Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Friday that it “would be lamentable” if a United Nations Security Council resolution on the Strait of Hormuz didn’t pass, adding: “Let’s see if the United Nations still works.”

The draft resolution, tabled by Bahrain, calls on Iran to immediately stop its attacks and threats against vessels in the strait and to end attacks on Persian Gulf states. It also addresses the placement of sea mines in the vital waterway, and Iran’s efforts to impose tolls on commercial ships using the strait.

Speaking to journalists ahead of a meeting of NATO foreign ministers in Sweden, Rubio said the draft resolution had “the highest number of co-sponsors of any resolution ever” at the council, the UN body tasked with maintaining peace and security through legally binding resolutions.

“Unfortunately, a couple of countries on the Security Council are thinking about vetoing it,” he added. “That would be lamentable.”

A similar resolution, also tabled by Bahrain, was vetoed last month by China and Russia, which, like the U.S. and the council’s two other permanent members, can unilaterally block a measure.

“We are doing everything we can though to achieve the sort of global consensus that’s necessary to prevent this from hpening,” said Rubio. “Let’s see if the United Nations still works.”

He said “almost every country represented here today” had co-sponsored the resolution, “and if they haven’t, I’m sure they soon will because I don’t know of anyone in the world … that should be in favor of a tolling system in an international waterway.”

Vessels are seen amid shipping gridlock in the Strait of Hormuz, as seen from Iran, May 22, 2026.

Majid Asgaripour/WANA via

Iran’s Ambassador Amir Saeid Iravani told reporters in early May that the draft was “deeply flawed, and one-sided.”

Saeid argued the solution to the crisis in the strait is a permanent end to the U.S.-Israeli war with his country, and the U.S. blockade of Iranian ports and vessels.

Alex Murdaugh talks with his defense attorney Jim Griffin during a jury-tampering hearing at the Richland County Judicial Center, Monday, Jan. 29, 2024, in Columbia, S.C. (Andrew J. Whitaker/The Post And Courier via , Pool)

ALEX MURDAUGH:

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LUIGI MANGIONE:

Luigi Mangione, charged with the murder of Brian Thompson, the CEO of United Healthcare, pears in State Supreme Court in Manhattan during an evidence suppression hearing in his case on Friday, Dec. 12, 2025 (Curtis Means for Daily Mail via Pool)

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TYLER ROBINSON:

Tyler Robinson, accused of the murder of Charlie Kirk, pears during a hearing in Fourth District Court in Provo, Utah, Thursday, Dec. 11, 2025. (Rick Egan/The Salt Lake Tribune via Pool)

COURTROOM CLASH: Robinson’s defense team fights to seal evidence and punish prosecutors in Charlie Kirk’s assassination

SEALED LIPS: Robinson asks for more secret hearings after losing fight over cameras in court

NANCY GUTHRIE:

Authorities in Arizona are still searching for clues in the Nancy Guthrie case. The 84-year-old was last seen at his Tucson home on Jan. 31. ()

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COLD CASES:

Charles Berry, 66, of Newington, Connecticut, was taken into custody Monday in connection with the 1986 re and murder of Roberta Walls, the Newington Police Department said in a statement. (Newington Police Department)

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FAMILY TIES:

Gabriela Gonzalez faces attempted murder and conspiracy charges after prosecutors accused her of participating in an alleged murder-for-hire scheme targeting Jack Avery. (LA County Sheriff’s Office)

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The execution of a Tennessee death row inmate convicted of kidnping and killing three people was called off Thursday after the execution team tried and failed for over an hour to establish an intravenous line.

The state won’t try to execute Tony Carruthers for at least a year, Gov. Bill Lee announced. The Tennessee Department of Correction said medical personnel had quickly established a primary IV line but were unable to find a suitable vein for a backup line, which is required by the state’s execution protocol.

After efforts to insert a central line also failed, officials called off the execution. Maria DeLiberato, an attorney for Carruthers, said she saw him “wincing and groaning” while officials attempted to find a vein, calling it “horrible” to watch.

At the time of the governor’s reprieve, DeLiberato was addressing reporters and began crying upon hearing the news.

TN ANNOUNCES NEW EXECUTION METHOD THAT COULD ALLOW STATE TO RESUME EXECUTIONS AFTER LAST ONE HALTED IN 2022

Tonya Carruthers closes her eyes in prayer with other protesters against the execution of Tony Carruthers at the Tennessee Citol in Nashville, Tenn., on Monday, May 18, 2026. Carruthers’ execution was halted Thursday after the execution team tried and failed for over an hour to establish an intravenous line. ( Images; )

“That’s amazing!” she said. “I’m so grateful!”

