Trump Ready to Meet Iran’s Leader

Marco Rubio, speaking with the editor-in-chief of Bloomberg, stated: “I work for a President who is willing to meet with anyone. Frankly, I am confident that if the Ayatollah (Leader of Iran) were to say he wanted to meet President Trump tomorrow, the President would agree, because he sees such a meeting as a way to solve the world’s problems and does not view it as granting a concession.”

Rubio continued: “Trump prefers reaching an agreement with Iran.”

He described Trump’s decision to deploy a second aircraft carrier to the Middle East as an effort to ensure that Iran “does not attack us and does not ignite something bigger than that.”

In another part of the interview, responding to a question about the war between Russia and Ukraine, Rubio said he believes Vladimir Putin’s war objectives have changed and that he now only seeks to capture the remaining 20 percent of the Donetsk region that his forces do not yet control.

Elsewhere in the interview, Rubio addressed Europe–U.S. relations and said European leaders must return to their shared traditions and values with the United States, while at the same time seeking to reassure allies that Washington remains committed to the European continent.

Rubio added: “We want Europe to be prosperous, because in so many ways we are interconnected and our alliance is very vital. But this must be an alliance of capable partners who are willing to fight for their identity and for what matters to them.”

Raising the question, “What binds us together?” he said: “What connects us is the fact that we are both heirs to a shared civilization, and it is a great civilization. A civilization of which we should be proud.”

(Watch the video of the interview with Marco Rubio, U.S. Secretary of State.)