Rubio signals US openness to Iran talks as Red Sea, Strait of Hormuz tensions escalate

In Manila, US Secretary of State Rubio extended a conditional hand toward Iran while the machinery of war continued its eleventh consecutive night of strikes — a paradox that defines this moment in the long, unresolved struggle over who controls the arteries of global energy. The Red Sea and the Strait of Hormuz, through which much of the world's oil must pass, are now simultaneously threatened by Houthi blockades and Iranian pressure, turning a bilateral conflict into a question the entire global economy must answer. Eighteen American lives have already been lost, and a ceasefire proposal sit