{"id":815362,"date":"2026-05-22T21:15:20","date_gmt":"2026-05-22T21:15:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/815362\/"},"modified":"2026-05-22T21:15:20","modified_gmt":"2026-05-22T21:15:20","slug":"rubio-reports-slight-progress-in-iran-talks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/815362\/","title":{"rendered":"Rubio reports ‘slight progress’ in Iran talks"},"content":{"rendered":"

TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) \u2014 U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio<\/a> said Friday that \u201cslight progress\u201d was made during talks with Iran as Pakistan\u2019s army chief traveled to Tehran in a renewed effort to mediate a peace deal and uncertainty loomed over whether war will resume<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Rubio spoke days after U.S. President Donald Trump said he was holding off<\/a> on a military strike against the Islamic Republic because \u201cserious negotiations\u201d were underway. Trump has been threatening for weeks that the ceasefire reached in mid-April could end<\/a> if Iran does not make a deal, with shifting parameters for striking such an agreement.<\/p>\n

The secretary of state made the comment ahead of a meeting of NATO foreign ministers<\/a> in Helsingborg, Sweden, where the military alliance discussed what role it could play in helping police the Strait of Hormuz<\/a> once the war is over.<\/p>\n

Rubio said he did not want to exaggerate the progress, saying there had been \u201ca little bit of movement and that\u2019s good.\u201d He said the conversations were ongoing. In recent weeks, repeated claims of progress have emerged, but a deal has stayed out of reach.<\/p>\n

Trump has repeatedly set deadlines<\/a> for Tehran and then backed off. But he\u2019s also previously indicated he would hold off on military action to allow talks to continue, only to turn around and launch strikes. That happened at the war\u2019s outset<\/a>, when he ordered strikes in late February shortly after indicating he would let talks play out.<\/p>\n

The president said he called off attacks on Iran this week at the request of allies in the Middle East.<\/p>\n

Pakistan\u2019s army chief arrives in Iran for third round of talks<\/p>\n

In a renewed push for a peace agreement, Pakistan\u2019s top army officer arrived Friday in Tehran for talks with Iranian leaders, Pakistani officials and the military confirmed. It\u2019s the third round of meetings between Pakistani and Iranian officials in recent days.<\/p>\n

Field Marshal Asim Munir will be joined by Pakistan\u2019s interior minister, who has already met with Iranian leaders in Tehran twice this week. Pakistan has sought a deal between Iran and the U.S. since Munir facilitated face-to-face talks between the two countries in Islamabad last month.<\/p>\n

Qatar also sent a delegation to Tehran, according to a regional official who spoke on condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the talks. The delegation is working in coordination with other countries, including Egypt, Turkey and Saudi Arabia, the official said.<\/p>\n

Iran has effectively closed the Strait of Hormuz, a vital waterway for the shipment of oil, gas, fertilizer and other petroleum products. The U.S. is blockading Iranian ports<\/a> and has redirected 94 commercial vessels and disabled four others since mid-April, U.S. Central Command said in a social media post.<\/p>\n

At the NATO meeting in Sweden, Rubio said he discussed reopening the strait with other foreign ministers. He said there needs to be a \u201cplan B\u201d if Washington and Tehran fail to reach a deal.<\/p>\n

\u201cSomeone\u2019s going to have to do something about it, OK?\u201d Rubio said, insisting that Iran was not going to \u201cvoluntarily reopen\u201d the strait.<\/p>\n

The U.S. and Israel have said Iran can never have a nuclear weapon. While regional officials have said Iran offered some nuclear concessions<\/a>, Trump has said he wants to remove highly enriched uranium from the country. Iran says its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes.<\/p>\n

Trump\u2019s war pause sparks tension with Netanyahu<\/p>\n

Trump\u2019s decision to give more peace talks a chance sparked tension with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.<\/p>\n

An official who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media said Thursday that Trump and Netanyahu had a \u201cdramatic\u201d phone conversation Tuesday about the status of the Iranian negotiations and that Israel is angry with Trump\u2019s efforts to strike a deal with Iran.<\/p>\n

The White House declined to comment on the substance or tenor of the call. Trump told reporters after the conversation that Netanyahu \u201cwill do whatever I want him to do.\u201d<\/p>\n

The comments are some of the first public signs of daylight between the leaders since they launched the war.<\/p>\n

Officials say Saudi Arabia and the UAE separately struck Iran<\/p>\n

Two regional officials and a Western diplomat told The Associated Press that Saudi Arabia and the UAE separately launched multiple attacks on Iran and Iranian-backed Shiite militias in Iraq during the war. An Israeli military officer with knowledge of the situation also confirmed that the UAE proactively struck Iran at least once.<\/p>\n

All of them spoke on condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the information.<\/p>\n

The regional officials said the strikes on Iran targeted military facilities.<\/p>\n

One of the regional officials said strikes by Saudi Arabia targeted hideouts of Iraqi militias, mainly Kataib Hezbollah, after Riyadh assessed that most of the drone attacks on Saudi Arabia came from neighboring Iraq. He said Saudi Arabia has repeatedly briefed Baghdad before deciding to strike.<\/p>\n

The Western diplomat and one of the regional officials said the UAE had pushed for a collective military response from the Gulf Arab countries since the onset of the war.<\/p>\n

Asked for comment, the UAE referred to a May 16 statement that \u201call measures undertaken by the UAE have been within the framework of defensive actions aimed at protecting its sovereignty, civilians, and vital infrastructure.\u201d Saudi Arabia did not immediately respond to a request for comment.<\/p>\n

Iran has not publicly addressed being targeted by the UAE and Saudi Arabia.<\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

Magdy reported from Cairo, Egypt, and Ahmed reported from Islamabad. Associated Press writers Melanie Lidman in Tel Aviv, Israel; Geir Moulson in Berlin; Aamer Madhani in Washington; Farnoush Amiri in New York; and Russ Bynum in Savannah, Georgia, contributed to this report.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) \u2014 U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Friday that \u201cslight progress\u201d was made…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":815363,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5],"tags":[3881,83503,372,69,57,3464,83,3461,6087,410,8132,50,3775,6053,80,64955,16524,2053,10317,64677,96,93,103,107],"class_list":["post-815362","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-world","tag-ap-top-news","tag-asim-munir","tag-benjamin-netanyahu","tag-donald-trump","tag-general-news","tag-international-agreements","tag-iran","tag-iran-government","tag-iran-war","tag-marco-rubio","tag-military-and-defense","tag-news","tag-pakistan","tag-pakistan-government","tag-politics","tag-saudi-arabia-government","tag-south-asia","tag-tehran","tag-united-arab-emirates","tag-united-arab-emirates-government","tag-war-and-unrest","tag-washington-news","tag-world","tag-world-news"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116620304478803867","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/815362","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=815362"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/815362\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/815363"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=815362"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=815362"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=815362"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}