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Secretary Rubio Holds a Joint Press Availability with Greek Foreign Minister Gerapetritis in Athens, Oct. 7, 2026

October 7, 2026 · U.S. Department of State · 0:34:47

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What happened

Secretary of State Marco Rubio held a joint press availability with Foreign Minister Giorgos Gerapetritis in Athens on October 7, 2026, as the sixth U.S.-Greece Strategic Dialogue got underway — the dialogue’s opening session is paged separately on this site. Rubio framed the alliance as a source of stability in a world destabilized by the conflicts in Hormuz and the Red Sea and the war in Ukraine, and announced a new Memorandum of Understanding establishing a joint security program to strengthen counterterrorism information sharing between the two countries’ law enforcement agencies.

He credited Greece as on track to meet the commitment to spend 5 percent of GDP on defense this year, with over 3.5 percent of GDP on core defense, and noted that Greece is joining the National Guard Bureau’s State Partnership Program, paired with the Florida National Guard. He also pointed to expanded U.S. LNG imports and new gas and electricity interconnectors, and to joint work with Homeland Security, the FBI, and CBP against antiquities trafficking. In questions, he restated the Iran bright line — “Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon, simple, period” — and declined to address questions about the U.S. ambassador to Greece at a foreign press availability, calling it the wrong forum.

Why it matters

This is the working record of the Athens stop: alongside the Strategic Dialogue’s opening session and the Acropolis address, the press availability carries the day’s concrete deliverable — a signed counterterrorism information-sharing framework — and the administration’s burden-sharing scorecard for a front-line NATO ally, stated by the Secretary in the ally’s own capital.

Scoreboard watch

Scoreboard candidate: the counterterrorism information-sharing Memorandum of Understanding announced in Athens on October 7, 2026, and the dated claim that Greece is on track to spend 5 percent of GDP on defense this year. Flagged for the scoreboard editor; no entry is published from this page.

Sources: U.S. Department of State, “Secretary Rubio holds a joint press availability with Greek Foreign Minister Giorgos Gerapetritis” (official upload, embedded above; Athens, Greece) and the Department’s published transcript of the availability. Remarks as delivered; transcript reviewed in the site’s private research store.