The United States has seen some progress in talks with Iran and ‌is in constant communication with the Pakistani mediators, but there is more work ⁠to be done, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Friday (May 22, 2026).

“There’s been some progress. I wouldn’t ‌exaggerate it. I wouldn’t diminish it,” Mr. Rubio told reporters after a NATO ministers ‌meeting in Sweden.

“There’s more work ‌to ⁠be done,” he added. “We’re not there yet. ⁠I hope we get there.”

President Donald Trump would prefer to do a good deal, Mr. Rubio said. The core concern remains ‌that Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon and the issue of future uranium enrichment needs to be discussed, as well as ‌reopening the Strait of Hormuz, he said.

“We’re dealing with a very difficult group of people, and if it ⁠doesn’t change, then the president’s been clear he has other options,” Mr. Rubio said.

“He prefers ‌the negotiated option and having a good deal, but he himself has expressed concern that maybe that’s not possible. But we’re going to keep trying.”

Mr. Rubio said the United States was in constant communication with the ‌Pakistanis, who are facilitating the talks with Iran.

There was no specific ask from the U.S. on Friday (May 22, 2026) for help from ⁠NATO on the Strait of Hormuz, but ⁠there needs to be a Plan B if Iran refuses to reopen the ‌supply route, Mr. Rubio said after the close of the NATO meeting.

U.S. President Donald Trump said on Tuesday (April 21, 2026) his team would “soon” hold talks with Iranian leaders in Islamabad and that he expects the U.S. to make a “great deal”, while Tehran ruled out joining negotiations “under threats”, with the two-week ceasefire due to expire on Wednesday (April 22).

Pakistan said it has made all arrangements for the talks but has yet to receive formal confirmation from Iran about its participation, as of Tuesday evening (April 21).

Secretary of State Marco Rubio plans to travel to Israel next week to update Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on the U.S.-Iran nuclear talks, two Trump administration officials said.

Mr. Rubio is expected to meet with Netanyahu on February 28, according to the officials, who spoke Wednesday (February 18, 2026) on condition of anonymity to detail travel plans that have not yet been announced.

The U.S. and Iran recently have held two rounds of indirect talks over the Islamic Republic’s nuclear program. Officials from both sides publicly offered some muted optimism about progress this week, with Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi even saying that “a new window has opened” for reaching an agreement.

“In some ways, it went well,” U.S. Vice President J.D. Vance said about the talks in an interview Tuesday (February 17, 2026) with Fox News Channel. “But in other ways, it was very clear that the president has set some red lines that the Iranians are not yet willing to actually acknowledge and work through.”

Mr. Netanyahu visited the White House last week to urge President Donald Trump to ensure that any deal about Iran’s nuclear programme also include steps to neutralise Iran’s ballistic missile program and end its funding for proxy groups such as Hamas and Hezbollah.

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Mr. Trump is weighing whether to take military action against Tehran as the administration surges military resources to the region, raising concerns that any attack could spiral into a larger conflict in the Middle East.

Last week, Mr. Trump told reporters that a change in power in Iran “seems like that would be the best thing that could happen.” He added, “For 47 years, they’ve been talking and talking and talking.”

The Trump administration has dispatched the USS Gerald R. Ford, the world’s largest aircraft carrier, from the Caribbean Sea to the Mideast to join a second carrier as well as other warships and military assets that the U.S. has built up in the region.

Iran ‘drafting framework to advance’ future U.S. talks: FM tells IAEA chief

Dozens of U.S. fighter jets, including F-35s, F-22s and F-16s, have left bases in the U.S. and Europe in recent days to head to the Middle East, according to the Military Air Tracking Alliance, a team of about 30 open-source analysts that routinely analyses military and government flight activity.

The team says it’s also tracked more than 85 fuel tankers and over 170 cargo planes heading into the region.

Steffan Watkins, a researcher based in Canada and a member of the MATA, said he also has spotted support aircraft like six of the military’s early-warning E-3 aircraft head to a base in Saudi Arabia.

Those aircraft are key for coordinating operations with a large number of aircraft. He says they were pulled from bases in Japan, Germany and Hawaii.