U.S. preparing for possible strikes against Iran, sources say, as Rubio says tolls on Strait of Hormuz “not acceptable”

Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Friday that it “would be lamentable” if a United Nations Security Council resolution on the Strait of Hormuz didn’t pass, adding: “Let’s see if the United Nations still works.”

The draft resolution, tabled by Bahrain, calls on Iran to immediately stop its attacks and threats against vessels in the strait and to end attacks on Persian Gulf states. It also addresses the placement of sea mines in the vital waterway, and Iran’s efforts to impose tolls on commercial ships using the strait.

Speaking to journalists ahead of a meeting of NATO foreign ministers in Sweden, Rubio said the draft resolution had “the highest number of co-sponsors of any resolution ever” at the council, the UN body tasked with maintaining peace and security through legally binding resolutions. 

“Unfortunately, a couple of countries on the Security Council are thinking about vetoing it,” he added. “That would be lamentable.”

A similar resolution, also tabled by Bahrain, was vetoed last month by China and Russia, which, like the U.S. and the council’s two other permanent members, can unilaterally block a measure.

“We are doing everything we can though to achieve the sort of global consensus that’s necessary to prevent this from happening,” said Rubio. “Let’s see if the United Nations still works.”

He said “almost every country represented here today” had co-sponsored the resolution, “and if they haven’t, I’m sure they soon will because I don’t know of anyone in the world … that should be in favor of a tolling system in an international waterway.”

Iran’s Ambassador Amir Saeid Iravani told reporters in early May that the draft was “deeply flawed, and one-sided.”

Saeid argued the solution to the crisis in the strait is a permanent end to the U.S.-Israeli war with his country, and the U.S. blockade of Iranian ports and vessels.