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U.S. Special Envoy Steve Witkoff confirmed on Thursday that a 15-point “action list” has been presented to the government of Pakistan, who are currently acting as intermediaries in the U.S. negotiations with Iran amid Operation Epic Fury.
“I can report to you today that we have, along with your foreign policy team, presented a 15-point action list that forms the framework for a peace deal,” Witkoff said during a cabinet meeting at the White House.
He added, “This has been circulated through the Pakistani government, acting as the mediator, and this has resulted in strong and positive messaging and talks, as you just indicated to the press, but these are sensitive diplomatic discussions, and you have directed us to maintain confidentiality on the specific terms and not negotiate through the news media as others do.”
As far as the potential results of such a deal, Witkoff said, “We will see where things lead and if we can convince Iran that this is the inflection point with no good alternatives for them, other than more death and destruction. We have strong signs that this is a possibility, and if the deal happens, it will be great for the country of Iran, for the entire region, and the world at large.”
Witkoff said that he, along with U.S. Special Envoy Jared Kushner, was directed by the president to pursue peaceful negotiations with Iran before the onset of Operation Epic Fury. Witkoff indicated that it became impossible to do so, as Iran refused to scale back on things like uranium enrichment activities and bolstering its missile capabilities.
“Throughout our meetings with the Iranians, we heard the following from them: ‘the Iranians have the inalienable right to enrich,’ then we heard they possessed enough 60 percent enriched material, 460 kilograms, to make 11 atomic bombs,” Witkoff explained.
He described further alarming negotiations with Iran, suggesting that the regime was simply unwilling to denuclearize at all.
“Finally, we heard the following statement: ‘they would not give up diplomatically what we could not win militarily,’” Witkoff said. “In other words, they were again miscalculating the success of Midnight Hammer…these are incontrovertible signs, among many other signs, sir, that their regime had not given their negotiating team authority to make a deal required by you.”
Now, as a preliminary 15-point peace plan is circulating throughout the Pakistani government and, apparently, encouraging some negotiations from the Iranians, Witkoff said the regime was interested in talking.
Witkoff said that Iran was “looking for an off-ramp” following President Trump’s “powerful threat” to hit energy infrastructure in the region last week. That threat has since been temporarily paused, pending the outcome of these ongoing negotiations.
“You have instructed us that your preference is always peace, and that we should make that our priority – we have delivered that message, sir, along with the 15 points to peace. Finally, we have told Iran one last thing: don’t miscalculate again,” Witkoff concluded.