US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Tuesday that Washington would not accept Iranian tolls or fees on the Strait of Hormuz, as disputes over the vital waterway, nuclear inspections, and missiles exposed early strains in negotiations to end the Middle East war.
Washington and Tehran have signed a preliminary agreement to halt the conflict and concluded a first round of talks in Switzerland, opening a 60-day negotiation period on sanctions relief, Iran’s nuclear programme and the future of Hormuz.
An Iranian blockade early in the war choked maritime traffic through the strait, sending global oil prices surging, but crossings have begun rising since the deal was signed.
Iran has repeatedly insisted it will retain control over the waterway.
On Tuesday, Tehran and Oman said in a joint statement that they would study the administration of the trade route and the costs to be charged for services, while insisting on their sovereignty over the strait.
Rubio, opening a regional tour in the United Arab Emirates, said Washington would oppose any such move.
“It’s an international waterway. No country is allowed to charge tolls or fees on an international waterway,” he said, adding that he believed “all the countries in this region would agree”.
Tehran’s top negotiator, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, had earlier said Hormuz “will never return” to the pre-war status quo, despite both sides agreeing to set up communication lines to keep it open.
The UN’s maritime agency, meanwhile, said it would begin evacuating more than 11,000 sailors stranded by the blockade, working with Iran, Oman and the United States after securing “the necessary safety guarantees.”
Traffic through the strait on Monday reached its highest level since the war began, according to two maritime tracking platforms, though it remained just over 40 percent of the normal peacetime level of about 120 vessels a day.
Oman said Tuesday that it coordinated with the International Maritime Organization to provide a temporary maritime corridor for vessels seeking to transit the Strait of Hormuz, state news agency reported. The vessels wanting to use the temporary corridor would need to coordinate with the IMO, based on coordinates announced by the organization and Omani authorities, it added.
The measure is aimed at ensuring freedom of navigation through the strategic waterway in line with international law and the law of the sea, which uphold freedom of navigation without imposing transit fees.
Red lines
Diplomacy was in full swing Tuesday, with Iran’s president visiting mediator Pakistan, Rubio beginning a tour of Gulf allies and Lebanon and Israel kicking off more direct talks in Washington.
But Tehran signalled that its ballistic missile program would not be part of any final settlement.
“If the missiles we have for our defense did not exist, Israel and the United States would have plowed Iran just like Gaza,” Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said in Pakistan.
He added that the Islamic Republic would “never negotiate with anyone, under any circumstances, ever, about our defensive capabilities.”
Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif confirmed that the preliminary US-Iran agreement made no mention of ballistic missiles, saying there could not be “double standards” on which countries may possess them.
Iran fired hundreds of missiles and thousands of drones at Israel and Gulf neighbors during the war, while Israel has long viewed the program as an existential threat.
Rubio was asked how he’s trying to ease concerns in the region over the MOU’s ignoring of Iran’s missile program and support for proxies.
The top US diplomat acknowledged that those issues will come up during his meetings this week in the Gulf. However, he insisted that they are actually covered by the memorandum of understanding inked last week with Iran because that agreement talks about “an end of hostilities in the entire region.”
“You can’t have the end of hostilities and conflicts in the region as long as Iranian proxies are launching missiles and drones from Iraq and are participating in terrorism like Hamas did and like Hezbollah did,” Rubio says.
“So I do think it’s covered by the MOU, and it is an issue that will be gotten to at the appropriate time in these negotiations,” he added.
Read More: Iranian FM Araghchi and Parliament Speaker Ghalibaf in Oman; discuss Iran-US MoU
