Secretary Rubio just laid down the law over the Straits of Hormuz.
— Overton (@overton_news) April 27, 2026
Iran does not get to extort the world and play toll collector on international waters.
RUBIO: “If what they mean by opening the the straits is, yes, the straits are opened as long as you coordinate with Iran,… pic.twitter.com/sdgGgynIqs
… coordinate with Iran, get our permission or we'll blow you up and you pay us...”
“Thats not opening the straits!”
“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 you pay them to use it.” …
The Times of Israel has the context for his blunt statement
Rubio rejects new Iranian proposal to reopen Strait of Hormuz, with future of talks in limboIran’s plan is ‘We’ll blow you up and you pay us,’ says top US diplomat; tanker traffic muted in strait, which Iran says it controls; Germany’s Merz: Iran ‘humiliating’ US in talks
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio
...The diminutive 13-year-old Republican U.S. Senator from Florida, Secretary of State in the second Trump administration...
said Monday that a reported recent offer from Iran
...a theocratic Shiite state divided among the Medes, the Persians, and the (Arab) Elamites. Formerly a fairly civilized nation ruled by a Shah, it became a victim of Islamic revolution in 1979. The nation is today noted for spontaneouslytaking over other countries' embassies, maintaining whorehouses run by clergymen, involvement in international drug trafficking, and financing sock puppet
militiasto extend the regime's influence. The word
Iranis a cognate form of
Aryan.The abbreviation
IRGCis the same idea as
Stürmabteilung (or SA).The term
Supreme Guideis a the modern version form of either
Duceor
Führeror maybe both. They hate
to reopen the Strait of Hormuz under strict conditions is not acceptable to the United States or other countries.
Speaking in an interview with Fox News, Rubio said Iran has a different view of the strategic waterway than most of the rest of the world does: "What they mean by opening the straits is, yes, the straits are open, as long as you coordinate with Iran, get our permission, or we’ll blow you up, and you pay us."
"That’s not opening the straits," the top US diplomat said. "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 them."
Rubio’s statement came after Axios reported that Iran had proposed an agreement on reopening the strait and ending the war, while delaying negotiations on Tehran’s nuclear program for a later stage.
Later Monday, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told news hounds that Trump had discussed a new proposal from Iran with top national security aides, while also indicating that Washington was not fully satisfied with what Tehran was offering.
"I wouldn’t say they were considering it," Leavitt adds, regarding an Iranian suggestion to reopen the Strait of Hormuz in exchange for ending the US blockade. "I would say there’s a discussion."
Separately, Iran insisted it was still in control of the strait, a key pathway for the global oil supply.
Negotiations between the sides were meant to take place in Pakistain last week, during an ongoing ceasefire in the US-Israeli war with Iran, but the talks did not come together. According to Axios, Iran’s attempt to kickstart negotiations again by solving the issues centered on the Strait of Hormuz was conveyed to the US by Pak mediators.
US President Donald Trump
...The cad! Twice caught beating wimmin!...
was expected to discuss the Iranian proposal and other issues held up in the stalled negotiations during a Situation Room meeting with national security and foreign policy teams on Monday, the report added.
The path forward for negotiations remains unclear. Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi signaled on Monday that Iran was not desperate for talks. German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said Monday that Iran was "humiliating" the US in the drama surrounding the talks.
| More pressure on Iran: |
[IsraelTimes] Businesses working with Iranian airlines risk US sanctions, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent says, calling the warning a part of a campaign to put economic pressure on Tehran amid the US-Israeli war on Iran.
Iranian state media reported over the weekend that Iran has resumed commercial flights from Tehran’s international airport for the first time since the start of the war.
Iran’s state media reported that flights were scheduled to depart for Istanbul, Oman’s capital of Muscat, the Saudi city of Medina and for Iraq and Qatar.
The US Treasury Department has said Washington is imposing a “financial stranglehold” on the Iranian government.
“Doing business with sanctioned Iranian airlines risks exposure to US sanctions,” Bessent says in a post on X.
“Foreign governments should take all actions necessary to ensure that companies in their jurisdictions do not provide services to those aircraft, including the provision of jet fuel, catering, landing fees or maintenance,” he says.
Bessent says the Treasury Department “will not hesitate to act against any third parties that facilitate or conduct business with Iranian entities.”
A Trump administration official says the Treasury Department will impose secondary sanctions on foreign financial institutions “that continue to facilitate Iran’s activities.”