Rubio Says Iran Is “Not Serious” About Talks as Strikes Go On
The US Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, said Tehran was “not serious” about negotiations as the two sides traded an eleventh night of fire, with a mediator-tabled ten-day ceasefire still unaccepted. Washington is holding out for a longer pause and a guarantee of safe navigation through the Strait of Hormuz first. A US official said the strikes would continue until the President decided otherwise, “but talks between our countries are continuing”.
The ten-day proposal, carried by Qatari, Egyptian, Omani and Pakistani mediators, would revive the 17 June memorandum whose collapse reignited the war, and reportedly floats a “middle corridor” of safe transit between Omani- and Iranian-controlled waters. Washington’s dual track — nightly strikes alongside open channels — is aimed at making Tehran “pay a price” for the deaths of American troops while keeping a diplomatic exit in view. Pakistan’s prime minister pressed mediation in talks with Iran’s interior minister. Watch whether Washington escalates to strengthen its hand or finally engages the mediators directly.