Rubio warns Hezbollah as Iran pushes for wider regional ceasefire

Republican Senator Thom Tillis publicly questioned the Trump administration’s wartime claims about Iran’s nuclear and military capabilities, saying current diplomatic discussions appear inconsistent with earlier assertions that Tehran had been “obliterated.”

Speaking to CNN, Tillis said he was struggling to reconcile past statements by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and other officials with reports that Washington may now accept arrangements allowing nuclear material to remain inside Iran.

“Now we’re talking about a posture where we may accept the nuclear material may remain in Iran,” Tillis said. “How does that make sense at all?”

“There are a lot of things that need to be explained,” he added.

Qatar and Saudi Arabia have stepped up consultations over the latest round of diplomacy between Tehran and Washington, as regional players push to prevent tensions from sliding back toward conflict.

Qatar’s foreign ministry said Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani and Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan discussed ongoing negotiations involving Iran and the United States during a phone call.

The two sides also reviewed regional mediation efforts and coordination aimed at supporting de-escalation and broader stability, according to the ministry.

Senior adviser to the commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) Mohammadreza Naghdi said Iran’s enemies failed to destroy the country’s naval capabilities during the recent war, arguing that otherwise US warships would already be moving through the Strait of Hormuz.

“If they had destroyed the navy, their ships would have set off and passed through the strait,” Naghdi said in remarks carried by IRGC-linked Fars News.

He also claimed Israel launched 2,100 projectiles and 300 surface-to-surface missiles at Abu Musa island during the conflict but that Iranian forces “stood firm without any weakness.”

Naghdi further said Israel attempted to assassinate the IRGC’s commander-in-chief during the war but “missed the target and failed.”

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said a nuclear agreement with Iran could not be reached “in 72 hours on the back of a napkin.”

“We’re not kicking it till later. Nuclear talks are highly technical matters,” Rubio said in an interview with the New York Times.

Rubio added that “seven or eight countries in the region” supported the current approach to negotiations with Iran.

The United States will not sign a deal with Iran unless Tehran gives up its highly enriched uranium, Fox News reporter Kayleigh McEnany reported, citing a senior Trump administration official.

“No dust, no deal,” the official was quoted as saying, referring to highly enriched uranium that President Donald Trump has described as “nuclear dust.”

The official said the United States and Iran were “95%” toward a deal and had agreed in principle on a framework covering “the nuclear stockpile” and “the Strait of Hormuz,” but were still negotiating language.

“We don’t have a deal until there is a deal,” the official said, adding that the US could resume military strikes if talks failed.