Marco Rubio Says US Won’t Offer Upfront Sanctions Relief for Iran Reopening Strait of Hormuz

US secretary of state Marco Rubio told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee that the current phase of negotiations is centered on forcing Iran to fully reopen the Strait of Hormuz, while making clear the administration would not offer upfront sanctions relief in exchange for reopening the strategic waterway.

“An Iranian official told Al Jazeera that no agreement can be reached unless the frozen funds are released and sanctions lifted, adding that Washington has moved to amend the draft Memorandum of Understanding, describing the matter as unacceptable”

Al-Jazeera Net

Rubio said Iran must agree with the U.S. that it will not charge a toll to transit Hormuz, will not fire on commercial ships and will help remove any mines it has laid in the strait, adding, “condition number one is they have to reopen the straits.”

Al-Jazeera Net

Rubio also said the U.S. isn’t offering or discussing granting Iran sanctions relief solely for reopening the Strait of Hormuz, and he rejected the idea of sanctions relief as a carrot by saying, “no, that’s not been discussed, that’s not been offered.”

He said any sanctions relief is conditions-based and has to be in return for the reason why those sanctions were put in place in the first place, which he described as Iran’s nuclear program.

The remarks came as US president Donald Trump pushed back against media reports claiming negotiations between Washington and Tehran had stalled, with Trump posting that the information was “false and erroneous.”

After rocket fire from Lebanon into northern Israel, the IDF struck Hezbollah headquarters in Beirut’s Dahieh district on Sunday, and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Israel Katz said in a joint statement that the IDF struck “in response to Hezbollah fire toward Israeli territory.”

Iranian parliament National Security and Foreign Policy Committee spokesperson Ebrahim Rezaei warned on X, writing, “We will give a decisive and painful response to the Zionist regime’s attack on Dahieh.”

Dailynewsegypt

The same report said Trump told NBC News’ “Meet the Press” that he was not demanding that Lebanon be part of a short-term deal with Iran and that he would not unfreeze Iranian assets or lift sanctions before a peace deal is reached.

It also said the IDF told authorities along Israel’s northern border that there was no change in defensive policy, with the statement saying, “At this stage, schools will disperse as planned.”

The article added that Lebanese media reported “many casualties” in the strikes and that, as far as is known, the Hezbollah headquarters hit in Beirut was empty, making the operation largely symbolic.

An Iranian official told Al Jazeera that no agreement can be reached unless the frozen funds are released and sanctions lifted, describing Washington’s move to amend the draft Memorandum of Understanding as unacceptable.

“WASHINGTON (MNTV) – US President Donald Trump has said that Iranian assets will remain frozen and sanctions will not be lifted unless a formal peace agreement is reached, while issuing stark warnings of further military escalation in the ongoing confrontation with Iran”

Muslim Network TV

The same Al Jazeera report said another Iranian source told the outlet that Washington changed the text of the ceasefire agreement several times and that Iran did not accept these amendments, stressing that if Iranian assets are not released from the outset and sanctions are not lifted, there will be no agreement.

In Tehran, the report also quoted Rezaei warning that “Watch the skies of the occupied territories tonight,” linking the threat to the Israeli strike on Beirut’s southern suburbs.

The article further stated that on Monday afternoon, the Khatam al-Anbiya Military Headquarters of Iran announced a halt to operations by the armed forces against Israel, followed by an Israeli confirmation of halting its strikes on Iran, not including southern Lebanon.

Taken together with Rubio’s insistence that “Any sanctions relief is conditions-based” and Trump’s rejection of early sanctions relief, the sources depict a negotiation track where sanctions relief and asset releases remain the central sticking points.