New Delhi:
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Saturday said that the Iran war has to end one way or the other, and the United States would prefer a diplomatic way to solve the conflict.
Talking about whether an imminent strike on Iran is possible in an exclusive conversation with NDTV’s Vishnu Som, Rubio said he would not “characterise it in terms of a timeframe.”
” I would say that what’s happening now cannot become the status quo and it cannot go on forever. At some point, there has to be a resolution to this problem,” he told NDTV.
The top US official reiterated that “Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon”.
#NDTVExclusive | “Iran war can’t go on forever”: US Secretary of State Marco Rubio (@SecRubio) to @VishnuNDTV pic.twitter.com/ThOBctEi4Y
— NDTV (@ndtv) May 23, 2026
Rubio’s comments come at a time when negotiations of a peace deal are ongoing between Iran and the US, with Pakistan as the mediator. Both countries have refused to accept a deal till now. Earlier on Friday, US President Donald Trump missed his son’s wedding to travel to Washington DC, citing other important matters and raising speculations that the US may strike Iran soon amid a loose ceasefire.
In his conversation with NDTV, Rubio said that the issue of highly enriched uranium in Iran has to be confronted. He also demanded that the key Strait of Hormuz be opened.
“It is illegal. They are threatening and have fired upon commercial vessels. It is unlawful under any mechanism for a country to take international waterways, and turn it into theirs and charge a toll for it, which is what Iran is trying to do,” he said.
Rubio told NDTV that US President Donald Trump prefers to solve these two problems – the nuclear issue and opening the Strait of Hormuz through a negotiated agreement and diplomacy.
“Even as I speak to you now, there’s work being done in that regard. That is our preference. That is what we are trying to do. This problem needs to be solved one way or the other. We would prefer it be through diplomacy, but it will be solved one way or the other,” the US Secretary of State said.
Speaking on the issue of enriched uranium in Iran, Rubio claimed that it can be removed easily from a technical point of view but Iran has “refused to even discuss it”.
The top Trump aide is in India for a four-day visit and met Prime Minister Narendra Modi earlier in the day in New Delhi. The two leaders discussed the situation in the Middle East, among other issues. Rubio is scheduled to meet External Affairs S Jaishankar on Sunday.
