Secretary of State Marco Rubio issued a strong warning on Friday against Iran’s reported efforts to establish an agency with authority over maritime traffic in the Strait of Hormuz, declaring that such a move would be illegal and entirely unacceptable to the United States and the broader international community.
Rubio delivered the warning during a press briefing from 8:21 at the Vatican following meetings with Pope Leo and Italian government officials. His remarks came amid active diplomatic efforts by the United States to reach a nuclear agreement with Tehran, with the Secretary indicating that Washington was still awaiting a formal response from Iran at the time he spoke.
The Secretary expressed concern about what he described as Iran’s attempt to normalize control over one of the world’s most critical international waterways. He argued that if the global community allowed such a claim to stand without resistance, it would create a dangerous precedent that other nations could exploit in strategic waterways around the world.
In his words, Rubio said, “We have seen the reporting overnight that Iran has established or is trying to establish some agency that is going to control traffic in the straits. That would be very problematic. That would actually be unacceptable. We are normalizing their controlling of an international waterway, which is both illegal, and it is just something that is unacceptable.
“The world has to start asking itself what it is willing to do if Iran tries to normalize a control of an international waterway,” he said….Read_More…