OAN Staff Katherine Mosack
9:13 AM – Saturday, March 28, 2026
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio told G7 foreign ministers that he expects the U.S.-Israeli conflict with Iran to end after a few weeks.
“The U.S. expects the war to end within ‘weeks and not months,’” Rubio said during a press gaggle after the meeting in France on Friday.
“This is not going to be a prolonged conflict,” he stated, adding that the U.S. is “ahead of schedule” on most of its objectives in the operation.
The Group of Seven, or G7, is an informal forum of seven democratic countries: Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom and the United States. This group meets annually to discuss global economic policy, security and energy.
On his way to France, he said that it was in the other member countries’ “interest” to “step up” to restore shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, through which about a fifth of the world’s oil is exported out of the Gulf region.
“I’m not there to make them happy,” he told reporters. “For all the countries who care about international law, they should be doing something about it.”
President Donald Trump holds the same opinion, as he believes that countries allied with the U.S. that rely on oil from this region should “police” it. Trump has emphasized that the United States does not rely on Hormuz for its oil imports.
Rubio signaled that the U.S. could be close to serious negotiations with Tehran, according to Axios. President Donald Trump has also expressed willingness to work with whatever is left of Iran’s leadership after the U.S. received 10 oil tankers as a “present” out of the Strait of Hormuz.
Rubio reportedly told the other members of the meeting that the U.S. is engaged in indirect talks with Iran via mediators. However, uncertainty over who is making calls in Iran makes diplomatic efforts complicated.
Meanwhile, Houthis, the Yemeni group aligned with Iran, confirmed that they launched an attack on Israel — their first since Israel and the United States struck Tehran at the outset of Operation Epic Fury.
The Iranian-backed militants claimed responsibility for a missile attack on Israel on Saturday.
Yemeni Brigadier General Yahya Saree, the official military spokesman for the Houthi-aligned Yemeni Armed Forces, issued a statement Saturday morning on the group’s Al-Masirah television channel.
“The Yemeni armed forces with the help and grace of Allah Almighty has done its first military attacks with barrage of ballistic missiles against military sensitive attacks in Israel in the south of the occupied Palestine,” he announced.
Houthi involvement in the Middle Eastern conflict brings concerns that the combat could be broadening, given the militant group’s ability to reach targets far beyond Yemen. This could disrupt shipping lanes around the Arabian Peninsula and the Red Sea, as they had done in support of Hamas after the October 7th attack on Israel.
Israel said its military intercepted a missile from Yemen, multiple outlets reported.
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