By Patricia Zengerle, Simon Lewis and Doina Chiacu
WASHINGTON, June 2 (Reuters) – U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Tuesday that 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, the first of two where lawmakers closely questioned him on the Iran conflict.
Testifying in Congress publicly for the first time since the war began, Rubio said there would be sanctions relief for Iran only if they agree to give up their nuclear activities.
“Iran is being sanctioned because they’ve highly enriched uranium. Iran is being sanctioned because of their nuclear activities. If they agree to give up those things, there will be sanctions relief associated with their commitment and compliance with those agreements,” he said.
Rubio testified to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Tuesday morning at the first of four hearings this week on the Trump administration’s request to cut the foreign affairs budget by 30% to $36 billion, while planning a 50% increase in military spending to $1.5 trillion.
He appeared at a House of Representatives appropriations hearing later on Tuesday, and was to appear at two more hearings on Wednesday, as his fellow Republicans have shown signs of concern about the Iran war.
Rubio, who also serves as Trump’s national security adviser, was a senator from Florida until January 2025, and lawmakers said they hoped their former colleague would spell out a strategy for ending the Iran conflict, which started with strikes by the U.S. and Israel on February 28.
At one point, Rubio declared, “The war is over,” during a sharp exchange with Democratic Senator Cory Booker of New Jersey, who disagreed.
SENATOR: CONSTITUENTS DIDN’T ASK FOR REGIME CHANGE
Senator Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire, the top Democrat on the foreign relations panel, blasted Rubio for providing too little information about the administration’s plans.
“When I talk to my constituents, they asked for economic relief at home, not regime change in Havana or Caracas or Tehran,” she said.
“Instead, you sent Congress a war powers notification saying we are not in active hostilities with Iran, while the U.S. was conducting strikes against Iran, and Iran was bombing U.S. embassies and bases throughout the Middle East. That was not consultation, it was an attempt to avoid answering to this committee and this Congress about this war.”
At both hearings, Rubio defended Trump’s policy in Venezuela. Troops removed Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro in January but left much of his administration intact and former Vice President Delcy Rodriguez as head of the government.
Rubio told the House hearing that Venezuela does not yet have the conditions for a free and fair election.
Americans have voiced frustration over rising costs, and Trump’s fellow Republicans hope he can get the Strait of Hormuz reopened and lower U.S. gasoline prices before November elections that will decide whether the party retains its slim majorities in the Senate and House.
Trump must also contend with Iran hawks in his party who oppose any concessions to Tehran.
WILL THERE BE A DEAL TO END WAR?
Trump insists the war will have been worthwhile if it keeps Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon. Trump also insists that gasoline prices will come down and has insisted for weeks that he will reach a good deal soon to end the conflict.
Iran wants an interim agreement with sanctions relief that would allow it access to billions of dollars in oil revenue, but Washington has continued to add sanctions against Iranian actors while talks have taken place.
Rubio did not specify when such a deal may happen. He said Iran had intended to build up its conventional weapons capabilities as a “shield” for its nuclear program. “What they tried to do is they were going to try to build a conventional shield and hide behind that conventional shield,” he said, spelling out why Trump felt it was imperative to launch the war.
He also said there had been “indications” that Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei, who became Iran’s supreme leader after his father was killed the first day of the war, is “increasingly engaged at some level” in negotiations.
Khamenei has not been seen in public since he was wounded in the strike that killed his father.
Lawmakers, including some of Trump’s fellow Republicans, have been increasingly questioning the fighting, as the Iran conflict enters its fourth month.
Last month, the Senate voted to advance a war powers resolution that would end the Iran conflict unless Trump obtains Congress’ authorization. Days later, House leaders abruptly postponed a vote on a similar resolution when it looked likely to pass.
(Reporting by Patricia Zengerle and Simon Lewis, additional reporting by Doina Chiacu and Ryan Jones, Editing by Don Durfee, David Gregorio, Rod Nickel)
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