US top diplomat Rubio says West must choose ‘national power’ or decline

"We are at an inflection point ... not only in the history of my nation but an inflection point in the whole of our civilisation," Rubio said in a speech beneath the Acropolis.

"Either we choose to act now, or lose the choice to act at all," the top US diplomat said.

The United States under President Donald Trump has made its choice, according to Rubio.

"We choose the unapologetic pursuit of national power: to take back control of our critical supply chains, to reindustrialise our economy, to rebuild our defence, to fight for dominance of the technologies and industries of the future," he said.

"There is new competition between great powers again. There is vulnerability, aggression, terrorism, a whole universe of new threats and attacks again," Rubio said.

"We must rebuild our institutions and our alliances to face these threats together," he said.

Rubio said that in Europe he saw encouraging signs of what Washington hoped "will be the beginning of a generational shift, skyrocketing defence spending, a flurry of new partnerships and programmes, expanded manufacturing and production."

"We believe that Europe can awaken from its long slumber and rekindle the fire that was lit here millennia ago," he said.

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Ancient Greeks

His speech, which was packed with praise for the ancient Greeks, followed an address in February when he argued in a speech to world leaders at the Munich Security Conference, that Europe was threatened by mass immigration and called for it to defend Christian civilisation. Man maditation at the Pnyx, a hill near the Acropolis in Athens, where US Secretary of State Marco Rubio makes a speech on 7 October 2026.

But he also flagged the energy sector, and announced a joint agreement on information-sharing on drug trafficking and terrorism.

"As you see a world that faces ... destabilising events, you recognise how important this alliance with Greece is to the United States," he said, referencing conflict in the Middle East and the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

In the Middle East, he argued that Iran had "lost complete control" of the strategic Strait of Hormuz, seeking to offer reassurance at a time when the United States is struggling to find a way out of the war just weeks before key US legislative elections.

Rubio took part Wednesday in a "strategic dialogue" with Greece on regional and energy security amid high tensions triggered by the wars in Iran and Ukraine. United States Secretary of State Marco Rubio.

One day before Rubio's arrival, Greek police said more than 2,000 demonstrators gathered in central Athens on Tuesday to protest his visit.

Syntagma Square, in the heart of the Greek capital, was closed to traffic, with a heavy police presence to beef up security, AFP photographers saw.

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The visit has been overshadowed by media reports about possible conflicts of interest involving the US ambassador to Greece, Kimberly Guilfoyle, a former fiancee of Donald Trump Jr. and ex-wife of California Governor Gavin Newsom.

In a letter addressed to Rubio, Congressman Gregory Meeks sought clarification of a Wall Street Journal report alleging that Guilfoyle had stated the United States could create "political change" in European countries.

Rubio is to meet conservative Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis on Wednesday evening, before departing for Lisbon on Thursday.

(with newswires)