Iran bragged in talks with US that it could make 11 nuclear bombs - Witkoff

Earlier this year, Iranian negotiators in talks with the US boasted that they had enough highly enriched uranium to make 11 nuclear bombs, US special envoy Steve Witkoff said, according to The Times of Israel.

"In that first meeting, both Iranian negotiators told us bluntly - without shame - that they controlled 460 kilograms of 60% [enriched uranium] and that they realized that 11 nuclear bombs could be made from it," Witkoff said.

According to him, the Iranian negotiators "bragged that they had managed to avoid any monitoring protocols to get to the point where they could make 11 nuclear bombs." Iranian negotiators also boasted in talks that they had an "inalienable right" to enrich their nuclear fuel.

"We said the President believes we have the inherent right to stop you in your tracks. Jared (Kushner, Donald Trump's son-in-law - ed.) and I just looked at each other in surprise and said, 'Now we're really not going to get any better,'" Witkoff recalls.

He also repeated his claim that the highly enriched uranium that Iran had accumulated could be turned into a weapon within a week or 10 days, although that would again require nuclear facilities that the US says were destroyed in strikes last year.

Witkoff explained that the US President had sent him and Jared Kushner to negotiate with Iran to reach an agreement in which Tehran would agree to dismantle its missile program, stop supporting its allies, dismantle its navy "so we can have freedom of the seas," and stop enriching uranium.

"We went there and tried to make a fair deal with them, and it was very, very clear that this will be impossible - probably by the end of the second meeting, but we returned for the third meeting to make one last attempt. They wanted us to report positive results. This meeting was not positive," he concluded.

As Ukrainian News Agency earlier reported, the White House announced the official goals of the US military operation against Iran, called "Epic Fury."

Recall that the US is preparing a new wave of strikes on Iran in the coming days.

Meanwhile, the Saudi Ministry of Defense confirmed that the US embassy in Riyadh was attacked by two drones, which caused a fire.