← Videos · Foreign Policy & Defense

Secretary Rubio Takes Questions at Joint Base Andrews Before Departing for Southeast Asia, Jul. 19, 2026

July 19, 2026 · U.S. Department of State · 0:13:23

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

What happened

Secretary of State Marco Rubio took questions from the traveling press at Joint Base Andrews, Maryland, on July 19, 2026, before departing for the ASEAN summit in the Philippines — hours after attending the World Cup final, about which he congratulated Spain and praised the United States, Canada, and Mexico for hosting.

On China, he said the September visit by President Xi remains on track — “they’ve continued to send over their teams to prepare for it” — and that whatever the irritants between two powerful countries, “it’s incumbent on powerful and important countries like ours to continue to talk.” On Iran, then on what he described as the ninth straight day of strikes, he said the United States is striking only assets Iran uses to attack commercial shipping in the Strait of Hormuz, and that Iran had failed to keep the memorandum: it was supposed to announce the straits open and instead “attacked three ships.” “You can’t have an MOU that’s alive if they’re violating the terms of it,” he said, while insisting the door to diplomacy stays open and describing a growing split inside Iran between those who see an economy in shambles and a militant faction. Asked about the President’s proposed toll on strait cargo, Rubio read it as a burden-sharing point: the United States is protecting the world’s shipping — “virtually none of those vessels are flagged U.S.” — and beneficiary countries should help carry the cost.

On Venezuela, he put the U.S. commitment to post-earthquake rebuilding at “already upwards of $180 million,” with more to come, and highlighted an agreement between the group representing the 2015 National Assembly and the interim government to open reconciliation and transition talks, with first official talks in the first week of August, as he stated it. On Lebanon, he described a positive meeting with President Aoun that morning and a process to explore restarting direct U.S.–Lebanon flights, with the goal a legitimate government as the country’s sole force of arms in place of Hezbollah. He closed by honoring the service members lost in a strike in Jordan and in an accident in Iraq.

Why it matters

The departure gaggle is the baseline for the Manila week that followed: the administration’s Iran compliance verdict, its Xi-visit expectation, and its Venezuela and Lebanon positions all fixed in the Secretary’s own words in a single sitting, before the ASEAN and bilateral meetings began.

Scoreboard watch

Scoreboard watch: the Venezuela figures and dates as the Secretary stated them on July 19, 2026 — U.S. rebuilding assistance “upwards of $180 million” and transition talks to begin the first week of August; and the on-record claim that Iran attacked three ships in place of the agreed straits announcement. Flagged for the scoreboard editor; no entry is published from this page.

Sources: U.S. Department of State, “Secretary of State Marco Rubio Remarks to the Press” (official upload, embedded above; Joint Base Andrews, Maryland). Remarks as delivered; transcript reviewed in the site’s private research store; full transcript at state.gov.