Speaking at a meeting of NATO foreign ministers in Helsingborg, Sweden, on Friday, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said “no country in the world should accept” Iran’s latest scheme to control the Strait of Hormuz in perpetuity and extort “tolls” from international shipping.
“Iran is trying to create a tolling system. They’re trying to convince Oman, by the way, to join them in this tolling system in an international waterway. There is not a country in the world that should accept that,” Rubio said after meeting with NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte.
“I don’t know of a country in the world that’s in favor of it, except Iran, but there’s no country in the world that should accept it,” he repeated.
Rubio warned that allowing a hostile nation to establish a “tolling system in an international waterway” would set a dire precedent for the freedom of navigation.
“It can’t happen. If that were to happen in the Strait of Hormuz, it will happen in five other places around the world. Why wouldn’t countries all over the world say, ‘Well, we want to do this too,’” he said.
Along with his criticism of Iran’s designs on the Strait of Hormuz, Rubio said there has been modest progress on ceasefire talks with Tehran.
“There’s been some slight progress, I don’t want to exaggerate it, but there’s been a little bit of movement, and that’s good,” he said.
“The fundamentals remain the same. Iran can never have a nuclear weapon, it just cannot,” he stressed.
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Rubio said his view of the current situation was neither “optimistic or pessimistic.”
“We’re not there yet, and hopefully that’ll change,” he said.
The U.S.-sponsored resolution against Iran’s attacks on shipping in the Strait of Hormuz at the U.N. Security Council (UNSC) now has more co-sponsors than any other resolution in history, according to Rubio, although he noted that Iran’s allies China and Russia could use their veto privileges against it.
“Unfortunately, a couple of countries on the Security Council are thinking about vetoing it. That would be lamentable,” Rubio said.
United States Secretary of State Marco Rubio speaks with journalists during a meeting of NATO foreign ministers in Helsingborg, Sweden, Friday, May 22, 2026. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)
“We are doing everything we can, though, to achieve the sort of global consensus that’s necessary to prevent this from happening, and we’re trying to use the United Nations,” he added.
The United Arab Emirates (UAE), which has borne the brunt of Iran’s unprovoked attacks on neighboring countries, also urged UNSC to take action against Iran on Friday. UAE Ambassador Ghasaq Shaheen urged the Security Council to enforce its resolutions against Iran for attacking civilian infrastructure and violating navigational rights and freedoms.
On Thursday, the leftist publication New York Times reported that Iran has been trying to interest Oman, which lies on the other side of the Strait of Hormuz, in a partnership to control traffic through the strategic waterway and collect tolls. There was no indication of whether Oman responded to Iran’s proposals.
In this photo released by the Iranian Foreign Ministry, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, right, shakes hands with Oman’s Sultan Haitham bin Tariq during their meeting, in Muscat, Oman, Sunday, April 26, 2026. (Iranian Foreign Ministry via AP)
Also on Thursday, Iran’s new “Persian Gulf Strait Authority” published a map that asserted “Iranian armed forces oversight” across more than 8,800 square miles, extending from the Strait of Hormuz into the territorial waters of Oman and the UAE.
The Iranian agency claimed that all passage through this area would “require coordination with, and authorization from, the Persian Gulf Strait Authority.”
Anwar Gargash, a diplomatic adviser to the Emirati presidency, dismissed Iran’s attempt to “encroach on the UAE’s maritime sovereignty” as “nothing but fragments of dreams.” The UAE joined forces with Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar, and Saudi Arabia earlier this week to ask the International Maritime Organization not to comply with any demands made by the Persian Gulf Strait Authority.