Rubio tells Al Jazeera that Strait of Hormuz to reopen ‘one way or another’
United States Secretary of State Marco Rubio has told Al Jazeera that the Strait of Hormuz will “reopen one way or another” in the wake of the eventual end of the US-Israeli war with Iran. The exclusive interview on Monday came as speculation has grown over a possible US troop deployment in Iran and as the effective closure of the strait continues to roil global oil markets. US boots on the ground would represent a new phase in the grinding conflict, which began on February 28 with US-Israeli strikes, even as US President Donald Trump has repeatedly said that the US is pursuing diplomacy with Iran. Rubio again maintained there were “messages and some direct talks going on between some inside of Iran and the United States, primarily through intermediaries, but there’s been some conversation”. Iran has repeatedly denied that talks were ongoing. Pakistan on Sunday said it would host direct talks “in the coming days for a comprehensive and lasting settlement of the ongoing conflict”. Rubio added that Trump “always prefers diplomacy, always prefers an outcome..and we could have done this before”. The Trump administration had previously pursued indirect talks with Iran to curtail its nuclear programme. One round of talks was derailed last year with Israel’s 12-day war against Iran, which ended with US strikes on Iran’s nuclear facility. A second round of diplomacy was under way when the US and Israel began the latest war. Rubio again indicated the US administration’s preference for regime change in Iran, which the US and Israel have so far been unable to achieve despite several high-profile assassinations, including the killing of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Advertisement “We would always welcome a scenario in which Iran was led by people that had a different view of the future and had a different view,” he said. “And if that opportunity presents itself, we’re going to take it”. “The people of Iran are incredible people, very resourceful, very entrepreneurial,” he added. “But it’s their regime that’s been a problem. And instead, they’ve chosen to spend the wealth of their country to support Hezbollah and Hamas and Shiite militias inside of Iraq, and to try to destabilise Syria when [Bashar al-Assad] was there,” he said. Nuclear and ballistic weapons Rubio further called on Iran to end its nuclear programme and to curtail its drone and missile programme. He accused Iran of seeking nuclear weapons to “threaten and blackmail the world”, a claim Tehran has for years denied, maintaining its nuclear programme was only for civilian purposes. On Monday, the Wall Street Journal reported that Trump was considering a US Special Forces operation to seize enriched uranium stored in Iran. Military experts have warned throughout the war that US and Israeli air strikes alone would not be able to destroy Iran’s capabilities. In a statement to Al Jazeera, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt did not deny the report, but said: “It’s the job of the Pentagon to make preparations in order to give the Commander-in-Chief maximum optionality. It does not mean the President has made a decision.” Rubio said Iran “need to stop sponsoring terrorism, and they need to stop building weapons that can threaten their neighbours,” adding that the “short range missiles that they’re launching, they only have one purpose, and that is to attack Saudi Arabia and the UAE and Qatar and Kuwait and Bahrain.” Turning to the Strait of Hormuz, which Iran has effectively closed to open traffic, Rubio voiced optimism it would be reopened when the conflict ends. “The Strait of Hormuz will reopen one way or another once our military operation in Iran is over,” Rubio said. “The strait will reopen either with Iran’s consent or through an international coalition including the US.” He threatened “severe consequences” if Iran closes the strait after the fighting ends. The US has previously sought to raise a coalition to protect ships in the Strait of Hormuz, but has faced wariness from many traditional allies concerned over tacit entry into the conflict. ‘Our objectives in Iran are clear’ Rubio’s statements on Monday broadly reflected a list of demands put forth by Washington to end the war. Advertisement Iran has rejected the proposal, with Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian releasing its own list of demands, including “recognising Iran’s legitimate rights, payment of reparations, and firm int’l guarantees against future aggression”. For his part, Trump told the Financial Times in an interview published on Sunday that he hopes to “take the oil in Iran” including by possibly seizing the key export hub of Kharg Island. “Maybe we take Kharg Island, maybe we don’t. We have a lot of options,” he added. “It would also mean we had to be there [on Kharg Island] for a while.” The Trump administration has presented a carousel of objectives in the war, including degrading Iran’s military capability, preventing it from ever developing a nuclear weapon, and helping to foment regime change. However, its endgame has remained unclear, with its final goals possibly diverging from Israel, which has pushed for more comprehensive regime change. To date, at least 1,937 people have been killed in Iran since the war began, with at least 20 killed in Israel, 26 killed across the Gulf states and 13 US soldiers killed. Rubio told Al Jazeera that the administration did not expect the war to drag on indefinitely. “Our objectives in Iran are clear, and we will achieve them within weeks, not months,” he said. Adblock test (Why?)
