Axios reports that Secretary of State Marco Rubio has told several allied foreign ministers the United States does not currently plan new strikes against Iran. According to the report, Washington is shifting its approach from military action to sustained economic pressure, including the U.S. naval blockade and the Treasury Department’s newly announced sanctions initiative.

The report says Rubio conveyed the message in recent calls with foreign counterparts, framing the policy around three priorities: pausing further military action against Iran, intensifying economic pressure, and maximizing the amount of oil moving through the Strait of Hormuz into global markets. That emphasis underscores why the strait remains central to the episode: it is not only a security chokepoint, but also a key route for energy shipments that can affect how quickly oil moves through the region.

A second U.S. official told Axios that this posture is expected to remain in place at least until after the midterm elections, after which renewed military action could again become an option.

Central to the shift, according to the report, is the clearing of naval mines from most of the Strait of Hormuz. One U.S. official told Axios that the move has significantly reduced Iran’s ability to disrupt shipping and stripped it of one of its main sources of leverage over global energy markets. Officials said tanker traffic has increasingly moved through the strait’s southern shipping lane in recent weeks, and that almost no vessels have been observed at Kharg Island, Iran’s primary oil export terminal, over the past two weeks.

A State Department spokesperson told Axios that the administration views the Iranian economy as being in serious distress and its military as substantially weakened. The spokesperson said the United States intends to continue cutting off the regime’s remaining sources of financial support and added that preventing Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapon remains President Trump’s central objective.

The report also points to renewed diplomatic activity around the conflict. Pakistan’s army chief, Field Marshal Asim Munir, met Iranian leadership in Tehran over the weekend. Al Arabiya reported that Munir had discussed a new proposal with President Trump before the trip. The White House did not deny that contact took place, but said no negotiations with Iran are currently underway or scheduled.

U.S. officials said the stronger flow of oil out of the Gulf has made a possible Iran-Oman arrangement over the strait largely redundant. One official described the current posture as pressure rather than negotiation, saying sustained economic pain could eventually bring Tehran back to the table.

Separately, Axios reported that White House envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, who have led negotiations with Iran throughout the conflict, are due to visit U.S. Central Command this week for briefings on the ground situation. The planned visit suggests the administration is still closely monitoring conditions even as its public posture shifts toward restraint.

Also in the ‘encouraging if true’ basket:

Russian media report says there is an Iran-US deal

Oil slides $2 on unconfirmed report of US Iran ceasefire, Hormuz reopening

Washington says it no longer needs to fight for control of the Strait of Hormuz because it already has it.