Linda D. Epstein / U.S. Department of State
PARIS – Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Tuesday that U.S. sanctions and a blockade were putting enough pressure on Iran that President Donald Trump did not currently need to launch major combat operations, while warning that the military remained ready if Tehran crossed unspecified red lines.
Speaking to reporters after G7 discussions in Paris, Rubio described the economic campaign as effective and said the pressure would increase. His remarks were a statement of the administration’s assessment, not an announcement of an agreement or a permanent decision to rule out force.
In the public recording of the press remarks, Rubio said the president had concluded that “for the time being there’s no need for major combat operations” because, in his assessment, economic pressure was achieving the objective.
He immediately qualified that position. If the Iranian regime crossed certain red lines, he said, the U.S. military stood ready to respond. He declined to specify the actions that would trigger that response.
Asked whether the approach meant maintaining the status quo, Rubio rejected that description. “The economic pressure is going to get even worse,” he said, arguing that sanctions would become more painful over time and that U.S. officials were closing routes used to evade them.
Rubio attributed what he called severe damage to Iran’s economy to both the blockade and sanctions. Those were his claims about the campaign’s effect. His comments did not independently establish the scale of Iran’s economic losses, oil revenue or shipping disruption.
On negotiations, Rubio said the United States was open if there was a “real deal” to be done, but characterized Iran’s current conditions as “absurd.” He said Qatar and other countries were acting as intermediaries. Those comments did not announce an agreement.
Asked whether Israel shared the U.S. position, Rubio said: “I’m not going to speak for the Israeli government. I’m telling you what the American position is.”
The secretary also discussed the Ukraine talks in Abu Dhabi. He called them “very productive” but cautioned against expecting a rapid settlement: “It’s not like something that’s on the verge of being solved in the next 24 hours or anything like that.”
Rubio said European partners had been working closely with the U.S. team and were alongside it in Abu Dhabi. He distinguished that cooperation from direct participation in the formal trilateral format involving the United States, Ukraine and Russia.
“It’s actually our goal at some point to expand this trilateral,” he said, so that European representatives would be directly at the table. He presented that as an objective for the talks, not a completed expansion of the negotiating format.
The comments follow the joint Abu Dhabi statement previously reported by JBizNews. Rubio said substantial work remained and did not announce a finished Ukraine agreement.
What it means: Rubio described a current preference for economic pressure on Iran while retaining a military option, and a push for a broader European role in Ukraine diplomacy. Neither part of his remarks amounted to a declaration that a conflict was over or a deal had been completed.
JBizNews Desk | Global Affairs
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