Witkoff says peace talks with Iran underway and 'promising'

The cease-fire brokered by U.S. President Donald Trump between Iran and Israel appeared to be holding on Wednesday, a day after both countries signalled that their air war had ended, at least for now.

Each side claimed victory on Tuesday after 12 days of war, which the U.S. joined with airstrikes in support of Israel to supposedly take out Iran's uranium-enrichment facilities.

Trump's Middle East envoy, Steve Witkoff, said early Wednesday Beirut time that talks were already underway between the United States and Iran and that he found them "promising." According to Witkoff, the Trump administration's chief negotiator, Washington is hopeful for a long-term peace deal.

"We are already talking to each other, not just directly but also through interlocutors. I think that the conversations are promising," Witkoff said in an interview on Fox News' "The Ingraham Angle" show. "Now it's for us to sit down with the Iranians and get to a comprehensive peace agreement, and I am very confident that we are going to achieve that," he added.

The envoy, who led negotiations with Iran on the Trump administration’s behalf before the Israeli attack on June 13 that brought talks to a screeching halt, said he’s “confident” about the prospects for a deal following the cease-fire. The deal he foresees would ensure “long-term prosperity” for Iran, he added.

“We’re hopeful that we can have a long-term peace agreement that resurrects Iran, that brings it into the League of Nations, that creates long-term prosperity for Iran and, most importantly, allows for the GCC to grow economically,” Witkoff said, using an acronym for the Gulf Cooperation Council.

Fox host Laura Ingraham then asked Witkoff whether a potential deal with Iran would allow for any uranium enrichment, according to a report from The Hill. “No,” Witkoff responded, without hesitation. In the initial stages of nuclear talks with Iran, Witkoff had come to the table saying the U.S. would accept civilian-grade uranium enrichment, but suddenly pivoted his position partway through talks, demanding "zero enrichment."

“They don’t need it,” he told Fox News on Tuesday evening, Washington time. “What they need is a civil, non-enrichment program, just like Abu Dhabi has. They’re running a reactor like that, called Bushehr, where they don’t have enrichment, and they’re getting fuel from the outside. And we’re going to work with them on this. But what they don’t need is enrichment.”

Trump said over the weekend that U.S. stealth bombers had "obliterated" Iran's program to develop nuclear weapons. Iran says its enrichment activities are for civilian purposes only.

But Trump's claim appeared to be contradicted by an initial report by one of his administration's intelligence agencies, according to three people familiar with the matter.

One of the sources said Iran's enriched uranium stocks had not been eliminated, and the country's nuclear program, much of which is buried deep underground, may have been set back only a month or two. The White House said the intelligence assessment was "flat out wrong."