Washington
\nUS Secretary of State Marco Rubio says the US expects to finish its operations in Iran \u201cin the next couple of weeks\u201d.
\nThe objectives were being achieved and were ahead of schedule, he said at the end of a meeting in France of foreign ministers from the group of major Western economies, known the G7.
\nReferring to peace talks that President Donald Trump says Iran wants – which Tehran denies – Rubio said there had been messages, but it was unclear who was left to represent the country.
\nSeveral top Iranian leaders have been killed since the US and Israel began the war on 28 February. In the meantime, the US is sending troops to the area to give the president options, Rubio said.
\nTrump and his top officials have consistently said their operations in Iran would last four-to-seven weeks.
\nAs the fourth week is about to end, Rubio\u2019s time frame would fit with those predictions – although he also mentioned that it was a question of \u201cweeks, not months\u201d when he answered a series of questions from reporters.
\nTrump is widely reported to have passed on to the Iranians – via Pakistan – an outline of a 15-point plan to end the war.
\nHowever, when asked by reporters if the Iranians were going to give their response on Friday, the US secretary of state said: \u201cWe haven\u2019t gotten it yet. Look, we\u2019ve got messages. We\u2019ve had an exchange of messages and indications from the Iranian system, whatever\u2019s left of it, about a willingness to talk about certain things.
\n\u201cWe\u2019re waiting for further clarification about who was it that we would be talking to, what we would talking about, and when will we be talking.\u201d
\nTrump\u2019s special envoy Steve Witkoff later said he was \u201chopeful\u201d there would be meetings \u201cthis week\u201d.
\n\u201cWe have a 15-point deal on the table that the Iranians have had for a bit of time. We expect an answer from them and it would solve it all,\u201d Witkoff said.
\nTrump told reporters on Friday that he had paused a threatened attack on Iran\u2019s power plants to give talks a chance.
\n\u201cIran is being decimated,\u201d he said, adding: \u201cWe are talking now. They want to make a deal.\u201d
\nOn Friday, Iran said that Israel had carried out attacks on Iranian nuclear facilities as well as two of the country\u2019s largest steel plants – prompting Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi to threaten to exact a \u201cheavy price\u201d.
\nIran\u2019s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC), the country\u2019s powerful military force that underpins the regime, said it would retaliate by targeting industrial infrastructure connected to the US or Israel.
\nIn their statement after the talks, the G7 foreign ministers called for \u201cthe absolute necessity to permanently restore safe and toll free freedom of navigation in the Strait of Hormuz\u201d, which Iran has closed in retaliation.
\nIt was a reference to Iran\u2019s threat to charge a fee, Rubio said.
\nThere have been reports that IRGC has already been charging some vessels a fee in return for secure passage. Iranian MPs are also drafting a bill, although it is in its early stages.
\nAbout 20% of the world\u2019s oil and liquefied natural gas typically passes through the Strait of Hormuz.
\nIts closure has caused the price of oil to skyrocket and has raised concerns that a prolonged blockage could raise energy prices – and even lead to a severe contraction in the economies of many countries.
\nMost of the G7 countries, except Japan, are members of the Nato transatlantic alliance, which have so far refused to answer a call by Trump to send ships to escort vessels through the strait, angering the US leader.
\nInstead, they have said ending the conflict was the best way to ensure freedom of passage.
\nAfter the talks in France, Rubio said the UK was leading the work to build a coalition to ensure the strait remained free. Such a coalition, he said, would be needed for the period after the war.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Washington US Secretary of State Marco Rubio says the US expects to finish its operations in Iran \u201cin the next couple of weeks\u201d. The objectives were being achieved and were ahead of schedule, he said at the end of a meeting in France of foreign ministers from the group of major Western economies, known the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":524229,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-538866","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n