Middle East crisis live: Rubio says ‘some progress’ on US-Iran deal after Trump says ‘maybe we’ll just have to finish the job’ | US-Israel war on Iran
Rubio says ‘some progress’ made on Iran deal but ‘we’ll see over next few hours and days’
Trump’s secretary of state, Marco Rubio, added that there has been “some progress” made between the US and Iran towards reaching a deal.
He reiterated that Washington would “prefer the negotiated, diplomatic route and we’re going to give it every chance to succeed”.
But he also warned that Trump has “other options available … if that doesn’t work”.
He told reporters at the cabinet meeting:
double quotation mark If there’s an agreement to be made, we want that to be made. I think there’s been some progress and some interest, and we’ll see over the next few hours and days whether progress can be made.
Rubio also repeated Trump’s so-called red line that Iran “cannot ever have a nuclear weapon”.
Key events
The day so far
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Donald Trump suggested there is still hope for a deal with Iran, but added that the US might have “to just finish the job” if they’re not satisfied with it. “We’re not satisfied with it. But we will be – either that or we’ll have to just finish the job,” he told a cabinet meeting on Wednesday. He later added that he could, “make a good deal now but maybe not a great deal, and if it’s not a great deal, we’re not making it.”
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His secretary of state Marco Rubio said there has been “some progress” made in talks, but added, “we’ll see over the next few hours and days whether progress can be made.” He reiterated that Washington would “prefer the negotiated, diplomatic route and we’re going to give it every chance to succeed”, but also warned that Trump has “other options available … if that doesn’t work”. The sentiment was echoed by Trump’s defense secretary Pete Hegseth.
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Trump also issued an extraordinary threat to “blow up” Oman. Asked about reports that Iran and Oman are negotiating a deal to jointly manage the strait of Hormuz, the US president told reporters: “Oman will behave just like everybody else. Or else we’ll have to blow them up, they understand that, they’ll be fine.”
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The US president also insisted that November’s midterm elections are not motivating him to reach a deal to end his war more quickly. He once again dismissed Americans’ concerns over the cost of living as a result of his war, declaring: “I don’t care about the midterms.” He went on: “The primary urgency is that we can’t let Iran have a nuclear weapon.”
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Earlier, the White House blasted an Iranian state television report about a framework deal with the United States to end the Middle East war as a “complete fabrication”. The Iranian report cited a draft outline of a memorandum of understanding (MOU) that it said included a US commitment to lift the naval blockade on Iran and withdraw its forces from the Gulf region.
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Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said a return to war with the United States was unlikely, while warning that the Islamic republic stood ready against any attack. The statement came a day after Iran accused the US of breaching the ceasefire in place since April, and warned it was ready to retaliate after the most serious strikes since the truce took effect.
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Meanwhile in Lebanon, where Israel continues to wage war despite a ceasefire, Israeli airstrikes hit the outskirts of the southern city of Tyre on Wednesday, state media and an AFP correspondent reported, after the Israeli army issued an evacuation warning for swathes of the city and its surroundings. The state-run National News Agency (NNA) said that “Israeli enemy warplanes launched a strike on the outskirts of Tyre”, also reporting another raid near the city despite a ceasefire.
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The Lebanese army said a soldier had been killed in an Israeli air strike near his post in Bekaa and that it had retrieved his body. It said the retrieval was delayed from the previous day due to the security situation in the area.
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Hezbollah said it traded fire with Israeli soldiers in Lebanon as the Israeli military pushes deeper intp the country. The Iran-backed group said its fighters engaged in close-range combat with Israeli troops in Zawtar al-Sharqiyah, a town north of the Litani river and beyond the buffer zone that Israel has enforced in parts of southern Lebanon.
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Israeli airstrikes killed at least 31 people in southern Lebanon on Tuesday, according to health officials, in one of the deadliest attacks since a ceasefire took effect in April. The Israeli prime minister. Benjamin Netanyahu, said he had instructed the military to expand its operations in Lebanon with “large forces on the ground” and take control of new areas north of the Israeli-held buffer zone.
‘If it’s not a good deal, we’re not making it,’ Trump says
And after lashing out once again at the 2015 nuclear deal negotiated with Iran by the Obama administration, Donald Trump added that he could “make a good deal now but maybe not a great deal, and if it’s not a great deal, we’re not making it”.
Trump doubles down on demands that more Arab countries should join Abraham Accords
Trump also doubled down on his demands that more Arab countries should join the Abraham Accords, the agreement that normalised relations between several Arab signatories and Israel during his first term in office.
