Rubio says Iran ready to discuss nuclear deal as Tehran declares end of peace talks | US-Israeli war against Iran

Iran has agreed to negotiate aspects of its nuclear program that it refused to discuss just a month ago, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said, even as Tehran announced it was ending peace talks and moving to completely close the Strait of Hormuz.

Appearing before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee for the first time since the Trump administration launched the war on Iran — which was presented as a short, multi-week war, in February — Rubio reiterated the Trump administration’s assertions that a deal was within reach.

He arrived at the Capitol on Tuesday, the morning after Iran’s state-affiliated Tasnim news agency announced that Tehran would stop exchanging messages with Washington through intermediaries, designating Israeli military operations in Lebanon as a violation of the ceasefire.

Trump then claimed the conversations were “continuously continuing” and insisted it was wrong to suggest officials had stopped talking.

And Rubio insisted that progress could be made soon. “There is a prospect before us, which could happen today, it could happen tomorrow, it could happen next week – that for the first time, certainly in my memory, they have agreed to negotiate aspects of their nuclear program when only a month ago they said they would not do it, he told senators.

Rubio also claimed that Mojtaba Khamenei – who succeeded his father Ali Khamenei after the supreme leader was killed in the first US-Israeli strikes on February 28, and has not been seen in public since taking office – was alive and more involved in the regime’s efforts. “I think there are indications that he is becoming more and more engaged at a certain level,” he said.

On the military front, Rubio suggested that Iran’s missile program had been “significantly degraded,” its launch capability had been reduced, and its drone-building capacity had been “eroded.”

“There is no Iranian navy,” he said. “It sits at the bottom of the ocean and will soon, within a few years, become a prime fishing spot as it turns into reefs.”

Rubio admitted, however, that the regime still had “a lot of drones.” “Because it’s easy to do,” he said. “This is a pervasive problem around the world. »

Such claims regarding the massive destruction of Iranian military capabilities have been disputed. The New York Times reported in May that Iran had retained about 70% of its pre-war missile stockpile, although analysts noted that the greatest damage could be to Iran’s ability to replace them, with more than 85% of Iran’s ballistic missile, drone and naval defense industrial base damaged or destroyed.

Rubio laid out a two-phase framework in more specific terms than the administration had previously proposed publicly. The reopening of the Strait of Hormuz – with Iran having made clear that it would not demand tolls, help remove mines it had placed there and pledge not to fire on ships – was a precondition for any talks, not a bargaining chip.

“This is the predicate that opens the door to phase two,” he said. The second phase would require Iran to commit to eliminating its stockpile of highly enriched uranium and to negotiate “severe, long-term limitations, and/or cancellation of enrichment activity.”

In an exchange with Connecticut Democratic U.S. Sen. Chris Murphy, Rubio ruled out offering sanctions relief simply to reopen the vital waterway, which has been virtually closed since the war began. “Any sanctions relief is subject to conditions,” he said, and is linked to Iran’s nuclear program, the long-standing basis for sanctions. “It hasn’t been discussed, it hasn’t been proposed.”

The ceasefire agreed in April included an Iranian commitment to reopen the strait. Trump later said Iran had “knowingly failed” to honor this commitment, and on April 13 the United States launched a counterblockade targeting all ships seeking to reach Iranian ports.

Rubio told senators on Tuesday that the blockade was costing Tehran “hundreds of millions of dollars a day” in lost oil revenue. “If they want to close the straits for everyone,” he said, “we will close the straits for them.”

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