Rubio: 'Positive developments on Hormuz in the coming hours'
The US Secretary of State is in India to mend fences with New Delhi and take part in a Quad Summit
from our correspondent Marco Masciaga
NEW DELHI - US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, currently on a visit to India, said that progress had been made in negotiations with Iran in the past 48 hours and that further news could emerge today, pointing out that there could be positive developments regarding the navigability of the Strait of Hormuz in the coming hours.
Speaking about Trump at a press conference at Hyderabad House in downtown New Delhi, Rubio said that "the president's preference is always to solve problems like these through a negotiated diplomatic solution".
On Saturday, during his first day in the Subcontinent, the US Secretary of State had said that Washington remains adamant that Iran can never possess a nuclear weapon and will have to hand over its highly enriched uranium.
No to the nationalisation of the Strait
At Sunday's press briefing, in addition to reiterating the US position on nuclear power, Rubio emphasised the centrality of a free and open Indo-Pacific, resorting to the formula coined in 2016 by Japan's then PM Shinzo Abe, and stressing that it is not acceptable for an arm of the sea to be nationalised by one country.
Speaking of Tehran's control over the Strait of Hormuz, Rubio said: 'They do not own it. It is an international waterway. What they are doing now is basically threatening to destroy commercial ships that use it. This is illegal under any concept of international law that governs us... if we allowed this to become normal, we would normalise an unacceptable status quo and set a dangerous precedent'.