Trump said it would be “historic” if the countries that haven’t signed up yet would join, adding, “they owe that to us.”
His special envoy Steve Witkoff said he’s “pushing it” in talks with all sides, before Trump added:
double quotation mark I’m not sure we should make the deal, if they don’t sign.
But at the same time, Trump refused to confirm that the Iran deal would be contingent on other countries joining the accords.
Donald Trump also (once again) dismissed the rising cost of living in the US amid the blockade of oil transiting through the strait of Hormuz.
“The primary urgency is that we can’t let Iran have a nuclear weapon,” said the US president, apparently unfazed by his sinking approval ratings, largely driven by Americans’ frustrations with their economic situation as a result of his war, ahead of November’s midterm elections.
“We have tremendous amounts of energy. We’re blessed with something very special,” he went on. “Those prices are going to come down. They’re going to come down fast.”
A recent poll found that fewer than one in four Americans said that Trump’s war on Iran had been worth the costs, a week after Trump told reporters: “I don’t think about Americans’ financial situation,” when asked if the economic hardship inflicted on Americans was motivating him to seek a peace deal.
As if that wasn’t extraordinary enough, the US state department then posted Trump’s threat to Oman on X.
Trump threatens ‘Oman will behave just like everybody else or we’ll have to blow them up’
Donald Trump also took questions from reporters, and was asked about reports that Iran and Oman are negotiating a deal to jointly manage the strait of Hormuz.
The US president said he would not accept such an arrangement as part of a peace deal with Iran, adding:
double quotation mark The strait is going to be open to everybody … Nobody’s going to control it. We’re going to watch over it. We’ll watch over it. But nobody’s going to control it. That’s part of the negotiation that we have.
Trump “they would like to control it” but stressed that the strait is part of international waters.
He then added, extraordinarily:
double quotation mark Oman will behave just like everybody else. Or else we’ll have to blow them up, they understand that, they’ll be fine.
Trump’s defense secretary Pete Hegseth also chimed in during the meeting, saying that the United States has imposed a “world-class blockade” on Iran that has left its economy “hurting big time”.
He claimed that Iran’s inability to restock its missiles, drones and navy made it “cry uncle” and come to negotiate with the US. He went on:
double quotation mark We put in a world-class blockade, and they haven’t been able to bring anything in or anything out from Iranian ports. And we know from the intel that their economy is hurting big time because that is their lifeblood, and again, bringing them to the table.So whether it is through the efforts of your negotiators that ensure that they never have a new weapon, or we have to go back to the war department to finish the job, we’re prepared to do that.
Trump briefly interjected Marco Rubio’s briefing, my colleague Maya Yang notes, to boast that the US is “producing right now more oil by double than Russia and Saudi Arabia combined”, before adding:
double quotation mark We don’t need oil, we don’t need the straits, we don’t need anything but we have more oil now being produced by double, by two times than Russia and Saudi Arabia combined.
As you will remember, Trump previously threatened to bomb Iran several times – including his infamous warning that “a whole civilisation will die” – if Tehran refused to comply with US demands to reopen the strait of Hormuz.
Rubio says ‘some progress’ made on Iran deal but ‘we’ll see over next few hours and days’
Trump’s secretary of state, Marco Rubio, added that there has been “some progress” made between the US and Iran towards reaching a deal.
He reiterated that Washington would “prefer the negotiated, diplomatic route and we’re going to give it every chance to succeed”.
But he also warned that Trump has “other options available … if that doesn’t work”.
He told reporters at the cabinet meeting:
double quotation mark If there’s an agreement to be made, we want that to be made. I think there’s been some progress and some interest, and we’ll see over the next few hours and days whether progress can be made.
Rubio also repeated Trump’s so-called red line that Iran “cannot ever have a nuclear weapon”.
‘Maybe we’ll just have to finish the job’ if US not satisfied with Iran deal, Trump tells cabinet meeting
More now from Donald Trump’s cabinet meeting, where the US president once again suggested that there is still hope for a deal with Iran, but he also hasn’t ruled out resuming his military operation
“They want very much to make a deal,” he said. “So far, they haven’t gotten there. We’re not satisfied with it. But we will be – either that or we’ll have to just finish the job.”
He claimed that the Iranian team is “negotiating on fumes” and “has no choice” but to make a deal, given the US’s decimation of their military capabilities (Trump ran through his usual, “their air force is gone, navy is gone” etc) and Tehran’s economic struggles.
“Maybe we have to go back and finish it. Maybe we don’t right now,” Trump added.
