Rubio says US ‘would love to reach a diplomatic settlement’ with Iran

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Wednesday that Washington “would love to reach a diplomatic settlement” with Iran, warning that President Donald Trump has “many options available” if Tehran does not cooperate.

“I think everybody here understands that the US would love to reach a diplomatic settlement. We would love to reach an agreement if it were possible with Iran that would ensure they never have a nuclear weapon, and obviously help stop them,” Rubio told reporters in the Philippines.

Rubio said that the US would prefer an agreement where the Iranian side “says we'll no longer sponsor terrorism and we will not pursue a nuclear weapon or the things you need for a nuclear weapon.”

He noted that Trump “always prefers to negotiate and reach a deal on these things, and we are prepared to do that. We've tried to do that now for a year and a half, but we're also not going to sit by and let ships be blown up or Americans be attacked.”

“The president has many options available to him if they continue to insist on not being cooperative. And I won't get ahead of the president on any of those. But I think Iran knows we have many options as well.”

He reiterated that the US is not going to accept Iran’s targeting of “global shipping and international waterways,” adding: “There are other countries that should feel just as strongly as we do because they're actually more impacted by it than we are.”