Rubio says Iran ready to discuss nuclear deal as Tehran declares peace talks over

Secretary of state appears before Congress and repeats Trump administration’s claims that a deal is within reach

Iran has agreed to negotiate aspects of its nuclear program that it had refused to discuss even a month ago, US secretary of state Marco Rubio has claimed, even as Tehran announced it was halting peace talks and moving to fully close the strait of Hormuz.

Appearing before the Senate foreign relations committee for the first time since the Trump administration launched the war against Iran – which was pitched as a short, weeks-long war, in February – Rubio repeated the Trump administration’s claims that a deal was within reach.