United States Secretary of State Marco Rubio is on a sales trip, looking to get Gulf nations on board with the US-Iran agreement to end the war. Technical talks with Iran are set to move ahead, Rubio said, but the fate of Iran’s nuclear program has emerged a clear obstacle to achieving a long-term ceasefire deal.
Closer to home, US President Donald Trump met with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte in the Oval Office ahead of a summit with the alliance in two weeks.
If you’re just reading in, here’s what to know:
Rubio and Iran negotiations:
- Rubio said he was visiting Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain to solicit their input and thank them “for the incredible support they gave us throughout this process.” Notably, he did not visit Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
- The top US diplomat stressed the US would not “undermine” its Persian Gulf allies in the negotiations with Iran and described his conversations as “very frank, honest, important.”
- Upcoming technical talks with Iran as part of ongoing negotiations will be held at the expert level with “work groups on various subjects” starting June 30, according to Rubio.
- Rubio stressed that nuclear inspectors should be allowed into Iran “as soon as possible,” telling reporters “that’s a commitment (Iran) made, and it’s one they need to keep.” It comes after Tehran rejected remarks by a senior UN official that inspectors would have full access to its sites.
- Trump, in remarks alongside Rutte, decried a bipartisan rebuke from the Senate of his war with Iran and dismissed the possibility that the US was responsible for striking an Iranian elementary school early in the war.
- The Trump administration is requesting $87.6 billion in supplemental funding, most of it to replenish resources depleted by the war in Iran, according to a letter obtained by CNN.
Israel and Lebanon talks:
- Two people were killed in an Israeli drone strike in Kfar Rumman, southern Lebanon, on Wednesday, according to Lebanese state media.
- It comes as the second day of US-mediated talks between Israel and Lebanon took place at the US State Department, a State Department official said. The latest round of working level talks began Tuesday and is scheduled to last through Thursday.
- A key goal of those negotiations is for the Lebanese Armed Forces to “be able to control more and more of their own territory” over Hezbollah, Rubio said, but he didn’t explicitly call for the withdrawal of Israeli forces.
The Strait of Hormuz:
- Vessel traffic in the Strait of Hormuz has doubled over the past 24 hours to its highest level since late February, according to CNN’s review of MarineTraffic data. At least 34 vessels exited the strait into the Gulf of Oman. Before the war, an average of 110 vessels transited the waterway.
- US oil prices fell to their lowest level since the war with Iran began. West Texas Intermediate (WTI), the US benchmark, fell 4.4% to just below $70 per barrel. Brent crude, the global benchmark, fell 4.6% to $73.50 per barrel.
CNN’s John Towfighi, Jennifer Hansler, Avery Schmitz, Kevin Liptak, Nadeen Ebrahim, Annie Grayer, Michael Rios, Charbel Mallo, Dana Karni and Sana Noor Haq contributed reporting to this post.
