By Michael Katz | Saturday, 28 February 2026 06:16 PM EST
Secretary of State Marco Rubio has canceled his trip to Israel, which had been scheduled for Monday and Tuesday, the State Department announced Saturday.
“Due to current circumstances, Secretary Rubio will no longer travel to Israel on March 2,” Dylan Johnson, assistant secretary of state for global public affairs, wrote on X.
The State Department stated that Rubio was set to discuss “a range of regional priorities including Iran, Lebanon and ongoing efforts to implement President Donald Trump’s 20-Point Peace Plan for Gaza” in a Friday statement.
The trip cancellation followed a joint Israeli-U.S. military operation early Saturday targeting Iranian leadership and military assets.
In June, similar questions emerged regarding whether an announcement of a pending diplomatic meeting had been used as a pretext for military strikes. A round of talks between U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff and his Iranian counterparts was scheduled for June 15 in Oman.
On June 13, Israel attacked military and nuclear sites in Iran, killing prominent Iranian military leaders, nuclear scientists, and politicians.
Rubio was absent from a Friday meeting between Oman’s foreign minister and Vice President JD Vance, which discussed the country’s diplomatic efforts to prevent conflict.
“I was surprised by the release that Rubio was going,” Dennis Ross, a former U.S. Middle East peace negotiator, told reporters. “But then I became convinced that this was designed to create the impression that the strikes would not take place this weekend and this was disinformation intended to mislead the Iranians.”
The State Department did not immediately respond to inquiries about whether the announcement of Rubio’s trip served as a deliberate feint.