‘Iran will never acquire nuclear weapons’ Rubio tells Al Jazeera
In an exclusive interview with Al Jazeera, Secretary of State Marco Rubio has outlined what the US’s main demands are for Iran. Rubio said Iran must never develop nuclear weapons and must stop “sponsoring terrorism”, adding that its short-range missiles are intended to threaten countries like Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Qatar. Published On 30 Mar 202630 Mar 2026 Click here to share on social media share2 Share googleAdd Al Jazeera on Googleinfo Adblock test (Why?)
Marco Rubio says President Trump prefers diplomatic solution to war on Iran
NewsFeed In an exclusive interview with Al Jazeera, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said there are messages and indirect talks under way between figures inside Iran and the US, and that President Donald Trump still prefers a diplomatic outcome. He accused Iran’s leadership of funding armed groups like Hezbollah and Hamas instead of its own people, and said the US would welcome a future Iranian government with a “different view” for the country. Published On 30 Mar 202630 Mar 2026 Click here to share on social media share2 Share googleAdd Al Jazeera on Googleinfo Adblock test (Why?)
Iran hits industrial zone in southern Israel
NewsFeed An Iranian missile barrage has caused a fire a chemical plant near Beersheba in southern Israel, following expanded attacks on Iranian infrastructure. Published On 29 Mar 202629 Mar 2026 Click here to share on social media share2 Share googleAdd Al Jazeera on Googleinfo Adblock test (Why?)
Houthis open new front against Israel, is Red Sea shipping at risk?
NewsFeed The Houthis in Yemen have launched their first attacks on Israel, opening a new front in the month-long regional war. Al Jazeera’s Virginia Pietromarchi explains why the move could raise new risks for oil shipping, and civilians in Yemen. Published On 29 Mar 202629 Mar 2026 Click here to share on social media share2 Share googleAdd Al Jazeera on Googleinfo Adblock test (Why?)
‘We can insure the ship, but we cannot insure a human life.’
NewsFeed International Maritime Organization chief Arsenio Dominguez warns of 20,000 seafarers stranded in the Strait of Hormuz, as canceled insurance, mounting mental strain and the risk to ‘innocent seafarers’ drive urgent calls for a humanitarian corridor and de-escalation. Published On 29 Mar 202629 Mar 2026 Click here to share on social media share2 Share googleAdd Al Jazeera on Googleinfo Adblock test (Why?)
Iran war live: Tehran warns US, Israeli universities; Houthis fire missiles
blinking-dotLive updatesLive updates, Antiwar protesters rally in Tel Aviv and US cities, as attacks kill a family of four in Iran’s Bushehr province and damage a water facility in Khuzestan. Published On 29 Mar 202629 Mar 2026 Click here to share on social media share2 Share googleAdd Al Jazeera on Googleinfo Adblock test (Why?)
