LOS ANGELES.–Meeting in the Sultanate of Oman, President’s Donald Trump’s envoy Steve Witkoff and Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi met for a fourth time to discuss Iran’s nuclear enrichment program considered an existential threat to Israel and U.S. interests. Trump served notice to Iran’s 85-year-old Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei that he must negotiate with the U.S. on his nuke program or face the U.S. military, obviously something that got his attention. When Trump was in office before, he cancelled former President Barack Obama’s Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action [JCPOA] May 8, 2018 over Democrat objections because the agreement was not verifiable, but, more importantly, that Iran’s Yemen-based Houthi proxies were at war with Saudi Arabia. Trump watched Iran spend billions given by Obama to fund proxy war with Saudi Arabia.
Iran’s state sponsored terrorism, including terrorists groups like Gaza’s Hamas, Lebanon’s Hezbollah and Yemen’s Houthis have created mayhem in the Mideast. Since the Oct. 7, 2023 Hamas massacre, Israel has neutralized Hamas and Hezbollah, with only Houthis remaining an active terror cell for Iran. After Trump ordered relentless U.S. bombing of Houthi targets, it agreed to stop striking commercial ships in the Red Sea. Ayatollah Khamenei finds himself out on a limb without Hamas and Hezbollah creating mayhem especially against Israel. Last week’s attempted Houthi missile strike of Tel Aviv’s Ben Gurion airport drew a harsh response from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Houthis now tell Trump that their done striking commercial shipping in the Red Sea. How long that lasts is anyone’s guess. But at least for now Houthis have stood down.
Trump has the un-envious task of dealing with the Ayatollah, a sworn enemy of the U.S. and Israel, whose chants of “death to Israel” and “death to the United States” have been heard since the 1979 Islamic Revolution. Khamenei only reluctantly entered into the 2015 JCPOA no matter how much cash Obama through at the Ayatollah. Between frozen Iranian assets and sanctions relief Iran received over $150 billion to fund proxy war in the Mideast. Trump has told the Ayatollah enough-is-enough, come to the table to negotiate on uranium enrichment for face the wrath of the U.S. military. Speaking through Oman’s Foreign Minister Badr al-Busaidi, Witkoff and Araghchi are trying to figure out how to avoid war, find some compromise on Iran’s uranium enrichment program. Since cancelling the JCPOA, Iran has been enriching uranium to around 60%, just under weapons grade material.
Under the JCPOA Iran was limited to enriching urainium [U-235] to 3.67% about a percentage used in most nuclear reactors. Enriching to 60%, Iran begins stockpiling fissile material with only one possible use in a nuclear bomb. Even the most demanding nuclear reactions on naval vessels, only require 5% enriched uranium. If the Ayatollah wants to avoid trouble with Trump, he needs to figure out a way to sell his enriched uranium to the U.S. or other countries with legitimate needs for electric power reactors. U.S. nuclear engineers know the process of “downblending,” where highly enriched uranium [60%] is blended with depleted uranium to make the 3-5% nuclear reactor fuel. So, Iran could easily agree to sell its 60% U-235 to the U.S. to be used in the next generation of carbon-free nuclear power plants. Witkoff knows about the possibility to buying Iran’s enriched uranium.
Buying Iran’s enriched uranium would be the perfect solution to the current dilemma where Israel feels threatened by Iran using its weapons grade uranium to develop its first nuclear bomb. Demanding that Iran dismantle its nuclear enrichment industry is a little late in the game. Iran’s nuclear industry is a source of national pride, not something the Ayatollah is likely to give up. But proposing a deal where the U.S. would buy Iran’s 60% U-235 would be the best possible solution to allow Iran to continue to enrich uranium and keep tabs on its stockpile to alleviate concerns about it developing a nuclear bomb. “An enrichment program can never exist in the state of Iran again,” Witkoff to conservie Breitbart News. Whether it’s a negotiating tactic or not, it’s clear that Iran is not going to give up enriching uranium. Why not buy Iran enriched uranium to use in the nuclear power industry?
Araghchi expressed the Iranian position that it’s sacrificed the blood of nuclear scientists to develop the nuclear enrichment industry. “This is a right of the Iranian people that is not up for negotiation or compromise. Enrichment is one of the achievements and honors of the Iranian nation,” Araghchi said. “A heavy price has been paid for this enrichment. The blood of our nuclear scientists has been shed for it. This is absolutely non-negotiable. That has been our clear stance that we have always voiced,” Araghchi said. Knowing that Trump wants to avoid more senseless foreign wars, you’d think that Witkoff would see the advantages of the U.S. purchasing Iranian enrichment uranium to be used in the next generation of carbon-free power plants. Obama never came up with a plan to buy Iran’s enriched uranium, the perfect solution to avoid war and benefit both countries.
About the Author
John M. Curtis writes politically neutral commentary analyzing spin in national and global news. He’s editor of OnlineColumnist.com and author of Dodging The Bullet and Operation Charisma.
