Trump pushes Iran for toll-free Strait of Hormuz as House delays war resolution vote – Fox News
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President Donald Trump said “we don’t want tolls” in the Strait of Hormuz. House Republican leaders also have canceled a planned vote on a resolution to limit Trump’s ability to engage in military action against Iran without congressional approval.
Covered by: Greg Norman-Diamond and Emma Bussey
U.S. Central Command said 97 commercial ships have been redirected by American forces so far during a blockade of Iranian ports.
The UK Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) agency said Thursday that threats in the Strait of Hormuz and Persian Gulf remained at a “critical” level and that traffic through the strait was still being “significantly reduced.”
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Thursday that the Iran-backed Hezbollah terrorist group in Lebanon, which has been targeting Israel, “must be fully disarmed.” The Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control imposed sanctions on nine individuals Thursday linked to Hezbollah, accusing them of obstructing Lebanon’s peace process.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Thursday that any Iranian tolling system in the Strait of Hormuz would be considered “illegal.”
Pakistan’s Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi visited Tehran twice this week to meet with Iranian leaders, a report said Friday.
Foreign Ministry spokesperson Tahir Andrabi said the visits underscored Pakistan’s efforts to promote peace between Iran and the U.S., according to The Associated Press.
Andrabi said Pakistan’s mediation efforts are expected to be discussed when Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif travels to China this weekend for a four-day visit.
Pakistan has served as a key mediator in negotiations between the U.S. and Iran.
The Associated Press contributed to this post.
U.S. Central Command said Friday that 97 commercial ships have now been redirected as part of the military’s blockade of Iranian ports.
CENTCOM released a photo showing a U.S. sailor onboard the USS Comstock dock loading ship monitoring a commercial vessel while enforcing the blockade.
The blockade began on April 13.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Friday that Pakistan is doing an “admirable job” trying to mediate a peace deal between the U.S. and Iran.
“The primary interlocutor on this has been Pakistan and continues to be and they’ve done a, you know, I think an admirable job. And that’s what we continue to work through,” Rubio said. “Obviously, other countries, you know, have interests because especially Gulf countries that are, you know, in the middle of all this, may have their own situation going on. We talk to all of them. But I would just say that the primary country we’ve been working with on all of this is Pakistan, and that remains the case.”
A Pakistani security source told Axios on Friday that Pakistan’s military commander, Field Marshal Asim Munir, is heading to Tehran, Iran, as part of efforts to reach a U.S.-Iran deal.
“And it’s my understanding he was supposed to go yesterday, but it could be as early as today that Field Marshal Munir could be traveling there very, very soon,” Rubio said Friday. “And we’re in constant communication with him [and] the highest levels of our government are constantly talking to him.”
Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Friday that the United States and its allies need to have a “plan B” ready in the event Iran decides not to reopen the Strait of Hormuz.
“I can tell you that what I hope there is, this is what I hope for, and this is the point I made is, we all would love to see an agreement with Iran in which the Straits are open and they abandon their nuclear ambitions and so forth, their nuclear weapons ambitions,” Rubio said in Helsingborg, Sweden, where he had traveled Friday to attend a NATO foreign ministers meeting.
“That’s what we would all hope for. And that’s what we’re going to continue to work on. And that’s what work is ongoing, even as I speak to you now in that regard. But we also have to have a plan B, and plan B is what if Iran refuses to open the straits? What if Iran decides we refuse to open the straits, we’re going to own the straits and we’re going to charge tolls for it? Okay, at that point, something has to be done about it,” he continued.
“So all I’m saying and I’ve said, and I think this has been reiterated by others, there are other countries that agree with me on this, is that we have to start thinking about what do we do if a few weeks from now, Iran decides we don’t care, we’re going to keep the straits closed. We’re going to sink any ship that doesn’t listen to us or doesn’t pay us. Then someone’s going to have to do something about it. They’re not just going to voluntarily reopen the straits in that scenario. So we have to start thinking about it. I raised that point today. I got a lot of nods. I got a lot of people that came up to me afterwards and acknowledged it. But we don’t have an announcement for you today in terms of something that’s happening,” Rubio added.
