“We have objectives. We will do this as long as it takes to achieve those objectives, and we will achieve those objectives. The world will be a safer place when we’re done with this operation.” – Secretary of State Marco Rubio
Rubio is, as I write this on Monday afternoon, briefing House and Senate leaders on Capitol Hill on what’s going on in Iran, but before he did, he stopped to speak with the media gathered outside. I thought I’d share some of what he said in case you missed it. Part of it is a reiteration of some of what Donald Trump has said over the last couple of days, but I’ve seen some questions in our comments sections about the operation, and I think he answered a few of them.
The secretary made it clear that Iran was an imminent threat to the United States, that the hardest hits have yet to come, and that ultimately the world is, indeed, a safer place because of the president’s decisive actions over the weekend.
Rubio said that the attacks on civilians that we’re seeing from Iran right now — on airports, hotels, and embassies —are being carried out by the regime in its weakened state after years of sanctions. “Imagine a year from now or a year and a half from now, the capabilities they would have to inflict damage on us,” he said.
But it was not just about their capabilities.
“The Ayatollah is a radical — was a radical cleric. That entire regime is led by radical clerics who don’t make geopolitical decisions,” he added. “They make decisions on the basis of theology, their view of theology, which is an apocalyptic one. That has to be taken very seriously as well. So that was the purpose for what this operation is all about.”
He also pointed out that “this terroristic regime, led by radical clerics, has the ability, potentially, to shut off 20% of global energy.”
Even so, some bright-eyed reporter asked if Iran was an “imminent threat” to the U.S.
Rubio replied:
There absolutely was an imminent threat, and the imminent threat was that we knew that if Iran was attacked, and we believed they would be attacked, that they would immediately come after us.
And we were not gonna sit, sit there and absorb a blow before we responded, because the Department of War assessed that if we did that, if we waited for them to hit us first after they were attacked and by someone else, Israel attacked them, they hit us first, and we waited for them to hit us, we would suffer more casualties and more deaths.
We went proactively in a defensive way to prevent them from inflicting higher damage. Had we not done so, there would have been hearings on Capitol Hill about how we knew that this was gonna happen, and we didn’t act preemptively to prevent more casualties and more loss of life.
“There was absolutely an imminent threat,” says @SecRubio on Iran.
“We knew that if Iran was attacked—and we believe that they would be attacked—that they would immediately come after us, and we were not going to sit there and absorb a blow before we responded… We went… pic.twitter.com/ONXmRddAWL
— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) March 2, 2026
When asked if the goal was regime change, Rubio said that we should not be heartbroken to see the Israeli people overthrow the regime and establish a new future for their country, but that “the destruction of their ballistic missile capabilities and their ability to manufacture them, as well as the threat posed by their navy to global shipping” were our top priorities.
.@SecRubio: “We hope that the Iranian people can overthrow this government. We would love for that to be possible — but the *objective of this mission* the destruction of their ballistic capabilities and of their naval capabilities.” pic.twitter.com/15gHEMic3t
— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) March 2, 2026
He also made it clear that whoever governs won’t have ballistic missiles and drones that threaten us:
.@SecRubio: “The bottom line is no matter who governs that country a year from now, they’re not going to have these ballistic missiles and they’re not going to have these drones to threaten us. That’s the objective of this mission.” pic.twitter.com/dYrzUWt340
— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) March 2, 2026
When asked about notifying Congress, Rubio shut down the reporter immediately, confirming that they did and even went above and beyond.
“We notified congressional leadership. There’s no law that requires us to do that. The law says we have to notify them 48 hours after beginning hostilities. We’ve done that. I think the notification went today, but we did notify members of Congress in advance,” he said, adding, “But we can’t notify five hundred and thirty-five members of Congress.”
“Well, the Congress can vote on whatever they want, but there’s no law that requires us to do that…if they wanna take a war powers vote, they can do that. They’ve done that. They’ve done that a bunch of times,” he continued. And yes, they have done that a bunch of times. Such a waste of our tax dollars…
And then he came out with a little dig at the Joe Biden administration:
To begin with, no president, presidential administration has ever accepted the War Powers Act as constitutional, not Republican presidents, not Democratic presidents. That said, we have followed the notification at forty-eight hours, and we’re here today.
I’ve done more Gang of Eight briefings than I got in the four years that Biden was president, and I was a member of the Gang of Eight. All of that said, we’ve complied with the law a hundred percent, and we’re gonna continue to comply with it.
When asked if there were any diplomatic talks currently going on between Iran and the United States, Rubio said no, and promised that the “hardest hits are yet to come” and refused to put a timeline on how long it will take to finish this operation.
They’re suffering a tremendous amount of damage. Honestly, again, I’m not gonna give away the details of our tactical efforts, but the hardest hits are yet to come from the US military. The next phase will be even more punishing on Iran than it is right now.
.@SecRubio: “The hardest hits are yet to come from the U.S. military. The next phase will be even more punishing on Iran than it is right now… The world will be a safer place when we’re done with this operation.” pic.twitter.com/vguq6BHYlt
— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) March 2, 2026
You can watch his entire remarks here:
From Venezuela to Iran to Cuba, President Trump and Secretary Rubio are and will continue to make the world a better and safer place and eliminate threats to our country. We’ll cover it every step of the way. But we need your help.
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