By yourNEWS Media Newsroom
Secretary of State Marco Rubio defended his role in U.S.-Iran negotiations during a Senate hearing Tuesday, sharply pushing back after Sen. Jacky Rosen accused him of being absent from key diplomatic talks while President Donald Trump’s team pursued an agreement with Tehran.
Rubio made the remarks while testifying before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee during a hearing on the 2027 State Department budget. The exchange came as senators questioned the administration’s handling of negotiations with Iran, as well as the State Department’s approach to global health funding.
Rosen, D-Nev., questioned why Rubio was not in Pakistan for April discussions involving U.S. and Iranian officials, according to the Washington Examiner.
“I was shocked to see that you were at a party with President Trump in Miami instead of accompanying Vice President Vance to Pakistan for negotiations,” Rosen said.
Rubio immediately objected to the characterization.
“That’s an absurd statement,” Rubio said. “I was not at a party.”
He continued, “People are going to slander me, I’m going to answer it.”
The April 11-12 talks in Pakistan included Vice President JD Vance, presidential envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law and former adviser. Iran was represented by Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi and Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf.
Trump and Rubio were in Miami on April 11 for a UFC event, but Rubio said he remained directly involved in the negotiations from there.
Rosen said she considered it “embarrassing” that Iran’s foreign minister attended the discussions while the U.S. secretary of state was not physically present.
“I just feel that’s embarrassing for us and it’s embarrassing for you,” Rosen said.
Rubio rejected that criticism, saying he was near Trump during the talks so he could brief the president in real time.
“I was not at a party. Where I was, is next to the president because in the midst of those negotiations, I was in communications with them and in fact, I think there’s media reporting from that evening on how on multiple occasions I went into a back room and came back out and spoke to the president and was constantly updating him,” Rubio said.
The exchange highlighted continued scrutiny of the administration’s diplomatic outreach to Iran. Washington and Tehran remain in discussions, though no final agreement has been announced.
The administration is reportedly pursuing a two-part framework. The first phase would address maritime security and threats to commercial traffic in the Strait of Hormuz. The second phase would focus on Iran’s nuclear activities.
Under that approach, the United States would remove its blockade on Iranian ports if Tehran stopped threatening commercial vessels. Any sanctions relief tied to Iran’s nuclear concessions would be considered separately and would depend on conditions.
Rubio also used the hearing to address the administration’s position on Gavi, a global vaccine alliance that buys and distributes vaccines to countries around the world.
Rubio told senators that U.S. officials are moving toward reengagement with Gavi after the Trump administration withheld funding while seeking reforms, including a halt to the distribution of vaccines containing the mercury-based preservative thimerosal.
Rubio said Trump had asked the State Department to allow Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. “to play a leading role on the Gavi decision, because of his strongly held views with regards to vaccine safety.”
The State Department decided in May that it would reengage with Gavi while continuing to take input from Kennedy and HHS, Rubio said.
“We’d like to get this issue resolved, and an outcome that’s acceptable both to Congress and also to our goals on global health,” Rubio said.
He added, “I wouldn’t use the word defer, but we have certainly allowed him to play a leading role in determining what we’re going to do next. But right now we’re sort of at a stage we’re going to reengage. We need to drive this to an outcome.”
Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H., who has urged the administration to release congressionally appropriated funds to Gavi, asked Rubio to keep her updated.
“HHS and the State Department continue engaging directly with Gavi and remain cautiously optimistic that ongoing discussions can produce greater transparency, accountability, and a constructive path forward,” an HHS spokesperson told The Epoch Times.
Gavi did not return a request for comment by the time of publication.
The vaccine alliance maintains a stockpile of 500,000 doses of an Ebola vaccine targeting the Zaire ebolavirus. A separate Ebola outbreak involving a different strain, for which no approved vaccine exists, is currently spreading in Africa.
Gavi and its partners have announced funding for vaccine candidates targeting that strain.
Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J., told Rubio that cuts to early detection systems in Africa contributed to the undetected spread of Ebola in Congo this year. Rubio said the outbreak began in a war-torn, isolated area of Congo and that the U.S. response has since moved quickly.
“Since that time, our response has been very quick and very rapid,” Rubio said.
The State Department said May 29 that it has committed more than $162 million to fight the outbreak.
Original article
Comments