Rubio says Strait of Hormuz to reopen ‘one way or another’ amid Iran war

In an exclusive interview, the US secretary of state says Donald Trump seeks diplomacy and demands that Iran end its nuclear and missile programmes.

United States Secretary of State Marco Rubio has told Al Jazeera that the Strait of Hormuz will “reopen one way or another” in the wake of the eventual end of the US-Israeli war with Iran.

The exclusive interview with Al Jazeera’s Hashem Ahelbarra on Monday came as speculation has grown over a possible US troop deployment in Iran and as the effective closure of the strait continues to roil global oil markets.

US boots on the ground would represent a new phase in the grinding conflict, which began on February 28 with US-Israeli strikes, even as US President Donald Trump has repeatedly said that the US is pursuing diplomacy with Iran.

Rubio again maintained there were “messages and some direct talks going on between some inside of Iran and the United States, primarily through intermediaries, but there’s been some conversation”.

Iran has repeatedly denied that talks were ongoing. Pakistan on Sunday said it would host direct talks “in the coming days for a comprehensive and lasting settlement of the ongoing conflict”.

Rubio added that Trump “always prefers diplomacy, always prefers an outcome … and we could have done this before”.

The Trump administration had previously pursued indirect talks with Iran to curtail its nuclear programme. One round of talks was derailed in June of last year with Israel’s 12-day war against Iran, which ended with US strikes on Iran’s nuclear facility.

A second round of diplomacy was underway when the US and Israel began the latest war.

Rubio again indicated the US administration’s preference for regime change in Iran, which the US and Israel have so far been unable to achieve despite several high-profile assassinations, including the killing of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

He added that it remains unclear to the US whether Khamenei’s replacement, his son Mojtaba Khamenei, remains in power, explaining it was unclear “how decisions are being made inside of Iran”.