BURSTFormer United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley cautioned Trump administration officials against trusting Iran after the U.S. began indirect talks with Iranian officials about its nuclear program over the weekend.
Haley, in a post on the social platform X, said the U.S. should not enter any deal that allows Iran to keep its nuclear program.
“Iran has violated every agreement they have ever been a part of,” the former 2024 presidential candidate said. “We can’t trust them to have any amount of nuclear production."
"Iran should not have a nuclear program, period," she added.
Haley has long been a fierce critic of Iran and of the previous nuclear deal brokered during the Obama administration. Before Trump withdrew the U.S. from the deal in 2018, Haley urged him to do so, in her capacity as ambassador to the U.N.
In his second term, Trump is now pushing to reach a new agreement with the Middle Eastern nation. Envoys from both countries completed the first round of talks in Oman on Saturday, with little movement. Still, officials described the talks as positive and “compelling” and said they agreed to continue talks this week.
The White House has stressed that a fresh deal must include Tehran disposing of its nuclear arsenal.
If an agreement is not reached, the president threatened that military action against Iran could ensue. The warning comes after the U.S. imposed new sanctions on five entities and one individual based in Iran earlier this week for their support of those overseeing the nuclear program.
Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff reiterated Trump’s warning in an interview on Fox News Channel’s “Hannity” on Monday night, when asked about the first round of talks with Iran.
“The president's message of peace through strength resonates throughout the world,” Witkoff said. “This is not a threat on my part now. It is just a simple fact: The president means what he says, which is, they cannot have a bomb.”
He added that the basis for the talks with Iran will be about verification on the enrichment program — ensuring it’s capped at 3.67 percent — and verification on weaponization.
“That includes missiles, the type of missiles that they have stockpiled there, and it includes the trigger for a bomb," he told host Sean Hannity.
“Verification will be the key point that undergirds this agreement, if we're fortunate enough to get there,” the envoy said. “And we're going to have to have very tight verification.”
Witkoff noted that verification has been lacking in recent years, and “that’s got to change.”
“And if it changes, then we will have the basis for positive talks,” he said. “And if it doesn't change, then we will have to seek alternatives, which will not be good for anybody.”