Witkoff says he and Kushner may visit Israel next week, says ‘almost all’ Iranian enrichment abilities destroyed

Live Update From the Liveblog of Tuesday, March 10, 2026. By Jacob Magid, 6:50 pm

US Special Envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff speaks during a meeting of the Cabinet in the Cabinet Room of the White House on January 29, 2026, in Washington, DC. (WIN MCNAMEE / GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA / Getty Images via AFP)

US special envoy Steve Witkoff says he and Jared Kushner may visit Israel next week, while clarifying that this is not finalized yet.

He denies in a CNBC interview that the visit initially planned for this week was canceled due to anger over Israel’s targeting of Iranian oil production sites.

He says the visit is aimed at coordinating with Israel on Iran.

“We’ll probably make that trip next week, but we’re not sure about it as of now,” Witkoff says.

Asked if Israel’s end goals for the war are the same as Washington’s — given that Jerusalem has been more insistent on the need for regime change — Witkoff insists that they are.

“Israel is a one bomb country. One bomb takes them out,” he says, without elaborating.

Witkoff says Iran has not shown interest in returning to negotiations since the US and Israel launched the war on February 28.

“I’m sure the president would be open to it, but right now, peace through strength matters. People like the Iranians only understand one thing — a bad alternative if they don’t do as the president has asked them to do,” he claims.

He says Iran has created an “offensive missile shield” to protect its nuclear program and is wreaking havoc across the region, losing all of its allies in the process by targeting them since the war’s outbreak.

Witkoff is pressed on the US justification for the war after it claimed to have obliterated Iran’s nuclear program last year.

He responds that the US has “destroyed almost all of their enrichment capability and conversion capability” — an apparent acknowledgement that Iran’s program had not, in fact, been completely obliterated.

He points out that Iran has barred UN monitors from accessing their nuclear sites since the US and Israeli strikes on Iran last year. “If everything was just for civil purposes, as they said, why would they not allow observers into their country? They won’t allow them in because there are bad things going on there.”

He also notes that Iran has 460 kilograms of uranium enriched to 60% — a level not needed “unless you’re pursuing a weapon.”

“They could easily have taken the 60% enriched material and made a dirty bomb out of it,” Witkoff says. However, this would ostensibly require sites that the US claims it completely obliterated last year.

As for reports that Russia is sharing intelligence with Iran against the US, Witkoff says Moscow has denied this.

“Let’s hope that they’re not sharing… We can take them at their word,” he says.

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