00:00Secretary Rubio, can you confirm the format and the vocation of Friday's talks with Iran
00:05and clarify, given that Iran refuses to negotiate its missile program and insists on a right
00:11to enrich uranium, is the U.S. open to a compromise, if that means reaching its goal to avoid
00:17military action?
00:18And separately, if I may, how exactly do these negotiations advance President Trump's repeated
00:23pledges to help Iranian protesters, many of whom are likely to see these nuclear talks
00:28as legitimizing the very government that violently massacred its own people?
00:33Well, let me first say just on the logistics.
00:35Let me back up and say from a big picture perspective, I think it's pretty clear right now, President
00:40Trump is willing to talk to and meet with and engage with anyone.
00:46But we don't view meetings as a concession.
00:49We don't view meetings as even a little bit of legitimization.
00:53It is our willingness to sit and listen and talk to anyone.
00:56Any adversary, any ally, obviously, but anyone around the world.
01:01And so the President's always been open to that.
01:03He showed that in the first administration, and he's showing it again now.
01:07And so I think if there's an opportunity to engage directly with counterparts in the Iranian
01:12regime, the United States would be open to that, and that's what we're open to.
01:15We thought we had an established forum that had been agreed to.
01:19In Turkey, it was put together by a number of partners who wanted to attend and be a part of it.
01:23So I saw conflicting reports yesterday from the Iranian side saying that they had not
01:28agreed to that.
01:29So that's still being worked through.
01:31At the end of the day, the United States is prepared to engage, and has always been prepared
01:35to engage in Iran.
01:35As far as the topic of those discussions and what the agenda needs to be, look, I think
01:40in order for talks to actually lead to something meaningful, they will have to include certain
01:44things.
01:45And that includes the range of their ballistic missiles.
01:47That includes their sponsorship of terrorist organizations across the region.
01:51That includes a nuclear program, and that includes the treatment of their own people.
01:55The fundamental problem Iran faces and personal faces right now is that what people are on
01:59the streets complaining about, this regime cannot address.
02:02They cannot address it because it's economic.
02:04Those problems remain.
02:06And one of the reasons why the Iranian regime may not provide the people of Iran the quality
02:10of life that they deserve is because they're spending all their money.
02:13They're spending all their resources.
02:14But what is a rich country sponsoring terrorism?
02:17He's sponsoring all these proxy groups around the world, exporting, as they call it, their
02:23revolution.
02:24But I remind everybody what I've been saying through my entire career in public service.
02:28I said it in my hearing when I was asking for confirmation to the Senate.
02:33The Iranian people and the Iranian regime are very alike.
02:37In essence, what the Iranian people want is a culture with a deep history.
02:41These are people that are the leadership of Iran at the clerical level.
02:47It does not reflect the people of Iran.
02:49I know of no other country whether there's a big or difference between the people that
02:52lead the country and the people who live there.
02:55And so our hope resides in that.
02:56As far as the president's views on the way protesters are treated, it's very clear about it.
03:01And as you saw, part of what the president said publicly prevented mass executions that were
03:10being planned and that were on the precipice.
03:12And obviously beyond that, the president retains a number of options in how we respond to that
03:17and future events.
03:18But as far as the talks are concerned, I think the Iranians had agreed to a certain format.
03:23For whatever reason, it's changed in their system or what have you.
03:26We'll see if we can get back to the right place.
03:28But the United States has prepared an equilibrium.
03:29I think it was scheduled for Friday.
03:31Steve is ready to go.
03:32We'll be prepared for that.
03:33If the Iranians want to meet, we're ready.
03:35They've expressed an interest in meeting and talking.
03:37If they change their mind, we'll find for that, too.
03:39We prefer to meet and talk.
03:41I'm not sure you can reach a deal with these guys, but we're going to try to find out.
03:44We don't see there's any harm in trying to figure out there's something that can be done.
03:47This is a president that always prefers a peaceful outcome to any conflict or any challenge.
03:53We have time for one final question.
03:54This one from Nahu and Aubrey from Margaret Air Press.
03:59Thank you, Mr. Secretary, Dr. Harry Morocco's news agents.
04:02My question is in regard to African countries, including Morocco's budget meeting today.
04:06How do you envision their role in this ministerial and in the foreign country?
04:10Well, again, it's the same.
04:12First of all, this, as I've highlighted before, this is an American initiative to bring people together.
04:18We want to serve as the convener.
04:19But this is a global challenge.
04:20There is not a country in the world that doesn't face this challenge of critical mineral supply chains.
04:26Just from the perspective of trying to grow economically.
04:28Everybody wants to be an AI.
04:30Everybody wants a center.
04:32Everyone wants to advance industrially and technologically.
04:35Everyone wants to be able to defend their national security.
04:37All of these things, whether it's a cell phone, a computer, a semiconductor facility, or the weapons that protect your country.
04:45All of these things have to be built with components.
04:48And these components invariably involve critical minerals that don't just have to be mined.
04:53They have to be processed.
04:54So every country has that interest to have a global supply of critical minerals.
04:58Not just the raw material, but the processed material that is usable for an industrial capacity.
05:04And Morocco shares that with everybody.
05:06Second is, every country in the world has, even though they call it rare earth, critical minerals.
05:10They're not really that rare.
05:11Every country has some deposits of critical minerals.
05:14They're different ones in different parts of the world.
05:16And so I think Morocco, like any country in the world, would want to be able to use those natural resources in an environmentally responsible way to develop its own economy.
05:25And not just the mining, but potentially moving to the processing as well.
05:29And so what we look at is, if every country in the world has strategic advantages in terms of what it can mine and what it can process,
05:35you want to create a network of countries, as many as possible across the world, where we have a reliable supply of critical minerals.
05:43This is critical for Morocco.
05:44And they can play a very key role, because they do have critical mineral supplies that they can keep mining, and that creates economic development.
05:51But I also think they have a vested interest, like every country, I think, does, in having a reliable and diverse supply across the world of processed and finished and refined materials that can be used for economic advancement in a cost-effective way.
06:07So I think Morocco plays a key role because of the deposits that it has, but also because of its willingness to invest in processing and its cooperation in being willing to be a part of its global initiative.
06:17Which it will have to be a global initiative.
06:19No country in the world has every critical mineral that's valuable.
06:23So it will rely on international cooperation.
06:25That right now, you have 90-something percent of some of these elements controlled by one nation in one place.
06:31And that's just not healthy for the global economy, and certainly not healthy for security and stability.
06:36So Morocco can be a key part of that.
06:37We're very happy they're here today, and see that they're at the table with us.
06:40We're very happy they're at the table with us.
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