Kashmir Impulse Desk

New Delhi, May 24

United States Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Sunday that Washington had made significant progress in talks with Iran and suggested that further developments could be announced within hours, as efforts continued to ease tensions in West Asia.

Speaking at a joint press conference in New Delhi after talks with India’s External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, Rubio said negotiations with Tehran had advanced over the past two days, although no final agreement had yet been reached.

“On the Iran situation, I believe there may be more news coming out a little bit later today on this topic, and I’ll leave it to the President to make further announcements on it,” Rubio said.

Without disclosing details, Rubio said progress had been made in outlining a possible framework to resolve the conflict, including discussions linked to restoring commercial movement through the Strait of Hormuz, a critical global shipping route.

The Strait of Hormuz handles roughly one-fifth of the world’s oil and energy shipments during normal periods and has faced major disruption since late February following U.S. and Israeli strikes on Iran and subsequent retaliatory attacks.

Shipping through the waterway remains affected despite a fragile ceasefire that took effect in early April.

Rubio reiterated Washington’s position that Iran must not be allowed to obtain nuclear weapons.

“The ultimate goal is that Iran can never have a nuclear weapon. Iran can never possess a nuclear weapon,” he said.

He also criticised threats to commercial vessels in the Strait, calling any disruption to international shipping unlawful under international law.

“Some progress has been made over the last 48 hours working with our partners in the Gulf region on an outline that could ultimately, if successful, leave us with a completely open Strait of Hormuz,” Rubio said.

Jaishankar said India and the United States shared a strong interest in ensuring secure and uninterrupted maritime commerce, particularly amid concerns over global energy markets.

“We also have a very strong interest in ensuring that globally energy prices are kept low and that energy sources are more available,” Jaishankar said.

He said India had significantly increased its energy imports from the United States and stressed the need to diversify energy sources to protect long-term energy security.

“It is important to keep energy prices down for global growth,” he said.

Rubio’s remarks came amid renewed diplomatic efforts involving regional countries to revive dialogue between Washington and Tehran.

Pakistan hosted senior officials from both sides last month for talks – the first such meeting since 1979 – but no agreement was reached.

Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said on Sunday Islamabad hoped to host the next round of negotiations soon.

The diplomatic push has intensified after U.S. President Donald Trump held calls on Saturday with leaders from Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Turkiye, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates, Jordan, Bahrain and Pakistan to discuss regional tensions and ongoing peace efforts.