Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Thursday declined to reveal details of his private meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, telling reporters in Manila that diplomacy can quickly unravel when sensitive conversations are broadcast publicly.
Speaking on the sidelines of the ASEAN foreign ministers’ gathering in Pasay, Metro Manila, Rubio addressed questions after a closed-door discussion with Lavrov that Russian state media said lasted roughly 35 minutes. When asked whether the meeting produced any movement on the war in Ukraine, Rubio pushed back on both the framing and the request for specifics, according to a State Department transcript.
“I mean, you think we settled the war in Ukraine in our 30 minutes here in Asia? That’s not the way it works,” Rubio said. “I’m not going to tell you what we talked about, because these – diplomacy doesn’t work well when you run to the microphones afterwards.”
Rubio said the United States is still willing to serve as a constructive force in efforts to bring an end to what he described as “a senseless war,” adding that Washington’s position had also been conveyed in other diplomatic conversations.
The exchange then shifted when a reporter asked whether Rubio had confronted Lavrov over allegations that Russia had shared targeting information with Iran.
“Well, who says that they are?” Rubio responded.
“Are they not?” the reporter pressed.
“Who says they are?” Rubio replied.
The reporter pointed to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, who told the Senate Appropriations Committee this week that Moscow and Beijing are “enabling some of the things Iran is doing.” Hegseth declined to describe the scale of that assistance under questioning from Sen. John Hoeven (R-ND).
Rubio said that was a different question and pressed the reporter on his sourcing.
“Reporting in the media?” he asked.
“Yeah,” the reporter said.
“Oh, then it must be true,” Rubio said. “If it’s in the media, it’s a leaker. I’m not going to – let me say – let’s imagine that were true. I certainly wouldn’t discuss it in the press.”
He added that nothing Iran or its backers are doing has increased the regime’s ability to strike Americans.
The exchange followed a Reuters report Wednesday alleging U.S. analysts are examining whether Russia supplied navigation or drone technology used in Iranian strikes on CIA facilities in the Gulf, citing four people familiar with the matter. Analysts have reached no firm conclusion, the report said.
The secretary held the same line on other files. Asked which governments had passed along Iranian requests for talks, Rubio said he would not say.
“I’d be betraying their confidences,” he said.
Pressed later for specifics on the administration’s Cuba policy, he cut the question off.
“You want me to give you details on our plan? Okay, not today. No, I’m not going to do that.”
