The joint US-Israel attack on Iran was triggered by Tehran insisting on an 'inalienable right to enrich its nuclear fuel' and claiming it had 'evaded oversight protocols' to amass 460kg – likely enough to build 11 nuclear bombs – Special Envoy Steve Witkoff told Fox News Monday.
Witkoff said the US sought three outcomes from talks in Geneva last month – shuttering of Tehran's nuclear and ballistic missile programme, withdrawal of support for military proxies like Hezbollah, and the elimination of its naval forces "so we can have freedom of the seas".
Iranian negotiators, however, 'made it clear to us their goal is to maintain enrichment for purpose of armament', he said. "The Iranians told us directly, and without shame, that they have 460kg of uranium enriched to 60 per cent. They were aware they could make 11 nuclear bombs."
"We responded that the President (Donald Trump) feels we have the inalienable right to stop you dead in your tracks," Witkoff declared, as quoted by Israeli publication The Times of Israel.
He said Jared Kushner, Trump's son-in-law, and he reported back to the President that it would be difficult, if not impossible, to negotiate a deal with Iran. "We tried to make a fair deal… it was very, very clear it was going to be impossible, probably by the end of the second meeting."
The US Special Envoy did not provide specifics, but in June 2025 Vice President JD Vance claimed a 400kg stockpile was unaccounted for after Washington dropped six 'bunker buster' bombs to 'completely and totally obliterate' – Trump's words – three Iranian nuclear facilities.
The bombs were dropped on the Fordow, Natanz, and Isfahan facilities.
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Vance said then the 'missing' stockpile had been enriched to 60 per cent.
There were reports - The New York Times cited unnamed Israeli officials - that Iran had secretly moved the uranium, some of which was stored deep underground at Fordow facility, so they could use it as a bargaining chip for future US talks.
Uranium needs to be enriched to 90 per cent to be used in a nuclear bomb.
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Iran will need a week to 10 days to further enrich the stockpile the US claims it has. The question, though, is where this might happen if Trump was indeed telling the truth last year.
Vance's 'smell test'
JD Vance this week confirmed talks failed because Iran "did not pass the smell test".
"Nobody objects to the Iranians being able to build medical isotopes; the objection is these enrichment facilities that are only useful for building a nuclear weapon," he told Fox News.
"It doesn't pass the smell test for you to say 'you want enrichment for medical isotopes', while at the same time trying to build a facility 70 to 80 feet underground," the Vice President said.
US Vice President JD Vance (File)
Tehran has repeatedly said its nuclear program is for peaceful, i.e., civilian and medical purposes only, and that it has no interest in a weapons agenda. However, inspectors from global nuclear energy watchdog International Atomic Energy Agency remain sceptical of these claims.
That the country is expanding its enriched uranium stockpile – maintaining it just below the threshold for weaponisation – has also been flagged by Israel as the reason for this war.
Israel echoes US line
Israel Foreign Affairs Minister Gideon Sa'ar spoke to NDTV Monday and said Iran had 'wasted time' during recent talks with the US, using it as cover to transfer key aspects of its nuclear and ballistic missile programmes, technologies, and resources to more underground installations – this time built so deep neither the US nor Israel can effectively strike them from the air.
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"Those who conduct the negotiations, the Americans themselves, concluded that Iran, as usual, is wasting time, i.e., not meeting American red lines with regard to the nuclear programme... with regard to the ballistic missiles programme," Sa'ar said.
Israel Foreign Minister Gideon Sa'ar spoke to NDTV
On Saturday afternoon then, the US and Israel launched a barrage of missiles and 'one-way attack' drones at multiple targets in Tehran, including Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei's compound in the city centre. Hours later Iran confirmed Khamenei died in the attack.
Iran responded with a similar barrage that targeted Tel Aviv and other areas in Israel, as well as American military bases and embassies across West Asia and civilian and energy facilities in neighbouring countries, including an oil refinery in Saudi Arabia and a luxury hotel in Dubai.
The exchange has threatened to drag other West Asian countries into a regional war that could have catastrophic consequences for the world's energy supply, particularly after Iran shut down the Strait of Hormuz, through which an average of 20 million barrels of crude oil is shipped daily.
