World
While UN Issues mixed signals, Witkoff exposes Iran’s nuclear evasion ‘pride’
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The stunning details revealed by Steve Witkoff on his talks with Iran and their boastful remarks about its nuclear program have seemingly fallen on deaf ears at the U.N. nuclear agency.
Days into the U.S.-Israel joint campaign against Iran, the director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Rafael Grossi posted to X stating, “There has been no evidence of Iran building a nuclear bomb.”
Fox News Digital asked the IAEA how it could assess the development of a possible nuclear weapon without access to Iran’s facilities but received no response at press time.
Grossi’s post came as the U.S. Special Envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff gave details to Fox News’ Sean Hannity earlier this week on his talks with the regime prior to the U.S. and Israel launching their military operation against Tehran.
Witkoff revealed the negotiators said they had an “inalienable right” to enrich uranium. When Witkoff countered that the Trump administration had the “inalienable right to stop [them, ]” he explained that the negotiators said this was only their starting point.
“They have 10,000, roughly, kilograms of fissionable material that’s broken up into roughly 460 kilograms of 60% enriched uranium, another 1,000 kilograms 20% enriched uranium,” Witkoff explained. “They manufacture their own centrifuges to enrich this material, so there’s almost no stopping them. They have an endless supply of it. The 60% material can be brought to 90% – that’s weapon grade — in roughly one week, maybe 10 days at the outside. The 20% can be brought to weapons grade inside of three to four weeks.”
Witkoff added that during his first meeting with the negotiators, they said “with no shame that they controlled 460 kilograms of 60% and they’re aware that that could make 11 nuclear bombs, and that was the beginning of this negotiating stance.”
“They were proud of it. They were proud that they had evaded all sorts of oversight protocols to get to a place where they could deliver 11 nuclear bombs,” Witkoff said.
US special Envoy Steve Witkoff arrives to his hotel during new round of talks between the United States and Iran on Iran’s nuclear programme, in Geneva on Feb. 26, 2026. ( Fabrice COFFRINI / AFP via Getty Image)
Grossi, who is running to become the next United Nations secretary general, did however admit in his post on X that Iran maintains “a large stockpile of near-weapons grade enriched uranium” and said that the Islamic Republic has not allowed inspectors full access to its program. With these facts in mind, he said that the IAEA “will not be in a position to provide assurance that Iran’s nuclear programme is exclusively peaceful” until Iran “assists…in resolving the outstanding safeguards issues.”
Richard Goldberg, a senior advisor to the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies, FDD, told Fox News Digital, “No one paid much attention to Rafael Grossi throughout the Biden years when he repeatedly warned publicly that Iran was refusing to cooperate with and providing false statements to the IAEA about ongoing investigations into undeclared facilities, activities and nuclear material.”
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The former Trump administration official said, “There are some key facts being ignored today. The IAEA board last year found Iran to be in breach of the NPT. To this day, Grossi has confirmed that the IAEA cannot verify the Iranian nuclear program is peaceful.”
He continued, “This is not Iraq where we lacked hard public evidence of a nuclear weapons program. Iran had built out nearly every part of its nuclear weapons program in plain sight, with the weaponization work moving forward at undeclared sites controlled by SPND. If the administration had evidence the regime was moving quickly to reconstitute key elements of that program — from advanced centrifuge manufacturing to completion of a new underground enrichment site alongside advancement of delivery vehicle programs – the president was fully justified in enforcing a red line he set after Operation Midnight Hammer.”
Map of Iran nuclear facilities attacked by the US in Operation Midnight Hammer. (Fox News)
Spencer Faragasso, a senior fellow at the Institute for Science and International Security (ISIS), told Fox News Digital that his organization calculated prior to the June 2025 12 Day War that Iran possessed 440.9 kilograms of 60% rich uranium. With about 24 or 25 kilograms of 90% rich uranium required per weapon, Faragasso said the country possessed the ability to produce 11 weapons in one month.
