During a four-day official visit to India, U.S. Senator Marco Rubio told attendees at a red-carpet event in New Delhi that active work is underway toward a peace agreement with Iran. He said negotiations are progressing and that Washington remains focused on core demands related to Tehran’s nuclear and maritime behavior.
Rubio said there has been some movement in talks and that efforts continue even as he spoke. He reiterated the administration’s consistent positions: Iran must not acquire nuclear weapons, the strategic straits should remain open without tolls, and Tehran should surrender its enriched and highly enriched uranium. He stressed that the president prefers diplomatic solutions and that the administration is pursuing a negotiated settlement to resolve the standoff.
Despite U.S. efforts at a diplomatic resolution, officials in Tehran have issued stern warnings. Iran’s parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf publicly cautioned against renewed U.S. military strikes, asserting that Iran’s forces have rebuilt during the six-week ceasefire and that any restart of hostilities would be met with even stronger retaliation.
Ghalibaf made his comments after meeting Pakistan’s army chief, Field Marshal Asim Munir, who arrived in Tehran amid intensified regional diplomacy. Munir has held talks with Iranian leaders as concerns grow that the fragile truce, in place since April 8, could break down under pressure from threats of renewed U.S. strikes.
The wider conflict erupted on February 28, following joint U.S. and Israeli strikes on Iranian targets and Iran’s subsequent missile and drone responses across the region. With fears of escalation mounting, multiple diplomatic channels have been activated to preserve the ceasefire and seek a lasting end to hostilities.
Iran’s foreign ministry said Munir engaged in late-night discussions with Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi to review recent diplomatic initiatives aimed at preventing further escalation. Official photographs showed Munir meeting President Masoud Pezeshkian and preparing for additional sessions with Araghchi. State broadcaster IRIB described a planned follow-up meeting at the foreign ministry as a detailed, potentially lengthy legal review.
Araghchi has also held phone talks with counterparts in Turkey, Iraq, Qatar and Oman, according to the IRNA news agency. Iran continues to work multiple mediation tracks: Oman has historically served as a backchannel between Tehran and Washington, and Iran has portrayed Pakistan as part of broader mediation involving the United States and Israel.
Tehran says it is reviewing recent U.S. proposals but accuses Washington of stalling negotiations with what it calls excessive demands. Despite rounds of direct meetings in Islamabad and weeks of quiet backchannel diplomacy, an agreement to permanently end the fighting has not yet been reached.
(This article is based on a syndicated news feed and was published as received.)
