US Secretary of State Marco Rubio previously told Al Jazeera that the Strait of Hormuz will be opened "one way or another", and that the United States remains focused on its war goals, which it intends to achieve in the coming "weeks, not months".
This, he said, includes destroying drone capabilities, as well as Iran's navy and air force, but added regarding the timeline: "I won't tell you how many weeks."
"We are on track, even ahead of schedule... Then we will face the issue of the Strait of Hormuz and it will be up to Iran to decide. If they decide to try to block the strait, they will have to face serious consequences - not only from the United States, but also from countries in the region and the entire world," Rubio said.
He added that the United States is "committed to finishing the job," emphasizing that it "had to be done now," otherwise the situation could be more dangerous in the future if Iran further strengthens its weapons.
"That was unacceptable. That's why this had to be done," Rubio concluded.
Iran's parliamentary security committee has approved a plan to regulate and impose fees on ships passing through the Strait of Hormuz, a strategic waterway through which about a fifth of the world's oil passes, a committee member said, CNN reports.
The commission's plan aims to implement "the sovereign role of Iran and its armed forces," Iranian state television IRIB reported.
The plan envisages several key measures to strengthen Iran's control and surveillance over the strait, including security arrangements to protect the waterway, measures to ensure the safety of maritime navigation, as well as financial rules and the collection of fees in rials for passing ships.
Also, a ban on passage is foreseen for vessels belonging to the United States of America and Israel.
The Israeli parliament passed a law today that would introduce the death penalty for Palestinians convicted of killing Israelis, a major victory for the country's far-right, which has been campaigning hard for it.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu personally came to parliament to vote for the bill's passage.
Israel has prevented a Jerusalem Catholic cardinal from marking Palm Sunday at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, sparking international outrage and prompting Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to lift the ban for the rest of Holy Week.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said it was "not entirely clear how decisions are being made inside Iran" as the United States tries to reach a deal to end the war.
In an interview with Al Jazeera, Rubio said it was unclear whether the new supreme leader, Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei, was actually in power.
"Nobody has seen him. Nobody has heard from him. The situation is very opaque right now. It's not entirely clear how decisions are made inside Iran," he said.
Rubio also argued that US goals in the war "had nothing to do with leadership from the beginning," despite President Donald Trump's frequent mention of a desire for regime change in Iran.
A top US diplomat said there were "messages and some direct conversations between some people in Iran and the United States, mostly through intermediaries, but there was also direct communication."
Rubio outlined the US demands on Iran, which are almost identical to those before the war.
"The Iranian regime must never have nuclear weapons, must stop supporting terrorism, and must halt the development of weapons that could threaten its neighbors," he said.
Asked about the minimum concession expected from Iran, Rubio said Tehran must "take concrete steps toward giving up any ambitions to possess nuclear weapons."
If Iran wants nuclear energy, he added, it should follow the model of other countries in the region and import it.
"Iran's claim for sovereignty over the Strait of Hormuz is also unacceptable. No country in the world should accept that. The United States will not accept that. It is an illegal claim that simply will not pass," Rubio said.
Trump has imposed a ten-day pause to "postpone" planned attacks on Iranian power plants and energy infrastructure, Leavitt said, according to the Guardian.
"This remains a truly unique, once-in-a-generation opportunity for the regime to reach a good deal with the United States," she noted.
Leavitt added that if Iran rejects this opportunity, the US military "will remain on standby" to provide the US president with "all available options to ensure this regime continues to pay a high price."
Earlier, Donald Trump said he was holding talks with a "new and more reasonable regime" in Tehran.
When asked how confident the US is that the people it is talking to are legitimate and truly in power, Leavitt replied that "everything they tell us will be privately tested."
The United States will ensure that those responsible bear the consequences if they fail to keep their word, she said.
She added that the people she spoke to seemed "more sensible behind the scenes" than the previous leadership.
Leavitt was also asked what Trump thought about the current timeline for war with Iran.
She stated that he had said from the beginning that the operation in Iran would last a total of four to six weeks.
"We are now on day 30. So calculate how much more time it takes for the Pentagon to fully achieve the objectives of Operation 'Epic Fury,'" she said.
Referring to Trump's post on Truth Social, in which he stated that the US would "end our beautiful 'stay' in Iran" by "totally destroying all of their power plants, oil fields, and Harg Island," Leavitt was asked why the president, by attacking civilian infrastructure, was threatening a potential war crime under international law.
Leavitt responded that the statement shows that "Iran's best move is to reach an agreement."
"The United States Armed Forces have capabilities beyond their imagination, and the president is not afraid to use them," she said.
"Of course, this administration and the United States Armed Forces will always act within the law, but when it comes to achieving the full objectives of Operation Epic Fury, President Trump will continue without letup and expects the Iranian regime to reach an agreement with the administration," the White House spokeswoman said.
Leavitt was also asked to comment on comments by Pope Leo, who said on Sunday that God ignores the prayers of leaders who wage wars and have "blood on their hands," which was interpreted as a criticism of the Trump administration.
