Secretary of State Marco Rubio reiterated U.S. demands that the Strait of Hormuz be reopened “one way or the other,” speaking during a trip to India after American forces carried out strikes in southern Iran.
“The straits have to be open, they’re going to be open,” Rubio told a reporter. “What’s happening there is unlawful, it’s illegal, it’s unsustainable for the world, it’s unacceptable.” He noted that talks were underway in Qatar and said progress remained possible. “There were some talks going on in Qatar today, so we’ll see if we can make progress.” Officials were still haggling over language in an initial document, he added, and the process would take a few days. President Trump, Rubio said, “expressed his desire to make it. He’s either going to make a good deal or no deal.”
U.S. Central Command described Monday’s action as “self-defense strikes” intended “to protect our troops from threats posed by Iranian forces.” Capt. Tim Hawkins, a command spokesperson, said the targets included missile launch sites and Iranian boats attempting to place mines. He declined to identify which ships came under fire, their exact locations, or the precise sites of the other strikes. “U.S. Central Command continues to defend our forces while using restraint during the ongoing cease-fire,” Hawkins said.
A senior U.S. military official said some of the dozens of American warplanes and nearly two dozen Navy warships—including two aircraft carriers and their escorts—enforcing a blockade against vessels trying to enter or leave Iranian ports in or around the Gulf of Oman and Arabian Sea had been threatened by Iranian surface-to-air missiles. The strikes took place near the Iranian port and navy base at Bandar Abbas.
American and Iranian forces have clashed in other ways since a cease-fire took effect about six weeks earlier. Monday’s strikes occurred as Iranian officials gathered in Qatar for negotiations aimed at ending the war.
Iran said the same day that Tehran and Washington had reached understandings on many subjects but cautioned that a final agreement was not imminent. “It is correct to say that we have reached a conclusion on a large portion of the issues under discussion,” foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei said at a weekly briefing. “But to say that this means the signing of an agreement is imminent—no one can make such a claim.” He accused Washington of shifting its positions.
Trump said any deal he struck with Iran would be “a good and proper one.” He criticized the Obama administration’s 2015 nuclear accord, accusing the former president of giving Iran “massive amounts of CASH, and a clear and open path to a Nuclear Weapon.”
A top administration official said Sunday that Iran had agreed to a framework that would include eliminating highly enriched uranium, though work continued on the details. In a final deal, Iran would have to reopen the Strait of Hormuz in exchange for the United States lifting its blockade of the waterway. If Iran agreed to reduce nuclear enrichment, Washington would also be prepared to ease sanctions.
The official said most parties agreed on the basic ideas and that the Trump administration was pleased with the trajectory even as specifics were still being finalized. Iran appeared more willing to deal after the recent military operation than it had been beforehand. The administration wants a firm commitment not to enrich; whether that pledge lasts 20 or 30 years matters less than how it would be enforced. Officials expect any agreement to go further than the 2015 deal, which allowed enrichment up to a defined level.
The combination of battlefield pressure, a naval blockade, and parallel diplomacy in Qatar has produced both limited military exchanges and cautious statements of progress. Rubio’s public insistence that the strait will be opened, paired with Trump’s “good deal or no deal” framing, leaves little ambiguity about Washington’s red lines. Iran, for its part, acknowledges movement on many issues while rejecting claims that a signature is near. Whether the talks in Qatar can convert those overlapping statements into an enforceable text—and whether the Strait of Hormuz reopens as part of that bargain—will determine whether the current cease-fire holds or the region slides back toward wider confrontation.
