Rubio Lays Down the Law with Iran

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Wednesday that US President Donald Trump is determined to prevent Iran from attaining a nuclear weapon, and would prefer to do that by negotiations as opposed to military means. However, he said the US would be willing to see Tehran have a civilian nuclear program as long as they were not enriching uranium.

“We do not want a war,” Rubio told Bari Weiss on her Honestly podcast.

“We do not want to see war. This is not a president that campaigned on starting wars. And as he said very clearly, Iran is not going to have a nuclear weapon, and he reserves every right to prevent that from happening, but he would prefer it not happen. He would prefer that there not be a need to resort to military force, either by us or anybody else. He would prefer that it’d be something that we can negotiate.”

Rubio offered a vote of confidence in US special envoy Steve Witkoff, the leading American representative in the ongoing nuclear talks with Iran, saying “We have good people negotiating.”

“The Iranians have shown a willingness to talk. We’re going to talk to them,” stressed Rubio, adding that “if Iran wants a civil nuclear program, they can have one just like many other countries in the world have one. That is, they import enriched material.”

Rubio emphasized how “complex” a war with Iran would be, explaining that, “Any military action at this point in the Middle East, whether it’s against Iran by us or anybody else, could in fact trigger a broader conflict.”

“They have spent billions of dollars developing military capabilities that we’re seeing, for example, being used in Ukraine right now, with drones and the like,” he noted.

A third round of US-Iran nuclear talks is scheduled for Saturday in Oman.

Iran doubles down on defense

While Washington asserts Iran’s openness to a nuclear deal that could prevent military confrontation, Tehran is ringing two deeply buried tunnel complexes with a massive security perimeter linked to its main nuclear facility amid US and Israeli threats of attack, a report said Wednesday.

The Institute for Science and International Security released its report based on recent satellite imagery as the US and Iran prepare for this weekend’s talks.

Trump, who pulled the US out of a 2015 pact designed to prevent Tehran from developing nuclear weapons, has threatened to bomb Iran unless a deal is quickly reached that would ensure that same goal.

Trump’s withdrawal prompted Iran to breach many of the pact’s restraints. Western powers suspect it is pursuing the capability to assemble a nuclear weapon, which Tehran denies.

David Albright, the institute president, said the new perimeter suggested that the tunnel complexes, under construction beneath Mt. Kolang Gaz La for several years, could become operational relatively soon.

Tehran has not allowed UN nuclear inspectors access to the complexes, Albright said.

That has raised concerns that they could be used to store Iran’s stockpile of highly enriched uranium or undeclared nuclear materials, and advanced centrifuges that could quickly purify enough uranium for a bomb, he said.

Iran has said that advanced centrifuges would be assembled in one complex in place of a facility at the nearby Natanz plant, the centerpiece of its nuclear program, which it said was destroyed by sabotage in 2020.

The complexes, Albright said, are being built at depths much greater than Iran’s deeply buried uranium enrichment facility at Fordow, near the holy city of Qom.

Commercial satellite images taken on March 29 showed hardened entrances to the complexes, high wall panels erected along the verges of a graded road encircling the mountain peak, and excavations for the installation of more panels, the report said.

The north side of the perimeter joins the Natanz plant security ring, it said.

The ongoing construction at the complexes appears to underscore Tehran’s rejection of demands that any talks with the US lead to the total dismantlement of its nuclear program, saying it has the right to peaceful nuclear technology.

Israel has not ruled out a strike on Tehran’s nuclear facilities in the coming months, while Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu insists that any talks must lead to the complete dismantlement of Iran’s nuclear program.

Iran’s nuclear chief, Mohammad Eslami, referring to concerns about the vulnerability of the country’s nuclear program, on Tuesday appeared to refer to projects such as the construction of the new security perimeter around the tunnel complexes.

“Efforts are ongoing” to “expand protective measures” at nuclear facilities, Eslami was quoted by Iranian state media as saying.

China in the mix

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi visited China on Wednesday for consultations ahead of the talks in Oman, which will be led by Araghchi and Witkoff.

A technical meeting between nuclear experts from the two countries will also be held on Saturday in the Omani capital of Muscat.

“It is necessary for us to keep our friends in China informed of developments and to consult with them,” Araghchi told Iranian state television. He said it was too early to judge the outcome of Iran-US talks, but that negotiations were going in the right direction.

China was a party to the 2015 nuclear agreement before Trump abandoned the arrangement.

“China has played an important and constructive role on the nuclear issue in the past, and the same role is certainly necessary in the future,” the Iranian minister added.

Following last Saturday’s nuclear talks in Rome, Araghchi said the meeting was “good” and that the negotiations were “moving forward.”

“We are cautiously optimistic, and if the Americans continue to stay in a constructive way and avoid any unrealistic, undoable demands, I am confident we can conclude a good deal at the end,” Iran’s top diplomat added.

On Monday, Trump said Washington had “very good meetings” on Iran.

Tehran accuses US, Israel of undermining progress

Meanwhile, Iran’s foreign ministry on Wednesday condemned new US sanctions targeting its oil network, calling the move a sign of Washington’s “hostile approach” ahead of continued talks.

In a statement, Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei said the US policy of imposing sanctions on the Iranian people was a “clear contradiction with the United States’ demand for dialogue and negotiation and indicates America’s lack of goodwill and seriousness in this regard.”

On Tuesday, the US Treasury imposed sanctions on Iranian liquefied petroleum gas magnate Seyed Asadoollah Emamjomeh and his corporate network.

It said in a statement that the network was “collectively responsible for shipping hundreds of millions of dollars’ worth of Iranian LPG and crude oil to foreign markets.”

The Islamic Republic also accused Israel of meddling in the ongoing talks, saying on Monday that Israel seeks to “undermine” the negotiations.

“A kind of coalition is forming… to undermine and disrupt the diplomatic process,” Iranian foreign ministry spokesman Esmail Baqaei told reporters, saying Israel was behind the effort.

“Alongside it are a series of warmongering currents in the United States and figures from different factions,” the spokesman added.

Netanyahu and Trump spoke over the phone on Tuesday, the American leader said, declaring that the pair “are on the same side of every issue,” despite a recent New York Times report that Trump blocked a series of Israeli strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities to instead pursue a nuclear deal.

Asked about the report at the time, Trump said that “I wouldn’t say I ‘waved off’” a joint attack on Iran, but added that he is “not in a rush to do it.”

An Israeli source told The Times of Israel that Tuesday’s call was short and that the two discussed Iran’s nuclear program, among other issues.

The call covered “numerous subjects including Trade, Iran, etc.,” Trump wrote on his social media platform, Truth Social, adding that the conversation went “very well.”