Jaipur, India. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Tuesday that negotiating a deal with Iran could “take a few days,” dampening hopes for a swift end to the conflict a day after US forces carried out what Washington described as defensive strikes in southern Iran.
US strikes and Strait of Hormuz
Rubio said the strikes targeted boats attempting to lay mines and missile launch sites, and said the Strait of Hormuz had to remain 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 his plane in India’s Jaipur.
Fresh military action
Despite a ceasefire in place since early April, US Central Command said in a statement on Monday that it had carried out fresh strikes designed “to protect our troops from threats posed by Iranian forces.”
Iran said on Monday it had downed a “hostile” stealth drone using a new air defence system, Iranian news agencies reported, without saying where it had come from.
Talks in Doha
The US attacks came as Iran’s top negotiator and foreign minister were in Doha for talks with Qatar’s prime minister on a possible 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.”
Trump and Netanyahu comments
In a post on Truth Social on Monday, US 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.
In another sign of regional tensions, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Monday that Israel would intensify strikes against the Iran-backed Hezbollah militia in Lebanon.
