FULL REMARKS: Secretary Rubio Answers Questions Before Departing from Joint Base Andrews for Uzbekistan and India.

Department of State on X official account2026-10-18

FULL REMARKS: Secretary Rubio Answers Questions Before Departing from Joint Base Andrews for Uzbekistan and India.

Posted on X 2026-10-18 by @StateDept · View on X →

The video says (transcribed automatically):

It's all right with everything going on in the world and the crisis all over why are you choosing now at this time to go to Uzbekistan? Well it's the time of year that worked for those leaders. It's not just Uzbekistan it's the other four countries from the Central Asia There's an important relationship. I mean you know, one of the things that suffers is the strategic visits. You know you're always visiting some place where there's a crisis or there's a problem or there's a, you're going because there's a conference but there's countries you'd like to get to because we want to build our relationship to them And and so that's what we did a couple of weeks ago when we went to Greece and other places like that And earlier, a few weeks earlier than that we went to Latin America now to Central Asia. So and the chance to see it was the date that worked to get all five of the leaders together all five of the foreign ministers from the five countries On Star, on Starshield, what's going on? Because, Elon Musk said it's up to the president Well, Starshield or Starlink? Well, just, well, yeah, I know, it's confusing So Starlink is a commercial product okay? And, And so your, they, they it's regulated and handled as a commercial product Starshield is a defense product a military product, and, as I said, I mean, that, that is something that that we have a the military, United States military uses It's not at this moment available to Ukraine and that's under conversation. I mean it's under discussion right now about how they would want to use it No, but did the US did the US have anything to do with it not working in Ukraine at the moment? Zelensky said it was deliberate Well, I don't know what Zelensky said I'm not sure Zelensky knows what he's talking about but it wasn't deliberate we had nothing to do with it I don't, I don't, the United States nobody ordered that Starlink speed to be slowed down It sort of happened but my understanding is it's been restored It's back to where it was before So that's Starlink though. They were using Starlink for their drones Is the Starshield been restored? Starshield is a totally different product Starshield is a, no, no Starshield is a contract with the US military It has nothing to do with Ukraine I know Ukraine wants access to Starshield They do not have Starshield now They've asked for access to it in order to conduct deep strikes inside of Russia They do not have access to it at this moment Those are two different products But you have to have a theory as to why obviously, Ukraine has acquired disruptions Yeah, I don't know what their theory is but it wa- nothing to do with the White House. I saw a report on that the other day. It's just categorically false No one at the White House ordered anyone to slow down internet or slow down speed so that certain drones couldn't use it But my understanding is it's back up and running. That's what I read you know, that's what we heard two days ago Sir, on the sanctions waivers on, on Russia, Senator Ted Cruz today called it a a big mistake that only serves to benefit I'm wondering what your response is to that Well, there are other countries The problem is these sanctions were not just sanctions on Russia They include tariffs on a number of countries India, for example, and others And so I think the president wants to take the sixty-day period of time to sort of analyze what imposing both sanctions and tariffs will mean to the global economy and even to the US economy I think when the bill was passed one of the reasons the way it was put in there is understanding that they would need some period of time to study this given all the different things that are that are going on in the world right now including the pressure on global energy supplies that are happening not just because of Iran and not just because of the Strait of Hormuz but increasingly because of the Houthis attacking Saudi Arabia and because of the war with Ukraine and Russia where energy infrastructure is being hit And so that's having an impact on global prices as well So I think you have to take all of that into account and weigh it against each other And then you've got countries like India for example, that have voluntarily diversified their energy portfolio but are still getting a substantial amount of energy from Russia because it's hard to pivot from one day to the next But they're also an important ally and partner of the United States. So the president we need that period of time to sort of study all this and figure out what the right combination is. Between this waiver and the diesel deal I mean there's a criticism that we're basically giving Putin something for nothing. We're giving Well that that diesel is gonna be sold one way or the other I mean, the diesel that Putin was gonna sell they will make it available to the global market one way or the other. The only difference is how much of it the United States was going to get So, but this is not unprecedented If you recall a few months ago we also did a sixty-day waiver on Russian oil when Hormuz was being challenged So yeah these conflicts around the world are starting to crash into each other and they're having an impact not just on global oil and and diesel prices, but on economic And, I mean, United States we're paying higher prices