Paris, Apr 18 (UNI) US Secretary of State Marco Rubio has said the US may exit the Ukraine peace talks in days if there is no progress.
"The Ukraine war is a terrible thing, but it's not our fault," Rubio told reporters in Paris, after talks with Ukrainian and European officials.
"The President (Trump) has spent 87 days at the highest level of his government, repeatedly taking efforts to bring this war to an end. We are now reaching a point where we need to decide and determine whether this is even possible or not, which is why we are engaged with both sides" Rubio said.
"We're not going to continue to fly all over the world and do meeting after meeting, if no progress is being made. So, if they are serious about peace, either side, or both, we want to help. If it's not going to happen, then we're just going to move on, to other topics that are equally if not more important to the United States," he added.
Rubio also said that there is no military solution and noted that many sanctions on Russia are European and can’t be lifted by the US, making EU involvement in talks essential.
After three years and billions spent, he said the US must refocus on other priorities.
Speaking in Paris after a marathon day of talks among US, Ukrainian and European officials, Rubio said the discussions had been constructive and produced an outline for steps toward peace.
A new meeting in the same format is expected in London in the coming days.
Rubio said he could join that meeting.
France hosted the high-level meeting.
Separately on Iran, Rubio said that Europe must decide if it is willing to reimpose sanctions on Tehran when it becomes clear it is close to developing nuclear weapons.
“The Europeans have a decision to make, because I believe we should all anticipate that they’re about to get a report from the IAEA that says not just Iran is out of compliance, but Iran is dangerously close to a weapon, closer than they’ve ever been,” Rubio said in Paris after meeting with European leaders, according to The Jerusalem Post.
Adding that while the US administration is looking for a peaceful solution with Iran, it will never tolerate it if Tehran develops nuclear weapons.
He stated that a long-term agreement was needed to avoid conflict. “It has to be something that not just prevents Iran from having a nuclear weapon now,” he said about the agreement in question, adding “But in the future as well, not just for ten years with some sort of sunset provision or the like.”
“They have an important decision to make very soon on snapback, on the snapback of sanctions because Iran is clearly out of compliance with the current deal,” he said as he left Paris after talks with European counterparts.
During his first term, US President Donald Trump had imposed curbs on Iran’s nuclear programme in exchange for sanctions relief. While Iran initially complied with the agreement, it soon began deviating from the agreement, particularly under former President Joe Biden’s administration.
Since Trump’s return to presidency in his second term, Washington has re-engaged at the highest-level of Iran-US nuclear talks since the previous accord’s collapse, though no solution has come as of yet.
UNI ANV RN