2025-04-15 12:00:00 by The National Interest

The true details of Witkoff’s conversation last week with Russian leader Vladimir Putin remain unknown. But Moscow may have signaled a willingness to assist Washington in its diplomatic efforts with Tehran. Steve Witkoff, the Trump administration’s special envoy to the Middle East and all-around negotiation czar, has proven himself to be a lightning rod in Trump’s second term. By dint of his position and his actions thus far—moving to stabilize the Ukraine War and attempting to dial down hostilities in the Middle East—Witkoff has come under attack from all sides at different times for a variety of reasons. He’s a Qatari asset. He’s a Putinist stooge. Of course, these accusations are absurd—and the real estate magnate might even view them as a badge of honor, in light of who they are coming from. Who is Steve Witkoff? A self-starter, Witkoff began his career in the 1980s as just another white shoe attorney at a Manhattan real estate law firm—until he befriended a young Donald Trump, who inspired him to enter the real estate business. Witkoff gave everything up to start his business buying small tenements in Harlem. He famously did much of the upkeep on these buildings himself to keep costs down; according to one story, he abandoned a swanky New Year’s Eve dinner party in Manhattan to dig a sewage ditch. Eventually, his empire grew, and Witkoff came to put together real estate deals worth hundreds of millions of dollars. And though Witkoff is relatively new to politics, his tenure so far has largely been successful. In the days leading up to Trump’s inauguration, he helped to secure a temporary ceasefire established with the Iran-backed Hamas terrorist network in Gaza. This wasn’t because he was a Hamas apologist: it was done in order to rescue nearly 30 Israeli hostages from the clutches of that group. The Ukraine War is Witkoff’s biggest peace project thus far. So far, the war has continued in spite of Witkoff’s best efforts. Nevertheless, the progress that Trump’s chief negotiator has made has been extraordinary. Moscow and Washington are talking—directly—in ways that even five months ago would have been unthinkable, when the world teetered on the brink of a third world war in Europe. And it isn’t only the wars in Ukraine and Gaza that Witkoff finds himself in the middle of.  Witkoff of Arabia? As the Middle East stands on the precipice of a major air war between the U.S.-Israeli alliance and the nuclearizing Islamic Republic of Iran, Trump has opted to give peace one last chance. Much to the chagrin of Trump’s Israeli partners and the neoconservative wing of the Republican Party, Trump has deployed Witkoff into the fray, giving him his third major portfolio in the young administration. Over the weekend, Witkoff met with the Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi in neutral Oman. Armed with Trump’s threats on the eve of the meeting—namely, threatening to deploy the B-2 Spirit long-range stealth bombers from America’s Northern Indian Ocean redoubt of Diego Garcia and blast Iran’s nuclear sites with powerful 30,000-pound GBU-57 bombs—Witkoff met his Iranian interlocutor for hours. Many observers expected this meeting to be perfunctory. Yet it appears the two sides actually held serious negotiations. Whether these lead to anything more than talk is another matter entirely. But Witkoff came with another trump card aside from Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s threats. The day before Witkoff met with Araghchi in Oman, he spent hours in friendly conversation with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Ukraine was certainly the main topic of this dialogue, but the timing of the meeting one day before the moderately successful U.S.-Iran confab in Oman likely means that Iran, Russia’s closest ally in the Middle East following the fall of the Assad regime in Syria, was also on the docket. Of course, the true details of Witkoff’s conversation with Putin remain unknown. But there is a real chance that Moscow indicated to the Trump representatives that they were willing to do whatever they could to assist Washington in its unlikely diplomatic efforts with Tehran.  After all, Russia does not want a major war in the Middle East—especially one that would undoubtedly result in the collapse of their major regional partner. So, the question is, what could Putin have told Witkoff? There is some evidence to suggest from sources close to the Russian side that Moscow indicated an openness to taking a more active role in the peace talks. Specifically, if denuclearization is the goal of the United States and Israel, it is possible that Moscow, which has no more desire for an Iranian nuclear weapon than Washington does, would be willing to oversee some denuclearization protocol. Russia Can Deal With Iran in Ways America Can’t Of course, this program might not work for Israel, which has pursued a hard line against Iran’s nuclear threat—viewing it as an existential issue—and maintaining noticeably cooler relations with the Kremlin than prior to the start of the Ukraine War. Yet President Trump’s instincts of being averse to another Mideast war, even if it were to remain a limited air campaign, are correct. Short of war, it seems inconceivable that Tehran would ever agree to a true denuclearization overseen by America and Israel.  If war is to be averted, having Russia assist in the denuclearization process—and having it give Tehran whatever guarantees it would require to feel comfortable with such a move—is likely the surest way to avoid a massive regional war.  Steve Witkoff is an unconventional player representing an unorthodox American president. He just might square this diplomatic circle, getting Russia to do the heavy lifting with their proxies in Iran, thereby averting a major war.  About the Author: Brandon J. Weichert Brandon J. Weichert, a Senior National Security Editor at The National Interest as well as a contributor at Popular Mechanics, who consults regularly with various government institutions and private organizations on geopolitical issues. Weichert’s writings have appeared in multiple publications, including the Washington Times, National Review, The American Spectator, MSN, the Asia Times, and countless others. His books include Winning Space: How America Remains a Superpower, Biohacked: China’s Race to Control Life, and The Shadow War: Iran’s Quest for Supremacy. His newest book, A Disaster of Our Own Making: How the West Lost Ukraine is available for purchase wherever books are sold. He can be followed via Twitter @WeTheBrandon. Image: Shutterstock / noamgalai.