Rubio: U.S. and Iran Still in Talks, Uncertainty Over When Agreement Will Be Reached

Odaily Planet Daily News U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio stated at a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing on the 2nd that the United States is still negotiating with Iran, but he is unsure when an agreement can be reached. This was Rubio's first testimony before Congress after the U.S. and Israel launched a large-scale military operation against Iran at the end of February. When answering lawmakers' questions about the progress of U.S.-Iran negotiations, he said, "We are negotiating with Iran," and that Iran "has agreed to negotiate on some aspects of its nuclear program, whereas just a month ago, or even a year ago, they were unwilling to talk at all." Rubio said an agreement with Iran "could be reached today, could be reached tomorrow, or could be reached next week," but this "does not guarantee that a final agreement acceptable to Congress will ultimately be reached." Rubio also stated that the U.S. side has not proposed lifting sanctions on Iran, nor has it proposed allowing Iran to access frozen funds as a condition for reopening the Strait of Hormuz. "This has never been discussed, never been proposed. Any sanctions relief must come with conditions. This means the prerequisite must be to resolve the root cause for which these sanctions were originally imposed, namely Iran's nuclear program." (Jin Shi)