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Secretary of State Marco Rubio warned Friday against Iran trying to create a “tolling system” for commercial shipping to pass through the Strait of Hormuz.
“They’re trying to convince Oman, by the way, to join them in this tolling system,” he said while in Sweden for a NATO foreign ministers meeting. ”There is not a country in the world that should accept that.”
“I don’t know of anyone in the world that should be in favor of a tolling system in an international waterway, that’s just not acceptable. It can’t happen,” Rubio continued.
President Trump reiterated Thursday that he was against any sort of tolling system for the strait: “We want it open. We want it free. We don’t want tolls. It’s international. It’s an international waterway.”
The Gulf of Oman is adjacent to the strait and needs to be traveled before reaching it from the east. Oman is an American ally and it’s unclear what its talks with Iran mean for peace negotiations.
But shipping via the critical waterway has come to a near complete halt, and gas prices have spiked around the world. U.S. forces have redirected 97 commercial vessels since the start of the military blockade of Iranian ports, U.S. Central Command said on Friday.
Rubio said there has been “some progress” in the talks with Tehran but added that the US was dealing with “a very difficult group of people.”
The reopening of the strait is a sticking point in the talks, as is the future of Iran’s nuclear program.
But the secretary of state also said it’s time to come up with a “Plan B” in case an agreement can’t be reached to reopen the Strait of Hormuz.
He noted the NATO countries discussed the matter in their meeting in Sweden.
“At that point, something has to be done about it, and I would argue that there are countries represented here today that are more deeply impacted by this than even the United States is,” he said.
He noted the NATO countries discussed the matter in their meeting in Sweden.
The Atlantic alliance has been reluctant to get involved in President Trump’s war, which has been a point of contention between those countries and Washington.
Rubio conceded no agreement had come from the meeting, but reiterated that “we have to start thinking about it.”
France and the United Kingdom have begun efforts to build a military coalition that can help ensure safe maritime traffic through the strait, but have been clear that such operations will only begin once the conflict with Iran is over.