Rubio says Iranians making ‘outrageous and ridiculous’ demands in negotiations
Secretary of state asserts US right to defend itself as strike reportedly hits navigational systems on Qeshm island; Trump says new task force to disrupt land routes into Iran
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Sunday that Iran has been making “unacceptable” demands during ongoing talks to end the war, as the United States military reportedly launched another overnight strike on the country’s south.
“You have a number of countries that continue to engage them with different ideas, but I wouldn’t say we’re on the verge of a breakthrough,” Rubio told reporters in Florida before heading to a G7 foreign ministers meeting in Paris.
“The president would always prefer to solve this and every problem diplomatically. Sometimes that’s not possible, unfortunately,” he added.
“If there’s a chance to do it, we’ll explore it,” he continued. “Right now, it hasn’t been very productive because the Iranian demands are simply not just unacceptable, but in some cases, outrageous and ridiculous, and really not realistic.”
Asked about Vice President JD Vance’s social media post last week that largely blamed the war for the Republican losses in the midterm elections, Rubio told reporters that US President Donald Trump “identified a very real threat” in Iran and worked to stop the Islamic Republic from pursuing a nuclear weapon.
“He addressed it even though oftentimes the right thing to do for the country — confronting difficult challenges for the security of our country — doing it isn’t necessarily popular, but necessary,” Rubio said.
???? JUST IN: Sec. Marco Rubio reveals Iran is making "OUTRAGEOUS" demands behind closed doors, talks are NOT productive AT ALL right now
"Right now, it hasn't been very productive because the Iranian demands are simply not just unacceptable, but in some cases, OUTRAGEOUS and… pic.twitter.com/NfCdwm4gMU
— Eric Daugherty (@EricLDaugh) November 8, 2026
Rubio said that negotiations are not progressing and acknowledged that the US will take action if needed. “If there’s a clear and present threat to shipping or to our forces in the region, we have a right to defend ourselves,” he said.
The comments came after a US attack on Qeshm island was reported overnight by Iranian media.
Navigational aid systems in the south of the Strait of Hormuz were destroyed, and no unauthorized vessels transited the maritime route overnight, an unnamed Revolutionary Guards Navy official told state media.
No vital infrastructure or services were impacted, a provincial official told the semi-official Fars news agency, adding that the targeted sites were away from residential and commercial areas.
Amid Qatar’s mediation efforts, Trump will meet on Monday in the Oval Office with Qatari Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, the White House said.
In September, Iran proposed a seven-day plan to reopen the strait, with demands including ending the war on all fronts, unfreezing Iranian assets, lifting oil sanctions, and ending its counter-blockade of Iranian ports.
It later proposed doing so in just two days, an offer Araghchi repeated in his X post on Sunday.
Trump said on Sunday that a new task force is in place to disrupt land routes into Iran that the US military says are used for shipments of weapons and illicit materials.
US Central Command on Saturday announced the formation of a 20-member team to expand on a US naval blockade of Iranian ports during the eight-month war.
“Task Force Iron Gate is in full force and effect in the Islamic Republic of Iran. Coupled with history’s greatest Naval Blockade, very little gets into, or out of, Iran!” the president posted on his Truth Social platform.
CENTCOM chief Admiral Brad Cooper said in Saturday’s statement that the force “will further constrain Iran’s ability to finance terrorism, rebuild weapons factories, and replenish their military.”
The team of both civilian and military personnel based in Florida will coordinate with US government agencies on “preventing the movement of advanced weapons systems, dual-use technologies, sanctioned materials, and illegal revenue streams across Iran’s land borders and the Caspian Sea,” the statement added.
Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said Washington’s latest bid “will fail” and will not bring about economic collapse in the Islamic Republic.
“The United States will never be able to impose the economic blockade it is pursuing and proposing under various names and through different plans,” Guards spokesman Hossein Mohebi said, according to Fars news agency.
Trump also continued to insist on Sunday that he had no problem with Vance’s assertion that the Iran war and Washington’s ties with Israel cost Republicans the midterms.
However, Trump said that Vance should have also noted — as the president has — that the economic toll of the Iran war has not been enough for him to regret the decision to have launched it in the first place.
“A lot of people didn’t like his comments, but not me,” Trump told reporters.
“He was right. Other than one thing. He should have made one other statement, which I think is very important. If you had it to do again, would you do it again? The answer is yes,” Trump said.
“This, historically, will go down as one of the best things we ever did because if [Iran] ever had a nuclear weapon, they would blow up the world… Because they’re crazy,” he added.
Various regional powers, including Qatar and Pakistan, have been trying for months to bring a definitive halt to the war launched by the United States and Israel in late February in a bid to destabilize Iran’s regime and destroy its ballistic missile and nuclear programs.
Outright fighting has largely subsided, but Iran continues in its efforts to blockade the Strait of Hormuz, vital to global energy supplies, while the US Navy maintains its own counterblockade of Iranian ports.