'Slight progress' made on Iran, Strait of Hormuz situation: US secretary of state

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Friday there had been “some slight progress” regarding the situation involving Iran and the Strait of Hormuz.

“There's been some slight progress, I don't want to exaggerate it, but there's been a little bit of movement, and that's good,” Rubio told reporters ahead of a NATO foreign ministers' meeting alongside NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte.

Rubio said the “fundamentals remain the same,” adding: “Iran can never have nuclear weapons, it just cannot make them.”

He said Washington was awaiting the outcome of ongoing discussions related to Iran, while underlining that issues surrounding uranium enrichment and Tehran’s stockpile of highly enriched uranium would have to be addressed.

Rubio also accused Iran of attempting to establish a “tolling system” in the Strait of Hormuz, saying Tehran was trying to persuade Oman to join the initiative.

“There is not a country in the world that should accept that,” he said, calling the idea “not acceptable.”

“If that were to happen in the Straits of Hormuz, it will happen in five other places around the world,” Rubio added.

The top US diplomat said Washington was working through the UN on a Bahrain-sponsored resolution related to the issue, claiming it had garnered broad international backing.

“Let's see if the United Nations still works,” Rubio said, while criticizing unnamed Security Council members allegedly considering vetoing the resolution.

'We also have to have a plan B'

For his part, Rutte said the NATO meeting would focus on defense spending, Ukraine, and freedom of navigation amid growing concerns over Iran and the Strait of Hormuz.

“I hear from many of my colleagues here that it is not acceptable that the freedom of navigation is basically trampled upon as it is at the moment,” Rutte said.

He also thanked the US for continuing military support to Ukraine, particularly the supply of interceptor systems funded by European and Canadian allies.

Rubio also said the upcoming NATO leaders summit in Ankara would be “one of the more important leaders' summits in the history of NATO,” citing defense industrial production, burden sharing, and global security challenges among the alliance’s priorities.

Later, speaking to the reporters on the sidelines of the summit, Rubio said the US would love to see an agreement with Iran, "in which the Straits are open and they abandon their nuclear ambitions."

"But we also have to have a plan B. What if Iran refuses to open the Straits? At that point, something has to be done about it," he said.

On the reports that Qatar sent a team to Tehran for negotiations, Rubio said the primary interlocutor is Pakistan, which has done an "admirable job."

"We are in constant communication with (Pakistan’s army chief) Field Marshal Asim Munir at the highest levels of our government," he added.

Munir departed for Tehran on Friday to discuss the Iran-US talks, Pakistani security sources told Anadolu. During the visit, Munir will meet with key senior Iranian figures, the sources added.

It would be the second such trip to Tehran by Munir amid Pakistani mediation efforts to end the war, which began on Feb. 28 when Israel and the US launched military strikes on Tehran.

Rubio said there has been some progress with Iran.

"There's been some progress. I wouldn't exaggerate it. I wouldn't diminish it," Rubio said.

"There's more work to be done. We're not there yet. I hope we get there."