Witkoff: US, Iran seeking ‘peace deal,’ strikes set Tehran’s nuke program back years

 https://www.timesofisrael.com/witkoff-us-iran-seeking-peace-deal-strikes-set-tehrans-nuke-program-back-years/

The Trump envoy said the American position is that Iran must not resume enriching uranium at all — a position that the White House vacillated on during previous talks with Iran, led by Witkoff, over the two months prior to Israel’s attack on the Islamic Republic’s nuclear and ballistic missile programs that began earlier this month.

Witkoff also doubled down on the administration’s assessment that the strikes on Iran’s nuclear facilities at Natanz, Isfahan, and Fordo completely eliminated the Islamic Republic’s ability to attain a nuclear weapon in the near future. He said the program had been set back years, and lashed out against a leaked security assessment that said the strikes did not destroy the underground sites.

“The reporting out there that in some ways suggests that we did not achieve the objective is just completely preposterous,” he said, calling it “not even conceivable” that Iran would be able to reach a nuclear weapon within months.