REYKJAVIK — U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio arrived in Iceland late Monday to begin a three-nation European tour focused on expanding American influence in the Arctic region. The visit follows a security pact Washington finalized with Denmark and Greenland in late September.
Rubio is scheduled to meet with Icelandic officials to discuss economic and security collaboration, according to a U.S. State Department statement. The security agreement, signed on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in New York, includes plans for the United States to establish two new military bases on Greenland.
The pact appears to conclude President Donald Trump's earlier proposals to acquire or annex Greenland, which had strained relations with the European Union. Before departing Washington, Rubio said Iceland was "a good friend of the United States."
Rubio said the visit was a direct outcome of earlier discussions. "It's an opportunity to meet with them," he said. "It really is a result of conversations I had with their leaders at the NATO summit earlier this year and with their foreign minister."
Iceland has re-emerged as a strategic player in the Arctic as global powers vie for control over shipping routes and resources in the region. The island nation, which gained independence in 1944 and maintains no standing military, relies on NATO for security, supplemented by a bilateral defense pact with the United States signed in 1951.
Washington does not maintain a permanent military base in Iceland. The current U.S. objective is to strengthen its control over Arctic access points, which Russia and China also seek to influence.
The visit follows diplomatic tension in September when President Trump shared an AI-generated map on social media depicting all of North America, the Caribbean, Greenland and Iceland as part of "the United States of America." Iceland's foreign ministry summoned the U.S. ambassador and stated that the image was "wholly inappropriate." Trump reiterated his focus on Greenland on Sunday, posting an AI-generated image of his face over its landscape on Truth Social with the caption "Hello, Greenland!"
Rubio is the first U.S. Secretary of State to visit Iceland since Antony Blinken's trip in 2021. In late August, Icelanders voted 52.8 percent against resuming negotiations on joining the European Union, with 47.2 percent supporting renewed talks. Negotiations had been frozen since 2013.
Following Iceland, Rubio will travel to Athens to participate in a "strategic dialogue" with NATO member Greece. Discussions will center on regional and energy security, according to the State Department. Greece is working to establish itself as a key natural gas transport hub in southeastern Europe, a role made more prominent by conflicts in Iran and Ukraine that have highlighted energy supply chain vulnerabilities.
