breitbart during which he stresses the Trump administration’s preference for a diplomatic solution to the Iranian nuclear threat over a military one.

Addressing those who have criticized his handling of the Iran talks, Witkoff says, there is a “neocon element” among them that “believes war is the only way to solve things.”

“In their minds, anything that is of a military nature is a solution to that problem — they have a bias toward that. They give no consideration whatsoever on what the consequences are, on that,” he continues.

Iran “may attempt to manipulate me. I don’t think they’re going to be able to manipulate me,” Witkoff says.

“If the Iranians make the mistake of thinking they can procrastinate at the table, then they won’t see that much of me and the alternative, as the president says, will be a bad alternative for them,” he adds.

“The president believes that his force of personality… can bend people to do things in a better way in the interests of the United States government. I believe in that too.”