The day so far
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The White House on Wednesday blasted an Iranian state television report about a framework deal with the United States to end the Middle East war as a “complete fabrication.” The Iranian report cited a draft outline of a memorandum of understanding (MOU) that it said included a US commitment to lift the naval blockade on Iran and withdraw its forces from the Gulf region.
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Iran’s Revolutionary Guards on Wednesday said a return to war with the United States was unlikely, while warning that the Islamic republic stood ready against any attack. The statement came a day after Iran accused the US of breaching the ceasefire in place since April, and warned it was ready to retaliate after the most serious strikes since the truce took effect.
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The United States is extending the designation of Lebanon for temporary protected status until 27 November, according to a notice posted to the Federal Register on Wednesday.
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Strikes hit the outskirts of the south Lebanon city of Tyre on Wednesday, state media and an AFP correspondent reported, after the Israeli army issued an evacuation warning for swathes of the city and its surroundings. The state-run National News Agency (NNA) said that “Israeli enemy warplanes launched a strike on the outskirts of Tyre”, also reporting another raid near the city despite a ceasefire.
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The Lebanese army said on Wednesday that a soldier had been killed in an Israeli air strike near his post in Bekaa and that it had retrieved his body. It said the retrieval was delayed from the previous day due to the security situation in the area.
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Hezbollah said it traded fire with Israeli soldiers in Lebanon as the Israeli military appeared to push deeper in the country. The Iran-backed group said its fighters engaged in close-range combat with Israeli troops in Zawtar al-Sharqiyah, a town north of the Litani river and beyond the buffer zone that Israel has enforced in parts of southern Lebanon.
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Israeli airstrikes killed at least 31 people in southern Lebanon on Tuesday, according to health officials, in one of the deadliest attacks since a ceasefire took effect in April. The Israeli prime minister. Benjamin Netanyahu, said he had instructed the military to expand its operations in Lebanon with “large forces on the ground” and take control of new areas north of the Israeli-held buffer zone.
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South Korea said a probe into an attack on a cargo ship in the strait of Hormuz assessed that it likely involved an Iranian missile. Components in the debris from unidentified objects that were found inside the HMM Namu, which came under attack on 4 May, indicated they were likely made in Iran, according to a South Korean foreign ministry official.
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Israel has claimed to have killed Mohammed Odeh, head of Hamas’s armed wing, in a strike on Gaza City last night. If confirmed, his death comes just 11 days after the Israeli military killed his predecessor. Hamas has yet to comment on the report.
Donald Trump has said Iran “very much” wants to make a deal with the United States but that so far “they haven’t gotten there”.
Speaking during a cabinet meeting at the White House, the US president said:
double quotation mark They want very much to make a deal.So far they haven’t gotten there that we’re not satisfied with it, but that we will be we will be.
The United States is extending the designation of Lebanon for temporary protected status until 27 November, according to a notice posted to the Federal Register on Wednesday.
Strikes hit the outskirts of the south Lebanon city of Tyre on Wednesday, state media and an AFP correspondent reported, after the Israeli army issued an evacuation warning for swathes of the city and its surroundings.
The state-run National News Agency (NNA) said that “Israeli enemy warplanes launched a strike on the outskirts of Tyre”, also reporting another raid near the city despite a ceasefire.
An AFP correspondent in Tyre also reported at least one strike in the city’s vicinity.
White House says Iran report on draft deal is ‘complete fabrication’
The White House on Wednesday blasted an Iranian state television report about a framework deal with the United States to end the Middle East war as a “complete fabrication.”
The Iranian report cited a draft outline of a memorandum of understanding (MOU) that it said included a US commitment to lift the naval blockade on Iran and withdraw its forces from the Gulf region.
“This report from Iranian controlled media is not true and the MOU they ‘released’ is a complete fabrication. Nobody should believe what Iranian state media is putting out. FACTS MATTER,” the White House said on X as it lashed out at US media for reporting the Iranian claims.
The Israeli army issued an evacuation warning on Wednesday for residents of the city of Tyre in south Lebanon and the surrounding areas, saying it was about to strike Hezbollah targets there.
“Urgent warning to the residents of the city of Tyre and the surrounding camps and neighborhoods as shown on the map – In light of the terrorist Hezbollah organization violating the ceasefire agreement and targeting Israeli territory, the IDF is compelled to act forcefully against it,” Avichay Adraee, the Israeli army’s Arabic-language spokesperson, wrote on X, attaching a map of the Tyre region with some localities highlighted.
“The IDF does not intend to harm you. For your safety, you must evacuate your homes immediately, according to the area shown on the map, and move north of the Zahrani River.”
