India, Feb. 14 -- US secretary of state Marco Rubio said on Saturday that Donald Trump's preference was to make a deal with Iran, while also leaving the door open to the US President meeting Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

Speaking during an interview at the Munich Security Conference, Rubio said that Trump is "willing to meet anybody". He added that if the Ayatollah asked to meet Trump, that meeting would happen.

"Nation states need to interact with one another - I serve under a president that's willing to meet with anybody. I'm pretty confident in saying that if the Ayatollah said tomorrow he wanted to meet with President Trump, the president would meet him, not because he agrees with the Ayatollah, but because he think...