The day after President Donald Trump signed a memorandum of understanding with Iran, opening a 60-day window to negotiate a deal over the country’s nuclear program, Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff got on the phone to brief skeptical Republican leaders.
The terms of the 14-point document were vague and open to interpretation, sparking concern across Washington about what exactly the president had just signed on to and what concessions had been made to Tehran.
Kushner and Witkoff, Trump’s son-in-law and special envoy, respectively, had spent months leading backchannel talks on Iran, and now sought to reassure Republicans on the merits of the agreement and the process to come. According to a person familiar with the call, as a sign of progress, Witkoff referenced a secret trip he and Kushner had just taken to the secluded Oak Ridge nuclear lab, where they met with technical experts, many of whom Witkoff said were on standby ready to join the effort.
Witkoff also said he expected negotiations on “the toughest issue” — Iran’s nuclear program — to begin immediately, according to a person familiar with the call.
Three weeks later, not only have technical talks only barely begun, but the entire agreement appears to be in tatters. There have been skirmishes since the signing of the MOU, but the latest flare-ups over the Strait of Hormuz pose the biggest threat to the fragile agreement that Trump has now declared “over.”
