US forces have conducted what Washington called defensive strikes in southern Iran, the latest escalation in the war between the two nations.
Describing the strikes against targets including boats attempting to lay mines and missile launch sites, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the Strait of Hormuz has to be open “one way or the other.”
“The straits have to be open, they’re going to be open one way or the other, so they need to be open,” Rubio told reporters on a trip to India.
Despite a ceasefire in place since early April, US Central Command said in a statement on Monday it had carried out fresh strikes designed “to protect our troops from threats posed by Iranian forces.”
SECRETARY RUBIO: The idea that the President is going to agree to a deal that puts Iran in a stronger position on nuclear ambitions is ABSURD. That’s just not going to happen. pic.twitter.com/v4Lv0X9D64
— Department of State (@StateDept) May 24, 2026The U.S. attacks came as Iran’s top negotiator and its foreign minister were in Doha for talks with Qatar’s prime minister on a potential deal with the US to end the three-month-old war, an official briefed on the visit said.
Rubio told reporters in New Delhi earlier that the US would give diplomacy every chance to succeed before considering whether to deal with Iran in “another way”.
He said there was a “pretty solid thing on the table,” referring to talks over reopening the strait and a “very real, significant, time-limited negotiation on the nuclear matter.”
In a lengthy post on Truth Social on Monday, President Donald Trump said talks with Iran were going “nicely”, but warned of fresh attacks if they failed. It “will only be a Great Deal for all, or no Deal at all,” he wrote.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (Photo: Ronen Zvulun/Reuters)In another indication of the region’s tensions, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Monday that Israel would intensify strikes against the Iran-backed Hezbollah militia in Lebanon.
Israel’s military soon thereafter said it was attacking Hezbollah infrastructure in Lebanon’s eastern Bekaa Valley and other areas.
Trump has said his key aim in the war is to prevent Iran from developing a nuclear weapon with its highly enriched uranium. Tehran has consistently denied it has plans to do that.
Iranian foreign ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei said the potential deal contained no specific details on management of the Strait of Hormuz, through which about a fifth of the world’s oil and liquefied natural gas usually flows.
Iran would not charge tolls for ships to pass through but there would be a cost for services offered such as navigation and steps to protect the environment, he said, under a protocol to be agreed with Oman, which lies on the opposite shore of the waterway.
A report in Japan’s Nikkei newspaper says the US and Iran are discussing a plan to open the strait about 30 days after reaching a deal.
Since the US and Israel launched strikes on Iran on February 28, only a few dozen vessels have been passing through the Strait of Hormuz.
With Reuters
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