‘We are dealing with radical Shiite clerics’ in Iran talks, Rubio says

“The President has made clear he prefers diplomacy and an outcome of negotiated settlement. Now, we are dealing with radical Shiite clerics… We are dealing with people who make geopolitical decisions on the basis of pure theology, and it is a complicated thing,” US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Sunday, referring to negotiations with Iran.

"No one has ever been able to do a successful deal with Iran, but we are going to try,” he added, speaking at a press conference alongside Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico in Bratislava, Slovakia.

Rubio said the United States remains militarily postured in the region to protect its forces but stressed that current efforts are centered on diplomacy.

“We are postured in the region for one simple reason, and that is that we understand that there could be threats to our forces in the region… We want to make sure that we have sufficient capacity to defend them if God forbid that were to happen,” he said.

He added that any future decisions would comply with US law and congressional requirements but emphasized negotiations remain the immediate priority.

“Right now we are talking about negotiations. We are focused on negotiations. That is what we are focused on. The President has made that clear,” Rubio said.