Rubio Calls Iran’s Peace Demands ‘Ridiculous.’ Trump Says He Could Knock Down 38 Bridges in an Hour.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio stood on the runway at Homestead Air Reserve Base in Florida on Sunday evening, about to board a plane for a meeting of America’s closest allies in Paris, and gave the bluntest update yet on the talks to end the war with Iran: there is no deal close, and Tehran is the reason.

“I wouldn’t say we’re on the verge of a breakthrough,” Rubio told reporters. “Right now it hasn’t been very productive, because the Iranian demands are simply not just unacceptable but, in some cases, outrageous and ridiculous and really not realistic.”

Hours earlier, President Trump had sounded a calmer note. In a 20-minute phone interview with CNN’s Jim Sciutto, he said it is “highly unlikely” he will need to send America back into full-scale war with Iran, and he said it five times. Then he made sure Tehran heard the other half: three aircraft carriers in the region, “fully locked and loaded,” and a target list that includes power plants and bridges.

“We have 38 bridges in our site that we can knock down in literally one hour,” Trump said, according to CNN. “They’ll all be down.”

Why this matters to you

This is the war that sent gas prices up. The fighting began Feb. 28, when America and Israel struck Iran. A ceasefire came in April, but the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow sea lane that normally carries about a fifth of the world’s oil and gas, has been effectively closed ever since by Iranian missile and drone attacks on tankers and an American naval blockade of Iran’s ports.

A real deal would reopen that waterway and take pressure off fuel prices. That’s why every word from Washington and Tehran this week moves oil markets. CNBC reported oil prices moved lower Monday morning after Trump’s “highly unlikely” remark.

What Iran is asking for

Iran’s foreign ministry spokesman, Esmaeil Baghaei, laid out Tehran’s position at his weekly news conference Monday. He said the measures imposed on Iran since the spring ceasefire understanding must be lifted so Iran can carry out its side of a two-day plan to reopen the strait, according to Iran International. He said the demands were clear and it was up to Washington to respond.

Those demands go well beyond the strait. A senior Iranian official told Reuters that further talks depend on America meeting Iran’s conditions, including sanctions relief, access to frozen Iranian money held in foreign banks and payments for war damage. In plain terms: Iran wants its punishment lifted and a check before it gives up the leverage it has. Washington insists the nuclear program be dealt with first.

That is the gap Rubio was describing. The Trump administration’s line has not moved: Iran fully reopens the strait and agrees never to build a nuclear weapon.

Strikes keep coming, on a small scale

The talking has not stopped the shooting entirely. America carried out what officials called limited, defensive strikes on Iran’s Qeshm Island, which sits inside the strait, on Nov. 2 after Iranian forces fired surface-to-air missiles at American aircraft. Trump confirmed more strikes Friday. “We do minor strikes,” he told reporters. “They built a little bit of an anti-aircraft device, and we knocked it out.”

Iranian state media reported new explosions on Qeshm late Sunday. A provincial official told the semi-official Fars news agency that no vital infrastructure was hit and the targeted sites were away from homes and businesses, Reuters reported.

Asked Sunday about the Qeshm strikes, Rubio said America only acts when threatened. “If there’s a threat to our forces in the region, we will act against those. If there’s a threat to shipping, we’ve been defending shipping for a while,” he said. “If there’s a clear and present threat to shipping or to our forces in the region, we have a right to defend ourselves.”

Pressure on Tehran, not easing

Trump told CNN that Iran is “a failing nation,” pointing to inflation he put at 301% this year. “They’re withering away financially,” he said. “We’ve hit them militarily. We could finish them off.” He said Iran’s air defenses are gone and that it is down to about 10% of its missile-making capacity and about 15% for drones.

Washington is tightening, not loosening. Central Command announced Task Force Iron Gate on Saturday to choke off weapons, banned materials and money moving across Iran’s land borders and the Caspian Sea. Trump posted that it is “in full force and effect,” “coupled with history’s greatest Naval Blockade.”

Trump also said he would rather not wreck Iran’s bridges. “I don’t want to do that because essentially, it’ll take 10 years to rebuild them,” he said. “I don’t like ripping down bridges. And the hardest thing to build is a bridge. It takes years, and I’m a good builder.”

The midterm question

Iranian hardliners are betting last week’s midterms, which handed Democrats both chambers of Congress, have weakened Trump and will make him give in. Rubio refused to take that bait. Asked whether the war cost Republicans the election, he said he does not comment on domestic politics. But he defended the decision itself.

“The President took on something that other presidents have failed to do,” Rubio said. “Presidents are elected to do the hard things, sometimes difficult things, but necessary things.” He added that there used to be bipartisan agreement “that a nuclear Iran would be completely unacceptable and dangerous for the United States.”

What happens next

Rubio is in Paris Monday and Tuesday for the G7 foreign ministers’ meeting, where he said allies will press him on Iran. Qatar and Pakistan are still passing messages between the two sides. Iran’s foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, said Sunday the mediators had gone quiet for several days after the midterms and need more time.

The message from Trump’s team is simple: Washington would prefer a deal, it is ready if there isn’t one, and it is not buying one on Tehran’s terms.