US Secretary of State, Marco Rubio has said that a deal to end the war with Iran could materialise “today,” signaling what may be a significant diplomatic breakthrough amid ongoing tensions in the Middle East.

Speaking in New Delhi, Rubio suggested that negotiations were making progress, though he cautioned against drawing immediate conclusions on a potential agreement.

Rubio’s comments suggest that negotiators may be closing in on an arrangement designed to restore navigation through the strait while easing broader tensions between Iran and the United States and its allies. The U.S. Secretary of state also noted that the proposal under discussion has received significant backing from Gulf countries, many of which have been directly affected by disruptions to trade and energy flows.

“We thought we might have some news last night, maybe today – I wouldn’t read too much into it. We have what I think is a pretty solid thing on the table in terms of their ability to open up the straits. It has a lot of support in the Gulf.”
Marco Rubio

Rubio’s remarks came after Donald Trump tempered expectations of a deal, saying on Sunday that he had told his negotiators “not to rush.”

Trump said that the US blockade on Iranian ships in the Hormuz strait would “remain in full force and effect until an agreement is reached, certified and signed.” “Both sides must take their time and get it right,” he added.

As details of the possible agreement emerged over the weekend, critics including Trump’s former Secretary of state Mike Pompeo said it offered little beyond the 2015 Iran nuclear deal negotiated by former President Barack Obama, from which Trump withdrew during his first term. Chris Van Hollen, a Democratic member of the Senate foreign relations committee, said the deal’s reported outlines would amount to little more than “the prewar status quo” with Iran.

Rubio’s comments also came after oil prices plunged and Asian shares rose earlier in the day amid optimism that the US and Iran were close to an agreement that might secure a lasting end to the three-month war and reopen the strait of Hormuz. Oil prices hit a two-week low, with Brent crude futures falling 4.5% to $98.83 a barrel by 11.50pm GMT.

Rubio Asserts Israel’s Right To Protect Itself From Hezbollah

Additionally Marco Rubio told reporters in New Delhi that “Israel always has a right to protect itself.”

“If Hezbollah is going to launch missiles or launches missiles at them, Israel has every right to respond to that, or to prevent that from happening. That’s always been understood. It’s being understood during the ceasefire.”
Marco Rubio

Israel and Hezbollah have continued trading strikes during the US-brokered ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon, which began on 16 April and was recently extended by 45 days.

Israeli strikes pounded south and east Lebanon on Sunday despite the ceasefire as the leader of Hezbollah expressed hope for an agreement between Iran and the US that also ends hostilities in Lebanon.

Lebanon’s health ministry raised the overall toll in the war since 2 March to 3,123 killed. It said two people including a paramedic from the Hezbollah-affiliated Islamic Health Committee were killed on Sunday in Israeli raids. A day earlier 11 people including six women and a child were killed in a single strike in the south’s Sir al-Gharbiyeh, the ministry said on Sunday, decrying a “massacre.”

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Sunday that Donald Trump had reaffirmed his support for Israel’s right “to defend itself against threats on all fronts, including in Lebanon.”

The potential deal between the US and Iran to end their war also reportedly requires Israel to stop its offensive in Lebanon. Hezbollah Chief Naim Qassem said that “God willing, this [Iran-US] agreement will be finalised … and accordingly that we too will be among those included in this agreement” on a full cessation of hostilities.

Meanwhile, Israel said today that a soldier was killed in southern Lebanon, taking to 23 the number of its troops killed in the war with Iran-backed Hezbollah. A military statement named him as 19-year-old Sgt Nehoray Leizer of the 601st Combat Engineering Battalion, who “fell in combat in southern Lebanon.”

The Israeli military said separately on Telegram that during the incident in which Leizer was killed, “an additional soldier was severely injured.” A total of 24 Israelis have been killed in the conflict; 23 soldiers and one civilian contractor, since hostilities resumed on March 2, 2026.