Iran can't enrich uranium, could only import it for civilian program, Rubio says

(Reuters) -Iran will have to stop enriching uranium under any deal with the United States and could only import what is needed for a civilian nuclear program, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said ahead of talks between Tehran and Washington on Saturday.

However, Iran has already made clear that its right to enrich uranium is not negotiable. When asked about Rubio's comments, a senior Iranian official, close to Iran's negotiating team, again said on Wednesday "zero enrichment is unacceptable."

The U.S. is seeking to prevent Iran from developing a nuclear bomb and President Donald Trump has imposed a "maximum pressure" campaign of sanctions and threatened to use military force if Iran does not end its nuclear program.

Iran has denied wanting to develop a nuclear weapon and says its nuclear program is peaceful. U.S. and Iranian officials will meet in Oman on Saturday for a third round of talks on Tehran's disputed nuclear program.

"There's a pathway to a civil, peaceful nuclear program if they want one," Rubio told the "Honestly with Bari Weiss" podcast on Tuesday.

"But if they insist on enriching, then they will be the only country in the world that doesn't have a 'weapons program,' ... but is enriching. And so I think that's problematic," he said.

U.S. Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff last week said Iran does not need to enrich past 3.67% - a remark that raised questions as to whether Washington still wanted Tehran to dismantle its enrichment program.

Witkoff then said a day later that Iran must "stop and eliminate its nuclear enrichment."

Rubio said on Tuesday that Witkoff was initially talking about "the level of enriched material that they would be allowed to import from outside, like multiple countries around the world do for their peaceful civil nuclear programs."

"If Iran wants a civil nuclear program, they can have one just like many other countries in the world have one, and that is they import enriched material," he said.

The U.N. nuclear watchdog - the International Atomic Energy Agency - has said that Iran is "dramatically" accelerating enrichment of uranium to up to 60% purity, close to the roughly 90% weapons-grade level.

Western countries say there is no need to enrich uranium to such a high level for civilian uses and that no other country has done so without producing nuclear bombs.

(Reporting by Parisa Hafezi, Humeyra Pamuk, John Irish, writing by Michelle Nichols; Editing by Alistair Bell)