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President Donald Trump has said he would insist that Iran completely dismantle its uranium enrichment programme as part of a nuclear deal with the US, appearing to contradict a proposal put forward by his own special envoy.
The conflicting messaging over a possible nuclear deal follows media reports that under a proposal put forward on Saturday by the president’s special envoy, Steve Witkoff, Iran would be allowed to retain low levels of enrichment for civilian purposes if it agreed to temporarily shut down its underground uranium processing sites.
“Under our potential Agreement — WE WILL NOT ALLOW ANY ENRICHMENT OF URANIUM!” Trump wrote on Truth Social on Monday night.
His statement is the latest example of the inconsistent messaging that has plagued Washington’s latest talks with Tehran, now in their eighth week.
The US and Iran are trying to negotiate a deal under which Iran would curtail its nuclear programme in exchange for sanctions relief.
But it has occasionally been unclear whether the US would allow Tehran to continue to enrich uranium for civilian purposes. In recent weeks Trump has insisted that Iran would not be able to retain this capacity and must fully dismantle its nuclear programme.
“President Trump has made it clear that Iran can never obtain a nuclear bomb,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said in a statement, issued before Trump’s Truth Social post.
“Special envoy Witkoff has sent a detailed and acceptable proposal to the Iranian regime, and it’s in their best interest to accept it,” she went on. “Out of respect for the ongoing deal, the administration will not comment on details of the proposal to the media.”
A spokesperson for Witkoff could not be reached for comment.
Trump has repeatedly framed the talks as the last chance for Iran to avoid military action to destroy its uranium enrichment facilities. But Tehran has insisted it will not agree to completely scrapping enrichment, which it says is for civilian purposes.
Earlier, Axios reported that Witkoff’s latest proposal would allow Iran to maintain a limited low-level uranium enrichment capability.
Axios said the proposal stipulated that Iran’s underground enrichment facilities would have to become “non-operational” for a period of time and the enrichment activity in its above-ground facilities would be temporarily limited to the level needed for nuclear reactor fuel, according to guidelines set by the International Atomic Energy Agency.
Observers have said that many points in the Witkoff proposal are similar to those set out in the 2015 nuclear deal negotiated between Iran and the P5+1 — the US, China, France, Germany, Russia and the UK — which Trump withdrew from in 2018.