Vice President JD Vance tops CPAC’s straw poll to be US president in 2028
For the second year in a row, United States Vice President JD Vance has topped the straw poll at the 2026 Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC), one of the biggest right-wing gatherings in the country. The poll is a bellwether – albeit, not necessarily an accurate one – for who might ultimately become the Republican nominee for the next presidential race. Recommended Stories list of 3 itemsend of list During this year’s four-day conference, attendees were asked which candidate they would prefer to lead the Republican Party ticket for the 2028 election. The results were revealed on stage Saturday. Vance had swept up 53 percent of the votes cast by nearly 1,600 attendees. But rising up the ranks was another senior official under US President Donald Trump: his top diplomat, Secretary of State Marco Rubio. A former senator from Florida, Rubio notched 35 percent of the vote. It was a markedly improved standing for Rubio, who tied for fourth place at last year’s CPAC straw poll. That poll, taken within weeks of Trump starting his second term, showed Vance with 61 percent support, former Trump adviser Steve Bannon with 12 percent, and Florida Governor Ron DeSantis with 7 percent. Rubio and Representative Elise Stefanik both earned 3 percent. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio speaks to the press following a G7 Foreign Ministers’ meeting on March 27, 2026 [AFP] Attendance at CPAC, an annual conference, tends to skew away from the political centre and farther to the right. Speakers at this year’s conference included Senator Ted Cruz of Texas, Iranian opposition leader Reza Pahlavi, and Eduardo and Flavio Bolsonaro, the sons of Brazil’s former far-right president Jair Bolsonaro, who was imprisoned last September for attempting to subvert his country’s democracy. Advertisement But this year’s straw poll comes at a critical time for the Republican Party. Less than eight months remain until November’s midterm elections in the US, and Republicans are hoping to defend their congressional majorities at the ballot box. Trump, long the standard-bearer for his party, has seen his approval numbers sink since his return to office in 2025. Earlier this week, a survey from the news agency Reuters and the research firm Ipsos found that only 36 percent of US citizens approved of his job performance, a new low. The ongoing war in Iran and economic frustrations, including rising gas prices linked to the conflict, are among the factors contributing to the slump. While Trump has teased he may seek a third term, US law prevents modern presidents from serving more than two. His second presidency is set to expire in 2028. That leaves an open question as to who may succeed the 79-year-old Republican. Vance, a veteran and former single-term senator from Ohio, is seen to represent a more isolationist branch of Trump’s “Make America Great Again” (MAGA) base. He has generally been opposed to US involvement in foreign conflicts, though he has defended Trump’s decision to join Israel in joint strikes on Iran. Rubio, meanwhile, has a longer political resume than Vance and is seen to be more hawkish towards regime change, particularly in his family’s ancestral home of Cuba. He served as a senator for Florida from 2011 until his unanimous confirmation as secretary of state in 2025. Both men had been critical of Trump before joining his administration. Vance once called Trump “unfit” for office, and Rubio derided Trump as a “con artist” and an “embarrassment” when he was a rival candidate for the 2016 Republican presidential nomination. Senator Ted Cruz speaks at the Conservative Political Action Conference on March 28 [Gabriela Passos/AP Photo] CPAC tends not to survey participants about who should be president when a Republican is already in the Oval Office. But the straw polls it held before and after Trump’s first term, from 2017 to 2021, have shown a noticeable realignment in the Republican Party. In the decade leading up to the 2016 election – Trump’s first successful campaign for office – moderate Republican Mitt Romney and libertarian Rand Paul consistently won the CPAC straw polls. Ever since his first term, however, Trump has trounced the competition. Despite his 2020 election defeat, he still garnered the most backing in 2021’s straw poll, with 55 percent support, and his numbers climbed each successive year, through to his re-election in 2024. Advertisement Experts have noted that the Republican Party has largely consolidated around Trump’s politics, with the few remaining moderate and critical voices increasingly marginalised. The CPAC straw poll, however, is not always accurate. Ahead of Trump’s victory in 2016, the majority of straw poll participants backed Senator Cruz of Texas to be the next president. Trump came in third place with 15 percent support, trailing Rubio at 30 percent. Adblock test (Why?)
