Rubio says Iran’s new proposal “better than expected”

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the new Iranian proposal “is better than what we thought they were going to submit,” but emphasized that a future deal must block Iran from getting a nuclear weapon.

As CNN reported, the new proposal would see the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz but would push off discussions of the nuclear issue, according to sources familiar with the matter.

In an interview with Fox News Monday, Rubio declined to speculate on if this would be acceptable to President Donald Trump or what would happen if a deal is not reached, deferring to the president.

“Suffice it to say that the nuclear question is the reason why we’re in this in the first place,” he said, according to a transcript released by the State Department, saying Iran’s nuclear program “remains the core issue.”

The top US diplomat argued that Tehran is “serious about figuring out how can they buy themselves more time.”

“They’re very experienced negotiators, and we have to ensure that any deal that is made, any agreement that is made, is one that definitively prevents them from sprinting towards a nuclear weapon at any point,” he said.

He noted “there are still questions about whether the person submitting it had the authority to submit that offer … and what it means.”

“One of the impediments here is that our negotiators aren’t just negotiating with Iranians,” Rubio said. “Those Iranians then have to negotiate with other Iranians in order to figure out what they can agree to, what they can offer, what they’re willing to do, even who they’re willing to meet with.”

He said the US has indications that Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei is alive but questioned whether he has “the clerical credentials to actually act as supreme leader.”