Rubio says US prepared for later nuclear talks if Iran opens Hormuz Strait

Washington: US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the United States was prepared to enter “into very serious talks” about Iran’s nuclear program if Iran reopened the Strait of Hormuz, according to a report.

The remarks suggested that Washington may take a phased approach and accept an interim agreement that did not immediately address Iran’s nuclear program, Xinhua reported quoting the New York Times’ report.

“You can’t do a nuclear thing in 72 hours on the back of a napkin,” Rubio told the newspaper in a brief interview during his visit to New Delhi.

“The straits have to be immediately reopened, and then we will enter, under agreed-to parameters, into very serious talks about enrichment, about the highly enriched uranium and about their pledge to never have nuclear weapons,” Rubio said.

“It can’t take years, but it’ll take some time to work through those technical matters,” Rubio added.

The state secretary suggested that the United States could renew its threats to attack Iran if the negotiations do not bear fruit within two months.

“Ultimately, the approach has to deliver what we want it to deliver,” Rubio said. “If it doesn’t, then the president has every option available to him in 60 days that he has available to him now.”

Neither the United States nor Iran has released details publicly. Many critics have said such a phased deal could take away U.S. President Donald Trump’s leverage in further negotiations.

Rubio also reiterated US President Donald Trump’s stance that Iran can never possess a nuclear weapon. He said, “On the Iran situation, there’ll be, I believe, maybe more news coming out a little bit later today on this topic. And I’ll leave it to the president to make further announcements on it. Suffice it to say that some progress has been made, significant progress, although not final progress has been made. Ultimately, here’s, I remind everybody, I think this ties into the second question that was asked with relations to it. What is the goal here? The goal here ultimately, the ultimate goal is that Iran can never have a nuclear weapon. Iran can never possess a nuclear weapon. The President has been clear about that they will never possess a nuclear weapon, certainly not as long as Donald Trump is president of the United States.”

He stressed that US and its partners in the Gulf region have been working on an outline that could lead to a completely open Strait of Hormuz without tolls. However, he mentioned that it requires that Iran fully accepts and implements it.

–IANS