Iran is one week away from enriching enough uranium to make a nuclear bomb. The Trump administration can't let that happen.

According to President Trump’s diplomatic consiglieri and top advisor Steve Witkoff, Iran is one week away from having refined enough material to build a nuclear bomb. 

“They’re probably a week away from having industrial-grade bomb-making material,” Witkoff told FOX News this week. “And that’s really dangerous. So they can’t have that.”

“It’s up to 60% [referring to fissile purity], which is well beyond what you need for civilian nuclear power,” Witkoff told FOX. “We’ve sent them an official written proposal … there have been some very hard red lines drawn.”

In the same interview, Witkoff indicated that President Trump is more “curious” than frustrated about why Iran has not acquiesced to U.S. demands despite “the amount of sea power, naval power that we have over there.”

He also said that Trump instructed him and others that the U.S. position remains zero enrichment and that Iran must hand over its stockpiled enriched uranium.

In recent weeks, Trump’s political opponents have been vocal about military action in Iran. With this new information about enriched uranium, have their views changed?

“Now, a president always has the rights to take action, but normally that’s in — normally, when he doesn’t brief Congress or at least the Gang of Eight, that’s because there is some emergency that precipitates a quick action, and then you brief — you notify or brief right afterwards,” Sen. Mark Warner (D-VA) told the press last week. “And we’ve seen, in the case of this administration, not even notification at times to the Democrats, which is totally inappropriate. And then on top of that, if this is part of a strategic plan, to not brief congressional leadership, I think, is a mistake.”

“I think it goes against all norms and practices of other administrations, including Trump’s first administration,” remarked Sen. Warner. “And if we are thinking about this and not including our European or moderate Arab nations, Iran still has capabilities. Clearly, Iran has been on the back foot after their proxies at Hezbollah and Syria have been set back.”

“Clearly, the Iranian regime is horribly unpopular with the Iranian people,” he understated. “And gosh, seeing a regime change would make sense. But we don’t have the level of inside knowledge. Israel’s got better knowledge than we do about what’s going on on the ground in Iran. But there are a number of other countries in the region that would have some ideas about what next, should the regime or certain peoples in the regime move on.”

Leaders across the Persian Gulf have responded to the latest warnings about Iran’s enrichment timeline with caution and a clear preference for de-escalation. 

Officials in Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, and Oman have publicly emphasized that the region cannot afford another major military confrontation. Emirati presidential adviser Anwar Gargash said recently that the Middle East “does not need another confrontation,” urging direct U.S.–Iran negotiations to prevent escalation. 

Gulf governments remain deeply wary of Iran’s nuclear ambitions, but their public posture has focused on stability, energy security, and diplomatic engagement rather than open support for military action. The consistent message from Gulf capitals has been that while Iran’s enrichment activities are troubling, a negotiated solution is far preferable to a conflict that could destabilize the entire region.

On the other hand, Israel’s leaders have been vocal about the threat they believe Iran’s nuclear advances pose and have stressed that any deal must go beyond vague commitments. 

Israel’s Consul General in New York said flatly that “there will not be an agreement between the United States and Iran,” arguing Tehran’s negotiating position leaves little room for real compromise on enrichment, missiles, or regional proxy activity. 

He described Iran’s stance as aimed at buying time rather than making meaningful concessions, while emphasizing close coordination with Washington. 

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has warned of “complex and very difficult” days ahead and vowed a strong response to any Iranian aggression, underscoring Israel’s preparedness to confront security threats — alone if necessary. 

Netanyahu and other officials have long maintained that a nuclear-armed Iran would pose an existential danger to Israel and other neighboring countries, a view that (understandably) continues to shape their skepticism of current diplomatic efforts.

Talks are scheduled between the U.S. and Iran in the coming days. But as the one-week deadline to a nuclear Iran approaches, the world will be nervously watching the burgeoning conflict.

(Contributing writer, Brooke Bell)