Witkoff: Trump ‘curious’ why Iran has not capitulated under military pressure

WASHINGTON, United States (MNTV) – U.S. Special Envoy Steve Witkoff has revealed that President Donald Trump is questioning why Iran has not yielded to Washington’s sweeping military buildup in the region, as nuclear negotiations between the two countries enter a critical phase.

In a Fox News interview taped Thursday and aired Saturday, Witkoff told host Lara Trump that the president was growing impatient with Tehran’s resistance despite the unprecedented concentration of American naval firepower deployed to the Middle East in recent weeks.

“I don’t want to use the word ‘frustrated,’ because he understands he has plenty of alternatives, but he’s curious as to why they haven’t… I don’t want to use the word ‘capitulated,’ but why haven’t they capitulated,” Witkoff said. 

“Why, under this pressure, with the amount of seapower and naval power over there, why haven’t they come to us and said, ‘We profess we don’t want a weapon, so here’s what we’re prepared to do’? And yet it’s sort of hard to get them to that place.”

The remarks come as Washington and Tehran engage in Oman-mediated indirect talks aimed at averting military confrontation, with a third round of negotiations now confirmed for Thursday in Geneva. 

The United States has dispatched two aircraft carrier strike groups, dozens of advanced fighter jets, and other military assets to the region to underscore the gravity of its warnings.

Witkoff also disclosed that he had met with Reza Pahlavi — the U.S.-based exiled son of Iran’s last shah — at Trump’s direction. Pahlavi, a prominent critic of Iran’s clerical leadership, has not returned to the country since the 1979 Islamic Revolution toppled the monarchy. 

“I met him at the direction of the president,” Witkoff said, adding: “I think he’s strong for his country, cares about his country. But this is going to be about President Trump’s policies.”

The meeting carries considerable symbolic weight. Pahlavi last week addressed the Munich Security Conference, declaring his readiness to lead Iran toward a “secular democratic future.” 

His appearance coincided with a large-scale demonstration in the German city, where police estimated around 250,000 people rallied in support of regime change in Iran — an outcome Trump himself has described as the best possible result for the country.

On the diplomatic front, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said a draft proposal for an agreement with Washington would be ready within days, and on Sunday confirmed that Tehran was prepared to implement a full monitoring mechanism to guarantee the peaceful nature of its nuclear program. 

Araghchi told CBS News that Iran was negotiating “only nuclear” issues at present and expressed optimism that a deal could be reached. Oman’s foreign minister confirmed the next round of talks for Thursday in Geneva, describing a “positive push to go the extra mile towards finalizing the deal.”

Trump, however, has set a tight deadline, warning that Iran has at most 15 days to reach an agreement. 

Even as diplomats work to narrow differences, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei struck a defiant tone earlier this week, declaring that Trump would not succeed in destroying the Islamic Republic.

The nuclear dispute lies at the heart of the standoff. Western countries accuse Iran of seeking to develop nuclear weapons, a charge Tehran denies, insisting on its right to uranium enrichment for civilian purposes under the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. 

Iran’s nuclear infrastructure was significantly degraded after Israeli and US strikes hit key facilities at Natanz, Fordow, and Isfahan in June last year. 

Tehran, for its part, is seeking relief from sweeping sanctions that have severely damaged its economy — an economic crisis that played a central role in sparking mass anti-government protests in late December, which were met with a deadly crackdown in January, with rights groups estimating thousands killed.