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U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Friday that talks with Iran produced “slight progress,” while a renewed mediation effort unfolded alongside continuing uncertainty about whether the war would resume. Rubio spoke ahead of a meeting of NATO foreign ministers in Helsingborg, Sweden, where the alliance discussed what role it could play in helping police the Strait of Hormuz once the conflict ends.
Rubio said he did not want to exaggerate the progress, adding that there had been “a little bit of movement and that’s good.” His comments came days after President Donald Trump said he was holding off on a military strike against Iran because “serious negotiations” were underway, after Trump had threatened for weeks that the ceasefire reached in mid-April could be reversed if Tehran did not make a deal.
Trump has repeatedly set deadlines for Iran and then backed off, according to the report. The U.S. president has also previously indicated he would pause military action to allow talks to play out, only to order strikes at an earlier stage of the conflict, when he directed strikes in late February shortly after saying negotiations could proceed.
Rubio’s remarks also addressed the practical planning involved if diplomacy fails. He said he discussed reopening the strait with other foreign ministers and that there needs to be a “plan B” if Washington and Tehran do not reach an agreement, saying, “Someone’s going to have to do something about it, OK?” and adding Iran was not going to “voluntarily reopen” the strait.
While the diplomacy talk continued, the report said the Strait of Hormuz remained effectively closed, with major shipping routes tied to oil, gas, fertilizer and other petroleum products. The U.S. Central Command said the United States is blockading Iranian ports and had redirected 94 commercial vessels and disabled four others since mid-April.
At the same time, a U.S. official said American military forces had not found or destroyed any explosive mines in the Strait of Hormuz so far, while still searching. The official also said no ships had been struck or damaged by mines in the strait, and described commercial traffic as moving at much lower volumes than before the war began.
The report said Trump’s pause on military action to allow further peace talks has created tension with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. An official speaking on condition of anonymity said Trump and Netanyahu had a “dramatic” phone conversation Tuesday about the status of the Iranian negotiations, and that Israel was angry with Trump’s push for a deal; the White House declined to comment on the call’s substance or tenor.
As the debate inside the U.S. alliance system played out, the report said Pakistan’s top army officer arrived in Tehran for talks with Iranian leaders, Pakistani officials and the military, described as the third round of meetings between Pakistani and Iranian officials in recent days. Field Marshal Asim Munir was expected to be joined by Pakistan’s interior minister, who had already met with Iranian leaders in Tehran twice during the week, and the report said Pakistan has sought a deal between Iran and the U.S. since Munir facilitated face-to-face talks in Islamabad last month.
The report also said Qatar sent a delegation to Tehran, with regional officials and other countries, including Egypt, Turkey and Saudi Arabia, coordinating with it. Separately, the report said the UAE and Saudi Arabia struck Iran and Iranian-backed Shiite militias in Iraq during the war, with officials and a Western diplomat speaking on condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the information and describing the attacks as targeting military facilities.