NEW DELHI — The United States has made significant progress in negotiations with Iran to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, but President Donald Trump maintains a cautious approach and will not accept a bad deal, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Monday.
The statements of the US Secretary of State, who is currently on a four-day visit to India, came amid indications that the United States and Iran are considering reaching a preliminary agreement to reopen the shipping lane before reaching a comprehensive peace agreement.
“It’s still a work in progress. We thought we might have some news last night, maybe today,” he told a small group of reporters before departing for Agra.
“So we have what I think is a very strong thing on the table in terms of opening the strait, getting into very real, time-bound negotiations on nuclear issues, and hopefully we can achieve that,” Rubio said.
The US Secretary of State said that there is global support for the ongoing efforts to end the conflict in West Asia, but he added that the path to peace is not very easy.
The main sticking points in peace talks between the United States and Iran have been Iran’s nuclear program and its control of the Strait of Hormuz, through which nearly a fifth of the world’s energy supplies pass in normal times.
Shipping traffic through the strait has been severely disrupted since February 28, when the United States and Israel launched joint attacks on Iran, triggering retaliatory strikes. Shipping disruptions continue despite a fragile ceasefire in effect since April 8.
“Every country we’ve been through understands that not only is this a very reasonable thing to do, but it’s the right thing for the world to do,” he said. “And as the president said, he’s in no rush, and he’s not going to make a bad deal.”
Rubio said the United States would give diplomacy “every chance to succeed” before exploring “alternatives.”
“The president won’t make a bad deal. No one has been more serious about the threat of a nuclear Iran than President Trump.”
“So I’m very confident that we should all be very confident that we’re either going to get a good deal or we’re going to have to deal with it another way,” he said.
He added: “We would prefer to reach a good agreement.”
Addressing a press conference after holding wide-ranging talks with External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Sunday, Rubio said there was a possibility of “good news” emerging in the next few hours.
The US Secretary of State also responded to a question about Lebanon.
He said, “We are working on this separately. We are engaged with Lebanon, where we have a 45-day ceasefire. We have held weekly meetings now and ongoing daily communications between the Lebanese government and Israel.”
Rubio said that the “problem” is not in Lebanon and Israel, but in Hezbollah.
“Just last night, Hezbollah issued a statement calling for the overthrow of the Lebanese government. This just reminds you who you are dealing with here. It is 100 percent an Iranian proxy.
“As long as armed Hezbollah exists, it will be difficult to achieve peace in Lebanon because they are harming the Lebanese people,” Rubio said.
He added: “We are working on this path with the Lebanese government and the Israeli government, and we have made some good progress there.”
“We’re going to continue to work on that,” Rubio said. “Well, Israel always has the right to protect itself. Every country in the world does that. And so, if Hezbollah were to fire missiles or fire missiles at them, Israel has every right to respond to that or prevent that from happening.”
The US Secretary of State said that he looked forward to his visit to the Taj Mahal.
“It’s one of the wonders of the world. I think it’s important to show respect for the culture of the countries you visit,” he said.
Rubio will also travel to Jaipur before returning to New Delhi on Tuesday morning to attend a meeting of the Quad’s foreign ministers.
“We have a gap in our agenda because the quadripartite meeting cannot be held until tomorrow. So it was a good opportunity to see some cultural sites here and show respect to this country,” he said.
“There’s a lot to see here, and it’s such a big country with so much diversity and so much history. So it’ll be a good opportunity to see something special about the country,” Rubio said.
This article was generated from an automated news feed without any modifications to the text.
