United States Secretary of State Marco Rubio has announced ‘significant progress’ in ongoing talks aimed at ending the US-Israeli war on Iran. His remarks came just hours after President Donald Trump stated that a memorandum of understanding to cease hostilities was ‘largely negotiated’.
\nRubio, currently on his inaugural official visit to India, indicated on Sunday that the emerging agreement would address President Trump\u2019s concerns regarding the Strait of Hormuz. The crucial waterway has been largely obstructed by Iran since the US and Israel initiated their conflict on February 28.
\nSpeaking to reporters in New Delhi, Rubio affirmed, ‘Some progress has been made, significant progress, although not final progress has been made.’ He added optimistically, ‘I do think perhaps there is the possibility that in the next few hours the world will get some good news.’
\nThe proposed agreement would also initiate a ‘process that can ultimately leave us where the president wants us to be, and that is a world that no longer has to fear or worry about an Iranian nuclear weapon,’ Rubio further explained.
\nAccording to Iran\u2019s semiofficial Tasnim News Agency, which maintains close ties with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), a potential memorandum of understanding would see the number of vessels transiting the Strait of Hormuz revert to pre-war levels within weeks. Tasnim reported, ‘If the agreement is reached, the Strait of Hormuz will not fully return to its pre-war status; instead, the number of ships allowed to pass would be restored to pre-war levels within 30 days.’
\nThe US naval blockade on Iranian ports must be completely lifted within 30 days, as per the potential memorandum of understanding, Tasnim stated. The agency also noted that a portion of Iran\u2019s frozen funds must be released during the first phase of the agreement. The potential deal reportedly includes a cessation of hostilities on all fronts, including in Lebanon.
\nTasnim further detailed that measures concerning the Strait of Hormuz would be implemented over a 30-day period, while negotiations regarding Iran\u2019s nuclear program would continue for 60 days following the signing of the potential agreement.
\nAl Jazeera\u2019s Ali Hashem reported that after the initial 30-day period, ‘the parties will have 30 days to agree on the nuclear issue. These 30 days can be extended by mutual agreement.’ He added, ‘During [the initial 30-day period], passage will be facilitated through the strait. According to Iran, management of the Strait of Hormuz will be an Iranian-Omani issue and is being negotiated with Muscat.’
\nIran has underscored that any potential agreement with the US is contingent upon the release of at least part of its frozen funds, which must occur in the first phase of negotiations, Tasnim reported. President Trump, on his Truth Social platform, affirmed, ‘In addition to many other elements of the Agreement, the Strait of Hormuz will be opened.’ Such a development would alleviate pressure on global energy prices, as the crucial passageway for oil shipments has been virtually shut down since the war began, with only limited safe passage for certain vessels.
\nReporting from Tehran, Al Jazeera\u2019s Resul Serdar Atas commented, ‘The talks are still in a delicate situation, particularly regarding the Strait of Hormuz. Once that is resolved, the second phase will focus on the nuclear negotiations. That issue has been ongoing for decades with a lot of back and forth, but the parties have not been able to agree on and stick to a deal.’ From Washington, DC, Al Jazeera\u2019s correspondent Kimberly Halkett observed, ‘President Trump wants it to appear that he got what he wanted out of this deal, given the unpopularity of the war with the American public and his dropping approval ratings.’
\n#USIranTalks #MiddleEastPeace #StraitOfHormuz #NuclearDeal #Diplomacy #IranWar #GlobalSecurity #EnergyPrices #MarcoRubio #DonaldTrump<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
United States Secretary of State Marco Rubio has announced ‘significant progress’ in ongoing talks aimed at ending the US-Israeli war on Iran. His remarks came just hours after President Donald Trump stated that a memorandum of understanding to cease hostilities was ‘largely negotiated’. Rubio, currently on his inaugural official visit to India, indicated on Sunday […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":27607,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-27606","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-iran-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/fajr.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27606","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/fajr.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/fajr.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fajr.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fajr.news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=27606"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/fajr.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27606\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fajr.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/27607"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/fajr.news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=27606"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fajr.news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=27606"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fajr.news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=27606"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}