Rubio: Technical negotiations on Iran's nuclear program could take months

Negotiations over Iran's nuclear program would be "highly technical" and could take months, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Tuesday (2).

The top US diplomat said this phase would depend on Iran reopening the Strait of Hormuz.

"Phase 2 is them committing to very specific negotiations about... the disposition of highly enriched uranium that is still buried deep in a mountain somewhere," Rubio told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

"They need to agree to negotiate severe, long-term limitations and/or cancellation of enrichment activities in their country," he added.

"Obviously, these are highly technical issues, so I don't think it's possible to resolve them in five days [...] It would require a team of experts to come together over a period of 30, 60 or 90 days to work out the details, but they have to commit to their willingness to do that," Rubio said.

He said Iran must first announce that the strait is open, without tolls, and that it will remove mines and no longer fire on ships.

Rubio also said the US has not offered sanctions relief to Iran for opening the Strait of Hormuz, adding that any tariff reduction is conditional on it abandoning its nuclear program.

"So far, all that has been discussed with them (Iran) is that... any sanctions relief is conditional, meaning it needs to be in exchange for the reason these sanctions were imposed in the first place, which is their nuclear program," Rubio said at a U.S. Senate hearing.

What is enriched uranium?

Source: CNN