US Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Tuesday ruled out further US strikes or combat operations against Iran, saying Tehran was already facing "extraordinary
economic pain" due to American sanctions. Rubio seemed to indicate that Washington was relying on economic pressure rather than military action to weaken Iran. This comes a day after President Donald Trump said that the US was "just keeping the status quo" following a meeting with Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani at the White House. Rubio said that Tehran only had a small quantity of oil shipments left at sea that had managed to get past the blockade, and the economic pressure on Tehran would intensify as its remaining oil revenues dry up and Washington continues to tighten restrictions. Rubio added that US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent was working with American intelligence agencies to shut down channels Iran was allegedly using to circumvent sanctions, including those involving Asian entities. "... The economic pressure is going to get even worse. I understand that these sanctions begin to compound. So, for example, Iran still has a small number of just a handful of barrels of oil left on the water that got past the blockade when there was the MoU and that brief ceasefire period. Once that dries up, almost all of their oil revenue will dry up," Rubio said. "There are other sanctions on Asian tools that they're choosing. There are other things that Iran is trying to do to get around the sanctions. But Scott Bessent in the Treasury Department, working alongside our intelligence agencies and others, keeps closing those off. So the economic pain that is being inflicted on Iran right now and on that regime is extraordinary, and it compounds," he added. On the ongoing negotiations, Rubio said, "I think Iran would love a deal. The problem is the conditions they continue to place are absurd. They're not even serious right now. But that could change... US always stands ready. If there's a real deal to be done, we're open..."
