Trump 'has not made a decision' on Iran, Rubio tells press

"He (Trump) prefers to solve it diplomatically," said Rubio. "We would prefer to do it peacefully."

US President Donald Trump "hasn't made a decision" on whether to strike Iran, the country's Secretary of State Marco Rubio told reporters on Saturday at the G20 summit in Atlanta, Georgia.

"I think the president’s observation is the United States remains the most highly capable military power on Earth; we can achieve military objectives if we seek to," said Rubio. "He hasn’t made a decision. I have no announcement in that regard with you today, nor do we take any of it lightly."

The US secretary of state made the comment while responding to a report's question about how confident the Trump administration was that potential strikes against Iran would be brief.

Rubio emphasized that Trump "prefers" to solve the Iran issue "diplomatically," saying that he would have otherwise attacked the regime "weeks ago, months ago."

"I think what the president expresses to you is incredible confidence that if we needed to do something militarily, we would have the ability to do it and we have everything we need to be successful, but we would prefer to do it peacefully," Rubio told the reporter.

An additional question was posed as to how the US planned to assist its allies in the region over the Iranian threat, with Rubio responding that "we're doing it now."

“It’s not our oil and natural gas that's flowing through the Strait of Hormuz; it’s theirs,” Rubio said, noting that US Central Command (CENTCOM) was "there now protecting" what he described as "the lifeblood of their economies."