In an interview with NBC’s “Today” on Tuesday morning, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said that President Donald Trump is “open” to meeting with his Iranian counterpart, Masoud Pezeshkian, at this week’s United Nations General Assembly meeting in New York.
Trump, Rubio said, “has said he’s open to meeting with anybody. This is a president that will meet with anybody, for the most part, because he believes that engaging with people is important if you’re going to solve problems.”
“I don’t think anything is scheduled at this point, but we’re certainly open to something like that,” Rubio added.
Asked about rising prices associated with the ongoing war, Rubio replied, “Anyone who is concerned about prices itself is not wrong, and obviously if the war is being blamed for that, then of course you’re going to hear it.” He added, “We recognize that. We don’t want prices to be high.”
Rubio asserted that if Iran obtained a nuclear weapon, the price of a gallon of gas would be “double.”
“Because then no one would touch them. There’s nothing you could do about Iran and they would use that nuclear weapon to control the Straits of Hormuz forever. They would be able to choke off the world’s energy supply any time they wanted,” he said.
Rubio said roughly 60% to 70% of the oil flows through the Strait of Hormuz had been restored, but pointed to Houthi attacks on Saudi oil infrastructure as a reason prices remain high.
-ABC News’ Shannon K. Kingston
