Iran warned that an agreement to end the war with the United States was not imminent, after President Donald Trump raised and then lowered expectations that a deal may be close.
According to NBC News, Tehran acknowledged progress but played down the idea an announcement could come soon, while Secretary of State Marco Rubio said a deal was still possible Monday, May 25.
Trump was “not in a hurry” and won’t rush into “a bad deal,” Rubio said, speaking with reporters early Monday on an official visit to the Indian capital New Delhi.
Rubio said, “We’re either going to have a good agreement or we’re going to have to deal with it another way. We’d prefer to have a good agreement.”
The US has a “pretty solid thing on the table. As I said, we thought we might have some news last night, maybe today,” he added.
The US will give diplomacy every chance to succeed “before we explore the alternatives,” he said, without elaborating.
Trump echoed that message, writing in a social media post hours later that the deal with Iran “will either be a great and meaningful one, or there will be no deal.”
Trump said Sunday that he would not “rush into a deal,” a step back from earlier public statements from Trump and officials from both nations that indicated an announcement may be close.
