US not negotiating with Iran now but has had contact, Witkoff says
The United States’ special envoy to the Middle East said the United States is not currently negotiating with Iran, but that there has been contact with Iranian officials.
“Well, we’re not negotiating with them now. But we’ve had contact with them,” Steve Witkoff said in an interview with CNBC.
He said President Donald Trump had said that the contact led Iran to say the killings of protesters would stop.
“As the president said, that contact led them to make a statement that the killings would stop,” Witkoff said.
Asked whether the killings had in fact stopped, Witkoff said: “Well, it’s hard to tell. I mean, there’s certainly been plenty of killings, more than necessary, that’s for sure.”
Witkoff said he believed an agreement with Iran “ought to happen” and said any deal would have to cover Iran’s missile program, uranium enrichment and its support for armed groups.
“Obviously, the deal has to do with missiles. It has to do with enrichment. It has to do with non-state actor proxies,” he said.
He added that if no agreement could be reached, “I don’t think it’s such a good day for that country or for the world at large.”
Witkoff also said he was surprised there had not been more international reaction to the killing of protesters in Iran.
“There should be protests because plenty of good, decent, innocent people died,” he said. “They were just out there expressing their right to protest. And they were killed. And that’s horrible.”
