US Secretary of State Marco Rubio is scheduled to visit Israel next week as President Donald Trump expresses dissatisfaction with ongoing negotiations with Iran.
On Friday, the U.S. State Department said Rubio’s trip will run from March 2-3 and will focus on relations with Iran and Lebanon, as well as implementation of President Trump’s 20-point plan for war-torn Gaza.
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This will be Rubio’s fifth visit to Israel, a close ally of the United States, as secretary of state. I first visited in February 2025, and then twice in September and October last year.
No other details about recent diplomatic activity were disclosed. However, this is a delicate time for Middle East relations.
Just this week, the United States and Iran held a third round of indirect talks, this time in Switzerland, as they attempt to negotiate a deal to limit Iran’s nuclear program.
A new round of talks is scheduled to take place in Austria on Monday, when Rubio arrives in Israel.
Still, President Trump made a public appearance on the White House lawn on Friday to express his frustration with the slow pace of negotiations.
“I’m not happy with the fact that they’re not going to give us what we need. I’m not excited about that. We’ll see what happens,” Trump said.
“We’re going to have additional talks today. But no, I’m not happy with the way they’re doing it.”
President Trump added that he is comfortable using the military to achieve his goals. “I don’t want to use it, but sometimes I have to. Let’s see what happens.”
After arriving in Texas, President Trump added that Iran would not be satisfied with simply reducing its uranium enrichment, even in civilian energy projects.
President Trump told reporters, “I’m against enrichment.” “It’s 30 percent, not 20 percent.”
President Trump’s recent comments are likely to fuel continued concerns about military escalation with Iran and the potential for the conflict to spill over into the wider region.
His comments coincided with an email from U.S. Ambassador Mike Huckabee giving embassy staff in Israel permission to leave the country, in another sign that smoldering tensions could boil over.
According to media reports, Huckabee stressed that those retiring should “do it today.” However, he added: “There is no need to panic.”
A public notice from the US embassy in Jerusalem granted permission to leave the country, citing “security risks” due to “terrorism and civil unrest.”
“You may want to consider leaving Israel while commercial flights are available,” the notice says.
The State Department also released Rubio’s statement, designating Iran as a “state sponsor of unlawful detention.” He also urged Americans not to “travel to Iran for any reason” or immediately leave the country if they are already in the country.
threat of attack on iran
However, there are growing concerns that the United States may seek military action against Israel and Iran, America’s longtime adversary.
Since January, the administration of US President Donald Trump has deployed a “massive fleet” including two aircraft carriers, the aircraft carrier Gerald Ford and the aircraft carrier Abraham Lincoln, to waters near Iran.
President Trump has also hinted several times that he is willing to launch strikes to force an agreement to limit Iran’s nuclear capabilities or intervene on behalf of Iranian protesters.
For example, on January 1, President Trump responded to the deadly crackdown on anti-government protests in Iran by posting a message on Truth Social.
The U.S. military said it was “locked, loaded and ready to go” to “rescue” protesters who might be killed.
More recently, during last Tuesday’s State of the Union address, President Trump said military threats have been a successful strategy to prevent the execution of protesters.
“We stopped a lot of people from being hanged for threats of serious violence,” Trump said.
He added that he is not afraid to act. “I will never hesitate to confront threats to the United States wherever necessary,” Trump said in a prime-time speech, accusing Iran of “spreading nothing but terrorism, death, and hatred.”
But on Friday, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk suggested that eight protesters had been sentenced to death and that 30 more were at risk of receiving similar sentences.
The Turkish president also emphasized the risk of harm to civilians and warned of possible military action.
“We are very concerned about the potential for regional military escalation and its impact on civilians, and we hope that voices of reason will prevail,” he said.
Still, the Trump administration cited human rights as the reason.
press for a deal
But protesters are not the only motive President Trump has cited for wielding the sword.
President Trump also suggested that military intervention may be necessary if Iran fails to reach a nuclear deal.
On February 19, the president told reporters aboard Air Force One that Iran had “10 or 15 days, pretty much the maximum amount of time” for Iran to reach an agreement with U.S. negotiators.
If that fails, President Trump has indicated he intends to take his “maximum pressure” campaign “a step further” and hint at military action.
Earlier in the day, President Trump said at the first meeting of the peace committee: “We have to come to a meaningful agreement. If we don’t, bad things will happen.”
Meanwhile, Iran says its positions on many issues are “close” to those of the United States, but has called on the Trump administration to back off from what it considers “excessive demands.”
Recent reports indicate that the US government not only wants to eliminate Iran’s nuclear program, but also seeks to reduce its ballistic missile inventory and sever ties with regional allies and proxies like Lebanon’s Hezbollah.
But Iran has largely rejected these demands as unrealistic, insisting that its nuclear enrichment program is designed to produce civilian energy, not weapons.
He also warned that he would retaliate if the U.S. launched a new military attack.
Last June, the United States bombed three Iranian nuclear facilities, including the Fordow facility, as part of a 12-day war sparked by an Israeli attack. The Trump administration dubbed the campaign “Operation Midnight Hammer.”
The latest negotiations aim to conclude a new nuclear deal following the collapse of the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), a multilateral agreement to scale back Iran’s nuclear program in exchange for sanctions relief.
However, the deal collapsed when Trump decided to withdraw from the United States during his first term. As part of the withdrawal, President Trump reinstated U.S. sanctions on Iran.
“Risk always exists”
But pressure on Iran has increased in recent days, particularly after media reports emerged that the United Nations’ nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), was blocked from accessing three sites targeted by Operation Midnight Hammer.
The agency said it could not confirm whether Iran had stopped on-site nuclear enrichment or estimate the size of Iran’s nuclear stockpile.
The news is likely to spur the Trump administration’s efforts. The Trump administration has long warned that Iran seeks nuclear weapons, a claim the Iranian government denies.
Still, the Omani government, which is mediating the negotiations, issued a positive statement after a meeting between the country’s top diplomat and U.S. Vice President J.D. Vance.
“His Excellency the Minister of Foreign Affairs has made clear that the negotiations have so far made significant and unprecedented progress, which could form the basis of a desirable agreement,” the statement said.
It added that Oman would continue its “efforts to support dialogue and foster rapprochement between the parties involved” and that diplomatic efforts could resolve the impasse.
Still, as President Trump prepared for a visit to Texas on Friday, he was asked about the possibility that a military strike could spark a broader, longer-term regional war with Iran.
He largely dismissed that possibility, citing the success of Operation Midnight Hammer and the decision to order the assassination of Iranian military commander Qasem Soleimani in 2020.
Trump responded, “I would say there’s always a risk. With war, there’s risk in everything, good or bad. We’ve been very fortunate.” “Everything is going well and we want to keep it that way.”
He called on Iran to negotiate with “good faith and conscience.” Still, he concluded with a skeptical comment: “They’re not getting there.”
