Rubio: US in talks with Iran, Tehran agrees to negotiate nuclear program

Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Tuesday that the U.S. is in talks with Iran and that Tehran has agreed to negotiate parts of its nuclear program it had previously refused to discuss, as lawmakers pressed the Trump administration for a strategy to end the war.

"Talks with Iran are not like talks with Switzerland," Rubio told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. "They require the use of intermediators."

Rubio said there is a chance "today," "tomorrow" or "next week" that Iran could engage on nuclear issues that it had refused to discuss "just a month ago, just a year ago."

That does not guarantee a deal "acceptable to the Senate or acceptable to the American people," Rubio said, but it would let the U.S. "truly test" how far Iran is willing to go.

The comments amounted to a striking shift in tone from the administration's position a day earlier, when Trump told CNBC he did not care if Iran talks were over.

Rubio, who also serves as President Donald Trump's national security advisor, appeared before the panel for his first public testimony on the Iran war since U.S. and Israeli strikes began Feb. 28.

He defended Trump's decision to launch the war, saying Iran had been trying to build a "conventional shield" of missiles, drones and naval assets around its nuclear program.

"If you come and do anything about our nuclear program, we will overwhelm you with missiles, we will overwhelm you with drones, and we will overwhelm you with our navy," Rubio said, describing Iran's posture.

Rubio said Iran was seeking a "point of immunity" that Trump acted to deny.

He said Operation Epic Fury had been "highly successful," dramatically reducing Iran's ability to build missiles and drones, though he acknowledged Tehran "still [has] a lot of drones" because they are "easy to make."

Rubio said reopening the Strait of Hormuz remains central to any de-escalation.

"They need to announce that they will no longer fire on commercial ships that are going through or threaten to fire on ships," Rubio said.

He said Iran must declare the strait open, stop charging a toll, help remove mines and pledge not to fire on commercial vessels.

The hearing comes as Congress has grown increasingly uneasy over the war, its economic fallout and Trump's authority to continue the conflict without authorization from lawmakers.

Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H., the committee's top Democrat, accused the administration of avoiding congressional oversight.

"When I talk to my constituents, they asked for economic relief at home, not regime change in Havana or Caracas or Tehran," Shaheen said.

She said the administration's war powers notification was "not consultation" but "an attempt to avoid answering to this committee and this Congress about this war."

The hearing — about the State Department's budget — also widened beyond Iran, with Democrats pressing Rubio on whether the administration is pursuing regime change across multiple countries.

Rubio is scheduled to appear before several House and Senate panels this week as lawmakers press him on Iran, Venezuela, Cuba and the administration's broader foreign policy.