US Secretary of State Marco Rubio accused Tehran of not taking negotiations with Washington seriously.

“The problem we are facing right now is that they (the Iranian side) are not serious about the negotiations. If they are serious, then we are serious too. If they are not serious, then we will do whatever is necessary to protect our interests and the interests of our allies,” Rubio said at the ASEAN foreign ministers’ meeting in Manila.

According to him, the US remains committed to diplomacy.

“We are open and always ready to resolve differences through negotiations, and that remains the case with Iran as well,” the secretary of state emphasized.

He noted that the Iranians, “despite the agreements reached, have not fulfilled their obligations.”

“The US remains open and ready for positive, constructive negotiations if the commitments undertaken are honored. When those commitments are not honored, which is what happened in this case, there will be consequences, and that cannot be avoided,” the secretary of state added.

Commenting on the situation with shipping in the Strait of Hormuz, Rubio said that Iran “demands the right to control the transit of vessels through the Strait of Hormuz, which it does not have under any existing legal mechanism.”

He stressed that this strait is an international waterway.

“If we create a precedent in the Middle East where a state can decide to control an international waterway, impose a fee, and if you do not pay them, they will blow up your ships, then we will create a very dangerous precedent that will be repeated in other parts of the world, including this region,” Rubio believes.

 According to him, “fundamental principles of freedom of navigation” are at stake.