Marco Rubio reveals why Donald Trump is open to meeting Iran Supreme Leader amid tensions

hindustantimes.com · Feb 14, 2026 · Collected from GDELT

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US secretary of state Marco Rubio said on Saturday that Donald Trump’s preference was to make a deal with Iran, while also leaving the door open to the US President meeting Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.Marco Rubio, US secretary of state, during an interview at the Munich Security Conference in Munich, Germany, on Saturday, Feb. 14, 2026. (Bloomberg)Speaking during an interview at the Munich Security Conference, Rubio said that Trump is “willing to meet anybody”. He added that if the Ayatollah asked to meet Trump, that meeting would happen.“Nation states need to interact with one another — I serve under a president that’s willing to meet with anybody. I’m pretty confident in saying that if the Ayatollah said tomorrow he wanted to meet with President Trump, the president would meet him, not because he agrees with the Ayatollah, but because he thinks that’s the way you solve problems in the world,” Rubio told Bloomberg.He characterised Donald Trump’s decision to send a second aircraft carrier to the Middle East as a bid to make sure Iran doesn’t “come after us and trigger something larger beyond that,” declining to say if the US was running out of patience with the regime.Second strike group sent, and Iran talksDonald Trump said on Friday that a second aircraft carrier group would be heading to the Middle East soon, upping the military threat against Iran amid negotiations over its nuclear program."It'll be leaving very shortly," Trump told journalists when asked about reports the USS Gerald R. Ford would be moved from the Caribbean to the Middle East."In case we don't make a deal, we'll need it," Trump added.Tensions have escalated between the US and Iran in the wake of Iran's deadly crackdown on protesters last month that killed thousands. The US has earlier warned of ‘traumatic’ consequences if Tehran fails to agree on a deal over its nuclear program.The Ford strike group’s new orders will have it joining the USS Abraham Lincoln carrier strike group in the Persian Gulf as part of President Trump’s resurgent pressure campaign against Iran’s leaders.Speaking about the possibility of striking a deal with Iran on the nuclear program, Trump on Thursday remarked, “I guess over the next month, something like that.”Gulf Arab nations have already warned that an attack could spiral into another regional conflict in West Asia, which is still reeling from the Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip.