US secretary of state Marco Rubio claims Iran not serious about peace talks

Main PointsThe US military resumed strikes in Iran early Wednesday, its 11th straight night of attacksUS president Donald Trump confirmed that 18 US service members had been killed so far in the warFifty civilians have been killed and 500 wounded in the recent US strikes on Iran, a Tehran health ministry official saidUS defence secretary Pete Hegseth said the Pentagon’s latest estimate of the cost of the war against Iran was $37.5 billion Key Reads‘It could trigger global recession’: How new blockade by Iran-backed Houthis may impact energy pricesLebanese president and Trump discuss disarming Hizbullah during White House meetingKuwait, scarred by 1990 Iraqi invasion, becomes Iran’s softest Gulf targetSarah Burns - 1 minute agoSenior Saudi and United Arab Emirates officials posted coordinated social media messages highlighting the two countries’ longstanding ties, a display of public alignment after months of tensions between the Gulf neighbors and a renewed escalation in the Iran war.Saudi Media Minister Salman Al-Dosary and Abdulla bin Mohammed Alhamed, chairman of the UAE National Media Authority, posted on X at the same time on Tuesday night, affirming their close ties and underscoring their “shared history.”The posts came as the conflict involving the US and Iran entered a new phase, with Tehran-backed Houthis threatening to impose a maritime blockade on Saudi Arabia. On Wednesday, the UAE condemned the Houthis’ latest moves and reaffirmed its support for measures aimed at safeguarding Saudi security and stability.Months of strains between Saudi Arabia and the UAE have spilled into business and financial ties. Unusual delays in bank transfers from Saudi to the UAE have raised concerns among companies operating across the region’s two largest economies, while Wall Street bankers and private equity executives have drawn up contingency plans in case relations deteriorate further. Sarah Burns - 56 minutes agoUS strikes continue for 11th night The US military resumed strikes in Iran early Wednesday, its 11th straight night of attacks, as a Red Sea blockade threat by the Iran-allied Houthi militant group in Yemen to affect global oil supplies already strained by the standoff over the Strait of Hormuz.The Houthis have yet to make good on its threat by firing on passing ships at the southern passage in and out of the Red Sea. But two oil tankers in that sea made U-turns, heading north instead, toward the Suez Canal, according to Kpler, a maritime intelligence firm.Ships near the Strait of Hormuz, as seen from a plane near the United Arab Emirates. Threats from the Iran-backed Houthi militant group this week to block Saudi Arabia’s use of the Red Sea risk cutting off a crucial alternative path for Mideast oil. Photograph: Tomas Munita/The New York Times US defence secretary Pete Hegseth, under questioning during a congressional budget hearing, said the Pentagon’s latest estimate of the cost of the war against Iran was $37.5 billion. That is in line with some independent assessments of direct expenses, but experts say indirect costs including higher fuel prices caused by standoffs such as those in the strait — and now potentially the Red Sea — have made the total much greater.The Houthis’ announcement Monday added to fears of a wider regional war while global energy markets have been rocked for months by danger in the Strait of Hormuz, the portal to the Persian Gulf. The price of Brent crude, the international benchmark, surpassed $90 a barrel Tuesday, nearing its highest level in the past month.Speaking to reporters at the White House, Donald Trump said that if the Houthis follow through on their threat, the United States would strike them as it did when they had targeted ships during the Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip. “If something like that happens, we take care of it,” Trump said.Sarah Burns - 57 minutes agoEighteen US service members killed in Iran warUS president Donald Trump confirmed that 18 US service members had been killed so far in the war, including four in Iranian attacks on US military bases in Jordan and Iraq over the last few days. The Pentagon said that an army sergeant from the New York City borough of Queens was believed to have been killed last Friday “during an enemy attack at Muwaffaq Salti Air Base, Jordan.” The soldier, Angel S Rampersad (28), had been listed as missing.On Tuesday, Trump renewed his ​threats to again attack Iran’s nuclear facilities at Natanz “pretty soon”, which he said in June 2025 had been “totally obliterated” after the US military bombed the facility, buried in a mountain range, that month. “We’ll be hitting that area very, probably pretty soon, and there’s not a thing they can do about it,” he said. Iran promised it would retaliate.Fifty civilians have been killed and 500 wounded in the recent US strikes on Iran, a Tehran health ministry official said.Sarah Burns - 59 minutes agoRubio claims Iran not serious about peace talksUS secretary of state Marco Rubio has said the ‌United States is still willing to negotiate an end to the Iran crisis but Tehran is not serious about talks, as the widening conflict disrupted two of the world’s most critical energy chokepoints. Rubio made his comments in a meeting of Southeast Asian foreign ministers a ​day after three oil tankers carrying Saudi crude to Asia reversed course in the Red Sea, apparently in response to threats from Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthis. The Houthis, who control the coast at the mouth of the Red Sea, announced a naval blockade on Saudi Arabia on Monday, opening a potential new front in the war which has killed thousands of people across the Gulf since it began on February 28th with US and Israeli attacks on Iran. US secretary of state Marco Rubio attends the ASEAN post-ministerial conference in Pasay, Manila. Photograph: AFP via Getty Images A senior Iranian official said on Monday that Tehran had received a proposal from mediators for a 10-day ceasefire in efforts to salvage the ⁠interim ceasefire agreement signed by the US and Iran in June, which replaced an earlier April ceasefire.In another sign that diplomacy remains alive, Iran’s interior minister Eskandar Momeni has visited mediator Pakistan and ‌asked ‌Islamabad ​to continue its efforts.Rubio said Washington was “always committed to diplomacy” but doubted whether Tehran was equally committed to negotiations.“The problem we’re having right now is that they’re not serious about talks. If they’re serious, we’re serious. If they’re not, then we will do what’s necessary to protect our interests, and also the interests of our ⁠allies," Rubio said in Manila.Nearly 100 US troops injured in two weeks since Iran war resumed