Rubio In Gulf Says 'Zero Support' For Hormuz Tolls, As IRGC Warns Ships Not Complying 'Will Be Dealt With'

Secretary of State Marco Rubio has made some fresh Thursday remarks in Manama, Bahrain after his meeting with Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) foreign ministers. "We had a very productive meeting," he acknowledged.The US top diplomat emphasized that "zero support" from Gulf countries for tolls or fees on the Strait of Hormuz, in contradiction to Iran's official stance (and possibly in coordination with Oman, which has provoked US wrath).Pool/file imageOman has remained ambiguous on the issue in its latest statements, no doubt not wishing to not further inflame Washington sentiment against the longtime southern Arab Gulf ally.Oman, via its state news agency, has reaffirmed that it is ready to help restore maritime security and that it backs the MoU signed between the US and Tehran, also in accord with decisions made at the high-level Vance meeting in Switzerland at the start of the week.Rubio's main argument seemed to be the very bad precedent that a toll system extracted by Iran (and the IRGC) would set, warning that Iranian tolls on ships through Hormuz would only spread to other waterways, risking "total chaos"."International waterways do not belong to any nation state. This is a foundational principle in the world today, without which the world would be in total chaos," he said at the GCC meeting. He added: "If in fact we accepted that you can charge money to use an international waterway because it happens to be near your territorial space, well then this will spread throughout the world like a contagion."He stressed the the Trump administration is committed to a peace deal, but not "at any price". He explained: "While we want a deal, we don’t want a deal at any price. We want a deal that’s good, we want a deal that’s real, we want a deal that’s verifiable, and we want a deal that’s adhered to.""We want to ensure... that there is no part of this deal that’s undertaken that in any way undermines the security, the stability, or the prosperity of any of our partners in the Gulf region," he said.🇺🇸 — VID: Marco Rubio today in Bahrain on Iran: