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The US would be willing to allow Iran to retain a civilian nuclear programme as long as it agreed to halt all domestic uranium enrichment, the US’s top diplomat has said, as the Trump administration prepares for a third round of talks with the Islamic republic.
US secretary of state Marco Rubio’s comments in a podcast this week provide an insight into Washington’s negotiating positions as President Donald Trump presses Iran to agree to a deal to curb its expansive nuclear activity and prevent it having the ability to weaponise its programme.
US officials have given mixed messages over what they expect from Tehran in recent weeks.
Steve Witkoff, Trump’s envoy and top negotiator, last week suggested that Washington might be willing to allow Iran to enrich uranium at low levels before insisting Tehran “must stop and eliminate” its nuclear enrichment programme altogether.
That was after US national security adviser Mike Waltz last month insisted the administration would demand the “full dismantlement” of Iran’s nuclear programme altogether.
Speaking to The Free Press podcast with Bari Weiss, Rubio said Iran would have to import enriched uranium if it wanted to maintain a civilian programme.
“If Iran wants a civil nuclear programme, they can have one just like many other countries in the world have one, and that is they import enriched material,” he said “They do have a nuclear reactor that imports Russian enriched material at 3.67 [per cent purity], and that’s what you need for — but they don’t enrich it themselves.”
But Iranian analysts say even that position could be unacceptable to Tehran, which insists the republic has a right to enrich uranium for civilian purposes as a member of the non-proliferation treaty.
Iranian foreign minister Abbas Araghchi released a speech he was due to give this week in which he said the republic “must not be treated as an exception within the global non-proliferation framework”.
“Iran is entitled to the same rights and bound by the same obligations as any other member,” Araghchi said in the speech, which he was due to deliver to the Carnegie International Nuclear Policy Conference before pulling out. “Respecting this principle of equality is essential to achieving a fair and lasting resolution.”
He added that an agreement should be focused “solely” on the nuclear issue, reiterating that Tehran did not want any deal to include its missile programme or support for militant groups.
Under the 2015 accord that Iran signed with Barack Obama’s administration and other world powers, Iran agreed to strict limits on its nuclear activity. But it was able to continue enriching uranium up to 3.67 per cent purity with a cap of 300kg on its stockpile. Excess enriched uranium was shipped offshore.
The deal collapsed after Trump unilaterally withdrew the US from the accord in 2018 and imposed waves of swingeing sanctions on the republic. Iran responded by expanding its nuclear activity, and has for several years been enriching uranium up to 60 per cent purity, which is close to weapons grade.
Witkoff and Araghchi are due to hold a third round of indirect talks on Saturday. Technical teams from both sides will also meet for their first negotiations this weekend.
Trump has repeatedly threatened military action against the republic if Tehran refuses to agree to a deal.
Rubio said the US administration was “committed to achieving a peaceful outcome that’s acceptable to everyone”.
“We’re a long ways away from any sort of agreement with Iran,” he said. “We recognise it’s difficult and hard.”
Iran, meanwhile, appears to be seeking to appeal to Trump’s penchant for financial deals, with Araghchi reiterating in his draft speech what he described as the “trillion-dollar opportunity that our economy presents may be open to US enterprises”.
“Our long-standing goal is to build at least 19 more reactors, meaning that tens of billions of dollars in potential contracts are up for grabs,” he said. “The Iranian market alone is big enough to revive the struggling nuclear industry in the United States.”
