Deadlock over Iran's nuclear program and the Strait of Hormuz cripples peace efforts

Deadlock over Iran's nuclear program and the Strait of Hormuz cripples peace efforts April 28, 20266:59 AM ET By NPR Staff Iranian worshippers perform their Friday prayers under the portraits of the late Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei (second left) and top military officials who were killed during the U.S.-Israel campaign, at the Tehran University campus, in Tehran, Iran, on April 24. Vahid Salemi/AP hide caption toggle caption Vahid Salemi/AP U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio signaled that efforts between the U.S. and Iran to end the war were deadlocked, amid growing international backlash over the blockade in the Strait of Hormuz, which has interrupted the world's fuel supply and impacted living costs globally. Middle East conflict A Hezbollah commander describes battling Israel in Lebanon Speaking to Fox News on Monday, Rubio said the latest proposal by Iran, first reported by Axios, was "better than what we thought they were going to submit." But he said that the U.S. administration faced "a deeply fractured" leadership in Iran, complicating efforts to negotiate an end to the war. Rubio indicated that no progress had been made on the U.S. demand for Iran to give up its nuclear ambition. "That fundamental issue still has to be confronted. That still remains the core issue here," Rubio said in the interview. Sponsor Message "We can't let them get away with it," he said. "They're very experienced negotiators, and we have to ensure that any deal that is made, any agreement that is made, is one that definitively prevents them from sprinting towards a nuclear weapon at any point." His comments came amid Iran's diplomatic outreach to Russia, as Iranian officials sought to gain political leverage and foreign support. Iran's foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, met on Monday with Russian President Vladimir Putin, who expressed his support for Iran in its war with the U.S. and Israel. Araghchi also traveled to Oman and Pakistan for talks over the weekend. His visit to Pakistan prompted President Trump to say he would send his envoys for talks in Islamabad, only to later cancel the U.S. delegation's trip when Araghchi left. Meanwhile, in a sign of the ongoing standoff in the strategic waterway of the Strait of Hormuz, a guided-missile destroyer blocked an Iranian oil tanker from sailing to an Iranian port, the U.S. Central Command said on social media on Monday. In Lebanon, the ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah also appears to be fragile. Israel has carried out widespread strikes in the south of the country and Hezbollah has fired several drones at Israeli troops. A boat sails past a tanker anchored on the Strait of Hormuz off the coast Qeshm island, Iran, April 18. Asghar Besharati/AP hide caption toggle caption Asghar Besharati/AP Here are further developments in the Middle East conflict: Sponsor Message Strait of Hormuz | Lebanon | International reactions | Iraq's new prime minister Rubio says Iran's attempt to control the Strait of Hormuz can't be tolerated Rubio also spoke against Iran's attempt to control the Strait of Hormuz, the key waterway through which about 20% of the world's oil passes, primarily from Gulf countries to markets in Asia. "They cannot normalize nor can we tolerate them trying to normalize a system in which the Iranians decide who gets to use an international waterway and how much you have to pay them to use it," he said. Traffic has largely been at a standstill in the Strait of Hormuz since Iran…

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