Sen. Marco Rubio said Friday there was "slight progress" in talks with Iran, telling reporters there had been "a little bit of movement and that’s good" as discussions continue while President Donald Trump said he was holding off on a military strike because "serious negotiations" were underway.
Trump has said he called off attacks on Iran this week at the request of Middle East allies, including the leaders of Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. That pause has not ended other measures on the water: Iran has effectively closed the Strait of Hormuz and the U.S. is blockading Iranian ports, while U.S. Central Command said it had redirected 94 commercial vessels and disabled four others from mid-April through Thursday.
Rubio spoke ahead of a meeting of NATO foreign ministers in Helsingborg, Sweden, where the alliance was expected to discuss what role it could play in helping police the Strait of Hormuz once the war is over. He warned that Iran was not going to "voluntarily reopen" the strait and said there needs to be a "plan B." "Someone’s going to have to do something about it, OK?" he added.
The diplomatic effort is multiplying. Pakistan’s army chief was traveling Friday to Tehran for a third round of talks with Iranian leaders this week, after Pakistan’s interior minister had met with Iranian leaders twice this week. Pakistan has worked to mediate a peace deal between Iran and the U.S. since Asim Munir facilitated face-to-face talks between the two countries in Islamabad last month.
The talks are unfolding against a fragile timeline. In mid-April a ceasefire was reached that Trump said could end if Iran did not make a deal. At the outset of the war in late February, Trump ordered strikes, then indicated he would let talks play out; this week he said he had called off attacks at the request of regional partners while negotiations continued.
The pause has exposed a sharp friction point with Israel. Trump’s decision to give talks a chance sparked tension with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu; an official said Trump and Netanyahu had a "dramatic" phone conversation Tuesday about the status of the Iranian negotiations, and the official added that Israel is angry with Trump’s efforts to strike a deal with Iran.
Rubio made clear that the diplomatic signals so far amount to only cautious hope. He said the conversations with Iran were ongoing and called the limited opening "slight progress," but he insisted a fallback was essential if diplomacy fails. That warning comes as the U.S. and Israel continue to insist that Iran can never have a nuclear weapon — a constraint that shapes both the bargaining and the risks on the table.
On the water, the military moves underline how little of the routine shipping picture looks normal. The U.S. Central Command’s tally from mid-April through Thursday — 94 commercial vessels redirected and four others disabled — shows how the conflict has rerouted global traffic even as negotiators talk. The Strait of Hormuz, a vital waterway for shipments of oil, gas, fertilizer and other petroleum products, remains effectively closed by Iran even as diplomats and military planners work to keep options open.
The immediate steps are clear: Pakistani mediators return to Tehran for a third round this week and NATO ministers meet in Helsingborg to consider patrol and policing roles once fighting stops. The more consequential question is whether the "slight progress" Rubio described can become a deal that actually reopens the Strait and ends the blockade. Rubio’s call for a "plan B" frames the hard truth: if the talks fail, the region’s choices will narrow and the risk of a return to strikes will rise.
