'No enrichment' is red line for US on Iran nuclear program, says Trump's envoy

HAMILTON, Canada

President Donald Trump's Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff said Friday that preventing uranium enrichment remains a firm "red line" for the US.

"An enrichment program can never exist in the State of Iran ever again. And that's our red line: no enrichment. That means dismantlement, it means no weaponization," Witkoff said in an interview with right-wing news outlet Breitbart News.

"It means that Natanz, Fordow and Isfahan; those are their three enrichment facilities have to be dismantled," he added.

Trump has threatened military action against Iran if a new agreement is not reached to replace the 2015 nuclear deal brokered during the Barack Obama administration. He has also repeatedly emphasized that Iran "cannot have a nuclear weapon."

Following an exchange of letters in March between Trump and Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the two sides held indirect talks in Oman and Rome.

While the US and Iran said progress had been made, recent US sanctions on seven companies involved in Iranian oil trade, including four based in the United Arab Emirates and one in Türkiye, have added to tensions.

US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth issued a warning to Iran on social media, accusing it of "lethal support" to the Yemeni Houthi group and threatening retaliation.

An Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman condemned the US for making "contradictory and provocative statements" while negotiations were taking place.