Secretary of State Marco Rubio gave an extensive press conference following a meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov at the conclusion of U.S. participation in the 2026 UNGA. The full video and transcript are below.
There’s little argument that Secretary Rubio is one of the most remarkable Secretary of States’ in our modern history.
[Transcript] – SECRETARY RUBIO: Okay, go ahead.
QUESTION: Mr. Secretary, what were the U.S. demands with the Iranians yesterday, and was there any discussion of return to the MOU, or have the terms changed for the United States in terms —
SECRETARY RUBIO: Well, yesterday’s conversation was with some of the mediators involved in that process, and I don’t want to characterize it as one direction or another. I think it’s a pretty clear understanding of what this – remember everything here, at its core, the number one issue – the President highlighted this yesterday in his speech before the world – Iran can never have a nuclear weapon. Everything emanates from that.
We understand the straits is an issue. The southern lane of the straits is open. Every day more and more barrels of oil are flowing through there. And they’re open, thanks to the efforts of the United States military that’s both defending shipping and has removed mines. And that trend will continue. Meanwhile, the only blockade in the Hormuz Straits is the one we’ve imposed on Iran because they keep firing on ships and they continue to do so as early as this morning. There was another launch, so – on shipping. So, we’ll continue to defend. We’ll continue to hold the straits open. So that’s an issue.
But the core issue here is that Iran can never have a nuclear weapon. We make that point in every interaction with them. Beyond that, I would say that – I don’t want to characterize these meetings because these – if there’s going to be a deal with Iran, it’s not going to happen at a press conference. It’s going to involve a lot of hard work over a period of time, and it will engage and involve mediators as well.
So as the President said, he’s open to a deal. The President’s open, still to this moment, to making a deal with Iran that allows Iran to be what it should be, which is a great and prosperous country. But if they continue to insist on the desire for a nuclear weapon, their support for proxies in the region that – their support of terrorism – they’re the world’s leading sponsor of terrorism – then we’re going to have big problems with them. And the President has a number of options available to him, including the ones he’s already taken, which is to impose severe and growing economic costs. But he also has some military options, upon which I won’t speculate.
