WASHINGTON (AP) 鈥� Secretary of State Marco Rubio plans to travel to Israel next week to on the U.S.-Iran nuclear talks, two Trump administration officials said.
Rubio is expected to meet with Netanyahu on Feb. 28, according to the officials, who spoke Wednesday on condition of anonymity to detail travel plans that have not yet been announced.
The U.S. and Iran recently have held over the Islamic Republic鈥檚 nuclear program.
Iran has agreed to draw up a written proposal to address U.S. concerns that were raised during this week鈥檚 Geneva talks, according to another senior U.S. official who was not authorized to comment publicly and spoke on the condition of anonymity.
That official said top national security officials gathered Wednesday in the White House Situation Room to discuss Iran, and were briefed that the 鈥渇ull forces鈥� needed to carry out potential military action are expected to be in place by mid-March. The official did not provide a timeline for when Iran is expected to deliver its written response.
Officials from both the U.S. and Iran had publicly offered some muted optimism about progress this week, with Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi even saying that 鈥渁 new window has opened鈥� for reaching an agreement.
鈥淚n some ways, it went well,鈥� U.S. Vice President JD Vance said about the talks in an interview Tuesday with Fox 草莓传媒 Channel. 鈥淏ut 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.鈥�
last week to urge President Donald Trump to ensure that any deal about Iran’s nuclear program also include steps to neutralize Iran鈥檚 ballistic missile program and end its funding for proxy groups such as Hamas and Hezbollah.
Trump is weighing whether to take military action against Tehran as the administration , raising concerns that any attack could spiral into a larger conflict in the Middle East.
On Friday, Trump told reporters that a 鈥渟eems like that would be the best thing that could happen.鈥� He added, 鈥淔or 47 years, they鈥檝e been talking and talking and talking.鈥�
The Trump administration has dispatched the USS Gerald R. Ford, the world鈥檚 largest aircraft carrier, to the Mideast to as well as other warships and military assets that the U.S. has built up in the region.
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 analyzes military and government flight activity.
The team says it鈥檚 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鈥檚 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.
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Associated Press Aamer Madhani contributed to this report.
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