US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Monday that Washington will either reach a good agreement with Iran or deal with the country “another way,” cooling expectations of an imminent breakthrough in the three-month-old war.

“We thought we might have some news last night, maybe today. I wouldn’t read too much into it,” Rubio told reporters in New Delhi, where he is on an official visit. “We’re either going to have a good agreement, or we’re going to have to deal with it another way. We’d prefer to have a good agreement.” He described “a pretty solid thing on the table” under which Iran would reopen the Strait of Hormuz, followed by a “time-limited” negotiation on the nuclear question.

The remarks walked back the optimism of recent days. A day earlier, President Donald Trump wrote on Truth Social that the US naval blockade on Iranian ships would “remain in full force and effect until an agreement is reached, certified, and signed,” adding that “both sides must take their time and get it right.” That followed Trump’s Saturday claim that a deal had been “largely negotiated” and Rubio’s own forecast of “good news in a few hours.”

A senior US official, speaking anonymously, said Iran had agreed “in principle” to dispose of its highly enriched uranium and open the strait in exchange for the US lifting the blockade, and that Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei had endorsed the broad template. Negotiators would have 60 days to finalise the nuclear details. Iran’s Tasnim agency, linked to the Revolutionary Guards, said Washington was still obstructing parts of a deal, including Tehran’s demand for the release of frozen funds. Iranian foreign ministry spokesman Esmail Baghaei said on Monday that “conclusions” had been reached on many of the issues covered by a potential memorandum of understanding, but stressed this did not mean Tehran was close to signing. He said Iran was negotiating an end to the war and was not currently discussing nuclear matters, and that shifting positions among US officials were creating problems for any agreement. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has insisted any final agreement eliminate Iran’s nuclear threat entirely.

Oil prices fell about 6% to two-week lows on Monday on the partial optimism. A confirmed deal would ease Sri Lanka’s fuel-supply costs, which pushed the CPC oil import bill to USD 521 million in May, and reinforce the first tanker departures through Hormuz recorded last week.