U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio testifies during a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing at the Dirksen Senate Office Building on June 2, 2026 in Washington, DC.
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Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Tuesday that the United States is in talks with Iran and that Iran has agreed to negotiate parts of its nuclear program, which it had previously refused to discuss, as lawmakers called on the Trump administration for a strategy to end the war.
“Talks with Iran are different than talks with Switzerland,” Rubio told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. “We need to use an intermediary.”
Rubio said Iran could engage “today,” “tomorrow” or “next week” on the nuclear issue, which it refused to discuss “just a month ago, just a year ago.”
Rubio said this does not guarantee a deal “that the Senate will accept or that the American people will accept,” but that the United States will “really test” how far Iran is willing to go.
The comment represented a marked change in tone from the administration’s position the day before, when President Trump told CNBC he was not concerned about the end of the Iran negotiations.
Rubio, who also serves as President Donald Trump’s national security adviser, appeared before the panel to give his first public testimony on the Iran war since the U.S.-Israeli offensive began on Feb. 28.
He defended Trump’s decision to go to war, saying Iran was trying to build a “conventional shield” of missiles, drones and naval assets around its nuclear program.
Rubio explained Iran’s stance: “If you come and do something about our nuclear program, we will overwhelm you with our missiles, we will overwhelm you with our drones, we will overwhelm you with our navy.”
Rubio said Iran is seeking “immunity,” which President Trump is trying to deny.
He said Operation Epic Fury was a “huge success” and had dramatically reduced Iran’s ability to make missiles and drones, but acknowledged that Iran “still[has]a lot of drones” because they are “easy to make.”
Rubio said the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz remains central to de-escalation.
“We need to announce that we will no longer fire at commercial vessels that are passing by or that are in danger of being shot,” Rubio said.
He said Iran must declare the straits open, stop collecting tolls, cooperate in clearing mines and pledge not to fire on commercial ships.
The hearings come as Congress grows concerned about the war, its economic impact, and President Trump’s authority to continue the conflict without approval from lawmakers.
The committee’s top Democrat, Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D.N.H.), accused the administration of circumventing Congressional oversight.
“When we talked to voters, they wanted economic relief at home, not regime change in Havana or Caracas or Tehran,” Shaheen said.
He said the administration’s war powers notice was not “consultation” but “an attempt to avoid answering this committee and Congress about this war.”
The State Department’s budget hearings expanded beyond Iran, with Democrats pressing Mr. Rubio on whether the administration was pursuing regime change across multiple countries.
Rubio is scheduled to appear before several House and Senate committees this week as lawmakers grill him about Iran, Venezuela, Cuba and the administration’s broader foreign policy.
