On Monday’s broadcast of the Fox News Channel’s “Hannity,” Special Envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff stated that the current verification on Iran’s nuclear program has been too lax and “That’s got to change, and if it changes, then we’ll have the basis for positive talks, and if it doesn’t change, then we’ll have to seek alternatives, which will not be good for anybody.”
After Witkoff said [relevant remarks begin around 3:25] that Iran doesn’t need to run a civilian nuclear program that enriches uranium past 3.67% and verification will be critical, host Sean Hannity asked, “Would it include, Steve, anywhere, any place, any time, U.S. inspectors, not U.N. inspectors? That would have to be critical. I don’t trust the U.N., and I don’t think you do either.”
Witkoff responded, “No, look, the devil — as you know, we’ve talked about this — the devil will be in the details of the document. And hopefully, we’ll have that high-quality problem of getting a document drafted. But verification will be the key point that undergirds this agreement, if we’re fortunate enough to get there. And we’re going to have to have very tight verification. There hasn’t been much in the way of verification in the last several years, prior to our administration. That’s got to change, and if it changes, then we’ll have the basis for positive talks, and if it doesn’t change, then we’ll have to seek alternatives, which will not be good for anybody.”
Follow Ian Hanchett on Twitter @IanHanchett
