US President Donald Trump reached out to Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei in an attempt to explore a new nuclear agreement and prevent military escalation, his special envoy said on Sunday.
"We don't need to solve everything militarily," Steve Witkoff told Fox News.
"Our signal to Iran is let's sit down and see if we can, through dialogue, through diplomacy, get to the right place. If we can, we are prepared to do that. And if we can't, the alternative is not a great alternative."
Witkoff emphasized that Iran cannot have a nuclear bomb, saying, “It cannot happen and it will not happen.”
On Friday, Witkoff said Iran used indirect channels to respond after the US president sent a letter to Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei earlier this month.
“I’m not at liberty to talk about the specifics,” Witkoff said in an interview released Friday on The Tucker Carlson Show, saying only it was through "back channels through multiple countries".
Last week, an Emirati official brought a letter from Trump proposing nuclear talks with Tehran, which Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei rejected, saying such a proposal was deception from Washington amid crippling sanctions on Iran.
Iran's foreign ministry said Tehran will respond privately to Trump's letter and will not make public its contents.
Witkoff's remarks come as a senior Iranian nuclear official on Sunday said that Iran will not yield to Western pressure regarding its nuclear program, warning that such pressure could have adverse effects on cooperation.
Behrouz Kamalvandi, spokesman for the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI), emphasized Iran's determination to advance its nuclear industry and counter what he described as unjust accusations from Western powers.
In an interview on Sunday, Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said talks with the US are currently impossible unless significant changes occur as Washington awaits Tehran's response to its invitation for talks on a new nuclear deal.
