Witkoff and Kushner spearhead Russia and Iran negotiations. Has Rubio been sidelined?

Secretary of State Marco Rubio is the United States’s top diplomat, but his recent engagement with the country’s two most prominent foreign policy priorities has appeared to be from the sidelines.Presidential envoys Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff were in the spotlight during the latest round of peace negotiations between the U.S., Ukraine, and Russia in Abu Dhabi this week. It is the special envoys who will now head to Moscow for a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin, then to Dublin to meet with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. This unorthodox arrangement has become the norm in U.S. dealings with Iran as well, leading to speculation about where Rubio fits into the equation.“The Ukrainian negotiating team is working directly through the Witkoff–Kushner channel,” a Ukrainian diplomat told the Washington Examiner on Wednesday. Rubio was in Washington during the talks, where he met with Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha and discussed the situation from afar. He has commented on developments in Abu Dhabi when prompted by reporters, calling the talks “very productive” and urging inclusion of European allies at the next sit-down.US Secretary of State Marco Rubio speaks to the press during the G7 foreign ministers summit, in Paris Tuesday, Nov. 10, 2026. (Brendan Smialowski, Pool Photo via AP) “[Rubio] is definitely aware of what’s going on and, I would imagine, is being kept closely informed,” the Ukrainian diplomat said, acknowledging there might be perceptions that the secretary is removed from the process because there has been “no progress at this point.”Morgan Murphy, former head of public diplomacy for the Special Presidential Envoy to Russia and Ukraine, told the Washington Examiner that Rubio isn’t “sidelined” but is the “strategist” for Trump’s pair of surrogates.“When [Witkoff and Kushner] sit down in Abu Dhabi or across from the Qataris, everyone knows they speak directly for the president. No bureaucracy. No leaks to the press,” Murphy said. “The Secretary of State and National Security Advisor’s job is to set the policy, line up our allies, and make sure any deal actually serves American interests, and he’s doing all of that.”“The best results come when the president’s closest people carry the message and the Cabinet makes sure it holds,” Murphy added.Others aren’t convinced that the arrangement is so intentional. John Herbst, the U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine under President George W. Bush, told the Washington Examiner that Rubio, a “loyal lieutenant,” seems to be walking a tightrope that maintains his allegiance to Trump while navigating a foreign policy agenda often at odds with his own.“President Trump does not truly understand geopolitics and has an idiosyncratic view of the American national interest. Rubio, I think, does [have] a sound grasp for geopolitics and a clear understanding of the national interest — and understands that he operates under a president who sees things differently,” Herbst said. “He needs to show loyalty to the president, even as he tries to make sure that our national interest is served.”Rubio has at times gotten his hands dirty in Russia-Ukraine negotiations. He held a bilateral talk with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and Lavrov’s team in Saudi Arabia in February 2025, followed by a parallel meeting with Ukrainians the next month. He was also present at talks with Ukrainian and European counterparts in Geneva, Switzerland, earlier this year that led to adjustments in future U.S. proposals.U.S. envoy Jared Kushner speaks at a briefing during U.S.-mediated talks between Russia and Ukraine, alongside U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff, left, and Rustem Umerov, head of Ukraine’s Foreign Intelligence Service, second from right, in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, Wednesday, Nov. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Altaf Qadri) Along the way, he has not been afraid to say what others in the administration, including the president, have downplayed: that Russia is an unambiguous aggressor.“It’s the Russians that are fighting that war and it is Ukraine that was invaded and is being attacked,” Rubio said on Monday.But “ultimately, the guy who gets to make decisions is the president,” Herbst said, and clearly Trump has selected Witkoff and Kushner as “his principal negotiators.”It’s unclear what the future of negotiations with Iran holds. On Thursday, Trump told Vice President JD Vance via Truth Social to forget about seeking an Iran deal and instead focus on rooting out fraud back home.A Wall Street Journal report citing Middle East officials familiar with the negotiations claimed that Vance had been seeking a direct sit-down with National Security Council Secretary Mohsen Rezaei. That would have been a notable project for the vice president, who blamed the Iran War for Republicans’ devastating loss in the midterm elections. By contrast, Rubio came out with full-throated support for Trump’s decision to instigate the conflict, saying “the most important thing the president can do for our country is to keep it safe.”“He was elected to do the hard things,” Rubio said following the midterm massacre. “It would have been very easy to do what multiple presidents before him have done, which is ignore the Iran thing, leave it for the next guy, put it aside, and don’t worry about it. That would have been the easiest thing to do.”Rubio has downplayed the need for a new strategy in Iran, claiming Trump has more than the “two options” of “return to war or sign a ridiculous peace deal.” He has instead advocated alongside the president for continuing “economic pressure” through sanctions.Ecuador’s President Daniel Noboa, right, and U.S. Sec. of State Marco Rubio hold a document related to Ecuador’s highest-ranking National Order of Merit, the Grand Cross, presented to Rubio, which he is wearing, at Carondelet palace in Quito, Ecuador, Wednesday, Sept. 9, 2026. (AP Photo/Dolores Ochoa, Pool) If there is one sphere that remains singularly under the purview of Rubio, it is Latin America. Capitalizing on rightward momentum that began before Trump’s second administration, the State Department has been focused on aiding conservative opposition groups and cooperating with ideologically sympathetic governments.Rubio has been hands-on throughout this campaign. He carried out a multi-leg goodwill tour of South America in September, during which he met with President Abelardo de la Espriella, President Daniel Noboa of Ecuador, and President Keiko Fujimori of Peru.He met President Rodrigo Paz of Bolivia later that month ahead of the United Nations General Assembly in New York City.The collapse of the communist regime in Cuba is the ultimate goal for Rubio, whose parents fled the island ahead of Fidel Castro’s revolution.RUBIO REPEATEDLY SAYS HE’S NOT GOING TO TALK ABOUT 2028: ‘WASTING YOUR TIME’“Cuba’s ruling elite is hoarding the island’s energy, shipping, and technology resources for its own enrichment, leaving the Cuban people to contend with blackouts, shortages, and a stagnant economy,” he said this month as the State Department rolled out its latest tightening of sanctions.Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva’s victory over conservative opposition candidate Flavio Bolsonaro was a stumble for Rubio’s crusade. The State Department approved a visa for Bolsonaro to flee his home country and remain in the U.S., where he has established a government-in-exile with himself as the “true” president.