Rubio Sets Red Line on Gulf Tour: No Fees for Hormuz Strait

BlockBeats News, June 26th. On Thursday, U.S. Secretary of State Pompeo concluded his visit to the UAE, Kuwait, and Bahrain. This was the first high-level U.S. diplomatic mediation after the U.S.-Iran conflict framework agreement reached last week. The core mission was to alleviate the Gulf allies' widespread concerns about the ceasefire agreement.

After presiding over the GCC foreign ministers' meeting in Bahrain, Pompeo laid out the U.S. bottom line: no country in the world has the right to charge ships passing through international waters, and this provision will never be included in the final peace agreement. He warned that any Iranian threat or interception of ships in the strait would lead to a fundamental conflict between the two sides.

That night, the U.S. and the GCC's six nations issued a joint statement outlining the rigid standards for the long-term peace settlement: the Strait of Hormuz must ensure free, unconditional, and unrestricted navigation, and unilateral tolls are prohibited. They must adequately address Iran's ballistic missile and drone production capacity expansion issues while restraining Iran's support for regional proxy forces. Oman pledged during the meeting that no transit fees would be added to the subsequent navigation management mechanism.

The core concern of Gulf allies is that the U.S.-Iran framework agreement did not impose limits on Iran's missiles. The accompanying $300 billion reconstruction fund is feared to be used for military expansion, and several clauses are expected to strengthen Iran's control over the global oil shipping lanes. Pompeo revealed that the $300 billion reconstruction fund issue was not discussed during this meeting.

Meanwhile, the U.S. and Iran are significantly divided on several key provisions. Trump claimed that Iran had agreed to unlimited inspections, which Tehran promptly denied. Their stances on Iran's financial incentives, strait control, and the Israel-Lebanon conflict are also completely contradictory, continuing to cast uncertainty over the peace process.