New Delhi, May 24: The US has made significant progress in its negotiations with Iran to end the West Asia conflict, including completely opening the Strait of Hormuz for commercial shipping, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Sunday.
Rubio, addressing a press conference here after holding wide-ranging talks with External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, said there is a possibility of “good news” coming in the next few hours as he indicated that an announcement may be made by US President Donald Trump.
“On the Iran situation, I believe, maybe more news coming out a little bit later today on this topic, and I’ll leave it to the President to make further announcements on it,” the US Secretary of State said, responding to a question.
Rubio, without elaborating, said progress has been made in the negotiations in the past 48 hours on an outline to resolve the conflict.
The key sticking points in the US-Iran peace talks are Iran’s nuclear programme and control over the Strait of Hormuz, through which roughly one-fifth of the world’s energy supplies pass in normal times.
Shippings through the Strait have been severely disrupted since February 28, when the US and Israel launched joint attacks on Iran, triggering retaliatory strikes.
Shipping disruptions continue even though a fragile ceasefire has been in place since April 8.
Trump reiterated in his Saturday post: “In addition to many other elements of the Agreement, the Strait of Hormuz will be opened.”
The US Secretary of State said “significant progress” has been made in the negotiations with Iran, although there is no finality yet on it.
“I remind everybody that the ultimate goal is that Iran can never have a nuclear weapon. Iran can never possess a nuclear weapon,” he said.
“The Strait of Hormuz is an international waterway, and what they are doing now is basically they are threatening to destroy commercial vessels using an international waterway that is illegal under any concept of international law,” Rubio said.
“Some progress had been made over the last 48 hours working with our partners in the Gulf region on an outline that could ultimately, if it succeeds, leave us not just with a completely open Strait of Hormuz… I mean open Strait without tolls,” he said.
Pakistan has emerged as a mediator to resolve the ongoing conflict, which has triggered severe energy shortages and affected economies worldwide.
Islamabad hosted senior leaders of both sides last month for talks, the first of its kind since 1979, but the parties failed to clinch a peace deal.
Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said on Sunday that Islamabad hopes to host the next round of peace talks between Tehran and Washington very soon.
His comments came after Trump held a phone call on Saturday with the leaders of Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Turkiye, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates, Jordan, Bahrain and Pakistan to discuss the regional situation and ongoing peace efforts.
Pakistan Army Chief Field Marshal Asim Munir was in Tehran until late Saturday evening for talks with senior Iranian leaders aimed at accelerating efforts to secure what Pakistani officials described as a “conclusive agreement” between the US and Iran.
