Cold War memories stir Rubio in Iceland as he champions diplomacy and downplays differences

Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Tuesday sought to reassure NATO ally Iceland that President Donald Trump's administration has no designs on the island but shares its deep concerns about Arctic security as tensions between the United States and Russia rise in the high north and elsewhere.Rubio hailed the role of diplomacy in resolving conflicts as he began a three-nation tour of NATO allies in the capital of Iceland, where concerns over the Republican administration’s often brusque and sometimes rude approach to traditional friends and partners have stirred unease.Rubio, whose tour of NATO members will include Greece and Portugal, met Tuesday with Icelandic Foreign Secretary Thorgerdur Katrín Gunnarsdóttir at Reykjavik’s Hofdi House, the site of the 1986 summit between U.S. President Ronald Reagan and Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev that is widely regarded as the beginning of the end of the Cold War.“The house symbolizes diplomacy’s role in ending the Cold War and defeating communism,” Rubio posted on social media after the talks that took place just days before the 40th anniversary of the landmark meeting.However, both Rubio and Gunnarsdóttir downplayed differences between the allies and said both countries were committed to deepening and expanding military and commercial ties. Rubio made clear that the United States would not do anything in Iceland without Iceland's consent.“We would be open to having those conversations to see what we can do together,” he said, noting that the U.S.

had a decades-long permanent military presence in Iceland until 2006, when shifting priorities caused it to close its Keflavik base outside of Reykjavik. He noted that priorities have shifted again.And, he went out of his way to praise Iceland: “We have tremendous respect for the people. We have respect for the country in the role it plays, and it has for a very long time,” he said.Iceland's foreign secretary says she's ‘focused on the future’Iceland has been uneasy about Trump’s intentions toward it after the posting of a map showing the colors of the U.S.

flag sprawling across all of North America and extending to Iceland and Greenland. The unease has persisted despite an agreement reached last month to increase the U.S. presence in the neighboring Danish territory of Greenland that appears to have ended Trump’s earlier demand for the U.S.