US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Monday that President Donald Trump's negotiating team had not offered Iran sanctions relief in exchange for opening the Strait of Hormuz and stressed that any sanctions relief would be conditional on Tehran ending its nuclear program, Reuters reported, quoted by BTA.
"Right now, all that is being discussed with them (Iran) is that ... any sanctions relief is conditional, meaning it has to be in exchange for the reason these sanctions were imposed in the first place, which is their nuclear program," Rubio said during the hearing in the US Senate.
In his first public hearing before the US Congress since the start of the conflict with Iran, Rubio said that sanctions against Iran would be eased if the country agreed to suspend its nuclear activities. "Iran is under sanctions because it has highly enriched uranium. Iran is under sanctions because of its nuclear activities. If he agrees to waive them, sanctions relief will follow depending on the commitment and compliance with those agreements," he stressed.
Rubio appeared before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee today as the Trump administration seeks approval from the US Congress for its proposed 30 percent cut in the foreign affairs budget and a 50 percent increase in military spending.
The secretary of state will appear at three more hearings, one later today and two tomorrow, amid concerns among Republicans about war with Iran.
Rubio, who is also Trump's national security adviser, was a Florida senator until January 2025, and lawmakers have expressed hope that their former colleague will outline a strategy for ending the conflict with Iran, which began with strikes by the US and Israel on February 28.
He joined other senior officials administration officials who spoke behind closed doors with members of Congress about the war in Iran but had not previously testified publicly about the conflict.
Senator Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire, the top Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, criticized Rubio for failing to brief Congress on the administration's plans.
"When I talk to my constituents, they want economic relief at home, not regime change in Havana, Caracas or Tehran," Shaheen said. "Instead, you sent Congress a war powers notification saying we are not in active hostilities with Iran, while the United States was striking Iran and Iran was bombing American embassies and bases throughout the Middle East. "This was not a consultation, but an attempt to avoid answering to this committee and this Congress for this war," she stressed.
Americans are expressing growing dissatisfaction with rising prices, and Trump's party members hope that he will be able to achieve the opening of the Strait of Hormuz and lower gasoline prices in the United States before the midterm elections in November, which will decide whether the Republican Party will retain its fragile majority in both houses of Congress.
Trump must also fight the "hawks" on Iran among the Republicans who oppose any concessions to Tehran.
The US president and his supporters argue that the war would have been worth it if it prevented Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons. Trump has also said that gas prices will fall, and has insisted for weeks that he will reach a good deal to end the conflict.
Iran wants an interim agreement with sanctions relief that would give it access to billions of dollars in oil revenue, but Washington has continued to impose sanctions on Iranian entities while negotiations continue.
Rubio did not specify when such a deal might be reached, but said Iran had intended to strengthen its conventional weapons capability as a "shield" for its nuclear program. "What they tried to do was build a shield with conventional weapons and hide behind it," he said, explaining why Trump felt it necessary to go to war.
Lawmakers, including some in Trump's own party, have increasingly questioned military action as the conflict with Iran enters its fourth month.
Last month, the Senate voted on a war powers resolution that would end the conflict with Iran unless Trump gets authorization from Congress. Days later, leading House leaders abruptly postponed a vote on a similar resolution after it became clear that Republicans, who have a slim majority, would not have enough votes to reject it.
The senators also asked questions about the ongoing U.S. strikes on vessels off Venezuela's eastern Pacific coast, part of a campaign that the Trump administration says is aimed at stopping drug trafficking and has killed more than 200 people.
Some have also criticized the Trump administration for its drastic cuts to U.S. foreign aid, citing reports that hundreds of thousands of children have died since the U.S. abruptly ended foreign aid programs last year.