Iran told to ‘walk away’ from uranium enrichment and long-range missiles

DUBAI — Iran has to “walk away” from uranium enrichment and long-range missile development and should allow Americans to inspect its facilities, US secretary of state Marco Rubio said on Thursday as a round of nuclear talks was postponed.

Rubio’s comments underscore the major remaining divisions in talks between the countries to resolve the long-running dispute over Iran’s nuclear programme, with US President Donald Trump threatening to bomb Iran if there is no agreement.

“They have to walk away from sponsoring terrorists, they have to walk away from helping the Houthis (in Yemen), they have to walk away from building long-range missiles that have no purpose to exist other than having nuclear weapons, and they have to walk away from enrichment,” Rubio said in an interview on the Hannity programme on Fox News.

Iran has repeatedly said it would not give up its missile programme or its uranium enrichment — a process used to make fuel for nuclear power plants but which can also yield material for an atomic warhead.

On Thursday a senior Iranian official told Reuters that the scheduled fourth round of talks due to take place in Rome on Saturday had been postponed and that a new date would be set “depending on the US approach.”

Rubio said Iran should import enriched uranium for its nuclear power programme rather than enriching it to any level.

“If you have the ability to enrich at 3.67% it only takes a few weeks to get to 20% then 60% and then the 80 and 90% that you need for a weapon,” he said.

“The only countries in the world that enrich uranium are the ones that have nuclear weapons,” Rubio added.

Falsehoods

But Iran’s foreign minister Abbas Araghchi said on X late on Friday: “Repeating falsehoods will not change basic facts. As a founding signatory to the NPT (non-proliferation treaty), Iran has every right to possess the full nuclear fuel cycle.

“Moreover, there are several NPT members which enrich uranium while wholly rejecting nuclear weapons. Apart from Iran, this club includes several Asian, European and South American nations. Maximalist positioning and incendiary rhetoric achieve nothing except eroding the chances of success,” Araghchi said.

“A credible and durable agreement is within reach. All it takes is firm political will and a fair attitude,” he added.

Iran has said it has a right to enrich uranium under the terms of the NPT. It denies wanting to build a nuclear bomb.

Pressure

Rubio also said Iran would have to accept that Americans could be involved in any inspection regime and that inspectors would require access to all facilities, including military ones.

Washington is ramping up pressure on Iran. Trump on Thursday said all purchases of Iranian oil or petrochemical products must stop and that any country or person buying any from the country would be immediately subject to secondary sanctions.

Iran spoke out against that approach on Friday.

“While stressing its commitment to the path of diplomacy and declaring its readiness to continue negotiations, Iran will not tolerate approaches based on threats and pressure,” the foreign ministry said.

Reuters