Iran ‘never faced a president’ like Trump: Rubio

In interview with Fox News, US secretary of state says any conflict between US, China ‘would be catastrophic for both countries and for the world’

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio has said that Iran is confronting a different kind of US president in the form of Donald Trump. “I don’t think the Iranian regime has ever faced a president like President Trump, which is someone that actually takes action,” Rubio said in an interview with Fox News on Saturday. “They got used to, for 20 or 30 years, not just the US, but the broader world, allowing them to get away with things like lying, breaking deals, tricking people into agreements.” Regarding peace efforts between Russia and Ukraine, Rubio said: “You are going to see some efforts over the next few weeks to see if we can restart talks between the two sides and bring this war to an end.” “We also understand that both sides have some pretty strong red lines, and until we can bring those red lines a little closer together, we are not going to be there yet,” he added. Regarding a possible conflict between the US and China, Rubio said that any conflict between the two nations “be it economic or military, God forbid, would be catastrophic for both countries and for the world.” “We have to manage that, but we can't walk away and forfeit our national interests,” he said, adding that this is the “hard work” of foreign policy.