US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Friday there had been “some slight progress” regarding the situation involving Iran and the Strait of Hormuz.

“There’s been some slight progress, I don’t want to exaggerate it, but there’s been a little bit of movement, and that’s good,” Rubio told reporters ahead of a NATO foreign ministers meeting alongside NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte.

Rubio said the “fundamentals remain the same,” adding: “Iran can never have nuclear weapons, it just cannot make them.”

He said Washington was awaiting the outcome of ongoing discussions related to Iran while underlining that issues surrounding uranium enrichment and Tehran’s stockpile of highly enriched uranium would have to be addressed.

Rubio also accused Iran of attempting to establish a “tolling system” in the Strait of Hormuz, saying Tehran was trying to persuade Oman to join the initiative.

“There is not a country in the world that should accept that,” he said, calling the idea “not acceptable.”

“If that were to happen in the Straits of Hormuz, it will happen in five other places around the world,” Rubio added.

The top US diplomat said Washington was working through the UN on a Bahrain-sponsored resolution related to the issue, claiming it had garnered broad international backing.

“Let’s see if the United Nations still works,” Rubio said, while criticising unnamed Security Council members allegedly considering vetoing the resolution.

For his part, Rutte said the NATO meeting would focus on defence spending, Ukraine, and freedom of navigation amid growing concerns over Iran and the Strait of Hormuz.

“I hear from many of my colleagues here that it is not acceptable that the freedom of navigation is basically trampled upon as it is at the moment,” Rutte said.

He also thanked the US for continuing military support to Ukraine, particularly the supply of interceptor systems funded by European and Canadian allies.

Rubio also said the upcoming NATO leaders’ summit in Ankara would be “one of the more important leaders’ summits in the history of NATO,” citing defence industrial production, burden sharing, and global security challenges among the alliance’s priorities.

Iran condemns US sanctions of its Lebanese ambassador, officials

Iran’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued a statement on Friday condemning the United States’ action to sanction the Iranian Ambassador to Lebanon, along with several Lebanese officials and citizens.

The statement on X read, “Washington’s imposition of sanctions on representatives of Hezbollah and the Amal Movement, and our ambassador in Beirut, is an incitement to sedition in Lebanon.”

The United States on Thursday sanctioned nine Hezbollah-linked individuals it accused of “obstructing the peace process in Lebanon,” as Israeli strikes on the southern part of the country continued despite a ceasefire.

“Hezbollah is a terrorist organisation and must be fully disarmed,” said Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent.

“Treasury will continue to take action against officials who have infiltrated the Lebanese government and are enabling Hezbollah to wage its senseless campaign of violence against the Lebanese people and obstruct lasting peace.”

Pakistan seeks breakthrough in US-Iran peace talks

Iran’s foreign minister met Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi on Friday to discuss proposals to end the US-Israeli war, Iranian media reported, with Tehran and Washington still at odds over Tehran’s uranium stockpile and controls on the Strait of Hormuz.

Two days after presenting the Iranians with the latest US message in the negotiations, Naqvi held another round of talks with Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi in Tehran, the semi-official Tasnim and ISNA news agencies reported.

Naqvi was facilitating communication to develop a framework for ending the war and resolving differences, ISNA reported.

Read More: Efforts intensify for ‘standby agreement’

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio told reporters on Thursday that there had been “some good signs” in the talks. Still, there could be no solution if Tehran enforced a tolling system in the Strait of Hormuz, which it effectively closed to most shipping after the war began on February 28.

“There’s some good signs,” Rubio said. “I don’t want to be overly optimistic … So, let’s see what happens over the next few days.”

A senior Iranian source told Reuters on Thursday that gaps had been narrowed, although uranium enrichment and the Strait of Hormuz remained among the sticking points.

The war has wreaked havoc on the global economy, with the surge in oil prices stoking fears of rampant inflation. About a fifth of the world’s oil and liquefied natural gas shipments travelled through the Strait of Hormuz before the war.

The US dollar was near its highest level in six weeks on Friday amid the uncertainty over the peace talks, while oil prices climbed as investors doubted the prospects of a breakthrough.

“We’re coming to the end of week 12, we’re six weeks in the ceasefire, and I’m just not really that convinced we’re any closer to a resolution between the US and Iran,” Tony Sycamore, a market analyst at IG, said of the Middle East war.

‘We will get it’

US President Donald Trump said the US would eventually forcibly take Iran’s stockpile of moderately enriched uranium, which Washington and Israel have routinely claimed is destined for a nuclear weapon, though Tehran says it is intended purely for peaceful purposes.

“We will get it. We don’t need it, we don’t want it. We’ll probably destroy it after we get it, but we’re not going to let them have it,” Trump told reporters at the White House on Thursday.

Two senior Iranian sources told Reuters before Trump’s comments that Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei had issued a directive that the uranium should not be sent abroad.

The US president also railed against Tehran’s intentions to charge fees on ships using the strait.

Also Read: US and Iran still at odds on key issues, but Rubio sees some good signs

“We want it open, we want it free. We don’t want tolls,” Trump said. “It’s an international waterway.”

Trump faces domestic pressure ahead of November midterm elections, with Americans angry over the surge in fuel prices and his approval rating near its lowest level since he returned to the White House last year.

Tehran submitted its latest offer to the US earlier this week.

Tehran’s descriptions suggest it largely repeats terms Trump previously rejected, including demands for control of the Strait of Hormuz, compensation for war damage, lifting of sanctions, release of frozen assets and the withdrawal of US troops from regional bases, the source of many assaults that have resulted in the deaths of thousands of Iranian civilians, many of whom were women and children.

Global energy stock

The International Energy Agency says the conflict has produced the world’s worst energy shock.

It warned on Thursday that the peak of summer fuel demand, coupled with a lack of new supply from the Middle East, meant the market could enter the “red zone” in July and August.

Traffic through the strait has fallen to a trickle compared with 125 to 140 daily passages before the war.

Iran has said it aims to reopen the strait to friendly countries that abide by its terms, which could potentially include fees.

“It would make a diplomatic deal unfeasible if they were to continue to pursue that. So it’s a threat to the world if they were trying to do that, and it’s completely illegal,” Rubio said.