WASHINGTON, DC – US Secretary of State Marco Rubio finally headed to Europe Friday after his plane was forced to turn around due to a mechanical issue, the State Department said.
Rubio was headed to the Munich Security Conference on his second trip abroad when his plane abruptly turned back toward Andrews Air Force Base outside Washington, according to an AFP reporter with him.
“The plane on which Secretary Rubio is flying experienced a mechanical issue,” State Department spokeswoman Tammy Bruce said.
Later, a second, smaller aircraft carrying Rubio took off and headed for Europe, Bruce said, but without media.
Rubio was set to join US Vice President JD Vance in a meeting Friday with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, after President Donald Trump spoke by phone with his counterpart Vladimir Putin and said he would pursue diplomacy to end the war.
Rubio is set afterward to continue to Israel, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates to discuss a fragile Gaza ceasefire.
He will also hold discussions on a proposal by Trump that drew outrage in the region to expel Palestinian residents of Gaza, which has been leveled by Israel in a 16-month war triggered by a Hamas attack.
Mechanical issues occur periodically for the top diplomat of the United States, which maintains an aging fleet of aircraft for dignitaries.
Earlier, Rubio said the United States was eager to hear new proposals by Arab states on Gaza, after President Donald Trump’s stunning plan to displace the territory’s entire population.
Rubio’s trip will take him to Israel, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, after a first stop at the Munich Security Conference where he will join delicate talks on Ukraine alongside Vice President JD Vance.
The trip comes after discussions in Washington on Trump’s Gaza plan by Jordan’s King Abdullah II and Egypt’s foreign minister.
“Hopefully they’re going to have a really good plan to present the president,” Rubio said of Arab states.
“Right now the only plan — they don’t like it — but the only plan is the Trump plan. So if they’ve got a better plan, now’s the time to present it,” he told the radio show of conservative hosts Clay Travis and Buck Sexton.
Trump has warned of repercussions to neighboring Egypt and Jordan if they do not accept the more than two million Palestinians in Gaza, which has been leveled by Israel over 16 months of war triggered by a major Hamas attack.
“All these countries say how much they care about the Palestinians, but none of them want to take any Palestinians. None of them have a history of doing anything for Gaza,” Rubio said.
Jordan already hosts more than two million Palestinian refugees.
Diplomats say that Egypt is leading efforts to present an alternative to Trump within weeks.
The Egyptian proposal would involve training a new security force in Gaza and identifying local Palestinian leaders who would be in charge.
Rubio said he believed Arab states were “working in good faith,” but that a red line was that there should be no future role for Hamas.
“If the countries in the region can’t figure that piece out, then Israel is going to have to do it, and then we’re back to where we’ve been,” he said.
Rubio’s predecessor Antony Blinken proposed a plan in which international powers and the United Nations would play a temporary role in Gaza until the Palestinian Authority can take over the war-ravaged enclave.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, leading a hard-right government, has long sought to weaken the Palestinian Authority, based in the West Bank, as part of his opposition to a Palestinian state.
