Washington DC [US], June 3 (ANI): US Secretary of State Marco Rubio has expressed confidence in the nation’s global position, declaring that the United States remains the world’s only “true superpower” as tensions continue across West Asia.Speaking during a Senate hearing on Tuesday, Rubio highlighted Washington’s military strength and economic influence while discussing the Trump administration’s foreign policy efforts in the region, noting that the country’s core strengths remain entirely unmatched.”

US remains world’s sole global superpower, has most formidable and powerful military ever known to man; our dollar remains that reserve currency of the world,” the US leader said.His remarks came as lawmakers questioned the administration’s diplomatic and security strategy amid the ongoing conflict involving Iran. Defending the current policy, the top US diplomat argued that despite regional instability, the United States continues to maintain unmatched military and economic power.

As part of this dominant posture, the Secretary of State also took a hard line on Iran, describing Tehran’s actions in the Strait of Hormuz as unacceptable and calling for the crucial waterway to be reopened.”What Iran is doing is ‘unlawful and illegal’; they have to reopen the Strait of Hormuz,” Rubio said. Shifting focus to diplomatic pressure regarding Iran’s nuclear programme, Rubio claimed Tehran had shown a willingness to discuss parts of its nuclear activities.

“Iran has agreed to negotiate aspects of their nuclear programme,” he said, while cautioning that talks may not necessarily result in an agreement acceptable to Congress.He acknowledged that negotiations remain complicated due to uncertainty surrounding Iran’s leadership and decision-making processes, which pose an ongoing hurdle for international negotiators.Despite these diplomatic complexities, he also asserted that Iran’s naval capabilities had been effectively neutralised by American power. “Today, there is no Iranian navy. There is no such thing. There’s a bunch of Boston Whalers with machine guns on them. But there is no navy,” he said. (ANI)

“Hezbollah is the impediment” to Israel-Lebanon peace, says Rubio

Washington, DC [US], June 3 (ANI): US Secretary of State Marco Rubio has asserted that Israel and Lebanon remain capable of securing a peace treaty within a matter of days, pointing to the presence of Hezbollah as the sole barrier to an agreement, as delegations from both nations commenced a fourth round of diplomatic discussions in the American capital.

Testifying before the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Tuesday, the top American diplomat highlighted that the neighbouring states share no fundamental border disputes.”Israel and Lebanon can do a peace deal tomorrow,” Rubio told lawmakers. He further observed: “Israel has no territorial claims in Lebanon. Hezbollah is the impediment. There is no Hezbollah without Iran.”

Rubio explained that Washington, acting as the mediator between the two factions, is striving to ensure that the Israeli-Lebanese dialogue progresses entirely separately from any concurrent diplomatic tracks with Iran, a strategy that Tehran has firmly resisted. The latest session of face-to-face negotiations got underway at the US State Department, assembling high-level diplomats from both countries even as active cross-border hostilities persist. These deliberate sessions are slated to stretch across two days.

Heading the respective diplomatic groups are Israel’s ambassador to the United States, Yechiel Leiter, and Lebanon’s representative to Washington, Nada Hamadeh Moawad. Daniel Holler, a senior adviser to Rubio, is also taking part in the sessions.The envoys refrained from making any public statements as the current round of dialogue commenced.The diplomatic engagement unfolds against a backdrop of uninterrupted military exchanges between Israeli troops and Hezbollah, coming just after US President Donald Trump announced on Monday that a consensus had been achieved to suspend the violence.

Israeli authorities stated that their military operations would continue to strike Hezbollah bases across the southern suburbs of Beirut should the Iran-aligned faction carry on with its rocket bombardments against communities in northern Israel.

The frontier has witnessed a dramatic surge in combat over recent days, marked by Israeli ground forces pushing their deepest advance into Lebanese territory in almost 20 years. Concurrently, the Lebanese health ministry reported that Israeli bombardments conducted near a medical facility in the southern coastal city of Tyre on Monday resulted in four fatalities and left 127 individuals injured, a casualty count that includes 39 members of the hospital staff. (ANI)

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