US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Monday that a purported offer from Iran to reopen the Strait of Hormuz under strict conditions is not acceptable to the United States.
In an interview with Fox News, Rubio said Iran has a different view of the strategic waterway than most of the rest of the world.
“What they mean by opening the straits is, yes, the straits are open, as long as you coordinate with Iran, get our permission, or we’ll blow you up and you pay us," Rubio stated.
He stressed, “That’s not opening the straits. Those are international waterways. They cannot normalize, nor can we tolerate them trying to normalize, a system in which the Iranians decide who gets to use."
Rubio was asked what happens next should no deal be reached with Iran and replied, “Well, again, that's the President's decision to make. I would start out by reminding everybody that the level of sanctions on Iran are extraordinary, the pressure on Iran is extraordinary, and I think more can be brought to bear. But I hope that in the aftermath of this conflict, the whole world's eyes have been opened to the threat Iran poses."
He stated that the Iranian leadership, despite being radicals, “every decision they make, they weigh the costs and they weigh the benefits. And we have to make sure that the costs of all the nefarious things they are doing outweigh the benefits of what they are doing. This is the reason why the [naval] blockade is in place."
Rubio stressed that the US naval blockade on Iran “is not a blockade against shipping. It's a blockade against Iranian shipping, because they cannot be the sole beneficiaries of an illegal, unlawful, and unjustified system of tolling and control in the straits."
The Secretary of State’s comments came a day after Iran transmitted a proposal for a phased framework to the United States through Pakistani intermediaries.
The proposal suggests that negotiations over the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz and an end to the current conflict be prioritized, while discussions on its nuclear program are postponed to a later stage, a US official and two sources familiar with the matter told Axios.
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said on Monday that the US is "discussing" the Iranian proposal on the issue of the Strait of Hormuz, but stopped short of saying that the proposal is being "considered."