Secretary of State Marco Rubio with Craig Melvin of NBC News “TODAY”

QUESTION:  We are joined now by Secretary of State Marco Rubio.  Mr. Secretary, good morning to you, sir.  Thanks for joining us. 

SECRETARY RUBIO:  Good morning.  Thank you.   

QUESTION:  Sir, some high-stakes meetings today, as Gabe just pointed out, there are at the UN.  Do we know at this point whether President Trump is planning to meet with the president of Iran?   

SECRETARY RUBIO:  I think the President said – he has said – that he’s open to meeting with anybody.  This is a President that will meet with anybody for the most part because he believes that engaging with people is important if you’re going to solve problems.  It doesn’t mean you’re going to end up agreeing with them, but it’s important.  So we’re open to that.  I don’t think anything is scheduled at this point, but we’re certainly open to something like that, especially if it has the prospects of leading to something positive and ultimately achieving the goal of what this is all about, and that is the fact that Iran can never have a nuclear weapon.  They just simply can’t.  This is a radical clerical regime.  You see how they treat their own people.  You see the amount of damage and carnage that they’ve committed across the region with their different proxies.  A group like that can never have a nuclear weapon, and if we can achieve that outcome in a positive way, we’d love to do it. 

QUESTION:  Let’s talk about the war for a moment here because, as you’re probably well aware, the average American household has paid about $1,700 for the war. 

SECRETARY RUBIO:  Yeah. 

QUESTION:  The average gallon of gas right now, far higher than it was before the war started, now about 4.45, 4.46.  Diesel is higher than it’s ever been in this country.  And according to a recent poll here at NBC, 62 of Americans – 62 percent of Americans don’t think that the war has been worth it.  Why are they wrong, Mr. Secretary? 

SECRETARY RUBIO:  Well, first of all, anyone who is concerned about prices itself is not wrong, and obviously if the war is being blamed for that, then of course you’re going to hear and you’re going to see responses like that.  We recognize that.  We don’t want prices to be high.  And in fact, you just showed me those prices.  If Iran had a nuclear weapon, those prices would be double, because then no one could touch them, there’s nothing you could do about Iran, and they would have used that nuclear weapon to control the Straits of Hormuz forever.  They would be able to choke off the world’s energy supply anytime they wanted.  They would be able to use oil on a global scale the way they’ve used terrorism – to terrorize the world and hold us captive.  So I think if you look at those prices, they’re very high.  They would be even higher if Iran ever had a nuclear weapon. 

Here’s the second thing, and that is there is a southern lane in the Straits of Hormuz.  Our military has worked very hard to clear it.  It’s clear of mines.  There are ships going through there every day.  In fact, every day that goes by, more and more oil is transiting through those straits.  And ships are still coming under attack, but the enormous majority of the ships get through without attack, and even the ones that have been hit have been able to finish their voyage.  So the amount of oil flowing through the southern straits now is increasing —  

QUESTION:  But —  

SECRETARY RUBIO:  — increasing dramatically.  It takes time for the markets to reflect that. 

QUESTION:  But Mr. Secretary, as you know, according to the International Energy Agency, we’re getting about one-fifth of the oil through that strait than we did when the war started.  Gas prices have climbed since the war began.  Can you give any sense to Americans when the prices will come down and when the war may end? 

SECRETARY RUBIO:  Well, first, two things.  The estimate you just gave was the numbers as they were a few weeks back and even a few months back.  The reality of it is if you look at it now, we’re about 60 to 70 percent of the oil flows that were coming out of the straits are now coming out, and it’s climbing, because as more and more ships are able to use that southern strait with confidence you’ll see more and more ships doing that. 

Obviously, there’s another thing going on here not directly related to Iran but related to Iran because it’s the Houthis, and that is their attack on a Saudi pipeline.  If you look at the increases we’ve seen in just the last two weeks, the enormous majority of that increase is because the Houthis attacked a Saudi pipeline and the Saudis has to shut down that pipeline. So there’s still oil in the system, but the markets are reacting to the expectation that there will not be as much Saudi oil in the future.  So that is a problem as well that we’re confronting here.  Again, it’s not Iran directly, it’s the Houthis, but the Houthis are an Iranian proxy. 

QUESTION:  Let’s talk about what’s certainly going to be a headline-making meeting later this week at the White House between President Trump and the president of China, President Xi.  AI expects to be top of the agenda there.  As you know, the President has been reluctant to put a lot of guardrails on AI, saying it would give China the upper hand.  He’s also said that a win for AI – a win for AI is a win for the country that manages to control it.  What does a win look like, Mr. Secretary, on AI for the United States? 