"Our nation was founded on Judeo-Christian values almost 250 years ago, and we've seen presidents, we've seen Department of Defense leaders, and we've seen our soldiers pray during the most turbulent moments in our history. I don't think there's anything wrong with military leaders or the president calling on the American people to pray for our soldiers and those who serve our country abroad," she responded.
United States President Donald Trump would be interested in calling on Arab countries to bear the costs of a war with Iran, White House spokeswoman Caroline Leavitt told reporters on Monday, adding that she thought Trump would have more to say on the issue.
As reported by Reuters, when asked at a media briefing whether Arab countries would agree to help finance the war, Leavitt said she did not want to preempt the Republican president, but that it was an idea that Trump had.
"I think that's something the president would be very interested in inviting them to do. It's an idea that I know he has and I think you'll hear more from him about it," Leavitt said.
She said that talks with Iran are continuing and progressing well, adding that what Tehran is saying publicly is different from what it is telling US officials privately, and that Iran has privately agreed to some of Washington's positions.
"Despite all the public posturing you hear from the regime and the inaccurate reporting, the talks are continuing and going well. What is being said publicly, of course, is very different from what is being told to us privately," Leavitt pointed out.
She warned that everything Iran tells Washington privately will be verified and that the US will ensure that Tehran is held accountable for what it promises.
Trump warned earlier on Monday that Iran's energy facilities and oil fields would be razed to the ground unless it opened the Strait of Hormuz, after Tehran described US peace proposals as "unrealistic" and fired waves of missiles at Israel.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi today sharply criticized the positions of certain European countries that remain silent in the face of attacks on Iran, the Parisian newspaper Le Monde reported on its website.
During a telephone conversation with his French counterpart Jean-Noel Barrot, Aragchi "severely criticized the positions of certain European countries that only express concern about the economic consequences of the imposed war, while remaining silent in the face of the aggressor's brutal attacks on the Iranian people," the Iranian minister's office said in a statement.
Araghchi confirmed that Iran's "defensive operations" against US military bases and facilities in the region will continue.
Regarding the Strait of Hormuz, "closed to ships involved in Iranian military aggression," Aragchi said the decision was made "based on the principles of international law, in order to prevent aggressors from using the strait to carry out illegal attacks on Iran."
"Any provocative action by the aggressors and their supporters, especially in the United Nations Security Council, regarding the situation in the Strait of Hormuz would only exacerbate the complexity of the situation," Aragchi added.
(BETA)
Two UN peacekeepers in Lebanon (UNIFIL) were killed in southern Lebanon today when an explosion of unknown origin destroyed their vehicle near Bani Hayyan, the UN mission said.
UNIFIL said two other peacekeepers were injured, one seriously. The mission described it as the second fatal incident involving its personnel in the past 24 hours.
Two of the peacekeepers killed were Indonesians, according to Jean-Pierre Lacroix, who oversees UNIFIL as the UN Under-Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations.
In a separate statement on Sunday, UNIFIL said one of its soldiers was killed on Saturday evening "when a missile exploded at a UNIFIL position near Adchit Al Qusayr" in southern Lebanon. It said another soldier was seriously injured.
"No one should die in the service of peace," UNIFIL said, expressing its condolences to the families, friends and colleagues of those killed, and wishing a speedy recovery to those injured.
The mission said it had launched an investigation to determine what happened. The statement did not attribute blame to any party.
A Lebanese soldier was killed today and five others were wounded after an Israeli attack on a military checkpoint in southern Lebanon, the Lebanese army said.
Thousands of people have been killed in the Middle East conflict since it began on February 28, according to a CNN tally of casualties based on data from regional authorities.
Here's what those authorities said about the number of people who have reportedly died in the region since the war began. CNN has not been able to independently verify these figures.
Iran: At least 1.900 people have been killed in attacks on Iran since February 28, the Iranian Red Crescent said on Friday. Iran's foreign minister said on March 16 that "hundreds of Iranian civilians," including more than 200 children, had been killed since the conflict began.
Lebanon: At least 1.247 people have been killed in Israeli attacks in Lebanon since March 2, the country's Health Ministry said today. At least 124 children are among the dead, the ministry said yesterday.
Iraq: At least 101 people have been killed across Iraq since the war began, authorities said. At least 13 people have died in the semi-autonomous Kurdish region, according to the regional government.
Israel: About 19 civilians have been killed inside Israel since the start of the conflict, not counting those indirectly killed in the attacks. Six Israeli soldiers have also been killed in southern Lebanon, according to the Israeli military.
USA: Thirteen American service members have been killed since the start of the US war against Iran a month ago, according to US Central Command.
Dozens of people have also been killed in other countries in the region since the conflict began. Deaths from the conflict have been recorded in the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Kuwait, the occupied West Bank, Oman, Bahrain and Saudi Arabia since February 28, according to local authorities.
An Indonesian United Nations peacekeeper was killed in the Adchit al-Qusayr municipality in southern Lebanon on Sunday, Indonesian and human rights officials said, as Israeli forces carried out intensive bombing raids on parts of the country overnight, CNN reported.
