New Delhi:
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Iran has used the Strait of Hormuz as an “economic nuclear weapon” against the world, ruling out any deal that excludes Tehran’s nuclear program.
Rubio told Fox News, “They’re putting up billboards in Tehran bragging about how they can hold 25 per cent of the world’s energy hostage. Imagine if those same people had access to a nuclear weapon.” He detailed why any agreement with Iran has to include clauses that prevent them from “sprinting towards a nuclear weapon”. “We wouldn’t be able to do anything about Hezballah, we wouldn’t be able to do anything about Hamas, we wouldn’t be able to do anything about the Shia militias in Iraq, Because they’d be sitting there with a nuclear weapon saying we are untouchable,” he added.
Rubio said Iran is not just a radical country run by radical people, but a player that seeks to export their revolution, alleging Tehran’s ties with the Hezbollah in Lebanon, Hamas and Iraq militias. “They don’t just seek to dominate Iran, they seek to dominate the region. And imagine that with a nuclear weapon,” he said.
An impediment in reaching a deal with Iran, he said, is that those with ultimate power in the country have an “apocalyptic vision of the future”. “You have a supreme leader whose credibility is still untested, whose access is questionable, who has not been seen visibly publicly, has not spoken, we have not heard his voice,” he said, referring to Mojtaba Khamenei.
Asked if Iran is serious about making a deal, Rubio mentioned the internal turmoil the country is facing as the reason for them want to get out of “the mess they’re in”. “I think they’re serious about figuring out how can they buy themselves more time. They’re very experienced negotiators,” he said. In case a deal is not reached, US President Donald Trump will decide further course of action, he said, adding that, “I hope that in the aftermath of this conflict the whole world’s eyes have been opened to the threat Iran poses. Again, they want to do with the world with a nuclear weapon what they are doing now with oil. They want to hold the world hostage so they can do whatever they want.”
His interview comes at a time Trump is reportedly not happy with Iran’s new proposal to reopen the Strait of Hormuz and end the war. Earlier, Iran offered the US a deal in which Washington would lift its blockade on the country and its ports and end the war in the Middle East, while offering that discussions on Tehran’s nuclear programme would come in a later phase of the diplomatic process.