NEW DELHI, May 25. /TASS/. Washington plans to explore other options if diplomatic efforts fail to lead to a deal with Iran, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio told reporters.
"As the [US] president said, he's not in a hurry, he's not going to make a bad deal," he pointed out, adding: "We're going to give diplomacy every chance to succeed before we explore the alternatives."
"We're either going to have a good agreement or we're going to have to deal with it another way," Rubio noted. According to the top US diplomat, the parties are still working on potential agreements.
Rubio told the India Today TV channel on Sunday that the US administration did not rule out the resumption of military operations against Iran if it did not achieve its goals through negotiations with Tehran.
The United States and Israel launched a military operation against Iran on February 28. On April 7, US President Donald Trump announced a "double-sided" two-week ceasefire with Iran. On April 11, the parties held several rounds of talks in the Pakistani capital of Islamabad. According to both Tehran and Washington, they were unable to agree on a long-term solution to the conflict due to multiple disagreements. On April 21, the US president announced plans to extend the ceasefire with Iran. On May 19, Trump said the US was ready to give diplomacy a chance, postponing military operations until the beginning of next week. On May 23, the US leader stated that an agreement had been largely negotiated.
