The United States has issued a stark warning ahead of high-stakes nuclear talks with Iran scheduled for Sunday, saying the negotiations may be abandoned altogether if no meaningful progress is made.
Speaking ahead of the meeting in Oman, U.S. Special Envoy Steve Witkoff said the talks must yield tangible results or Washington will be forced to “take a different route.” He emphasized that the U.S. had previously delayed these discussions to first secure preliminary understandings with Tehran, aiming to ensure future dialogue is constructive.
“Hopefully this Sunday they will be productive. Hopefully that means the talks can continue,” Witkoff said, underscoring the urgency of the moment.
Sources familiar with the matter confirmed that the meeting will be limited to top-level officials, with no technical teams present. The format will include both direct and indirect exchanges, suggesting a tightly focused diplomatic effort.
In a rare and explicit outline of U.S. demands, Witkoff said the Biden administration’s position remains firm: “An enrichment program can never exist in Iran again. That’s our red line. No enrichment. That means dismantlement, no weaponization, and the closure of facilities at Natanz, Fordow, and Isfahan.”
Iran, however, continues to assert its right to enrich uranium. “Iran has every right to possess the full nuclear fuel cycle,” Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi wrote on X last week. Araghchi is expected to participate in Sunday’s discussions with Witkoff.
Witkoff suggested that the U.S. may be prepared to offer economic or diplomatic incentives in exchange for Iranian compliance, likening the approach to past U.S. engagement with Russia. “We’re inviting Iran to be a member of the league of nations,” he said. “We’re saying to Iran: you can be a better nation. We can do business with you. We can have strategic relationships with you. But you can’t be a provocateur.”
He also acknowledged that Iran has reiterated its long-standing claim that it does not seek nuclear weapons. However, Witkoff made clear that the current negotiations are limited strictly to nuclear issues and do not cover Iran’s broader regional activities.
“Do we think they need to stop enabling Hamas, Hezbollah, the Houthis, and step back from being a provocateur? We do,” he said. “But that’s a secondary discussion. The nuclear issue is the existential one—it must be solved now, and it must be solved quickly.”