Faragasso said that there remain questions about whether the Iranians can access their enriched materials, and whether they possess additional centrifuges that may have not been installed in the facilities that were struck.
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“Being able to enrich the uranium up to weapon grade is actually a tall order,” he said, explaining that it would require a new enrichment site and components and materials that “Iran would either need to recover from its destroyed facilities” or “illicitly import them from abroad.” With a few hundred centrifuges, enough for two or three cascades, Faragasso said the Iranians could have enriched their uranium stores to weapon grade.
“To be clear, the successes gained from the June war are not permanent and officials from the regime spoke publicly about how they wanted to reconstitute their enrichment program, their nuclear program,” he said. “The more time that goes on, the worse the situation will get. It’s not going to get better, especially regarding the ballistic missile program.”
Satellite imagery taken on Jan. 30, 2026, shows a new roof over a previously destroyed building at Natanz nuclear site. (2026 PLANET LABS PBC/Handout via REUTERS)
He said the Iranians had previously expressed the desire to open a fourth enrichment site, which the IAEA stated was at Esfahan. According to Faragasso, there was “never confirmation” of where the site was or how far along construction may have been.
The group is now tracking an Israeli strike on March 3 on Min-Zadayi, a site that Faragasso said “was completely unknown” to them previously. The Israel Defense Forces reported on X that the site was “used by a group of nuclear scientists who operated to develop a key component for nuclear weapons.”
The State Department referred Fox News Digital to remarks made by Secretary of State Marco Rubio to the press on Tuesday on Iran’s nuclear program.
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“This terroristic, radical, cleric-led regime cannot be ever allowed to have nuclear weapons.” Explaining that the Islamic Republic was “willing to slaughter their own people in the streets,” Rubio directed members of the press to “imagine what they would do to us. Imagine what they would do to others. Under President Trump that will never, ever happen,” he said.
World
Cuba's top destinations deserted, without power or fuel under US sanctions
World
US destroyer interdicts two oil tankers trying to leave Iran during Trump’s blockade
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A U.S. destroyer interdicted two oil tankers that were trying to leave Iran on Tuesday, a U.S. official said, as part of the Trump administration’s blockade on Iranian ports.
The official told Reuters that the ships left Chabahar port on the Gulf of Oman before being contacted by the U.S. warship through radio communication. The official added that the tankers were among the six vessels that U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) said Tuesday obeyed orders from American forces to turn around and head back to an Iranian port on the Gulf of Oman.
“More than 10,000 U.S. Sailors, Marines, and Airmen along with over a dozen warships and dozens of aircraft are executing the mission to blockade ships entering and departing Iranian ports,” CENTCOM said. “During the first 24 hours, no ships made it past the U.S. blockade and 6 merchant vessels complied with direction from U.S. forces to turn around to re-enter an Iranian port on the Gulf of Oman.”
“The blockade is being enforced impartially against vessels of all nations entering or departing Iranian ports and coastal areas, including all Iranian ports on the Arabian Gulf and Gulf of Oman,” it added. “U.S. forces are supporting freedom of navigation for vessels transiting the Strait of Hormuz to and from non-Iranian ports.”
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U.S. Central Command said Tuesday that “U.S. Navy guided-missile destroyers are among the assets executing a blockade mission impacting Iranian ports.” (CENTCOM)
The Pentagon did not immediately respond Wednesday to a request for comment from Fox News Digital regarding the reported interdiction of the oil tankers.
“U.S. Navy guided-missile destroyers are among the assets executing a blockade mission impacting Iranian ports. The blockade is being enforced impartially against vessels of all nations entering or leaving coastal areas or ports in Iran,” CENTCOM said Tuesday. “A typical destroyer has a crew of more than 300 Sailors that are highly trained in conducting offensive and defensive maritime operations.”