“I know there’s a plan in place for what to do if the shooting stops. That’s what the French UK initiative talks about when the conditions are set, what they mean by what the conditions are set is when no one is shooting,” Rubio said about a European-led plan to reopen the Strait of Hormuz. “But we have to have a plan B for if someone is shooting, you know, how do you reopen the Straits. And so I made that point today. I don’t know if that would be a NATO mission necessarily, but it would certainly be NATO countries that can contribute to it.”
Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Friday that “slight progress” has been made towards a deal with Iran, but vowed that Tehran “can never have a nuclear weapon.”
Rubio made the remark after President Donald Trump said Monday that the United States is holding off on a planned attack on Iran that had been scheduled for Tuesday, citing what he described as “serious negotiations” involving key Middle Eastern allies.
“On the issue of Iran. The news this morning, I know it’s early still in the United States, a little later in the region, in the Middle East, but we await word on those conversations that are ongoing. There’s been some slight progress, I don’t want to exaggerate it, but there’s been a little bit of movement, and that’s good,” Rubio said.
“The fundamentals remain the same, Iran can never have a nuclear weapon, it just cannot, this regime can never have nuclear weapons, and to achieve that, we’re going to have to address the issue of enrichment. We’re going to have to address the issue of the highly enriched uranium,” he added.
Fox News Digital’s Emma Bussey contributed to this post.
U.S. Central Command said late Thursday that the “Abraham Lincoln Carrier Strike Group is maintaining peak readiness while enforcing the U.S. blockade against Iranian ports.”
CENTCOM released new photos showing U.S. Navy fighter jets launching from the USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier in the Arabian Sea.
As of Thursday, CENTCOM said 94 commercial ships have been redirected as part of the blockade on Iranian ports, while four have been disabled.
The blockade has been ongoing for more than a month.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio warned Friday that “Iran is trying to create a tolling system” in the Strait of Hormuz and that “no country” should accept that.
“They’re trying to convince Oman, by the way, to join them in this tolling system in an international waterway. There is not a country in the world that should accept that. I don’t know of a country in the world that’s in favor of it, except Iran, but there’s no country in the world that should accept it,” Rubio said in Helsingborg, Sweden, where he had traveled Friday to attend a NATO foreign ministers meeting.
“I don’t know of anyone in the world that should be in favor of a tolling system in an international waterway, that’s just not acceptable. It can’t happen,” Rubio continued.
“If that were to happen in the Strait of Hormuz, it will happen in five other places around the world. Why would countries all over the world say, ‘Well, we want to do this too’? Not to mention how vital and critical that strait is to every country represented here today, but frankly, to countries not represented here today, particularly the Indo-Pacific,” he also said.
No deal had been reached with the U.S. as of Thursday, a senior Iranian source told Reuters, while also claiming gaps had narrowed.
Iran has been reviewing the latest peace proposal from President Donald Trump as he warned that further military action remains on the table.
The outlet also reported Iran’s uranium enrichment and Tehran’s control over the Strait of Hormuz continued to be among the sticking points.
This came as a member of Iran’s Parliament’s National Security and Foreign Policy Committee told state TV that Tehran could act first to break the ceasefire if it believed a U.S. base was preparing an attack.
Fadahossein Maleki, a member of Iran’s Parliament’s National Security and Foreign Policy Committee, told state TV, “Anything is possible.”
“It could even come from Iran’s side, frankly. If we feel that something is happening from a U.S. base, Iran has the legitimacy to respond and prevent it,” he said, according to Iran International.
Yesterdays’ Fox News Digital live blog offers additional coverage of the Iran conflict.
President Donald Trump said Thursday that he wants the Strait of Hormuz to be “open” and “free.”
“We want it open. We want it free. We don’t want tolls. It’s international. It’s an international waterway,” Trump said.
Meanwhile, House Republican leaders on Thursday canceled a planned vote on the resolution to limit Trump’s ability to engage in military action against Iran without congressional approval, delaying the matter until June.
House Foreign Affairs Committee Ranking Member Gregory Meeks, D-N.Y., accused Republicans of cheating in delaying the vote because they knew they were going to lose.
Meeks said Thursday he is sure that he has enough Republicans willing to back an Iran War Powers resolution and predicted that the vote will come up on Wednesday, June 3 due to procedural rules of when it has to be brought up, and that it will pass then.
Fox News’ Emma Bussey and Tyler Olson contributed to this post.
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