As war on Iran enters second month, Yemen’s Houthis open new front
Yemen’s Houthis have attacked Israel for the first time, a month after US and Israeli forces began striking Iran, opening up a new front in a rapidly escalating conflict that has killed thousands of people, displaced millions and rattled the global economy. The Houthis, who control much of northern Yemen, entered the fray on Saturday with two missile and drone attacks on Israel in the space of fewer than 24 hours. The Israeli army said the attacks were intercepted, but the Iran-aligned group pledged to continue fighting in support of “resistance fronts in Palestine, Lebanon, Iraq, and Iran”. Recommended Stories list of 3 itemsend of list The Houthis had sat out of the hostilities until now, in contrast with their stance during Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza, when their attacks on shipping vessels in the Red Sea upended commercial traffic worth about $1 trillion a year. Their widely anticipated involvement in the latest conflict comes just as Iran has throttled traffic through the Strait of Hormuz, a vital chokepoint for about a fifth of the world’s oil, raising fears that the Yemeni group will again disrupt Red Sea traffic by blocking the Bab al-Mandeb Strait. Reporting from Yemen’s capital, Sanaa, Al Jazeera’s Yousef Mawry described Bab al-Mandeb as the group’s “ace”. “They want to make Israel pay economically. They want to disrupt their trade routes. They want to disrupt the imports and exports in and out of Israel,” he said. ‘Civilians bearing brunt of war’ The Houthi attacks came after US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said that Washington expected to conclude its military operations against Iran within weeks, even as a new deployment of US Marines has begun to arrive in the region, so US President Donald Trump would have “maximum” flexibility to adjust the strategy as needed. Advertisement With no immediate diplomatic breakthrough in sight as both the US and Iran harden their positions, many fear that the US-Israel war on Iran, which started on February 28 and has since engulfed the region, will spiral out of control. The US and Israel continued their bombardment over the past 24 hours, with the Israeli military claiming it had struck an Iranian research facility for naval weapons, while a series of loud explosions rattled Tehran as night fell on Saturday. Iranian media said at least five people were killed in a US-Israeli attack on a residential unit in the northwestern city of Zanjan. In Tehran, authorities said the University of Science and Technology was the latest educational facility to be struck, prompting Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) to issue a threat against Israeli and US universities in the region. Separately, Iran’s Fars news agency said a water reservoir in the city of Haftgel, located in western Khuzestan province, had also been attacked. The Iranian Ministry of Health announced that 1,937 people have been killed since the start of the conflict, including 230 children. Iran’s Red Crescent Society said US-Israeli strikes had damaged more than 93,000 civilian properties. “Civilians are bearing the brunt of this war,” Al Jazeera’s Mohamed Vall, reporting from Tehran, said. Devastation in Lebanon Meanwhile, Israel’s devastation of Lebanon continued apace, as the Lebanese Ministry of Health reported that 1,189 people had been killed in Israeli attacks since March 2. The death toll has been mounting as Israeli troops have pushed further into the south, advancing towards the Litani River in their stated bid to wipe out Hezbollah and carve out a buffer zone along the lines of the “Gaza model”. Among Saturday’s killings, an Israeli strike killed three journalists in southern Lebanon. In parallel, the Health Ministry announced that Israel had also killed nine paramedics, bringing the death toll among healthcare workers in the latest war to 51. Lebanon’s Public Health Emergency Operations Centre said an Israeli attack on the town of al-Haniyah, in the Tyre district of southern Lebanon, killed at least seven people, including one child. An Israeli air raid on the southern Lebanese town of Deir al-Zahrani killed a Lebanese soldier, Lebanon’s National News Agency reported. Hezbollah, which attacked Israel amid a ceasefire that Israel kept violating in retaliation for the assassination of Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, claimed dozens of operations against Israeli forces in the past 24 hours. Mixed messages Trump has threatened to hit Iranian power stations and other energy infrastructure if Tehran does not fully open the Strait of Hormuz. But he has extended the deadline he had imposed for this week, giving Iran another 10 days to respond. Advertisement With the US midterm elections coming up in November, the increasingly unpopular war is weighing heavily on the president’s Republican Party. Trump’s envoy, Steve Witkoff, said on Friday that he believed Tehran would hold talks with Washington in the coming days. “We have a 15-point plan on the table. We expect the Iranians to respond. It could solve it all,” Witkoff said. Pakistan, which has been a go-between between US and Iranian officials, will host foreign ministers from regional powers Saudi Arabia, Turkiye and Egypt in Islamabad for talks on the crisis. Pakistan’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Ishaq Dar spoke with his Iranian counterpart, Abbas Araghchi, late on Saturday, urging “an end to all attacks and hostilities” in the region. In a statement, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said Dar had told Araghchi that Pakistan remains committed to supporting efforts aimed at restoring regional peace and stability. Dar also announced that Iran had agreed to allow 20 Pakistani-flagged vessels to transit the Strait of Hormuz, calling it a meaningful step towards easing one of the worst energy crises in modern history. Adblock test (Why?)
