Secretary of State Marco Rubio will appear on Capitol Hill on Tuesday for his first public testimony before lawmakers since the Trump administration launched the war in Iran.
Rubio will address the Senate Foreign Relations Committee starting at 10 a.m., followed by an appearance in front of a House panel on State Department spending at 2 p.m. The sessions are part of a marathon schedule for the secretary to defend the administration’s nearly $36 billion budget request for his agency.
Two more hearings are scheduled for Wednesday before the House Foreign Affairs Committee and the Senate Appropriations subcommittee on the State Department.
Lawmakers are expected to question Rubio, who also serves as President Donald Trump’s national security adviser, about the administration’s faltering efforts to reach a peace deal with Tehran — as lawmakers from both parties show increased frustration with the war’s costs and potential political liabilities ahead of the November midterms.
The U.S. military struck Iranian drone and radar sites over the weekend, with Iran later launching missiles at Kuwait, a close American ally in the Persian Gulf. Meanwhile, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced Monday that he ordered new strikes on suspected Hezbollah strongholds in Beirut.
Israel’s escalation of hostilities in Lebanon prompted Iran to announce the suspension of negotiations with the United States over ending the war, raising doubts about whether the two sides will extend a ceasefire first agreed to in April that would lead to new talks over Iran’s nuclear program.
In an apparent effort to salvage the negotiations, Trump said later Monday that he spoke to Netanyahu and representatives of Hezbollah and urged both sides to call off attacks. He then announced on social media that U.S. talks with Iran were back on and continuing “at a rapid pace.”
Administration officials have said that a memorandum of understanding between Washington and Tehran is undergoing last-minute revisions and pending Trump’s approval.
The president has demanded that Iran shutter its nuclear program and reopen the Strait of Hormuz — a vital waterway for the oil and fertilizer trade that Tehran has closed since the war began in late February. The disruption has roiled global energy markets and led to an increase in domestic gas prices that some Republicans fear could cost the party as it seeks to retain control of Congress.
In a sign of the war’s lagging popularity within the GOP, more Republicans have backed largely symbolic measures intended to halt the fighting in recent weeks. Democratic-led war powers resolutions in the House and Senate could come up for votes as soon as this week.
The deteriorating security situation in the Middle East occurs as Rubio’s top aides are set to convene the next round of talks between Lebanese and Israeli diplomats in Washington on Tuesday and Wednesday, aimed at securing a longer-term security and ceasefire deal. One U.S. official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive diplomatic talks, said that Israel’s escalation in Lebanon was so “dramatic” that Lebanon may decide to walk away from the talks.
A second U.S. official said the Trump administration was throwing its full weight behind Israel, saying “the United States does not expect Israel to absorb ongoing attacks on its civilians by a terrorist organization.”
A Democratic congressional aide, speaking on the condition of anonymity to preview Tuesday’s hearing, said that lawmakers probably also would press Rubio to explain the administration’s strategy for aiding other vulnerable U.S. partners such as Ukraine and Taiwan.
Trump has largely shifted the burden for supporting Ukraine’s defense against Russia’s full-scale invasion onto European allies, and the administration’s effort to negotiate a peace deal between Kyiv and Moscow has stalled.
Following a May summit with Chinese leader Xi Jinping, the president also said he would decide on whether to approve $14 billion in arms sales to Taiwan, which Beijing claims as its own territory, in the coming weeks.
The post Rubio to meet with Congress as Iran ceasefire falters appeared first on Washington Post.
