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Secretary Rubio Answers Press Questions in Helsingborg, Sweden, May 22, 2026

May 22, 2026 · U.S. Department of State · 0:19:19

Embedded from the source channel — never re-uploaded. Watch on YouTube

What happened

Secretary of State Marco Rubio answered questions from the press in Helsingborg, Sweden, on May 22, 2026, after meetings with NATO allies ahead of the leaders’ meeting in Ankara. On U.S. troop posture, Rubio said the United States has global commitments and has been reevaluating force positioning since the first day of the administration, in coordination with allies: adjustments to the U.S. presence in Europe “shouldn’t be a surprise to anybody,” and the NATO Force Model work is a collective, technical product of military planners, not a political decision made “on the back of a napkin.”

On Ukraine, Rubio said support through the PURL program continues unchanged. On the Strait of Hormuz, he said the hope is an agreement under which Iran opens the straits and abandons its nuclear weapons ambitions, but allies also need a “plan B” if Iran refuses and tries to charge tolls: countries more deeply impacted than the United States should be ready to act, including on mine clearance, where he credited the UK-French initiative. He said Pakistan remains the primary interlocutor in the Iran diplomacy, with Field Marshal Munir in constant communication with Washington. He also described Sweden as a model ally and said the two countries signed a memorandum of understanding that day expanding cooperation on biomedicine, biotechnology, and AI, building on Sweden’s early accession to Pax Silica and its 5G/6G technology role through Ericsson.

Why it matters

The Helsingborg availability is the Secretary’s fullest public framing of the European posture debate in this period: posture changes presented as a planned global rebalance, NATO’s value to the United States as the argument he says must be made in every era, and a Hormuz contingency ask of allies stated before any agreement with Iran.

Sources: U.S. Department of State, “Secretary Rubio Remarks to the Press in Sweden” (official upload, embedded above); transcript via state.gov as linked in the upload description. Remarks as delivered; transcript reviewed in the site’s private research store.