SECRETARY RUBIO:  Well, that’s a great question.  Look, AI is a topic everybody’s grappling with right now, and here’s the challenge.  On the one hand, it’s a technology that’s going to be there.  Someone is going to do it; it is going to happen.  Like every technological advance in human history, it’s impossible to stop it.  It will happen.  The question is, how can we put guardrails and frameworks around it so that we can get the benefits of AI while mitigating the risks? 

This has been true for every innovation.  When nuclear energy was innovated, there’s danger with nuclear energy.  And so we have to make sure we put safeguards around it, but there’s also great benefits to nuclear energy, and that’s why we’ve been able to do it.  So we’re going to have to come up with something just like that.  It’s a little harder because this pace – at least when it comes to nuclear energy, it was a static technology.  This is a rapidly evolving technology.   

And I think you see global concerns around it.  I think this is a conversation that probably should have started two or three years ago, but at least it’s happening now.  I know the Chinese have their own set of concerns with AI.  So what the President is saying is America needs to lead the world in AI, but we have to do it in a way that doesn’t harm our country.  That’s a difficult balancing act.  I don’t think anyone has an easy answer for it yet.  A lot of people are working on it, and I think we’ll have to work our way through something that is new and rapidly evolving. 

QUESTION:  No doubt.  Mr. Secretary, while I have you, just really quickly here:  As you know, the White House has banned three networks from coverage there – among those, CNN.  You have a pool of reporters that travel with you.  Any plans to ban any of the reporters who travel with you as a result? 

SECRETARY RUBIO:  Yeah, look, the White House feels very strongly and the President feels very strongly that the coverage he gets – and I can’t blame him.  Look, I got to be honest with you, and maybe you’re not going to like to hear this, but I watch a lot of American news coverage, and it sounds, in some cases, for example, like they’re rooting for Iran.  It sounds like they highlight anything Iran says in all their public statements as true and they downplay everything American officials say as wrong.  I think – I don’t think that that is what’s behind this —  

QUESTION:  But —  

SECRETARY RUBIO:  — but I think there’s a trend line here that’s very positive.   

QUESTION:  But Mr. Secretary, with all – with all due respect —  

SECRETARY RUBIO:  So look, the White House feels very strongly – no, but —  

QUESTION:  With all due respect, should media —  

SECRETARY RUBIO:  Yeah.   

QUESTION:  — outlets be banned because the President doesn’t like their coverage?  Should you be able to ban — 

SECRETARY RUBIO:  Well, they’re not banned.  They’re – hold on.  

QUESTION:  They are banned.  They’re banned from – they’re banned from the White House. 

SECRETARY RUBIO:  No.  No, they’re not.  No, we’re not closing CNN.  Well, that’s different.  What they want is access to the workspace that the President uses. 

QUESTION:  Does it sit right with you, though?  Does — 

SECRETARY RUBIO:  And I think the White House feels very strongly.   

QUESTION:  Does it sit right with you?   

SECRETARY RUBIO:  Well, but the President feels very strongly that why – why should I have people working in my building and in my office that I believe are not honestly covering my administration?  That’s how he feels.  We’re not closing CNN.  There aren’t a bunch of police officers or soldiers kicking down the doors of MSNBC or MS NOW, whatever it’s called, and arresting people and unplugging it from the grid.  They’re just not allowed to work from the workspace at the White House. 

QUESTION:  But there’ll be no changes to your traveling pool of reporters? 

SECRETARY RUBIO:  Well, we haven’t discussed it, but again, I think —  

QUESTION:  Okay.  

SECRETARY RUBIO:  — every – the administration, this is a decision the White House made about coverage in the White House.  Look, I’ll do a press conference today, and I imagine there’ll be reporters there tomorrow, and there’ll be reporters there from every outlet.  I don’t ask them who they’re with and so forth.  And I don’t think the White House is saying they’re not able to cover the President.  What he is saying – they’re going to all write stories and do stories about the President.  What he is arguing is, why should I have these people – what right do they have to be embedded in this building?  They can cover the White House; they just can’t have a desk there. 

SECRETARY RUBIO:  Secretary of State Marco Rubio.  Mr. Secretary, thank you.  Thanks for your time. 

SECRETARY RUBIO:  Thank you.