Iran's demands over the Strait of Hormuz would set a dangerous
precedent, Rubio tells Asian leaders
[July 22, 2026]
By MICHELLE L. PRICE and JIM GOMEZ
MANILA, Philippines (AP) — U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio warned
Asian leaders Wednesday that Iran's demand to control and collect tolls
in the Strait of Hormuz would threaten the world’s economy and the
principle of freedom of navigation.
Rubio spoke at the start of an annual meeting in the Philippine capital,
Manila, with counterparts from the Association of Southeast Asian
Nations who have expressed alarm over the resurgent war in the Middle
East that has battered their region. Despite Washington’s preoccupation
with the war in the Middle East, Rubio reassured “we’re with ASEAN
100%.”
“If we create a precedent in the Middle East where a nation state can
decide that they are going to control an international waterway, charge
a toll and if you don’t pay them, blow up your ships, we have created a
very dangerous precedent which will repeat itself in other parts of the
world, including in this region,” he said.
Top diplomats from the U.S., China, Russia and several other countries
are in Manila this week to take part in the gathering of Southeast Asian
foreign ministers. Newly minted British Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband
was arriving Wednesday, his office said.
Rubio also met with foreign affairs ministers of the four-nation Quad
partnership — made up of the U.S., Australia, India and Japan — where
they discussed shared priorities around technology, humanitarian
assistance, emergency response as well as maritime and transnational
security.
They issued a joint statement reaffirming their commitment to their
maritime security initiatives that seek to counter China’s growing
influence in the region.
“We are united in our conviction that peace and stability in the
Indo-Pacific maritime domain underpin the security and prosperity of the
region,” the leaders said in a statement.
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From left, East Timor's Foreign Minister Bendito dos Santos Freitas,
Vietnam Foreign Minister Le Hoai Trung, U.S. Secretary of State
Marco Rubio and Cambodia's Foreign Minister Prak Sokhonn join hands
during the ASEAN Post-Ministerial Conference with the United States
on the sidelines of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations
(ASEAN) Foreign Ministers' Meeting in Pasay city, Metro Manila,
Philippines Wednesday, July 22, 2026. (Brendan Smialowski/Pool Photo
via AP)
Rubio added in a post on X that, “The Quad remains a priority, and
we will meet again later this year.”
The Trump administration has repeatedly criticized China’s
increasingly aggressive actions in the South China Sea to the
disadvantage of smaller claimant countries like the Philippines,
Washington's oldest treaty ally in Asia.
The territorial disputes, which also involve Taiwan and ASEAN
members Vietnam, Malaysia and Brunei, are high on the agenda of
three days of talks that started Tuesday in Manila.
Rubio later met with his Indian counterpart, External Affairs
Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, where they discussed both regional
issues and the Iran war, according to a U.S. State Department
spokesperson, along with a yet-to-be completed trade agreement to
lower U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariffs on Indian goods.
“The Secretary and Minister Jaishankar agreed on the importance of
finalizing the interim trade deal, which is almost complete,”
spokesperson Tommy Pigott said.
Rubio was scheduled to meet separately with Chinese Foreign Minister
Wang Yi on the sidelines of the meetings in a tightly secured
convention complex by Manila Bay.
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