Rubio: Iran deal still possible today, ‘Israel always has a right to protect itself’

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio says that a deal to end the war with Iran could materialize “today,” adding that Israel had the right to defend itself against attack.

“We thought we might have some news last night, maybe today, I wouldn’t read too much into it,” Rubio says in New Delhi, referring to the potential agreement.

“We have what I think is a pretty solid thing on the table in terms of their ability to open up the straits, get the straits open,” he tells reporters as he departs the Indian capital, where he has been on an official visit.

“It has a lot of support in the Gulf… every country that we’ve walked through it [with] understands it’s not just very reasonable, but it’s the right thing for the world to get done.”

Rubio also voices confidence that Iran will “enter into a very real, significant, time-limited negotiation on the nuclear matter.”

Rubio’s remarks came after US President Donald Trump tempered expectations of a deal, saying yesterday he had told his negotiators not to “rush.”

“He’s not in a hurry, he’s not going to make a bad deal, and the president’s not going to make a bad agreement,” Rubio says of Trump.

Rubio tells reporters that “Israel always has a right to protect itself.”

“If Hezbollah is going to launch missiles or launches missiles at them, Israel has every right to respond to that, or to prevent that from happening,” he says. “That’s always been understood. It’s being understood during the ceasefire.”