than we all wanna be paying but you look at some of these other countries around the world they're near crisis mode So all these things have to be managed and delicately and work because they're all, you know they're all coming together now It's not just the Strait of Hormuz anymore it's what's happening with Saudi Arabia and and the uncertainty that that's creating It's also what's happening between Russia and Ukraine and the constraints that's putting on global energy supplies I saw that. We're all we're very disturbed by those images and what we're seeing We've asked the Israelis and continue to ask them to crack down on that stuff That, that, the president's been very clear He said this repeatedly. He does not want to see friction or anything crisis going on in the West Bank Now I understand that these are groups that are out there doing it and the president's been repeatedly clear when he said that he doesn't want to see that He doesn't want to see a new spark Well we saw the reports about what happened yesterday I don't have all the details I only go off media reports I know we've inquired with the embassy who are supposed to get a cable back later today or tomorrow indicating exactly what they know about it But from what I understand about media reports it didn't look good You know, it was an American reporter maybe it was a photo journalist who was caught behind where some of these groups came in and was beaten and there was video of that So the, the whole thing was just disturbing Didn't, not a good look Support was to lift sanctions against the settlers Yeah, I understand but he doesn't want to see what's happening now Lifting sanctions, which what he did earlier today does not mean he's a supporter of what he's seeing now on television what he's reading about We'd like to get all the facts and learn a little bit more about it but that, that's one instance and it happened to involve a photojournalist But there are other instances we've heard complaints about Now it's this olive harvest season and and and so traditionally that's always been a time in which a lot of people come into those areas So we've been watching that closely We know that's an issue there That's potentially an issue in Lebanon as well Okay? Do you agree with the UK assessment its assessment that Russia and Iran may be increasing hybrid attacks over the next few months? Well, which assessment are you talking about? The, both NATO and UK have indicated have indicated that in Yeah those are two separate things So in case of you're asking about Russian hybrid attacks yeah we've we've always been concerned that the war in Ukraine can metastasize into other parts of Europe and other parts of the world whether they be sabotage operations or the like We've always been concerned that that's one of the risks of a stalemated conflict is escalation and escalation can take the form of irregular attacks or irregular events So that's something I raised a couple weeks ago and we're watching that closely I think with Iran and UK what the UK has said is that they the Iranians were behind the plot to attack the airbase and obviously we have no reason to disagree with the assessment. In fact we, in fact, we agree with it so All right? It's cold guys. Did you guys see my gators today take down Texas on the road? Go ahead Well, we want to learn all the facts about it first obviously. We've seen the video we've seen the media reporting about it and we have a process to handle these sorts of things. And if in fact it turns out to be what it appeared it was you know then we have ways of communicating that to the Israelis about how we expect what that we would expect of them to prevent that from happening in the future You know, this thing, again the president doesn't want to see a crisis in the West Bank The, we don't need that right now Israel doesn't need that right now Okay? Thank you Well, yeah, what about it? No, I don't think the sanctions lifting these are very small sanctions and they really have anything to do with what's happened over there You have these separatists that were attacking inside of Ethiopia. You had an Ethiopian response to it you see troops surging on both sides of the border as a result of that And any time you see troops on both sides of a border in a in a, in a place like that you're always worried that that can turn into a a broader conflict So We don't have the closest relationship with Eritrea obviously, over the years although we've had communication with them more than usual in the past few months and our hope was that by lifting some of these sanctions we can increase those links because you it's hard to serve the role of mediator and peacemaker unless you can talk to both sides Obviously, the opium, like the opium side we talked to a lot more and I, I spoke to them this week personally a few days ago and just reiterated how important it was like, we understand the challenge they're facing from the separatists and obviously no one is supportive of terrorism and the terrorist attacks that came against them drone attacks against their own capital but we also think we it's a time to sort of be wise and measured in how to respond to that and make sure it doesn't turn into a broader war which could ultimately pull in other countries and it's the last thing the world needs right now is another war Okay? Thank you, guys

Open the full analysis →

What the model flagged

Analyzed 2026-10-18 01:51 UTC.

Findings may include language that is quoted rather than the speaker's own, and the model over-reads ceremonial language (tributes, anniversaries) as persuasion. Check each finding against the original.

No techniques were flagged.