Iran must 'walk away' from all uranium enrichment, Marco Rubio says

Iran has to “walk away” from uranium enrichment and long-range missile development and it should allow American inspectors of its facilities, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Thursday as a round of nuclear talks was postponed.

Iran has to “walk away” from uranium enrichment and long-range missile development and it should allow American inspectors of its facilities, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said 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 program, with 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 a Fox News interview.

Iran has repeatedly said it will not give up its missile program 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 U.S. approach.”