March 10, 2026
WHEN: Today, Tuesday, March 10, 2026
WHERE: CNBC’s “Money Movers”
Following is the unofficial transcript of a CNBC interview with U.S. Special Envoy for Peace Missions Steve Witkoff on CNBC’s “Money Movers” (M-F, 11AM-12PM ET) today, Tuesday, March 10. Following is a link to video on CNBC.com: https://www.cnbc.com/video/2026/03/10/steve-witkofff-russians-told-trump-they-have-not-shared-intelligence-with-iran-during-war.html.
All references must be sourced to CNBC.
SARA EISEN: Welcome back to “Money Movers.” The Iran War now in its 11th day, Secretary Hegseth saying this morning the most intense strikes will happen today. Joining us here first on CNBC is U.S. Special Envoy for Peace Missions Steve Witkoff. Steve, welcome back. Thank you for taking the time.
STEVE WITKOFF: Thank you, Sara.
EISEN: So, you're -- you've been in the middle of this, negotiations with Iran, with the U.S. with Gaza and Israel, with Russia and Ukraine. On Iran, Steve, is there any scope for negotiation from this point on?
WITKOFF: Well, I think the president is always willing to talk, but the question is whether it would be productive or not. When we -- when Jared and I first went on this last visit and we met with the foreign minister from Iran, our mission statement was all about, would they do a deal? Were they amenable to doing a deal? Would it be enforceable? So, in other words, would they keep their word? And would we have sufficient oversight to make sure that they were keeping their word? And on all three of those questions, we answered it no to the president. And here's the reason why. The negotiation opened, Sara -- and I've been quoted as saying this, but it, but I'm going to say it again. The negotiation opened with their lead negotiator, he was there with his deputy, stating unequivocally that they had the -- quote -- "inalienable right" to enrich as a nation. They then moved into the material that had been enriched and had been stockpiled, which we regard as a violation. That six, their, the part of that stockpile includes 60 percent enriched uranium, which takes about a week to 10 days to get to 90 percent, which is weapons-grade. So that's what you have to be the most worried about. And when asked about the 60 percent, the chief negotiator from Iran said: "You know and I know that that's 11 bombs' worth of material. So you need to be serious about this." That was the second statement that they made. And then, finally, the third statement that they made at this negotiation was that, beyond the inalienable right to enrich, they were not going to give to us what they felt we couldn't win militarily. Now, they were obviously referring to Midnight Hammer and saying that there were certain remnants of their enrichment business or protocol—
EISEN: Yes, program.
WITKOFF: That had remained intact. And they weren't going to turn it over to us because, if we, if we didn't destroy it all during Midnight Hammer, then they weren't going to give it to us diplomatically, which was the, that was the moment when we really knew that they had no intention of doing a deal with us. Now, there was much, much more.
EISEN: Yes.
WITKOFF: I'm just giving you three items that were of substantial concern. But when we came back and reported to the president and it was our job to get a deal done if it was possible, but it was also our job to give the president intelligence as to whether they intended to do something. And it was very, very clear that they were just not well motivated in that regard.
EISEN: You know, some -- well, appreciate you laying it out again. And I know you have said as much publicly, but there are still critics and Democrats who will say there's no evidence that they were that close and no urgency to move now. What do you say to that?
WITKOFF: Well, first of all, they had 460 kilograms of 60 percent enriched material. There is no reason to be at 60 percent, none, zero reason, unless you're pursuing a weapon. So that's the first thing I would say to the naysayers. The second thing I would say to the naysayers is, who actually shows evidence of their weapon? Would a murderer do such a thing? Everybody has known that they have been testing for weaponization since 2003. The IAEA has attested to that. So we know that they have done all kinds of testing on weapons. And it wouldn't be all that much for them to do a World War II-vintage type weapon. So we knew that it was possible that they could have a weapon, where they might be close to being able to procure a weapon. And then I give you this other detail that no one seems to want to talk about, which is, they could easily have taken the 60 percent enriched material and made a dirty bomb out of it. That would have been a really easy step. So, there was -- there were all kinds of reasons to be concerned with where they were. And they claimed that they were coming to the negotiation with Jared and I for good purposes, to explain to them what they needed from an enrichment standpoint. So, to start the conversation off with the predicate that they're entitled to enrich, with the further predicate that they have got 11 bombs' worth of enrichment material a week to a week-and-a-half away from being weapons-grade, and that they weren't going to give to us diplomatically what they claim we couldn't win from a military standpoint, that was reason enough for us to determine that they weren't there for -- to be purposefully negotiating a diplomatic settlement to this conflict.
