US Secretary of State Marco Rubio says a purported offer from Iran to reopen the Strait of Hormuz under strict conditions is not acceptable to the United States or others.
Speaking in a Monday interview with Fox News, Rubio said Iran has a different view of the strategic waterway than most of the rest of the world.
“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,” Rubio said.
“That’s 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.
Earlier in the day, Iran offered to end its chokehold on the Strait of Hormuz if the US lifts its blockade on the country and ends the war in a proposal that would postpone discussions on the Islamic Republic's nuclear program, as per two regional officials.
US President Donald Trump seems unlikely to accept the offer, which was passed to the Americans by Pakistan and would leave unresolved the disagreements that led the U.S. and Israel to go to war on Feb. 28.
Following this, Trump met with his top security advisors to discuss the Iranian proposal, the White House said.
When asked about the reported plan, which would see both Iran and the United States lift their blockades ahead of further talks on the thorny issue of Tehran's nuclear program, spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt told a White House briefing that "the proposal was being discussed."
"Only because it's been reported, I will confirm the president has met with his national security team this morning," she said, refusing to say if Trump would accept the proposal.
ABC News, citing two anonymous US officials, meanwhile reported that the deal fell short of Washington's red lines.
Leavitt told reporters that "the president's red lines with respect to Iran have been made very, very clear, not just to the American public, but also to them as well."
(With inputs from AP,AFP)