Nuclear talks between the United States and Iran are reportedly facing setbacks as Secretary of State Marco Rubio warns that he is "not sure you can reach a deal" with Tehran.
The talks sputtered Wednesday morning when the United States withdrew because Iran pushed to move the negotiations from Istanbul to Oman, Axios reported. But the United States rejoined the talks at the request of Arab leaders.
"They asked us to keep the meeting and listen to what the Iranians have to say. We have told the Arabs that we will do the meeting if they insist. But we are very skeptical," one U.S. official told Axios. The negotiations are slated for Friday in Oman.
At a press conference on Wednesday, Rubio expressed doubt about the talks, while maintaining that the United States is open to negotiations.
"If the Iranians want to meet, we’re ready," Rubio said. "They’ve expressed an interest in meeting and talking."
"If they change their mind, we’re fine with that too," he added. "We prefer to meet and talk. I’m not sure you can reach a deal with these guys, but we’re going to try to find out."
The breakdown of negotiations comes a day after Iran escalated tensions with the United States by sending gunboats to harass a U.S.-flagged tanker in the Strait of Hormuz. Hours earlier, an Iranian drone confronted the USS Abraham Lincoln in the Arabian Sea—an aggressive move that ended with an American fighter jet shooting the drone down.
Washington has continued a major military buildup in the region in recent weeks. The Abraham Lincoln carrier strike group arrived last month, as President Donald Trump warned of an "armada" moving toward Iran.
"Like with Venezuela," Trump wrote, "it is ready, willing, and able to rapidly fulfill its mission, with speed and violence, if necessary." Trump said that Iran must "quickly ‘Come to the Table’ and negotiate a fair and equitable deal," noting that he repeatedly warned Iran to negotiate before he bombed their nuclear sites last summer. "They didn’t, and there was ‘Operation Midnight Hammer,’ a major destruction of Iran. The next attack will be far worse! Don’t make that happen again," he wrote.