EISEN: Sure. Is there any line of communication, any channel of communication still open between you and any of the members of the regime or government there?
WITKOFF: Well, I mean, I, you know, the president has said so. The president has said that he's open to communication. The question is, do they, it's the same question today that we had when we were negotiating with them. Do they actually want to make it, have a diplomatic solution here? And, so far, the evidence suggests no.
EISEN: No. Yes, I mean, they have replaced Khamenei with his son, who's believed to be a hard-liner as well, as the new supreme leader. Is that acceptable here to us?
WITKOFF: Is that, pardon me? I didn't hear that last—
EISEN: Is it acceptable to us in the context of what you're saying and what you're trying to achieve?
WITKOFF: Well, again, the president has said the obvious. He's a hard-liner. He's theocratic. If he's the same as his father, if he's inflexible in that way, then that's problematic to the president. So, the president has indicated that there are all kinds of issues around him.
EISEN: So, how do you see this ending, this war?
WITKOFF: I don't know, Sara. I know this, that President Trump is the wrong guy to go up against. That's what I know. He has drawn a red line, and that is that Iran cannot have a weapon. And, yes, they say they don't want one, but all of their actions indicate the exact opposite. So he's just not the right guy to tangle with, and I would suggest they don't.
EISEN: What about where we are with Israel right now? There was word that you were going to go over there with Jared Kushner, maybe as soon as today, to smooth out maybe some concerns around Israel bombing the energy infrastructure in Iran. Where does that stand?
WITKOFF: No, I don't -- it wasn't -- the visit that we were intending to do was less about smoothing out differences because I don't really think there are many differences. It was much more about coordination, understanding where they were, talking about all those different things that are important to talk about if there's a deal or if there's not a deal. So -- and we had to cancel it for other reasons having nothing to do -- we will probably make that trip next week, but we're not sure about it as of now.
EISEN: Yes, I mean, are our end goals the same as their end goals?
WITKOFF: I would say. I would say that, I would say that, look, Israel is a one-bomb country. One bomb takes them out. And that's why it's so existential to Israel. But we can also see now, with this offensive missile shield that Iran had, to, in other words, protect the nuclear effort, that, and what it's doing, the havoc that it's raising out there with Middle Eastern countries, I mean, what they're doing is basically degrading, any support they had in the region has been substantially degraded, because nobody wants them as a neighbor. Who would want this sort of activity?
EISEN: Yes, I mean, I do, I wonder, you know, while it's hard to predict how it's going to end, I wonder what it means ultimately for peace in the region, for the Abraham Accords, which I know is something that you have been a part of and been negotiating, and whether we will see more countries after this war is over join.
WITKOFF: Well, it's a great question. And the answer is that they're coming out of the woodwork, calling us, multiple, multiple reach-outs for countries who want to be a part of the Abraham peace accords. The point is that this Iranian effort to terrorize the area is having the opposite effect. It's actually bringing people together. They, the premise before this conflict was they would only use them weapons against little Satan, Israel, and big Satan, the United States. And now that's been dispelled. Nobody's off-limits for the terrorist activities that they want to perpetrate. And it's unacceptable. And, as I said before, President Trump is going to clean this up. We have the world's greatest military. We see, we're way ahead after seven or eight days than where the, than where we postulated we would be at this point. And I would think that the Iranians are making some very poor decisions right now if they expect that they're going to be successful tangling with President Trump.
CARL QUINTANILLA: Steve, your description of the nuclear threat is eye-opening. There is still a website page on the White House Web site that says Iran's -- this is from last June -- "Iran's nuclear facilities have been obliterated and suggestions otherwise are fake news." How does that square with what you're telling us about the risk today?
