Rubio says ‘no need’ to attack Iran as diplomacy gathers pace

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US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the United States’ squeezing of Iran’s economy made further attacks unnecessary.

Hours after US President Donald Trump said he saw “positive momentum” towards resolving the eight-month war, Rubio said the United States’ squeezing of Iran’s economy made further attacks unnecessary.

“The economic campaign (against Iran) is so devastating that right now there is no need for major combat operations,” the Secretary of State said after a meeting of G7 foreign ministers in Paris. “That’s what I told our allies here today.”

Iran’s efforts to blockade Hormuz, the major exit route for Gulf energy shipments, have sent oil prices soaring – a major factor in the humbling of Trump’s Republicans in last week’s midterm elections.

Washington has imposed a counter-blockade on Iranian ports and in August announced what it called an “economic asphyxiation” campaign aimed at financially strangling Iran, already battered by years of sanctions.

Britain’s Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband called for greater efforts to end the conflict, while warning of the economic damage of an ongoing impasse.

“We need to move beyond the ‘no war, no peace’ stalemate, which is causing deep economic pain for our countries,” he said in Paris.

“We must see an all-out diplomatic effort to end this conflict, prevent a nuclear Iran and the threats it poses around the world, and get the Strait of Hormuz properly reopened.”

Washington has appeared to taper down its threats of renewed strikes after the Republicans’ defeat, and even Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu – who launched the war alongside Trump and recently lobbied to “forever eliminate the existential threat of Iran” – appeared to recognise the shifting diplomatic reality.

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