Morocco claims AFCON case closed, despite Senegal appeals to CAF and CAS
Morocco believe their successful appeal against their 1-0 defeat by Senegal means the case of the AFCON crown is closed. Published On 28 Mar 202628 Mar 2026 Senegal may still possess the Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) trophy and have launched a legal battle against the decision to strip them of it, but as far as new champions Morocco are concerned, the case is closed. Although the Atlas Lions lost 1-0 in the January final, the Confederation of African Football awarded them a 3-0 victory last week because of several Senegal players leaving the pitch in protest at the award of a penalty. Recommended Stories list of 4 itemsend of list Morocco drew 1-1 against Ecuador on Friday in a friendly in Madrid, in their first match since the final and the controversial decision to punish Senegal. It was new coach Mohamed Ouahbi’s first game at the helm, just three months out from the 2026 World Cup. After becoming the first African side to reach the final four in Qatar in 2022, expectations are high for Morocco, and they are looking to the future, despite Senegal’s outrage. “We’re focused on what’s to come and not getting into that [topic],” Morocco goalkeeper Yassine Bounou told reporters. “The answer from us [about whether the decision was fair] would be what our federation said, and that’s all … we’re looking forwards.” Thousands of Morocco fans, many draped in their country’s flag and tooting vuvuzelas, are convinced justice was served. “If someone says there are regulations, you have to follow them,” said Yassine el-Aouak, 35, a Morocco supporter who travelled to the game from Italy. “I think we will bring the trophy home [eventually] – we know that we deserve it.” Before being awarded victory against Senegal, Morocco had won the Africa Cup of Nations only once, in 1976. Advertisement “The rules are the rules … they are so clear, you go outside the pitch without any reason, you lose 3-0,” said another Morocco supporter, Taha El Hadiguy, 22. “It’s very different to winning on the night of the final, to win two months later, but a win is a win. We have one more star on our shirt.” Like the players, the Moroccan media was more concerned with the upcoming World Cup and Ouahbi’s tactical approach than whether Senegal are right to feel aggrieved. Ecuador’s coach Sebastian Beccacece said his were satisfied with a draw against the “African champions”. Ouahbi’s team are now technically unbeaten in 25 matches, despite falling 1-0 on a dramatic night in Rabat against Senegal in the AFCON final. They lacked precision in attack against Ecuador, but Ouahbi, who led Moroccan youngsters to Under-20 World Cup glory last year, highlighted the strength of his team. “I don’t talk in terms of weaknesses. They’re not weaknesses. We are a top-level team – the Ecuadorian coach reminded us of that,” Ouhabi told reporters. “If you are a top-level team, ranked eighth in the world and World Cup semifinalists, you don’t have weaknesses. “You only have strengths, and then any qualities we’re missing, areas where we’re not performing, we have to make up for collectively.” Morocco will face record five-time World Cup winners Brazil in their first game at the tournament this summer on June 13, one of the most intriguing match-ups of the group phase. Before then, the Moroccan Federation’s lawyers may have to defend their status as African champions against Senegal’s case, but Ouahbi and his players are only looking forward to the summer, when they have a chance to win another trophy, this time on the pitch. Adblock test (Why?)