NEW DELHI, May 24. /TASS/. The US administration doesn’t rule out that the operation against Iran may be resumed if it fails to reach its objectives through talks with Tehran, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said.
"The President [of the US Donald Trump] wants to make sure that Iran never has a nuclear weapon. He would prefer to address it through negotiated diplomatic means, and we’re going to exhaust every opportunity to do that," he said in an interview with the India Today television channel.
When asked whether Washington plans to resume its operation against Iran, he said, "Ultimately, that option exists there for the President if that doesn’t work out." "That is not our preference. Our first choice is to do this through a negotiated agreement and that’s what we’re working towards," he stressed.
The United States and Israel launched a military operation against Iran on February 28. On April 7, US President Donald Trump declared a two-week ceasefire with Iran. On April 11, Iran and the US held several rounds of talks in Islamabad, however both sides later reported that they were unable to reach an agreement on a long-term settlement of the conflict due to a number of contradictions. On April 21, US President Donald Trump announced his intention to extend the ceasefire with Iran. On May 19, the US leader said that Washington was ready to give diplomacy a chance and postponed the resumption of combat operations until the beginning of the next week. On May 23, he said that a draft agreement with Iran had been agreed upon in general.