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President Trump has argued that he had to launch strikes on Iran because Iran was trying to rebuild a nuclear program that Trump himself said was obliterated last year, and he blames Iran for not negotiating in good faith. But critics say it was Trump who was using diplomacy as cover for the U.S. and Israeli military buildup. NPR's Michele Kelemen reports.
MICHELE KELEMEN, BYLINE: President Trump says a lot of different things about his envoy, Steve Witkoff's, dealings with Iran.
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PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: They told Mr. Witkoff, who is standing right over here - they said - they actually said we want to keep building essentially - in a real nutshell - we want to continue to build nuclear weapons.
KELEMEN: Witkoff hasn't gone that far. Though, in several television interviews and briefings, he said that Iran was not serious about negotiations and insisted on the right to enrich uranium. Here's how Trump put it.
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TRUMP: And they even turned down an offer for unlimited free nuclear fuel forever for civilian purposes.
KELEMEN: That should have come as no surprise, says Kelsey Davenport of the Arms Control Association. She says Iran sees enrichment as a right under the nuclear nonproliferation treaty, and it doesn't trust Trump.
KELSEY DAVENPORT: What assurance could the U.S. offer that it would continue to follow through on that commitment, when the Trump administration has not negotiated with Iran in good faith and withdrew from the 2015 nuclear deal without cause?
KELEMEN: Davenport says Witkoff seemed to be fixated on the Tehran Research Reactor built for civilian nuclear use. One official described Witkoff as having a, quote, "Perry Mason moment" when he became convinced that the reactor was just a ruse. Davenport says international inspectors had regular access to the site, which was built by the U.S. in 1967.
DAVENPORT: Witkoff's comments demonstrate a shocking lack of knowledge regarding Iran's nuclear program and historic negotiations with Iran.
KELEMEN: A former U.S. ambassador to Israel, who served in both Republican and Democratic administrations, Daniel Kurtzer, says it's worth trying something new in diplomacy, but he says you still need some outside advice.
DANIEL KURTZER: They also apparently didn't have experts in their delegation who could tell them what things meant and why Iran said certain things and what it meant by certain things.
KELEMEN: Kurtzer, who teaches at Princeton University, says Witkoff and Trump's son-in-law, Jared Kushner, have too much on their plate leading talks with Iran while also trying to end the wars in Gaza and Ukraine. Kurtzer recently coauthored an article in Foreign Policy, giving the Witkoff-Kushner team an F in diplomacy.
KURTZER: If you ask my Princeton students, I'm a very easy grader. So when I give them an F, you know, it's serious.
KELEMEN: Even as Trump was launching the war on Iran, Oman's foreign minister was giving television interviews, trying to explain what Iran had put on the table in negotiations.
KURTZER: Or the Friday of the war, the Omani foreign minister is in Washington saying things are looking a little bit better, and you know, these guys are telling the president something entirely different. Who's right?
KELEMEN: All this raises another question for Kelsey Davenport, the arms control expert.
DAVENPORT: Diplomatically, I think there was an opportunity, but it's not clear if, you know, President Trump had made the political decision to test it or if he was just, you know, buying for time while you know, the U.S. military assets, you know, got into place.
KELEMEN: President Trump has said he had to act because he sensed that Iran would strike first. His spokesperson called it a feeling based on fact. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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