Rubio Says Iran Nuclear Talks Still Active Despite Rising Middle East Tensions | Top News | ET Now

Added: 2026-06-03

[00:00:01]Despite the running media reports claiming talks has stopped the US says the negotiations [music] with Iran remains rather active. Trump dismissed reports of a breakdown saying the discussions have continued every day.

[00:00:15]>> [music] >> While Marco Rubio told lawmakers that Iran is for the first time willing to discuss aspects of its nuclear program.

[00:00:21]Rubio also reiterated that reopening of Strait of Hormuz [music] remains central to the deal. The comments came amid heightened tensions conflicting signals from Iran [music] and the growing scrutiny in Washington over the conflict. Meanwhile US [music] said that its forces conducted the self-defense strikes on Iran's Qeshm Island and defeated multiple Iranian missiles [music] and drones as civilian vessels and regional allies Kuwait, Bahrain came under attack. Kuwait's military said that the air defense system intercepted incoming drones and missiles while Bahrain's interior minister said that warning sirens were activated. Earlier Iranian media reported that explosions were heard in the vicinity in the Qeshm Island.

[00:01:06]>> [clears throat] >> And US Secretary of State [music] Marco Rubio is facing a litany of questions of from the Senate of Trump and his administration's foreign policy. During the hearing Marco Rubio has spoken about true stocks [music] with Iran and has also said that what is impending in the talks. Let's go across and listening.

[00:01:28]>> Now we are in talks and I say talks because talks with Iran are not like talks with Switzerland, okay? They're very different. They require the use of intermediaries, unfortunately. But there is the prospect before us which could happen today, it could happen tomorrow, it could happen next week that for the first time certainly in in my memory they have agreed to negotiate aspects of their nuclear program that just a month ago just a a year ago they were refusing to even mention much less enter into discussions about. That is not a guarantee that ultimately it will lead to a deal that's acceptable to the Senate or acceptable to the American people. But we'll be able to engage them in a process that truly test the proposition of how far they're willing to go. Complicating that process, unfortunately, is their internal regime is somewhat fractured in the sense of it takes days to get responses from their system. We can go into more depth in your [clears throat] follow-up questions. But >> [snorts] >> um but we're hopeful that something like that could happen in which the straits would reopen, we would enter into a period of negotiations on very specific topics, delineated negotiations, in the hope of reaching an outcome that's acceptable to us and something that they would be able to do as well. If it doesn't work out, then obviously we still have a problem uh with respect to um their nuclear ambitions. But what they won't have is the conventional shield to hide behind any longer.

[00:02:48]>> And testifying before the Senate Foreign Policy Committee, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said that the ultimate decision regarding the Russian waiver would be made by the Department of Treasury, but that would uh like to end the sanction waiver granted to countries purchasing Russian oil, contending that these measures were time-limited to ease the global supplies in the wake of Iranian war.

[00:03:11]>> China refines oil, they import a lot, but they refine oil, and they >> But but they also benefit from Russian oil. But my question for you is can you commit not to extend the general license again when it expires on June 17th?

[00:03:24]>> Well, that ultimately is a decision that's made by Treasury, but I will tell you it depends on the circumstances at the time. We would like to end it as soon as we possibly can because the underlying policy of this country has been to sanction their oil. These were time-limited waivers for the purpose of opening up more global supply.

[00:03:42]>> And well, Anthropic is significantly expanding access [music] to its advanced cybersecurity focused AI model, My Poss, bringing another 150 organizations [music] across 20 plus countries into its project Glass Wing initiative. Now the move comes amid growing concerns that increasingly [music] powerful AI tools could both strengthen cyber defenses and accelerate vulnerability discoveries >> [music] >> uh by the bad actors. Anthropic says partners have already identified more than 10,000 high and critical security flaws as the company prepares for a potential IPO and broader international rollout.

[00:04:19]And Microsoft [music] is making a bigger push into uh the proprietary AI models unveiling its first dedicated coding model and a new reasoning model at its uh Build conference. The move [music] signals to Microsoft intend to reduce dependence on OpenAI and lower AI costs for developers by running more workloads >> [music] >> on its own Azure infrastructure. The company says its latest model can outperform leading alternatives on the same enterprise [music] tasks while delivering significantly better cost efficiency.

[00:04:50]And Goldman Sachs CEO David Solomon says markets remain firmly in greed mode with investors [music] showing a strong appetite for AI-led capital raises despite concerns over the massive upcoming IPOs and equity offerings.

[00:05:04]Solomon believes liquidity remains abundant and pointed to Alphabet's successful $80 billion fund raising plan as evidence that the markets can absorb large AI-related issuances. He added that the current AI boom may still be in its early [music] stages although the investors' exuberance can quickly reverse if the sentiment changes.

[00:05:25]And Marvell Tech surged more than 32% uh it's the biggest ever single-day gain after Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang called it the next [music] $1 trillion company.

[00:05:35]Huang highlighted Marvell's critical role in AI infrastructure, particularly its networking and connectivity chips that link thousands [music] of processors inside massive AI data centers. The rally comes as Nvidia deepens its relations with Marvell through a $2 billion investment.

[00:05:56]The Trump administration has proposed [music] a fresh 25% tariff on Brazilian imports under Section 305 alleging a range of unfair trade practices that hurt US commerce and the move revives trade tensions between the Washington [music] and the Brasilia despite recent talks between President Trump and Lula.

[00:06:15]The proposed duties cover concerns ranging from intellectual property protection and ethanol [music] market access to anti-corruption reinforcement and illegal deforestation. A public [music] hearing is scheduled for 6th July before any final decision.