Rubio says U.S. and allies “have to have a Plan B” if Iran refuses to open Strait of Hormuz

Iran flag | MGN

Speaking to reporters Friday in Sweden after meetings with NATO allies, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the U.S. and its partners must “have a Plan B” to fall back on if Iran refuses to reopen the Strait of Hormuz.

Rubio said he raised the point with NATO allies and that while a plan B wouldn’t entail NATO as a whole, it could include some allies with interests in the strait — nations Rubio said “have to start thinking” about what to do if Iran refuses to cooperate.

“We all would love to see an agreement with Iran in which the straits are open and they abandon their nuclear ambitions and so forth, their nuclear weapons ambitions. That’s what we would all hope for. And that’s what we’re going to continue to work on, and that’s what work is ongoing, even as I speak to you now in that regard,” Rubio said.

“But, we also have to have a Plan B, and Plan B is — what if Iran refuses to open the straits? What if Iran decides, ‘We refuse to open the straits, we’re going to own the straits, and we’re going to charge tolls for it?’ Okay, at that point, something has to be done about it.”

He said he’d “raised that point today” and “got a lot of nods” from other NATO foreign ministers.

He reiterated, however, the Trump administration’s stance that the U.S. doesn’t need help reopening the strait or clearing it of sea mines, but said the administration would welcome allies’ help.

“We don’t need their help, but they’re willing to do it,” he said.

So far America’s NATO allies, led by the U.K. and France, have begun efforts to build a military coalition that can help ensure safe maritime traffic through the strait, but said such operations will only begin once hostilities in the Iran war are over.