US Secretary of State Marco Rubio arrived in the UAE at the start of a Gulf tour on Tuesday as Iranian officials held talks in Oman, with both sides launching diplomatic drives to shore up their positions amid negotiations towards a permanent peace deal.
Mr Rubio will speak to allies about the merits of the interim agreement and a final deal that could follow. After the UAE, he will visit Kuwait and Bahrain, where he is due to meet Gulf foreign ministers.
The Secretary of State said his visit to the Gulf nations was to “make sure that their views are taken into account” in the US negotiations with Iran.
“We’re really here to hear from them more than we are to talk,” he told reporters after arriving in Abu Dhabi.
Mr Rubio said Iran would not be able to charge tolls in the Strait of Hormuz as part of a final agreement with the US. Such an arrangement would be contrary to international law, he added.
“It’s an international waterway. No country is allowed to charge tolls or fees on an international waterway,” he said. “I think all the countries in this region would agree with us.”
Earlier, Oman and Iran said they were establishing a joint working group to reach an agreement linked to the strait following meetings in Muscat between Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf and Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi with Oman's Sultan Haitham and Foreign Minister Badr Al Busaidi.
The first round of renewed US-Iran talks in Switzerland at the weekend ended on a positive note, despite conflicting claims about what was agreed.
Iran secured a temporary lifeline for its oil trade after the US Treasury issued a General Licence X authorising the sale and delivery of Iranian cargoes, just as exports hit their weakest level in five years.
The 60-day waiver, which expires on August 21, allows US dollar payments to Tehran and sanctioned entities, and even paves the way for Iranian oil imports into the US for the first time in decades.
Meanwhile, the International Maritime Organisation said the US-Iran talks had created an opening for an agreed plan of evacuation of 11,000 stranded seafarers near the Strait of Hormuz.
Qatar's Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman praised the US-Iran understanding, but warned that “any escalation anywhere in the region, whether in Lebanon or elsewhere, will affect the negotiations”.
He accused Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of igniting “fires” in the Middle East that fuel escalation and called for an immediate end to Israeli occupation in southern Lebanon, where at least two people were killed and one injured by Israeli gunfire after days of relative calm.
Lebanon, after acknowledging the new ceasefire mechanism that includes Iran, was holding a fifth round of US-led negotiations with Israel. The talks in Washington come as Iran pushes to make the situation in Lebanon part of any deal with the US.
