Rubio says Trump determined to stop Iran from gaining nuclear weapons, but hopes to do so through negotiations

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio says that US President Donald Trump is determined to prevent Iran from attaining a nuclear weapon, and would prefer to do that by negotiations.

“We do not want a war,” Rubio says on the Honestly with Bari Weiss 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.”

He offers a vote of confidence in US special envoy Steve Witkoff, saying, “We have good people negotiating.”

“The Iranians have shown a willingness to talk. We’re going to talk to them,” stresses 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.”

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

Rubio emphasizes how “complex” a war with Iran would be.

“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,” he says.

“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.”