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US Secretary of State Marco Rubio declared Tuesday that Washington would not accept Iranian tolls or fees on the Strait of Hormuz, opening a regional Gulf tour against a backdrop of deepening disputes over missiles, nuclear inspections and the future of a fragile ceasefire with Tehran.
Washington and Tehran have signed a preliminary ceasefire accord and completed a first round of talks in Switzerland, opening a 60-day window to negotiate sanctions relief, Iran's nuclear programme and the future of the Hormuz strait.
But the first full week of diplomacy exposed significant gaps between the two sides on nearly every major issue.
Rubio, opening his Gulf tour in the United Arab Emirates, said the United States would not accept any Iranian attempt to charge passage fees on the Strait of Hormuz.
"It's an international waterway. No country is allowed to charge tolls or fees on an international waterway," he said, adding that he believed all countries in the region shared that position.
Earlier Tuesday, Tehran and Oman issued a joint statement saying they would study the administration of the trade route and examine what costs to charge for transit services, while affirming their sovereignty over the strait, a position Iran has held throughout the conflict.
Iran's top negotiator, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, signalled that Tehran would push for structural change, saying Hormuz "will never return" to its pre-war status quo, even as both sides agreed to establish communication lines to keep it open.
The strait, through which roughly a fifth of the world's oil supply passes, was partially blockaded by Iran early in the war, sending global oil prices surging.
Traffic on Monday reached its highest level since fighting began, according to two maritime tracking platforms, though it remained just above 40 percent of the normal peacetime volume of around 120 vessels per day.
The UN's maritime agency separately announced it would begin evacuating more than 11,000 sailors stranded by the blockade, after securing safety guarantees from Iran, Oman and the United States.
Iran also moved to close off its ballistic missile programme as a subject of negotiation, delivering some of the bluntest language of the talks so far.
Speaking in Pakistan, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian argued that the arsenal had kept adversaries from treating Iran as they had Gaza, and declared that the Islamic republic would "never negotiate with anyone, under any circumstances, ever, about our defensive capabilities."
Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif confirmed the preliminary US-Iran agreement contained no mention of ballistic missiles, and said there could not be "double standards" on which countries were permitted to possess them.
Iran fired hundreds of missiles and thousands of drones at Israel and Gulf neighbours during the war.
Israel has long characterised the programme as an existential threat, and the Trump administration previously sought to include it in any final deal. But last week, President Donald Trump appeared to soften that demand, suggesting it was "a little bit unfair" for Iran not to retain some missiles if other countries did.
US Vice President JD Vance claimed Tehran had agreed to invite International Atomic Energy Agency inspectors back to nuclear sites that American and Israeli military bombed last year. Iran denied it.
"There hasn't been such a decision," Iran's UN ambassador Ali Bahreini told reporters. Trump, for his part, insisted Iran had "fully and completely agreed to highest level Nuclear inspections long into the future."
American forces struck nuclear facilities at Fordow, Natanz and Isfahan when Washington joined Israel's war against Iran in mid-2025, deploying powerful bunker-busting munitions. The extent of the damage remains unclear, despite Trump claiming the sites were "obliterated."
The diplomatic picture was further complicated on Capitol Hill, where the US Senate adopted a House-passed resolution calling for an end to the conflict with Iran.
The vote carries disputed legal force, but it placed both chambers of Congress formally on record against the war as negotiations continue.
Mediators Pakistan and Qatar said both sides had agreed on a roadmap to reach a final settlement within the 60-day framework.
The US Treasury has temporarily lifted sanctions on Iran to allow it to produce, sell and deliver crude oil and related products until mid-August. Washington also agreed to release $12 billion in frozen Iranian funds, according to Iranian state media.
On the Lebanon front, a fifth round of talks between Lebanese and Israeli officials opened in Washington on Tuesday, aiming to end the Israel-Hezbollah conflict.
Fighting between Israel and Hezbollah, which pulled Lebanon into the broader war on March 2, has repeatedly threatened to derail the wider peace process.
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