US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Wednesday that US President Donald Trump is determined to prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon and that he prefers to do so through negotiations rather than military means. However, Rubio said the United States would be prepared to see Tehran develop a civilian nuclear program as long as it does not enrich uranium.

"We don't want a war," Rubio told far-right journalist Bari Weiss on her podcast "Honestly," according to a transcript of the interview distributed by the State Department to accredited journalists, including a correspondent for Al-Quds newspaper.

He added, "We don't want to see a war. This is not a president who campaigned on wars. As he has said very clearly, Iran will not have a nuclear weapon, and he reserves every right to prevent that from happening, but he would prefer that there be no need to resort to military force, whether by us or anyone else. He would prefer that it be negotiable."

Rubio expressed confidence in US Special Envoy Steve Witkoff, the lead US representative in the ongoing nuclear talks with Iran, saying, "We have good people negotiating."

"The Iranians have expressed a willingness to talk. We will talk to them," Rubio asserted, adding, "If Iran wants a civilian nuclear program, it can have one, just like many other countries in the world. That is, it imports enriched material."

Rubio emphasized the "complexity" of a war with Iran, explaining that "any military action at this point in the Middle East, whether against Iran by us or anyone else, could actually lead to a broader conflict."

He pointed out that "Iran has spent billions of dollars developing military capabilities that we see, for example, being used in Ukraine now, using drones and the like."

It is noteworthy that a third round of US-Iranian nuclear talks is scheduled to be held next Saturday in Oman.

While Washington asserts Iran's openness to a nuclear agreement that could prevent a military confrontation, experts say Tehran is fortifying its deeply buried tunnels connected to its main nuclear facilities amid ongoing US and Israeli threats to launch an attack on Iran to destroy its nuclear program.

Trump, whose first administration (in 2018) withdrew the United States from the 2015 agreement aimed at preventing Tehran from developing nuclear weapons, threatened to bomb Iran unless a deal was quickly reached that ensured the same goal.

Trump's withdrawal has led Iran to violate many of the agreement's restrictions. Western powers suspect it is seeking the capability to assemble a nuclear weapon, a charge Tehran denies.

Iran stated that advanced centrifuges would be assembled in a single complex instead of a facility at the Natanz plant, the centerpiece of its nuclear program, which it said was destroyed by sabotage in 2020.

Experts believe that Iran's fortified complexes are being built much deeper than the Iranian uranium enrichment facility buried at Fordow, near the holy city of Qom.

The ongoing construction work (fortifications) at the complexes is also believed to confirm Tehran's determination to reject Israeli demands that any talks with the United States lead to the complete dismantling of its nuclear program, as Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu wants. He insists on the Libyan model, emphasizing its right to peaceful nuclear technology.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi visited China on Wednesday for consultations ahead of the talks in Oman, which will be led by Araqchi and Witkov. A technical meeting between nuclear experts from the two countries will also be held on Saturday in the Omani capital, Muscat.

"It is essential for us to keep our friends in China informed of developments and consult with them," Araghchi told Iranian state television, stressing that it is too early to judge the outcome of the Iranian-US talks, but that the negotiations are moving in the right direction.

China was a party to the 2015 nuclear deal before Trump withdrew from it.

The Iranian minister added, "China has played an important and constructive role on the nuclear issue in the past, and the same role will certainly be necessary in the future."