Rubio gives Iran deal the silent treatment

When President Donald Trump joked at the G7 summit this week that Vice President JD Vance should “be careful” because he would be blaming him if the Iran deal “doesn’t work out,” some officials on stage joined in laughter.

Marco Rubio, normally a convivial hype man for the president, stared straight ahead with a somber expression. He didn’t even crack a smile.

The secretary of state seems to have positioned himself as far from the Iran deal as possible, raising questions among foreign policy analysts whether Rubio believes in the plan.

“Without being in the room, the only plausible explanations are either Rubio was sidelined by Trump, who went with Vance’s approach, or Rubio isn’t entirely comfortable defending the process and the ultimate deal that was struck,” Dennis Lennox, a Republican strategist, told the Washington Examiner.

President Donald Trump, center, speaks as Secretary of State Marco Rubio stands right, during a media conference at the end of the G7 summit in Evian-les-Bains, France, Wednesday, June 17, 2026. (AP Photo/Vadim Ghirda)

He continued: “It’s inconceivable as someone who has watched Rubio over the years, even as he has adjusted his style and approach in the Trump era, to believe that he would abandon his long-standing positions and foreign policy worldview to be the proponent of this awful deal.”

Rubio has been intimately involved with Iranian negotiations since they began in February. He gave briefings to reporters about the granular details and inside-baseball considerations forming the American position. He sat through a marathon of hearings in the House and Senate, patiently wading through swipes from Democrats outraged with Operation Epic Fury.

In all his statements on the subject, he struck a bellicose and confident tone about the United States having Iran over a barrel militarily and economically.

“Iran has no navy left, they’ve lost a substantial percentage of their defense industrial base, Iran has lost a substantial percentage of their missile launchers,” he told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee earlier this month. “And their economy is far worse today, and I mean, far worse today than it was six to nine months ago.”

Yet it was Vance, along with special envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, who became the public face of the Iran deal over the past week as Washington and Tehran ironed out the final version of the 14-point plan. The extended closure of the Strait of Hormuz and consequent surges in energy prices seemed to have left the administration with few options.

“There was no immediate answer for the Trump administration to respond short of putting boots on the ground — which, of course, that has been off the table,” Jonathan Schanzer, executive director of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, told the Washington Examiner. “It really appeared that diplomacy needed to kick in and I think that’s when the momentum shifted.”

And as the peace deal — with its mechanisms for rewarding Iranian good behavior with economic benefits — became public knowledge, Rubio slipped out the proverbial back door. On its face, the agreement seems to run contrary to Rubio’s most basic sense of foreign policy regarding Iran. He has been considered among the most aggressive Iran hawks since his time in the Senate.

He has not made public comments about the final deal, and his unenthusiastic appearance during the G7 summit seemed to suggest consternation. He has been more involved in the shaky ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon.

Vance, on the other hand, took the podium in the White House briefing room on Thursday to field reporters’ questions about the peace plan and make an appeal for the public to trust the president.

“The idea that he is going to strike a deal that’s been bad for the American people, it’s preposterous,” the vice president said. “He is the person who has had the courage to fundamentally transform our relationship with Iran and with a lot of other countries over the last year and a half.”

Reporters their raise hands to ask a question as Vice President JD Vance speaks to reporters in the James Brady Press Briefing Room at the White House, Thursday, June 18, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)

When the Washington Examiner inquired why it was Vance, not Rubio, who fielded questions in the White House press room on Thursday, a source said it was because Rubio had only gotten home at 4 a.m. and it made better sense to use the vice president.

“These things have a way of going through ebbs and flows. My sense is that if this deal doesn’t begin to gain traction, we may see more of Rubio […] in the near future,” Schanzer said.

One reporter asked Vance point-blank if he fears Trump could have been serious when he suggested making the vice president his fall guy. Vance said, “Not at all.”

The White House released a statement Thursday calling the vice president Trump’s “right-hand man” and an “invaluable member of the president’s talented national security team.”

The text of the agreement has already been signed by both countries, but when the in-person signatures will take place remains somewhat murky.

HOARSE JD VANCE IS DEPLOYED TO MAKE SURE NOTHING IS LOST IN TRANSLATION WITH IRAN DEAL

“The U.S. delegation has been prepared to depart at the first available opportunity. But the logistics of these negotiations have never been simple or predictable,” a spokesman for Vance said after the vice president did not leave on Thursday night as planned. “We will let you know as soon as we have a concrete update about next steps.”

Earlier in the day, Vance said the meeting could take some time to organize, since it has become difficult for Iranian leaders to travel due to the war.

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