Three more members of the mission were injured in "indirect artillery fire" near the position of the Indonesian contingent within the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL), the Indonesian Foreign Ministry said.
The killing occurred in the context of "recorded hostilities between the Israeli army and armed groups in southern Lebanon," the ministry said in a statement, which called for an investigation into the incident.
"Indonesia reiterates its condemnation of the Israeli attacks in southern Lebanon and calls on all parties to respect the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Lebanon," the statement added.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio declined this morning to discuss specific individuals in Iran with whom the United States is negotiating, but said that "cracks" have emerged within the country's leadership, CNN reports.
Asked on ABC News' "Good Morning America" to comment on President Donald Trump's social media post early Monday that the United States was negotiating with a "new and more reasonable regime," Rubio would not say who exactly Washington was negotiating with to end the war.
"I'm not going to tell you who these people are because it would probably get them into trouble with other groups within Iran," Rubio told reporter George Stephanopoulos.
"Look, there are certain internal cracks. And in the end, I think it would be good if there were people in Iran who, after everything that happened, were ready to take a different path for their country," he added.
Rubio did not provide further details about those "cracks," but later added that people negotiating with the US "are saying some real things privately."
"Obviously, they won't publish it in press releases, and what they say publicly doesn't necessarily reflect what they say in our conversations. Ultimately, we have to see if these people actually come to power and if they have the power to implement what they promise. We will test that. We hope that is the case," he concluded.
Former US President Donald Trump's national security adviser John Bolton has dismissed claims that the White House is negotiating with a "more moderate regime" as "pure delusion".
"The idea that the people they're talking to now... are any different than the regime that existed on February 28th is a pure delusion," said Bolton, who served as Donald Trump's national security adviser, alluding to the regime changes since the assassination of Iran's former supreme leader Ali Khamenei at the start of the conflict.
"This is an ideological regime. It has gone through multiple purge campaigns for decades. The faces are different, but the ideology remains the same," Bolton told CNN.
A ballistic missile launched from Iran entered Turkish airspace before being shot down by NATO air and missile defense systems deployed in the eastern Mediterranean, the Turkish Defense Ministry said.
This incident is the fourth such incident since the start of the war with Iran, following three previous interceptions of NATO systems earlier this month, which prompted Ankara to protest and warn Tehran, reports the Guardian.
The United Arab Emirates said its air defenses intercepted 11 ballistic missiles and 27 drones launched from Iran today. The country's defense ministry said 1.941 drones and 440 missiles have been intercepted since the start of the war, and that 11 people were killed and 178 wounded in Iranian attacks.
On the other hand, Bahrain's defense forces said that their air defense systems had intercepted and destroyed 398 drones and 182 missiles launched from Iran since February 28, after US-Israeli attacks on Iran triggered retaliatory strikes by Tehran across the Gulf countries, which have close ties to Washington and host US military bases.
The Israeli military said it had struck a university in Tehran run by Iran's Revolutionary Guard, claiming the institution was being used for advanced weapons research, The Guardian reports.
"In recent days, one of the IRGC's key military infrastructure facilities has been hit, located within Imam Hossein University - the main military academic institution of the Revolutionary Guard, which also serves as a reserve capacity for the regime's military structures," the army said in a statement.
Israel today renewed its bombardment of the southern suburbs of Beirut, while continuing airstrikes on southern Lebanon, one of which targeted a military checkpoint and killed one soldier.
Two attacks hit the southern suburbs of Beirut, one of them an apartment in a residential building, according to an AFP photographer, who said Hezbollah fighters had set up a security cordon at the scene after the attack.
A security source told AFP that three Hezbollah members were killed and three others wounded in the attack. An eyewitness, who did not want to be named, said the victims were evacuated after the attack.
An industrial building and a fuel tanker at the Bazan oil refinery in the northern Israeli city of Haifa were hit by debris from an intercepted missile, the Times of Israel reported, citing the Israeli Fire and Rescue Service.
There are no reports of casualties or damage to production facilities so far.
The Wall Street Journal, among others, reports that the refinery was hit by an Iranian missile, but this information has not been independently confirmed.
Esmail Bagei, spokesman for the Iranian Foreign Ministry, reaffirmed that Iran has not had direct negotiations with the United States, the Tasnim news agency reported.
"What was discussed were the messages we received through intermediaries, stating that the US wants negotiations. Iran has been clear from the beginning about its position and we know very well what framework we are considering. What was conveyed to us contains excessive and unreasonable demands," Bagei said.
Reuters also reports statements by Esmail Baghei, who spoke to reporters.
He said that Iran had received messages through intermediaries indicating the US's readiness for negotiations, but described the American proposals as "unrealistic, illogical and excessive."
"Our position is clear. We are under military aggression. That is why all our efforts and strength are focused on defense," he added.
After a marathon session that lasted all night, Israel's parliament today voted on the state budget for 2026, ensuring that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government can complete its term by the fall.
See more:
Download the app and follow the news
FOLLOW US ON