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FILE PHOTO: Cargo ships in the Gulf, near the Strait of Hormuz, as seen from northern Ras al-Khaimah, near the border with Oman’s Musandam governance, amid the U.S.-Israeli conflict with Iran, in United Arab Emirates, March 11, 2026. (REUTERS/Stringer/File Photo/File Photo)
CENTCOM Commander Adm. Brad Cooper added in a statement that “a blockade of Iranian ports has been fully implemented as U.S. forces maintain maritime superiority in the Middle East.”
A satellite image shows the Strait of Hormuz, a key maritime passage connecting the Persian Gulf to the Gulf of Oman, vital for global energy supply. (Amanda Macias/Fox News Digital)
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Cooper said an estimated 90% of Iran’s economy is supported by international trade by sea.
“In less than 36 hours since the blockade was implemented, U.S. forces have completely halted economic trade going into and out of Iran by sea,” he also said.
World
Magyar calls on Orbán to lift veto on Ukraine loan before his exit
Péter Magyar, the winner of the Hungarian elections and the country’s incoming prime minister, has called on Viktor Orbán to lift his controversial veto on the €90 billion loan for Ukraine before vacating his office in May.
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The financial scheme was agreed by the 27 leaders of the European Union in December, but Orbán used his veto in mid-February to block the legal procedure over an unrelated dispute with Kyiv involving the Druzhba pipeline, which carries low-cost Russian oil.
The spat featured prominently in Orbán’s failed re-election campaign.
“Viktor Orbán accepted the loan (in December), and he said during the election campaign that as long as there is no oil, there is no money,” Magyar said on Wednesday during his first interview with the Hungarian public broadcaster since 2024.
Magyar referred to the words of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who this week said the pipeline could be repaired “not completely, but enough to function” by the end of the month. The infrastructure was badly damaged in January by Russian drones.
The restoration of flows will be “very important for our country”, Magyar said, signalling his desire to continue purchases of Russian oil in the near term.
“In the next 30 days, the Orbán government is still operating as an executive government,” Magyar added.
“So I think, if Druzhba restarts, Viktor Orbán will release his technical veto.”
Only one element of the €90 billion loan, a regulation amending the EU budget that requires unanimity, is still on hold. In principle, Orbán could order his ambassador in Brussels to lift the veto at any time and complete the legislative procedure.
However, it is far from clear if Orbán, who made Zelenskyy the nemesis of his campaign, will allow this to happen before leaving office sometime in May.
The European Commission is quickly laying the groundwork to make the first transfer to Kyiv as soon as the deadlock is broken. The executive has a reserve of borrowed cash at hand, so it is just waiting for the legal blessing to go ahead.
On Tuesday, the Commission said the offer to send an external inspection to the Druzhba pipeline and pay for the repair with EU funds, which were made to placate Orbán, was still applicable after the election. (The inspection has not yet taken place.)
“We, of course, expect all EU leaders, all member states, to abide by their commitments,” a Commission spokesperson said.
After a bitter clash with Orbán over his “unacceptable” veto, capitals are keen to turn the page and leave the episode behind.
Speaking alongside Zelenskyy on Tuesday, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said the military funds under the loan “must be disbursed promptly”.
“Ukraine urgently needs them. Ukraine will then be able to finance its defence in the long term. Russia should take this seriously,” Merz said.
Zelenskyy echoed the message and expressed confidence that, under Magyar’s leadership, Hungary would stop blocking “important” decisions for Ukraine.
“I am sure that we will cooperate with Hungary. We have good relations between the people. We are neighbours. We will continue these relations,” Zelenskyy said.
“I think we need to build our relations on pragmatism. We can also have friendly relations based on agreements and treaties. This will only strengthen both countries.”
Besides the loan, Hungary, together with Slovakia, is currently vetoing the 20th package of sanctions against Russia. It is also blocking Ukraine’s accession process and the release of €6.6 billion in military aid under the European Peace Facility (EPF).
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