The Iranian regime continues to play the delay game with the Trump administration and the world regarding a potential long-term peace deal.But time is running out for whoever is left running the country. Secretary of State Marco Rubio made that crystal clear on Tuesday during a Senate hearing.
In testimony to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee regarding the State Department’s budget request, Rubio minced zero words when it came to Iran. A deal had better be in the offing – or else. That includes giving up all nuclear material and reopening the Strait of Hormuz.
“They did not, at which point the president decided, and I think appropriately, we can’t have a world in which Iran — only Iranian ships get through the Strait,” Rubio testified.
“And so, if they’re gonna shut down the Strait for everybody, we’re gonna shut down the Strait for them, and we have done that through a very effective blockade.”
He also said because of the U.S. blockade, Iran’s financial cost “is in the hundreds of millions of dollars that they are losing in lost revenue that they’re not generating as a result of that.”
The secretary further explained that “talks with Iran are not like talks with Switzerland.” Continuing, he said that the regime has “agreed to negotiate aspects of their nuclear program that, just a month ago, just a year ago, they were refusing to even mention, much less enter discussions about.”
One of the biggest challenges, however, is that Iran’s “internal regime is somewhat fractured in the sense of it takes days to get responses from their system.”
Iranian state media, meanwhile, reported Monday that the government had cut off talks with the U.S. The reports said Iran’s leadership was angry that Israel was bombing Iranian proxy Hezbollah in Lebanon.
President Trump has pushed back on those reports, however. In a Truth Social post, he said talks between the U.S. and Iran were ongoing.
But, as Rubio appeared to make clear, the president’s patience is wearing thin.