US Secretary of State Marco Rubio told lawmakers on Tuesday that Iranian Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei is increasingly engaged at some level and that Iran retains a large number of drones despite its "conventional shield" being substantially eroded by US-Israeli strikes. He added that US President Donald Trump's negotiating team has not offered Iran sanctions relief in exchange for reopening the Strait of Hormuz and insisted that any sanctions relief was tied to Tehran giving up its nuclear program.
"Right now, everything that's been discussed with them (Iran) is that… any sanctions relief is condition-based, which means it has to be in return for the reason why those sanctions were put in place in the first place, which is their nuclear program," Rubio told a Senate hearing. "Iran is being sanctioned because they've highly enriched uranium. Iran is being sanctioned because of their nuclear activities," he continued. "If they agree to give up those things, there will be sanctions relief associated with their commitment and compliance with those agreements."
In addition, Rubio said that Iran had agreed to negotiate aspects of its nuclear program that it previously refused to discuss, noting that the development was not a guarantee that talks would lead to a deal to end the US-Israeli war on Iran. Regarding Lebanon, Rubio said that the US is "trying to view the Lebanon-Israeli talks as separate and distinct from Iran, and what Iran wants to do is mix it all together.” He added that Iran is “trying to stymie" Israel-Lebanon talks "so that if an arrangement is reached at some point in the future, they can claim credit for having forced it through leverage.” (Read More)
