Secretary of State Marco Rubio Remarks to the Press

SECRETARY RUBIO: I'm not going - I just did a long - I just did the cabinet meeting. So, you can draw from that.

QUESTION: Oh, come on, you'll have more to say. You'll have more to say.

QUESTION: Mr. Secretary, are you going to ask G7 to help with the Strait of Hormuz?

SECRETARY RUBIO: Well, it's in their interest to help. I mean, the other countries get far more of their fuel from there than we do, so -

QUESTION: But what kind of help are you going to ask - is it minesweepers, naval help?

SECRETARY RUBIO: Well, those specifics, I'll leave it to the Department of War to say exactly what, but it's in their interest. It's in their national interest.

QUESTION: Do you think President Trump criticizing NATO this morning, that sentiment -

SECRETARY RUBIO: I think he just made an observation, and the observation is that the United States is constantly being asked to help in a war, and we have more than any other country in the war - in the world, on a war that's happening in another continent, in Ukraine. But when the U.S. had a need, he didn't get positive responses. So he's - right now he's just making the observation that - I think it was a couple of the leaders in Europe who said that this was not Europe's war. Well, Ukraine is not America's war, and yet we've contributed more to that fight than any other country in the world. So, it'll be something to examine that the President will have to take into account down the road.

QUESTION: What is your assessment of -

QUESTION: So - so -

QUESTION: What's your assessment of Russia's support for Iran now?

SECRETARY RUBIO: Their assessment of it?

QUESTION: Yeah, what's your assessment?

SECRETARY RUBIO: I think Russia's primarily concentrating on the war they have going on right now. Beyond that, I don't have anything to add right now, certainly not in the media.

QUESTION: So do you - are you at all concerned about the reception that you might get (inaudible) -

SECRETARY RUBIO: Reception I might get? By who?

QUESTION: Well, by leaders (inaudible).

SECRETARY RUBIO: I'm not concerned about it. I'm here on behalf of the United States of America.

QUESTION: No, they're -

SECRETARY RUBIO: I look forward to meeting with them. I don't know what reception I would get from them. I think they should be happy that I'm going, because now they don't have to go.

QUESTION: Well -

QUESTION: Is the deadline for diplomacy with Iran still tomorrow, Mr. Secretary?

QUESTION: No, no, they might be happy, even - they're not happy with - with what's going on.

SECRETARY RUBIO: Well, again, I'm not there to make them happy. I get along with all of them on a personal level, and we work with those governments very carefully, but the people I'm interested in making happy are the people of the United States. That's who I work for. I don't work for France or Germany or Japan. These are all good people. We're going to have great meetings.

QUESTION: Can the strait -

SECRETARY RUBIO: But I work for - I work for the people of the United States.

QUESTION: Is the deadline still tomorrow, Mr. Secretary?

SECRETARY RUBIO: What?

QUESTION: Is the deadline for Iran to engage still tomorrow, or has that shifted?

SECRETARY RUBIO: The President addressed that at the cabinet meeting, so -

QUESTION: Which is it?

QUESTION: Can the strait be reopened without the use of troops on the ground, boots on the ground on the part of the U.S.?

SECRETARY RUBIO: That's a tactical military question. I'm not going to speculate on what it will take.

QUESTION: Mr. Secretary -

SECRETARY RUBIO: It could be open tomorrow if Iran stops threatening global shipping, which is an outrage and a violation of international law. For all these countries that care about international law, they should be doing something about it.

QUESTION: Would you ask your partners for help from the G7?

SECRETARY RUBIO: Well, it's not help for us. Like I said, very little of our energy comes through the Strait of Hormuz. It's the world that has a great interest in that, so they should step up and deal with it.

QUESTION: Mr. Secretary, who are you negotiating with on the Iran side?

SECRETARY RUBIO: Well, again, we're not going to get into those details. There are intermediary countries that are passing messages and progress has been made. Some concrete progress has been made, as you've seen and has been documented already. There's a growing amount of energy that's been flowing through the strait - not as much as should be flowing, but some of it has picked up. So again, there's been some progress in regard to the exchange of messages, but that's an ongoing and fluid process and not one we're going to negotiate or talk about in the media.

QUESTION: Do you think this progress is enough for both sides to perhaps soon meet in person?

SECRETARY RUBIO: We'll see. We'll see how it turns out. I don't want to prejudge it. I don't want to predict. As I said, we'll see what happens. Okay? All right, guys.

QUESTION: Thank you.

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