Rubio says US open to Iran talks but Tehran not “serious”

From the ASEAN summit in Manila, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Washington will negotiate an end to the war while calling Iran the region’s main troublemaker.

Open to talks, with conditions

Rubio told regional counterparts and the media that the United States is prepared to pursue diplomacy even as hostilities continue, Al Jazeera reported. In remarks carried by the network’s breaking-news feed, he said his country was willing to negotiate an end to the war while contending that Iran was not serious about negotiations.[[1]](https://x.com/AJENews/status/2079873233394765885)

ABC News State Department correspondent Shannon Kate Kingston, reporting from the ASEAN post-ministerial conference, quoted Rubio as saying Iran was “not serious about talks.” She also reported him saying, “If they’re serious, we’re serious,” and adding that if they are not, the United States “will do what is necessary” to protect American interests and those of its allies.[[2]](https://x.com/shannonkreports/status/2079756427472576796)

Iran International English summarized the message in similar terms, reporting that Rubio said the United States remains willing to negotiate an end to the Iran crisis but that Tehran is not serious about talks. Al Jazeera separately reported Rubio saying the United States remains open to diplomacy despite Iranian attacks and that Washington has “many options” if Iran continues to refuse to cooperate.[[3]](https://x.com/IranIntl_En/status/2079860121212186842)

Iran called the main regional troublemaker

Al Jazeera reported that Rubio described Iran as the main “troublemaker” in the Middle East. The Cradle, citing his Manila remarks, quoted him as saying, “The troublemaker in the region, it’s Iran,” and reported that he accused Iranian leaders of spending national resources on regional allies rather than addressing domestic economic problems. That account could not be independently verified from the official transcript in this report.[[4]](https://x.com/AJENews/status/2079868813235871956)

Speaking at the ASEAN summit, Rubio also said Iran is “in a lot of trouble,” according to Al Jazeera. The network later reported that he said Iran is facing hyperinflation, rising food costs and severe damage to its military infrastructure. Those characterizations reflect the U.S. assessment as presented by Rubio and have not been independently confirmed here.[[5]](https://x.com/AJENews/status/2079887463619707120)

Al Jazeera further reported Rubio saying a nuclear-armed Iran is unacceptable and that the United States cannot stand by and do nothing. Orissa POST, citing his remarks to ASEAN members, reported that he also said Washington is working with Saudi Arabia over threats posed by the Houthis to the Bab el-Mandeb Strait.[[6]](https://x.com/AJENews/status/2079866477419577845)

Strait of Hormuz dispute

A central theme of Rubio’s Manila comments, according to multiple outlets, was maritime control and freedom of navigation. Al Jazeera reported that Rubio said Iran cannot control the Strait of Hormuz and that a memorandum of understanding does not give Iran the right to launch missiles and drones against ships in the waterway. He also disputed Iran’s interpretation of that memorandum as conferring “power” over the strait, the network said.[[7]](https://x.com/AJENews/status/2079874182372872697)

Iran International reported Rubio’s warning that allowing Iran to control the Strait of Hormuz would set a dangerous global precedent. The Jakarta Post framed the same theme under a headline summarizing Rubio’s message that allowing Iranian control of Hormuz would be a “dangerous precedent.” Orissa POST reported that Rubio warned ASEAN states they could face a similar threat of strategic waterway blockades if such a precedent were established.[[8]](https://x.com/jakpost/status/2079887921188921372)

Regional backdrop

Rubio’s comments came on the sidelines of ASEAN meetings in the Philippine capital, where he also held bilateral encounters, including with India’s external affairs minister, according to a post from the secretary of state’s official account reported by secondary feeds. Separate posts on X said he was expected to meet Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov in Manila, but the timing and outcome of any such meeting were not fully confirmed in the initial wave of reporting.[[9]](https://x.com/MenaLiveHQ/status/2079873030294323362)

Al Jazeera’s live coverage of the broader conflict, referenced in its Manila dispatches, continued to track U.S. military activity and official statements in Washington. Cost and operational figures circulating in that live blog and on social media were attributed to other U.S. officials and were not part of Rubio’s ASEAN remarks as summarized here.

As of Wednesday afternoon local time, neither a detailed U.S. proposal for a ceasefire nor a formal Iranian response to Rubio’s Manila comments had been fully detailed in the primary dispatches from Al Jazeera and ABC.