WITKOFF: Well, well, it, first of all, we have, we have destroyed almost all of their enrichment capability and conversion capability because the enrichment cycle begins with something called conversion and ends with that when you metallicize. All of those activities were occurring at Isfahan, Natanz and Fordow. But here's what's so insidious about the Iranian program. They can make almost everything internally that has to do with enrichment. And they have a huge program on manufacturing centrifuges. And they are capable of manufacturing the best-in-class centrifuges, which are called IR-6 centrifuges. The IAEA has said repeatedly -- I have talked to Rafael Grossi about this -- that it's very, very difficult to figure out where their centrifuges were. So these are, this is the type of regime that we're dealing with. They're a very, very rough regime. After Midnight Hammer, they threw out the IAEA. There's been no oversight, no observation of any, of any, of any bad, of what they're doing there from a nuclear standpoint. If everything was as they said it was, just for civil purposes, why would they not allow observers into their country?
QUINTANILLA: Do we—
WITKOFF: They won't allow them in because there are bad things going on there.
QUINTANILLA: Do we think that the Russians have shared intelligence about the location of U.S. military assets? And, if they have, why would we be giving waivers on Russian oil sanctions?
WITKOFF: Well, I'm not an intel officer, so I can't tell you. I can tell you that, yesterday, on the call with the president, the Russians said that they have not been sharing. That's what they said. So, we can take them at their word, but they did say that. And, yesterday morning, well, and, yesterday morning, independently, Jared and I had a call with Ushakov, who reiterated the same. So, I, that's a better question for the intel people, but let's hope that they're not sharing.
EISEN: Well, no, what you can share is valuable. So, how, how, Steve, do you think that, does this change your negotiations with Russia on ending the war in Ukraine? And, if so, how?
WITKOFF: No, we're, look, we were, there was supposed to be a trilateral this week, Sara. The, that, that negotiation is a purposeful negotiation. We have, the Ukrainians themselves say that we have made more progress since the initial meetings in Geneva than we did in the last four years. So that is moving forward. I think, I think the trilateral will be shifted until some time next week. And we're hope, we're, we're, we're feeling we're going to remain positive on that. That's a war that should end. And we're going to remain positive there.
EISEN: This year? You think you can get a deal this year?
WITKOFF: I'm sorry?
EISEN: You think you can get a deal to negotiate a peaceful end this year in Ukraine?
WITKOFF: Well, I mean, look, I'm just, I'm a logical person. And, for me, again, I think that President Trump is generally successful in getting these things settled. In this particular circumstance, and he said it, it's taking longer than he thought. But we're beginning, we're seeing signs that both sides are weary and tired. And it, and, hopefully, that's the beginning inflection point. Same thing in the Middle East. There was an inflection point where we just -- Jared and I both sensed that they were done with the war. And let's hope that we're at that place today or soon.
EISEN: All right, we have time for one more. So I will just, finally, on Iran, what do you say people to Steve, Americans who are struggling, they're worried about higher gas prices, higher grocery prices, health insurance, making ends meet, don't want foreign wars, certainly ones that don't, don't have end dates, and that risk American lives? What do you say to them about why this is so critical for the U.S. to be doing what it is doing in Iran right now? How do you persuade them?
WITKOFF: I say to them, Sara, that if they have children, think about what this world would look like if you didn't have Donald Trump as the president because in a year, if you had someone who didn't have the courage to do this action, you would have 30 or 40 nuclear bombs. And what would the world look like there? So thank god we have a president and leadership at the helm that takes the, makes these courageous decisions. It's difficult. I went to Dover with the president. We were, it was somber. It was, it was, it was terrible to see six families convene, all of whom had lost, lost loved ones. And I remember many of these families saying to the president, we're, our children were heroes, but don't let their deaths account for nothing. Make them count for something. Finish the action. Make sure we eliminate the scourge. And nobody can, you can't live like this. This is, this is, this is a chaotic way to live. And, hopefully, we, we're going to get it done one way or another. So let's see if the Iranians want to talk. If they do, 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.
EISEN: Steve Witkoff, thank you so much for the time today and for all the information. We appreciate it. Please keep us posted, Special Envoy for Peace.
For more information contact:
Stephanie Hirlemann
CNBC
