Rubio: "The First Condition for Iran Is Opening the Strait of Hormuz"

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said today (Tuesday) that the first condition in talks with Iran is that the Islamic Republic open the Strait of Hormuz. Rubio added that "Tehran will not receive sanctions relief just for opening the Strait of Hormuz; any sanctions relief will be conditional. We are not begging for a deal. The Iranians are begging, because they are losing hundreds of millions of dollars every day".

According to a Reuters report, appearing before the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee, the secretary of state said, referring to the issue of Iran’s nuclear program, that "Iran must commit to specific negotiations on transferring the enriched uranium. Iran’s desire for a nuclear weapon was on the verge of being realized behind a conventional shield. Operation Epic Furry was very successful in achieving its military objectives. The operation dealt with missile and drone construction. A significant percentage of their launchers has been reduced".

Rubio added: "Their missile program has been significantly undermined. They still have many drones because they are very easy to produce. This is not a challenge vis-à-vis Iran — it is a global challenge. It is a global problem, but their ability to produce drones has also been significantly undermined. They do not have a navy. My point is that Iran’s conventional framework has been significantly weakened".

Rubio argued that according to messages conveyed to the United States recently, "there are indications that the involvement of Iran’s Supreme Leader Khamenei has grown in a certain sense." Asked whether Iran is indeed moving toward an agreement, he replied: "There is a chance that Iran is agreeing to negotiate aspects of the nuclear program that in the past it refused even to raise in discussions. An agreement could come within a day, days, or a week, but there is no way to know."