Hoping for easing of Hormuz crisis, Rubio rejects tolls for shipping waterway

Al Jazeera Podcasts. The state of global energy prices and shipping through the critical Strait of Hormuz remains uncertain. Days after top-level talks between the U.S. and Iran wrapped up in Switzerland. There is no definitive picture of how many vessels are moving through the waterway. Some shipping sites show that there's been a partial rebound, but traffic is still far below normal levels. Hundreds of ships remain stuck, and the U.N. has begun of. evacuating some 11,000 stranded sailors. The strait lies within Iranian and Omani territorial waters.

And on Tuesday, both countries said they would jointly study administering the route, charging fees for the services. But Oman now says it will keep the strait open without tolls and has designated two temporary routes for safe passage. Earlier, the Secretary of State insisted that Washington will not accept any toll in the waterway. Marco Rubio is in the region to discuss the Strait of Hormuz with Gulf allies. That's the law. It's an international waterway.

No country is allowed to charge tolls or fees on an international waterway. That's existing international law. That's the way it is. And international waterways all over the world, and that's the way we expect it will be here. So I don't think we have anybody to convince around here in that regard. I think all the countries in this region would agree with us. So that's the view from the U.S. But Iran's top negotiator, Mohamed Begur Ghalibar Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, says that,

the strait will never return to the pre-war status quo. Now we're going to take you to London, where the British Prime Minister Keir Starmer is taking questions for members of Parliament for the first time since announcing his resignation on Monday. Let's listen in. The UK had the fastest growing economy in the G7. Our growth was upgraded by the IMF and the OECD. Last week, unemployment was down.

Inflation was better than better. That is because with this chance we have the right economic plan and we can weather the global storms in the war that she wanted to jump into. Mr Speaker, they're cheering so loudly. If it's all going so fine, why is he resigning? The fact is she did let him down. She's the one who snatched the winter fuel payments. She's the one who announced a disastrous budget that killed economic growth. And because of her, once again, a Labour Prime Minister is leaving office with unemployment higher than when he came to. On the Inside Story podcast, we're discussing why Britain's prime ministers keep leaving office.

Keir Starmer is the latest to step down after less than two years in office. What does his resignation tell us about the leadership crisis in the UK? Listen and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts.