Steve Witkoff's Description of Negotiations With Iran Is Like a Scene From the Movie 'The Big Short'

According to President Trump's most trusted negotiator, Steve Witkoff, Iran approached the most recent round of negotiations with the attitude that they were driving the train, and the Trump administration had no choice but to go full-metal Obama and give them what they wanted. In an interview with Fox News's Sean Hannity Monday night, Witkoff gave us all a glimpse of what it was like to negotiate with the lineal descendants of Persian rug merchants.

A lot of this we already know, see How Iran Trying to Punk President Trump on a Deal Went Terribly Wrong, and Why No One Should Try It – RedState. Having third-party accounts validated by an interview with the principal. Along the way, we'll see how many of the Hamas-left and Halal-right voices decrying the strikes are wrong or deliberately misleading. We'll also see an episode that is reminiscent of a scene from one of my all-time favorite movies, The Big Short.

Sean: …Our special envoy to the middle east, Steve Witkoff, is here with those details. You were in the room with these negotiators, and I know you’re a dealmaker. The president wanted a deal. You had a lot of latitude in that room. Bring us inside that room.

Witkoff: First of all, Sean, thanks. Good evening, and thank you for having me. Just to give you a little taste of how these three days of negotiations went: three separate times, Jared and I opened up with the Iranian negotiators telling us they had the inalienable right to enrich all of the nuclear fuel they possessed. That’s how they opened up.

We responded that the president feels we have the inalienable right to stop them in their tracks. They then went on to say that, beyond the inalienable right to enrich, that was going to be the starting point. Jared and I looked at each other and said, “We’re in for it now.”

Sean: Let me get a little bit in the weeds if we can. My understanding was you got to the point where you were discussing enriched uranium at very low levels for civilian purposes. I don’t think they need it because they have all the energy they want, but did that come up? Was that offer made to them?

Witkoff: We discussed with them ten years of no enrichment whatsoever, and we would pay for the fuel. It was rejected.

Sean: You’re saying we would give it to them? And they rejected that?

Witkoff: They rejected that, which told us at that moment that they had no intention of doing anything other than retaining enrichment for the purpose of weaponizing.

As it turned out, the IAEA was pretty damned accurate on their estimates of what Iran had in the way of fissile material.

See Feb 2026 IAEA report noting Iran stalled inspections that demand accountability for a 440kg stockpile of highly enriched uranium, including 60% enriched material.

— Patti Collins (@lmcplc20169) March 3, 2026

On Monday, the IAEA complained that Iran was no longer even pretending to cooperate.

IAEA DG @rafaelmgrossi spoke at the BOG today:

"Iran provided neither reports nor access...to the affected facilities and associated nuclear material...[or] verify the suspension of all enrichment, reprocessing and heavy water related activities..." 1/2https://t.co/FWSEs22EfT https://t.co/qeyNXJJ9oA

— William Alberque (@walberque) March 2, 2026

This is a reminder that it can do good work so long as it is not hopelessly politicized and governed by an anti-Western and anti-American agenda.

Sean: You made a statement last week. When I heard it — I’ve known you a long time, you’re a friend — when you said they might be a week away from possibly having capability, I interpreted that to mean it’s go time. It’s over. Was I wrong? Was that the moment it was over?

Witkoff: I don’t know if it was that exact moment, but I know this: they have roughly 10,000 kilograms of material. That includes about 460 kilograms of 60% enriched uranium, another thousand kilograms of 20% enriched uranium, and the balance at 3.67%. They manufacture their own centrifuges to enrich this material. There is almost no stopping them. They have an endless supply.

The 60% material, Sean, can be brought to weapons-grade — 90% — in roughly one week, maybe ten days. The 20% can be brought to weapons-grade in three to four weeks.

This is my favorite part. The Iranians start the negotiations by admitting they have the material and means to create 11 nuclear weapons. This explains why curbing their ballistic missile program was so important. 

Witkoff:  And let me add this small detail I forgot: in that first meeting, the Iranian negotiators told us directly, with no shame, that they controlled 160 kilograms of 60% enriched uranium and knew it could make 11 nuclear bombs. That was their opening stance. They were proud of it. They were proud they had evaded all sorts of protocols to get to a place where they could deliver 11 nuclear bombs.

(Watch the whole clip, then watch the movie. I've cued the clip to the relevant part.)

Sean: Wow. I would’ve loved to be a fly on the wall in that room. Steve, you’re a negotiator, one of the most successful businessmen, and a builder of some of the most beautiful golf courses. It defies all logic and reason for them to sit there as if the midnight hammer never happened and dictate to you that the one thing President Trump insisted on—that they cannot get a nuclear weapon—they were going to ignore and move forward anyway. How foolish were they? They’re gone now.

In my Monday post, I relay the report that this meeting Witkoff describes as either breaking down or nearly breaking down, with the Iranians screaming.

After having heard the U.S. demands, Araghchi started yelling at Witkoff, who was accompanied at the meeting by President Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner, among others, said the senior official.

“If you prefer, I can leave,” Witkoff said.

Witkoff: It was pretty silly, but they thought they could strong-arm us. President Trump sent me and Jared there to determine on his behalf whether they were serious about doing a deal that addressed his objectives: elimination of their missile program, elimination of their efficacy and support for proxies destabilizing the middle east, elimination of their navy so we could have freedom of the seas and not be threatened with a shutdown of the Gulf, and finally, no nuclear enrichment that could get them to weapons-grade—meaning no nuclear bombs.

Truthfully, it wasn't all that silly from Iran's perspective. There were numerous media reports of the Iranian team bullying Obama's lackwitted negotiators by yelling at them. For example, a 2014 New York Times article described Iranian negotiator Mohammad Javad Zarif blistering John Kerry's butt. A 2015 POLITICO Magazine also mentioned the tactic. According to Fox News, Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei intervened in the negotiations and ordered Foreign Minister Javad Zarif to stop making Kerry cry.

Witkoff also provides a significant bit of information. Witkoff's remit, as the Brits are fond of saying, was not exclusively Iran's nuclear program. It was basically to curb Iran's behavior, which included the use of proxy forces like Lebanese Hezbollah and a previously unknown element, the elimination of the ability of the Iranian Navy to interfere with international commerce through the Straits of Hormuz. 

Trump was not trying to reopen negotiations; he was trying to bring the decade-long process to a conclusion.

While we're at it, let's hit one additional angle: the lying sack of ordure that is Oman's Foreign Minister.

NEWS: Iran has agreed to give up its stockpile of enriched material - zero accumulation - & allow for full verification by the IAEA of its nuclear program according to US-Iran talks mediator, Oman's foreign minister Badr al Busaidi. https://t.co/DoqXnyA6dv

— Margaret Brennan (@margbrennan) February 27, 2026

The best that can be said is that he is either delusional or the stress caused a psychotic break. The worst is that he was working hand-in-glove to try to roll Witkoff into a deal by ratcheting up expectations in the media. This toad should be persona non grata to all U.S. personnel.

This might also explain why Iran was making such a big deal of closing the Straits of Hormuz; they are trying to accomplish rhetorically what they are incapable of doing in real life.

JUST IN: 🇮🇷 Iran says Strait of Hormuz is now closed, warns any ship attempting to pass will be targeted.#IranWar#عاجل_الان pic.twitter.com/d46fyyHqOi

— Sana Fatima (@SanaFat13648697) March 2, 2026

We went in there and tried to make a fair deal with them. It became very clear by the end of the second meeting that it was going to be impossible. But we went back for a third meeting to give it one last college try. They wanted us to report positivity. It was not a positive meeting.

Sean: Steve Witkoff, I know you’ve been flying all over the globe on your own dime. I think people need to know that, if you don’t mind me saying so. serving your country, serving the president, doing your best to bring peace to the world. They brought this action on themselves. You gave them every opportunity to take the exit ramp. They decided not to.

As I opined yesterday, the Iranians came into the deal thinking that Trump was Obama and that he needed a deal. It turned out to be a grave miscalculation. What they thought was a negotiation between equals was actually a dictation of terms. Their arrogant approach produced precisely the results Nicolas Maduro could have told them were coming.

Editor's Note: This article was updated post-publication for clarity. 

For decades, former presidents have been all talk and no action. Now, Donald Trump is eliminating the threat from Iran once and for all.

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