Carruthers was sentenced to death for the 1994 kidnpings and murders of Marcellos Anderson; his mother, Delois Anderson; and Frederick Tucker in Memphis. At trial, he was forced to represent himself after he repeatedly complained about his court-pointed attorneys and threatened to harm several of them.

Carruthers’ “paranoia and delusions” prevented him from being able to cooperate with court-pointed counsel, but the trial judge viewed this behavior as willful, his current attorneys said.

The conviction was based primarily on the testimony of individuals who claimed to have heard Carruthers confess to or discuss the crimes. No physical evidence tying him to the murders was presented at trial.

Prosecutors alleged that Anderson was a drug dealer and that Carruthers was attempting to take over the drug trade in his Memphis neighborhood. The witnesses who claimed to have heard Carruthers confess included a man who was later revealed to be a police informant, who subsequently told the media he was paid for his testimony.

EXECUTION SCHEDULED FOR TEXAS DEATH ROW INMATE CONVICTED IN ‘SHAKEN BABY’ CASE AS LAWYERS MAINTAIN INNOCENCE

Tori Carruthers and Latobiya Carruthers close their eyes in prayer with other protesters against the execution of Tony Carruthers at the Tennessee Citol in Nashville, Tenn., on May 18, 2026. ()

James Montgomery, a co-defendant, was originally sentenced to death alongside Carruthers, but was later resentenced and released from prison in 2015, according to court filings.

In their petition, Carruthers’s attorneys argued that he was sentenced to death largely because a medical examiner testified that the victims were buried alive. That claim was later withdrawn, and subsequent experts have stated it was false.

UTAH KILLER WITH DEMENTIA IS COMPETENT ENOUGH FOR DEATH SENTENCE TO BE CARRIED OUT, JUDGE RULES

In addition, his legal team argued that he was incompetent and should not be executed. Carruthers believed the government was bluffing about the execution in order to coerce him into accepting a plea deal that existed only in his mind, they claimed.

Protesters gather at the Tennessee Citol in Nashville on May 18, 2026, to oppose the execution of Tony Carruthers. ()

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By doing so, Carruthers believed the government could avoid paying him millions of dollars he thought he was owed.

He was convinced that his own attorneys were part of a conspiracy against him and refused to speak with them, according to court filings.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Kyiv — Ukraine is implementing “enhanced security measures in the northern regions” near its border with Belarus as Russia holds joint nuclear drills with its close ally, for which Moscow says “nuclear munitions were delivered” to field storage facilities.

Kyiv announced the heightened security posture along its northern border Thursday after warning for weeks of a possible fresh attack coming from Belarus, Russia’s chief regional ally.

Kyiv has sounded the alarm that Russia may use Belarus — which it used as a springboard to launch its ongoing, full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 — to stage a new offensive from the north, including toward the cital Kyiv.

Ukraine’s Security Service (SBU) said its units and the army were “carrying out a comprehensive set of enhanced security measures in the northern regions of our country.”

The measures — including stepped up checks and controls of individuals and properties — “will serve as an effective deterrent to any aggressive actions or operations by the enemy and its ally,” the SBU said in a statement.

The Kremlin on Monday dismissed Ukrainian allegations that it wanted to drag Belarus further into the war as “an attempt at further incitement.”

But on Thursday, Russia’s Defense Ministry said in a statement that, “as part of the nuclear forces exercise” taking place with Belarus, “nuclear munitions were delivered to the field storage facilities of the [Russian] missile brigade’s position” in the country.

A video posted Thursday on social media by Belarus’ Ministry of Defense, which peared to have been created by the Russian Defense Ministry, showed a truck driving through a forest and unloading an item said to be related to the nuclear munitions.

Russia’s military said the missile brigade in Belarus was carrying out training to receive munitions for mobile Iskander-M tactical missile launch systems, including exercises in loading munitions onto launch vehicles and moving them clandestinely in preparation for a hypothetical launch.

Speaking Wednesday, NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte said the alliance was monitoring the Russian-Belorussian exercises and warned that it’s reaction to any Russian nuclear attack would be “devastating,” according to the Kyiv Independent.

There has been little significant change in the trajectory of the war, now well into its fifth year, in recent months, though Ukrainian forces — taking advantage of drone warfare technology — have, according to multiple reports, managed to at least slow the rate of Russia’s encroachment.

A Wall Street Journal report published this week argued that Ukraine had in fact “wrestled Russia’s much-larger army almost to a halt in recent months, having gained a tactical and technological edge,” but it cautioned that it was too soon to declare the war had reached “a strategic turning point.”