WASHINGTON D.C. – The National Iranian American Council issued the following statement regarding nuclear negotiations between the U.S. and Iran:
“From the moment Donald Trump announced he wanted a peaceful solution to the Iran nuclear crisis rather than a war, there has been a campaign in Washington and Tel Aviv to sabotage his diplomacy. Neoconservatives have mischaracterized the President’s stated goal of preventing Iran from getting a nuclear weapon and instead waged a campaign to box the President into adopting a losing negotiating position by demanding Iran adopt a ‘Libya model’ with no peaceful enrichment program. This is a demand not designed not to succeed, but to collapse talks and justify military confrontation.
“Recent remarks from the President’s Middle East Envoy Steve Witkoff that the U.S. redline is “zero enrichment” are not helpful. This is the Bush/Cheney position that prevented the U.S. from solving the Iran nuclear crisis twenty-five years ago. Iran has never accepted such a red line, and it is extremely unlikely to do so now amid a serious trust deficit. Publicly airing this maximalist demand only undermines delicate diplomacy and increases the risk of collapse.
“The fact that the U.S. is at the negotiating table with Iran, mindful of the extreme trust deficit, is a testament to the nuanced public and private messaging from President Trump and Witkoff that emphasized the bottom line was to prevent a nuclear weapon. This is an achievable goal, but going further and demanding zero enrichment imperils the negotiating process and risks setting the stage for war.
“Negotiating in public may play well for hawks in Washington, but it risks poisoning the well at a critical moment. These talks should be guided by realism and by what is fundamentally necessary: sharp and verifiable limits on enrichment under international oversight, consistent with the Non-Proliferation Treaty, and with what President Trump himself has previously signaled support for.
“We are increasingly concerned that the war lobby is succeeding in its efforts to tank the administration’s negotiations. Witkoff’s most recent comments don’t pave a path to peace, they reflect the bad faith demands by those who will never be satisfied with any Trump deal with Iran and are eager to maneuver the President and his administration into another endless war in the Middle East.”