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Secretary of State Marco Rubio testified before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Tuesday, marking Rubio’s first public testimony since the war with Iran began. Rubio hinted at the administration’s negotiations with Iran possibly restarting amid the shaky ceasefire.
Iranian leaders agreed to negotiate aspects of their nuclear program that they refused to even mention a year ago, Rubio told lawmakers. Rubio did not clarify what points Iran was seemingly open to changing, and noted that it still doesn’t guarantee that both parties would successfully broker an acceptable deal. The secretary further echoed President Donald Trump’s repeated insistence that the Iranian navy has been defeated. Iran’s navy is at the bottom of the ocean, Rubio told lawmakers.
The secretary pushed back on critics who accused the administration of leapfrogging diplomacy efforts and plunging straight into expensive wars. Diplomacy has always been the cheapest option, and this administration has been extremely effective in de-escalating crises or ending active wars internationally, he said. Some of that diplomacy hasn’t even been publicly discussed because it wasn’t considered high-profile enough, Rubio added.
What else did Rubio say during the testimony? Rubio repeated his previously shared opinions on Cuba and the country’s links to sponsored terror. Nearly every left-wing violent terror group in the West received support from Cuba, he said.
Rubio specifically took issue with Cuba’s power structure. Cuba is controlled by the military holding company GAESA, not its official government, Rubio said. GAESA owns all the mining and gas resources, making up about 70% of Cuba’s gross domestic product, he said. None of that money goes to the public treasury, which is why people are starving, and the nation’s power grid is archaic, he said. Rubio said he felt there was no way to reform Cuba’s power model unless entirely new leaders took over.