It will be hard to make deal with Iran, says Marco Rubio
BUDAPEST: A day before Washington–Tehran nuclear talks in Geneva, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio has said that making a deal with Iran will be difficult.
The US secretary of state made the remarks during his visit to the Hungarian capital Budapest on Monday.
He said: “I think that there’s an opportunity here to diplomatically reach an agreement that addresses the things we’re concerned about. We’ll be very open and welcoming to that. But I don’t want to overstate it either.”
“It’s going to be hard. It’s been very difficult for anyone to do real deals with Iran, because we’re dealing with … who are making theological decisions, not geopolitical ones,” Rubio said:
Meanwhile, Iran’s foreign minister met with the UN nuclear watchdog chief today.
The development came as Washington, which joined Israel in a wave of air strikes on Iran in June, has ordered a second aircraft carrier strike group to the Middle East in the latest standoff with Tehran, in addition to other US warships and aircraft that have already been deployed.
Adding to the tension, Iran began a military drill on Monday in the Strait of Hormuz, a vital international waterway and oil export route from Gulf Arab states, who have been appealing for diplomacy to end the dispute.
The US and Iran renewed negotiations earlier this month hoping to tackle their dispute over Tehran’s nuclear program, which Washington, other Western states and Israel all believe is aimed at building nuclear arms. Tehran denies this.
However, Washington has sought to expand the scope of talks to non-nuclear issues such as Iran’s missile stockpile. Tehran says it is only willing to discuss curbs on its nuclear programme in exchange for sanctions relief and won’t accept zero uranium enrichment. It says its missile capabilities are off the table.
Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi said he was in Geneva to “achieve a fair and equitable deal”.
“What is not on the table: submission before threats,” Araqchi said on X. Monitoring Desk
