Secretary of State Marco Rubio has canceled his trip to Israel, which had been scheduled for Monday and Tuesday, the State Department announced Saturday.
"Due to current circumstances, Secretary Rubio will no longer travel to Israel on March 2," Dylan Johnson, assistant secretary of state for global public affairs, wrote on X.
The State Department said in a statement Friday that Rubio would discuss "a range of regional priorities including Iran, Lebanon and ongoing efforts to implement President [Donald] Trump's 20-Point Peace Plan for Gaza."
The trip was called off after the joint Israeli-U.S. military operation early Saturday that targeted the regime's leadership and military assets.
In June, similar questions arose about whether the announcement of a pending diplomatic meeting had been used as cover for military action, The Wall Street Journal reported. A round of talks between U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff and his Iranian counterparts had been set for June 15 in Oman.
On June 13, Israel attacked military and nuclear sites in Iran, killing prominent Iranian military leaders, nuclear scientists, and politicians.
Rubio was not present when Oman's foreign minister met Friday with Vice President JD Vance to discuss his country's diplomatic efforts to avert war, according to the Journal.
"I was surprised by the release that Rubio was going," Dennis Ross, a former U.S. Middle East peace negotiator, told the Journal. "But then I became convinced that this was designed to create the impression that the strikes would not take place this weekend and this was disinformation designed to mislead the Iranians."
The State Department did not immediately respond to the Journal's request for comment on whether the announcement was intended as a feint.
Michael Katz ✉
Michael Katz is a Newsmax reporter with more than 30 years of experience reporting and editing on news, culture, and politics.
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