Rubio Takes Questions: Trump Has Not Decided on Striking Iran, and Putin's Attendance at the Miami Summit Is Unconfirmed

The U.S. Department of State on October 31, 2026, released the transcript of Secretary of State Marco Rubio's press availability at the Loews Atlanta hotel in Atlanta, Georgia. In his opening remarks, Rubio said the G20 Foreign Ministers' Meeting had, under President Trump's direction, returned the forum to basics, focusing on core economic, energy, technology and supply-chain issues. He then took questions on Iran, North Korea, the Russia-Ukraine war and other topics.

On freedom of navigation, Rubio said Iran openly targets commercial vessels — not naval vessels, but ships carrying oil and natural gas — as a tool of statecraft. U.S. Central Command intercepts drones and missiles aimed at such ships almost every night, and the amount of fuel moving through the Strait of Hormuz is now comparable with levels before the conflict, he said. Attacks are also occurring in the Bab al-Mandeb, while coercion continues in the South China Sea and the Taiwan Strait. When energy, fertilizer and farm products cannot reach their destinations, he said, food security suffers in every nation.

Asked about possible new U.S. strikes on Iran, Rubio said he would not comment on what the United States may or may not do militarily and had no decision to announce. "He hasn't made a decision," he said of President Trump, who would have acted weeks or months ago if that were his preference, prefers a diplomatic solution, and is confident the U.S. military can achieve its objectives if needed.

On security guarantees for Gulf partners, Rubio said the United States is already protecting shipping that carries those countries' economic lifeblood, provides extensive air defense, and asked what Iran would threaten its neighbors with if it had nuclear, chemical or biological weapons. The capabilities of the Houthis, Iran-backed militias in Iraq and Hizballah, he said, all rest on Iranian support.

On Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov's participation and whether President Vladimir Putin will attend the G20 leaders' summit in Florida in December, Rubio said he had no announcement and did not know whether Putin would come to Miami, as Russia has not announced or confirmed it. Trump believed Russia should be part of the G20 conversation, he said, because ending the war in Ukraine by negotiation requires the ability to talk to both Russia and Ukraine, and meeting or talking with someone does not legitimize everything they do. Communication between the United States and Russia also remains important because of the nuclear danger.

Rubio said he did not hold a meeting with Lavrov; the two spoke briefly about the possibility of their leaders interacting at APEC next month, with no firm commitments on the G20. Asked whether a negotiated peace is achievable, he said he did not know and would not claim the sides are on the verge of a settlement, though the United States has invested heavy high-level attention in the effort.

On whether Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy might attend the Florida summit, Rubio said that is a leaders-level decision for the President, and he would not rule it out, especially if something positive could result. Climate change was not on the ministerial agenda, though Brazil and others raised it in their statements.

On North Korea, Rubio said Trump has repeatedly said he will talk to anybody and does not view a meeting with Kim Jong-un as a concession; if North Korea is prepared to talk about issues of concern to the United States and allies such as South Korea, Trump would be open to it. The two met twice in Trump's first term, but nothing is scheduled and there is nothing to announce. A visa case involving a South Korean lawmaker would be worked through bilaterally, he said.

On the Quad, Rubio said the four foreign ministers have met four or five times this year — the Quad was his first meeting as Secretary of State in January 2025 — and the next step is moving from talking to doing: infrastructure projects in places such as Palau, a business forum for the four countries' companies, pooled humanitarian and disaster relief, and maritime domain awareness. He hoped the leaders' meeting in Manila next month would announce further concrete steps. The Quad, he said, is not a coalition against any country; its concern is with behaviors. On Black Sea grain shipments, he said international interest in facilitating an arrangement is growing, Türkiye has forwarded new proposals in the past week or two and India has expressed interest in floating ideas, but he would not put odds on a limited ceasefire, noting the high price paid by the African continent.

He also said he held a trilateral meeting with Japan and South Korea at which the three signed a memorandum of cooperation on a transnational Arctic-Pacific partnership to keep the Arctic free of dominion or coercion, and he praised Poland, saying Trump believes Poland deserves a seat at the table of global leaders.

Rubio also said the U.S. government did not facilitate Flavio Bolsonaro's departure from Brazil — he had previously held a visa, Trump decided to allow his entry, and he was paroled into the country; called the Greenland agreement a very good, perpetual deal, fully understood and supported by Trump, that keeps adversaries from gaining harmful commercial access whatever Greenland's future status; directed questions on Afghan deportations to the Department of Homeland Security while noting Pakistan's concerns about terrorist attacks sponsored from Afghan territory; and said military decisions on the Houthis are the President's, while the United States will keep honoring its defensive commitments to Saudi Arabia, whose crown prince has spoken with Trump multiple times in the past month.

Asked whether his job would be harder in January facing a Democratic Congress, Rubio said the election has not happened yet, foreign policy is largely directed by the executive branch, Congress's role is mainly funding and oversight, and divided power is a normal part of the system that will not change the President's directives.

Source: GSM America

Source: GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)

Photo: 图：鲁比奥向记者发表谈话（资料图，2026年6月25日摄于巴林麦纳麦）。美国国务院官方照片，Freddie Everett 摄，公共领域，经Wikimedia Commons。 / Secretary Rubio meets with the press (file photo, Manama, Bahrain, June 25, 2026). Official U.S. Department of State photo by Freddie Everett, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.

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