Secretary Marco Rubio suggested to Fox News in an interview on Monday that Iran’s peace proposal falls short of the U.S. conditions for ending the war, now entering its third month.<\/p>\n
Two officials familiar with the matter told ABC News that the Iranian proposal consists of a loosening of Tehran’s grip on the Strait of Hormuz in exchange for the lifting of the U.S. blockade. Talks on Iran’s nuclear program would then be pushed back to an unspecified future date, Tehran’s proposal suggested.<\/p>\n
Rubio, though, said the nuclear issue was at the heart of the U.S. position. “The nuclear question is the reason why we’re in this in the first place,” Rubio said.<\/p>\n
![\"Ali](\"https:\/\/i.abcnewsfe.com\/a\/f2090af6-e21a-4cfc-9383-d0e29f56eaf5\/iran-8-ap-gmh-260424_1777046897685_hpMain.jpg?w=375 "\\"Ali")
<\/picture><\/div>\n<\/div>Iranian worshippers perform Friday prayers under the portraits of the late Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and top military officials who were killed during the U.S.-Israel campaign, at the Tehran University in Tehran, April 24, 2026.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n Vahid Salemi\/AP<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Rubio also said the U.S. would not allow Tehran to retain control over the Strait of Hormuz, or to continue to charge tolls to shipping passing through.<\/p>\n “Those are international waterways. They cannot normalize, nor can we tolerate them trying to normalize, a system in which the Iranians decide who gets to use an international waterway and how much you have to pay them to use it,” he said.<\/p>\n Rubio underscored U.S. concerns about the regime’s ability to agree to a deal and the status of new Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei.<\/p>\n “One of the impediments here is that our negotiators aren’t just negotiating with Iranians. Those Iranians then have to negotiate with other Iranians in order to figure out what they can agree to, what they can offer, what they’re willing to do, even who they’re willing to meet with,” Rubio said.<\/p>\n Asked whether he believed Mojtaba Khamenei was still alive, Rubio replied, “We have indications that he is. Obviously they claim that he is. We don’t have evidence that he’s not.”<\/p>\n “I think the question between alive and in power are two different questions. You can be alive — but I think the unresolved questions here are does he have the same credibility as his father did,” Rubio said.<\/p>\n Rubio also suggested that the Iranian proposal may not have the backing of all factions jostling for influence in Tehran. “I think there are still questions about whether the person submitting it had the authority to submit that offer,” he said.<\/p>\n Nonetheless, Rubio said he believed the Iranians “are serious about getting themselves out of the mess that they’re in.”<\/p>\n -ABC News’ Shannon K. Kingston<\/i><\/p>\n<\/div>\n