US Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Tuesday signalled that the Donald Trump administration could put sanctions relief and the release of frozen Iranian assets on the table as part of a future nuclear deal — provided Tehran surrenders its highly enriched uranium and permanently halts enrichment activity. The remarks, made before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee in Washington, are among the clearest public indications yet that Washington is prepared to deploy sanctions leverage to block Iran's path to a nuclear weapon.

What Rubio told the Senate panel

Rubio framed any concessions as strictly conditional on verifiable Iranian action, not pledges on paper. ‘Iran is being sanctioned because they enrich uranium. Iran is being sanctioned because they have highly enriched uranium. Iran is being sanctioned because of their nuclear activities,' he said.

‘If they agree to give up those things, there will be sanctions relief associated with their commitment and compliance with those agreements,' Rubio added. He stressed, however, that relief would not be front-loaded: ‘What they're not going to get is a down payment. They're not going to get it as a signing bonus.'

Frozen assets also in play

The Secretary of State distinguished between revenue-blocking sanctions and frozen Iranian assets held abroad, suggesting both categories could feature in a settlement. ‘There are sanctions that block direct activities that generate revenue,' Rubio said. ‘And then there's the frozen assets, which are related to sanctions.'

The hearing unfolded against the backdrop of recent military confrontations involving Iran and the continuing closure of the Strait of Hormuz — a chokepoint through which a significant share of global oil flows.

Rand Paul backs leverage-led diplomacy

Senator Rand Paul welcomed the administration's openness to using sanctions as a bargaining chip. ‘Sanctions do have some leverage and ability to exact change if you remove them,' Paul said. ‘The removal of sanctions might actually have some hope.'

Paul argued diplomacy frequently requires engagement with adversaries, and urged Washington to offer meaningful incentives if Tehran agrees to give up its enriched uranium stockpile. Rubio concurred that sanctions tied directly to Iran's nuclear programme could be folded into a wider deal, noting, ‘The more they give, theoretically, the more they should be willing to get.'

Red lines unchanged

Rubio maintained that President Trump's bottom line has not shifted: Iran must never obtain a nuclear weapon. Any agreement, he said, would demand zero enrichment, removal of highly enriched uranium, and strict verification.

‘Simply putting something on a piece of paper is not satisfactory,' Rubio said. ‘You have to actually commit to doing it. Then you have to actually do it.' The next round of US-Iran engagement is expected to test whether Tehran is willing to convert the conditional offer into concrete steps.