Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., on Sunday said a new multi-billion dollar deal between Boeing and an Iranian airline “should be canceled.”
“We should be increasing sanctions significantly on Iranian and Russian interests that are helping Assad. In particular, this Boeing deal should be canceled,” Rubio said.
Last week, Boeing said it had agreed to sell $3 billion in airplanes to an Iranian airline, though President Trump could thwart the deal.
Rubio also said Sunday he is “concerned” about the Trump administration’s Syria strategy following Secretary of State Rex Tillerson’s comments about tackling the Islamic State before stabilizing Bashar Assad’s country. The Foreign Relations Committee member is worried that new comments by Tillerson do not take the necessary steps against helping Syria and its allies.
Rubio pointed to the difference between statements Nikki Haley, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, made last week about removing Assad and what Tillerson said on Sunday.
“What I’m telling you is I think the strategy he seems to be outlining is based on assumptions that aren’t going to work. There is no such thing as Assad, yes, but ISIS, no. This focus that you can defeat ISIS as long as Assad is there is not true. They are two sides to the same coin,” Rubio told ABC “This Week” anchor George Stephanopoulos. “This idea that we can defeat ISIS and then figure it out, it won’t work.”
Rubio had praised Trump’s missile launches at the Syrian air base on Thursday, but following new reports that the airfield is up and running again, he said the U.S. must abandon its Libyan-like approach to stabilizing a country, which Tillerson referenced earlier.
