Secretary of State Marco Rubio said there are “some good signs” a deal to wind down the Iran war could be within reach, but he cautioned that he doesn’t “want to be overly optimistic.”
Speaking to reporters in Florida on Thursday as he boarded a flight to Sweden for meetings with NATO foreign ministers, Rubio said diplomacy is moving, including with Pakistani representatives traveling to Iran. Still, he warned the U.S. is negotiating with “a system that itself is a little fractured.”
Rubio also drew a bright red line around Tehran’s reported demand to impose tolls on ships passing through the Strait of Hormuz, a chokepoint that carries roughly one-fifth of the world’s oil exports. Iran has claimed sovereignty over the strait and has suggested it would fully reopen the waterway only if it can charge commercial vessels.
“No one in the world is in favour of the tolling system,” Rubio said. “It can’t happen. It would be unacceptable.
“It would make a diplomatic deal unfeasible if they were to continue to pursue that. So it’s a threat to the world if they were trying to do that, and it’s completely illegal.”
The Strait of Hormuz has been effectively blocked by Tehran since the U.S. and Israel launched strikes on Iran on Feb. 28. The standoff escalated last month when the U.S. began blocking Iranian ports, tightening pressure on Iran’s economy and its ability to ship oil.
The disruption has rippled through global markets, pushing energy prices higher and adding strain to government budgets. Analysts have warned that any prolonged disruption in the strait could keep costs elevated for consumers and businesses, even as negotiators try to prevent the conflict from flaring again.
A shaky U.S.-Iran ceasefire has been in place since early April, but both sides have threatened to resume attacks. President Donald Trump said this week on Truth Social that he told the U.S. military “to be prepared to go forward with a full, large-scale assault of Iran, on a moment’s notice” if talks collapse.
Trump echoed the warning Thursday at the White House, telling reporters he will “have to do something very drastic” if Iran refuses to guarantee it will not acquire a nuclear weapon.
Iran has fired back, too. Iran’s Revolutionary Guard has threatened it would “extend the war beyond the region” if the U.S. attacks again, raising fears that even one misstep could reignite a conflict that has already rattled allies and markets.
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