Rubio says no country should accept Iran tolls in Hormuz

Ebrahim Rezaei, spokesperson for Iran’s parliament National Security Committee, said US sanctions on Mohammadreza Raouf Sheibani, the Islamic Republic’s expelled ambassador to Lebanon, amounted to “sanctioning diplomacy.”

In a post on X, Rezaei said sanctioning a Foreign Ministry diplomat showed Washington was not serious about talks.

“This negotiation is also probably deception, and the Americans have no desire for diplomacy,” he wrote.

“Now that they have sanctioned an Iranian diplomat too, send missiles instead of diplomats to negotiate with the devil so it understands what it is dealing with,” Rezaei added.

German Foreign Minister Wadephul said Germany is preparing to take part in efforts to secure the Strait of Hormuz under British leadership, but said he did not see it as a NATO mission.

He said talks with the United States indicated Washington would coordinate any burden-shifting with European allies.

Wadephul also welcomed President Donald Trump’s decision to deploy 5,000 additional US troops to Poland.

He said Germany was inviting the United States to stick with its original plan to deploy long-range missiles to Germany.

A vessel fired warning shots after being approached by a small craft carrying five people north of Yemen’s Socotra island, the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations agency said Friday.

UKMTO said it received a report of the incident 98 nautical miles north of Socotra.

The agency said the warning shots forced the small craft to change course.

Authorities are investigating the incident, UKMTO said.

France may consider imposing windfall taxes on companies that have made exceptional profits from the surge in energy prices during the Iran war, Finance Minister Roland Lescure said Friday.

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  Iran war delivers windfall profits to energy, banks and defense firms - BBC

“If there are particular companies that have made an exceptional amount, maybe we will impose additional taxes, I’ll say it that way, but this debate will take place in the fall,” Lescure told Sud Radio.

Reuters reported that several French opposition politicians have called for windfall taxes on oil companies such as TotalEnergies since the war began in late February.

NATO chief Mark Rutte said freedom of navigation in the Strait of Hormuz was an issue for all NATO allies, though “maybe not for NATO as an alliance,” Reuters reported.

Speaking ahead of a NATO meeting in Helsingborg, Sweden, Rutte also welcomed President Donald Trump’s decision to send 5,000 US troops to Poland.

He said the United States would continue to play a key role in Europe’s nuclear and conventional defense, but added that Europe would have to step up gradually.

“Let’s be clear: the trajectory we are on – which is a stronger Europe and a stronger NATO, making sure we will over time, step by step, be less reliant on one ally only ... will continue,” Rutte told reporters.

Estonian Foreign Minister Margus Tsahkna said it was up to Washington to decide US troop levels in Europe, but added that it was clear Europe must take on a greater defense role.