U.S. President Donald Trump is expected to task his Middle East envoy, Steve Witkoff, with leading diplomatic negotiations with the Islamic Republic, according to widespread reports on Thursday.
The Financial Times and Axios, citing sources in Washington familiar with the matter, said the move suggests that Trump is willing to give diplomacy a chance before ramping up pressure on Tehran.
Witkoff, a real estate mogul whom Trump has credited with getting the ceasefire deal with Hamas terrorists over the finish line, is expected to head efforts against Iran’s nuclear program as part of a broader Trump effort to “stop the wars” in the region, FT claimed.
Asked about Witkoff’s potential role and the administration’s approach to Iran, U.S. National Security Council spokesperson Brian Hughes told the newspaper: “We have no announcements to share at this time.”
An unnamed senior Republican congressional staffer expressed concerns about the reported move to the FT, accusing Witkoff of “already lifting pressure on Hamas, Hezbollah and Iran, and in the process abandoning American hostages and endangering Israel.
“He keeps saying he knows what Trump wants, but he doesn’t understand what Trump believes,” the anonymous staffer said.
In an interview with Fox News on Wednesday, Witkoff expressed his willingness to engage directly with U.S.-designated Hamas terrorists.
“I think you can get everybody on board in that region. I really do. With a new sense of leadership over there,” the Jewish-American envoy stated.
“Oh my gosh, Qatar was enormously helpful in this [truce deal]. Sheikh Mohammed [bin Abdulrahman Al Thani], his communication skills with Hamas were indispensable here,” he said of Doha’s premier.
Israel signaled its support for the deal—in which it agreed to the release of thousands of terrorists and a withdrawal from strategic areas in Gaza—after being pressured by Witkoff, according to previous reports.
Witkoff, who has had business dealings and other relationships with Doha in the past, told Sean Hannity of Fox News on Jan. 9 that the Qatari prime minister and Israeli negotiators were “doing God’s work.”
During his first presidential term, Trump sanctioned Iran for its pursuit of nuclear weapons and, in May 2018, withdrew the United States from the nuclear deal with Iran forged three years earlier by his predecessor, former President Barack Obama.
Following his Nov. 5 election win, sources briefed on Trump’s early plans told The Wall Street Journal that the president-elect wanted to renew his “maximum pressure” campaign on the Islamic Republic, including issuing punishing sanctions and targeting its oil income.
At an Election Day rally, Trump said that he wanted Iran “to be a very successful country,” but that the regime “can’t have nuclear weapons.”
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Nov. 10 said that he and Trump were seeing “eye-to-eye on the Iranian threat in all its aspects.”
