Rubio Accuses Iran of Using Hormuz as 'Economic Nuclear Weapon'

(MENAFN) US Secretary of State Marco Rubio has sharply condemned Iran's leveraging of the Strait of Hormuz, comparing Tehran's grip over the critical waterway to a global economic weapon and vowing that Washington would reject any nuclear deal on Iranian terms.

Rubio, speaking Monday on media, pushed back hard against a new Iranian proposal — reported by Axios and other outlets — that would see Tehran reopen the Strait of Hormuz and halt hostilities, while shelving nuclear negotiations for a later date.

The top American diplomat was unconvinced. "If 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," he said.

Rubio warned that allowing Iran to dictate access to the strategic chokepoint would set a dangerous global precedent, well beyond the Middle East. "This is not the Suez Canal, this is not the Panama Canal, these are international waters. And if that's normalized, not only does that set a precedent in the Middle East, it sets a precedent all over the world," he argued, calling the strait "the equivalent of an economic nuclear weapon that they're trying to use against the world."

On the nuclear front, Rubio showed no willingness to decouple the weapons question from any broader diplomatic resolution. "Suffice it to say that the nuclear question is the reason why we're in this in the first place," he said.

He also rejected the notion that pragmatic voices exist within Iran's clerical establishment, asserting flatly, "they're all hardliners in Iran." He elaborated: "There's no doubt in my mind that at some point in the future if this radical clerical regime remains in charge in Iran, they will decide they want a nuclear weapon… That fundamental issue still has to be confronted. That still remains the core issue here."

Meanwhile, the White House confirmed that President Donald Trump had reviewed Tehran's proposal. Sources familiar with the deliberations told the New York Times that Trump was unsatisfied with the offer, with one US official warning that acceptance could be perceived as undercutting the president's long-standing demand for the full dismantlement of Iran's nuclear infrastructure.

Iran, for its part, has consistently denied pursuing nuclear weapons and has rebuffed Washington's calls to surrender its stockpile of highly enriched uranium and dismantle its atomic program.

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