WASHINGTON: The United States has seen some progress towards a deal with Iran but more work is required, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Friday (May 22), as diplomatic efforts intensified to find an end to a conflict that has roiled the global economy.Iran's foreign minister met his Pakistani counterpart on Friday to discuss proposals to end the war, Iranian media reported, while Qatar sent a negotiating team to Tehran to try to resolve key differences.While gaps have been narrowed between the two sides, there are still sticking points over Iran's enriched uranium and control over the Strait of Hormuz, whose closure since the beginning of the war has triggered a global energy crisis."There's been some progress. I wouldn't exaggerate it. I wouldn't diminish it," Rubio told reporters after a meeting of NATO ministers in Sweden. "There's more work to be done. We're not there yet. I hope we get there."
Rubio reiterated comments made on Thursday that Iran's plans for a tolling system for the strait through which a fifth of the world's oil and liquefied natural gas flows were "unacceptable"."We're dealing with a very difficult group of people, and if it doesn't change, then the president's been clear he has other options," Rubio said.He also said the US had not asked the NATO military alliance for help on the Strait of Hormuz but that there needed to be a Plan B if Iran refuses to reopen the waterway.Two days after presenting the Iranians with the latest US message in the negotiations, Pakistani Interior Minister Syed Mohsin Naqvi held another round of talks with Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi in Tehran, the semi-official Tasnim news agency reported.The Qatari team, which is working in coordination with the United States, arrived in Iran on Friday, a source with knowledge of the situation told Reuters.Qatar has been a key player in mediating between Israel and Hamas over the war in Gaza and in other areas of international tension, but had distanced itself so far from the current conflict after coming under fire from Iranian missiles and drones.
