U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio signaled that efforts between the U.S. and Iran to end the war were deadlocked, amid growing international backlash over the blockade in the Strait of Hormuz, which has interrupted the world’s fuel supply and impacted living costs globally.
Speaking to Fox News on Monday, Rubio said the latest proposal by Iran, first reported by Axios, was “better than what we thought they were going to submit.” But he said that the U.S. administration faced “a deeply fractured” leadership in Iran, complicating efforts to negotiate an end to the war. Rubio indicated that no progress had been made on the U.S. demand for Iran to give up its nuclear ambition.
“That fundamental issue still has to be confronted. That still remains the core issue here,” Rubio said in the interview. “We can’t let them get away with it. They’re very experienced negotiators, and we have to ensure that any deal that is made, any agreement that is made, is one that definitively prevents them from sprinting towards a nuclear weapon at any point.”
His comments came amid Iran’s diplomatic outreach to Russia, as Iranian officials sought to gain political leverage and foreign support. Iran’s foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, met on Monday with Russian President Vladimir Putin, who expressed his support for Iran in its war with the U.S. and Israel. Araghchi also traveled to Oman and Pakistan over the weekend. His visit to Pakistan prompted President Trump to say he would send U.S. envoys to Islamabad, only to later cancel the delegation’s trip when Araghchi left.
In a sign of the ongoing standoff in the strategic waterway, a U.S. guided-missile destroyer blocked an Iranian oil tanker from sailing to an Iranian port, U.S. Central Command said on social media on Monday. Traffic has largely been at a standstill in the Strait of Hormuz since Iran moved to exert control in retaliation for U.S. and Israeli strikes. The U.S. has also imposed a naval blockade on Iranian ports to increase economic pressure on Iran to agree to Washington’s terms for an end to the war.
The ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon also appeared fragile. Israel has carried out widespread strikes in the south of the country and Hezbollah has fired several drones at Israeli troops. The temporary ceasefire, agreed in Washington with U.S. mediation nearly two weeks ago, remains largely in place in Beirut, but violence has ramped up elsewhere and many residents in the south have had to re-evacuate their homes. The U.S.-Iran talks — largely stagnated — have been tied to the ceasefire; Iran has previously demanded that Israel stop its attacks in Lebanon as a precondition for continuing negotiations.
The prolonged blockade of the Strait of Hormuz has drawn rising criticism from world leaders as high fuel prices push up living costs. German Chancellor Friedrich Merz blasted the U.S. administration on Monday for lacking a strategy in its war with Iran, saying, “The Americans clearly have no strategy. And the problem with conflicts like this is always that it’s not enough just to get in – you also have to get out.” He accused Iranian leadership of “perhaps very skillfully refusing to negotiate.”
Bahrain, a U.S. ally whose oil refineries were attacked by Iranian drones, convened a high-level meeting at the United Nations to demand Iran reopen the Strait of Hormuz. Most countries backed Bahrain’s call; Russian and Chinese representatives blamed the blockade on U.S. and Israeli strikes. The Bahrain-sponsored statement did not mention the U.S. blockade of the passage.
Australia’s foreign minister, Penny Wong, began a diplomatic tour of Japan, China and South Korea to discuss “shared energy security” amid concerns over export controls by Asian countries. “Of course I’m concerned about what is happening in the Strait of Hormuz and what’s happening in terms of Australia’s supplies. We are all concerned, which is why we are making sure we engage with the countries of the region,” she said, adding that countries in the region get a large share of their oil through the strait and have been “disproportionately affected.”
In Iraq, political leaders have agreed on a new prime minister months after an election. The prime minister-designate, Ali al-Zaidi, a banker and political newcomer, is seen as a compromise candidate after President Trump rejected an Iran-backed former prime minister, Nouri al-Maliki. The U.S. controls Iraq’s supply of dollars and has used that as leverage. Zaidi remains controversial and faces hurdles: he headed an Iraqi bank that was among financial institutions denied access to dollars two years ago amid concerns that money was being channeled to Iran. The Iraqi parliament has a month to approve Zaidi’s cabinet and program for him to form a government.
Kat Lonsdorf in Beirut, Lebanon, Jane Arraf in Amman, Jordan and Tina Kraja in Washington, D.C. contributed reporting to this story.