Allowing Iran control of Hormuz 'dangerous precedent', Rubio tells ASEAN

“There is a fundamental principle about freedom of navigation that is threatened,” US Secretary of State Marco Rubio told envoys at a Manila gathering of ASEAN.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio attends the ASEAN Post-Ministerial Conference with the US on the sidelines of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Foreign Ministers' Meeting in Pasay, Metro Manila on Jul 22, 2026. (Photo: AFO/Eloisa Lopez)

MANILA: US Secretary of State Marco Rubio told Southeast Asian foreign ministers on Wednesday (Jul 22) that Iranian control of the Strait of Hormuz would set a dangerous precedent with repercussions beyond the Middle East.

His comments came as US Central Command said it had begun striking military targets in Iran for the "11th consecutive night" in a bid to degrade the country's ability to threaten commercial shipping in the waterway.

BOLD.news retains normalized extraction for time-stamped evidence and analysis. This public wrapper shows a limited excerpt because availability is not a republication license; use the publisher link for the complete presentation.