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President Donald Trump’s caller peculiar envoy to the Middle East was sworn successful by Secretary of State Marco Rubio Tuesday successful an Oval Office ceremony.
Speaking earlier the swearing-in, Trump praised Witkoff, who was instrumental successful securing an extended ceasefire betwixt Israel and Hamas and the instrumentality of 33 hostages, including 2 Americans, who were being held by Hamas.
Trump said Witkoff has "been with me, much oregon less, 1 mode oregon the other, each measurement of the way," adding that helium has "absolute assurance and enactment and trust" successful his Middle East envoy's quality to unafraid cardinal deals successful the realm of overseas diplomacy, specified arsenic ceasefire agreements betwixt Israel and Hamas and betwixt Ukraine and Russia.
Though Witkoff is simply a existent property businessman by trade, Trump said helium "quickly established himself arsenic 1 of the toughest, smartest and champion negotiators successful the business," which is wherefore helium chose him for the important relation of peculiar envoy to the Middle East.
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Steve Witkoff is sworn successful arsenic peculiar envoy by Secretary of State Marco Rubio during a ceremonial successful the Oval Office of the White House with President Donald Trump Tuesday, May 6, 2025, successful Washington. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)
"As a businessman, he's admired and respected by all, and present Steve is putting his talents to enactment for America's peculiar envoy to the United States and making a batch of progress. Our state is blessed to person a negotiator of specified accomplishment and acquisition who truly selflessly steps up to the plate, puts himself guardant each the time," the president said.
Trump did enactment determination was somewhat of a learning curve for Witkoff erstwhile it came to overseas authorities relations but said helium has been "figuring it out" astatine a lightning pace.
"It takes him astir an hr to fig it out," Trump said. "After that, he's brutal. He does a large job."
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Russian President Vladimir Putin, right, and President Donald Trump's peculiar envoy, Steve Witkoff, greet each different anterior to talks astatine the Kremlin successful Moscow, Russia, April 25, 2025. (Kristina Kormilitsyna, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP)
Trump noted Witkoff has already been progressive implicit the past respective months, gathering with Russian President Vladimir Putin, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and leaders from Iran.
"He's moving tirelessly to extremity the bloody and destructive conflicts," said Trump, touting Witkoff's occurrence truthful acold successful negotiations with assorted satellite leaders.
After the ceremony, Trump took questions from reporters, addressing a scope of topics, including the just-announced ceasefire betwixt the U.S. and the Houthis. When asked astir conflicting reports indicating the Houthis bash not program to halt attacking Israel, Trump said that the panic group's surrogates person indicated "very strongly" that "they privation thing to bash with [the United States]."
Trump was besides asked questions astir the ongoing struggle betwixt Israel and Hamas successful Gaza, and, successful particular, astir the merchandise of the remaining 21 surviving hostages.
"This is simply a unspeakable situation. We're trying to get the hostages out. We've gotten a batch of them out," Trump told reporters, noting it is besides conscionable important to find and instrumentality the bodies of those already killed by Hamas.
He shared that 2 weeks agone a mates whose lad died arsenic a hostage came to him and said, "Please, sir, my lad is dead. Please get america backmost his body."
"They wanted his body. He's dead," Trump said from the Oval Office aft Witkoff's confirmation. "They know. He said they wanted his assemblage arsenic overmuch arsenic you would privation the lad if helium was alive. It's a precise bittersweet thing."
President Donald Trump speaks earlier Steve Witkoff is sworn successful arsenic a peculiar envoy during a ceremonial successful the Oval Office of the White House Tuesday, May 6, 2025, successful Washington, D.C. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein))
Trump besides commented connected Iran and its imaginable development of atomic weaponry. The president said definitively that "they're not going to person a atomic weapon."
"This is truly crunch time. I would archer you, for Iran and for their country, this is simply a precise important clip for Iran. This is the astir important clip successful the past of Iran, for Iran, and I anticipation they bash what's right," Trump told reporters.
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"I'd emotion to spot a bid deal, a beardown bid deal. … We privation it to beryllium a palmy country," helium added. "We don't privation to bash thing that's going to get successful the mode of that. But they can't person a atomic weapon. And if they take to spell a antithetic route, it's going to beryllium a precise bittersweet thing. And it's thing we don't privation to person to do, but we person nary choice."
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