Nick Schifrin:
Recall, Amna, that is the number from the 2015 Iranian nuclear deal, also known as JCPOA. It capped Iranian enrichment at 3.67 percent, a number related to the core of Iran’s reactor.
It also capped Iran’s nuclear enrichment stockpile, and it guaranteed more access to Iranian facilities in exchange for sanctions relief on Iran. Today, seven years after the U.S. withdrew, Iran enriches up to 60 percent. That is a small step away from weapons-grade and has a total enrichment stockpile that is 25 times what it was 10 years ago.
But President Trump and his allies have long criticized the JCPOA because the caps on Iran’s program expired after a number of years, and the deal allowed Iran to keep that enrichment program. And that comes to where the U.S. is hardening its position just in the last day.
Just hours after that Hannity interview, after a Situation Room meeting with President Trump, Witkoff posted this statement on X. He said — quote — “Iran must stop and eliminate its nuclear enrichment and weaponization program.” Let’s keep that up for a second. “Eliminate its enrichment program.’
That is a direct reversal of what he said on Monday night, because he’s saying there Iran should not be allowed to enrich at all. An official familiar with these negotiations tells me that — quote — “President Trump likes to keep people off-balance” and that the U.S. policy right now is what Witkoff posted on X.
So, at least in public, that means that the U.S., regardless of what Witkoff said previously, is demanding Iran dismantle its enrichment program.
