US Secretary of State Marco Rubio issued a stark warning on Monday that "the hardest hits are yet to come" for Iran, signaling a more forceful phase in US military operations. Speaking from the Capitol, Rubio stressed that the campaign would continue until Iran's missile and naval capabilities are fully neutralized.
"They're suffering a tremendous amount of damage," Rubio stated. "I'm not going to 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."
Although Rubio did not provide specifics on the timeline, he emphasized that the U.S. had clear objectives in its sights and would press forward until those goals were met. "I don't know how long it will take," he said, "but 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."
Rubio also highlighted the urgency of the operation, warning that without military action, Iran would soon become untouchable. "This operation needed to happen because Iran, in about a year or a year and a half, would cross the line of immunity," he said. "They would have so many short-range missiles, so many drones that no one could do anything about it because they could hold the whole world hostage."
The Secretary of State pointed to the current damage Iran has already sustained as evidence of the success of the operation. "Look at the damage they're doing now," he remarked. "And this is a weakened Iran… imagine a year from now."
Rubio noted that the operation was launched with awareness of Israeli intentions and the potential repercussions for the US "Obviously, we were aware of Israeli intentions and understood what that would mean for us, and we had to be prepared to act as a result of it," he explained.
Further elaborating on the broader goals of the US mission, Rubio emphasized the destruction of Iran’s ballistic missile capabilities. "Our mission is the destruction of Iran’s ballistic missile capabilities and their ability to manufacture them," he said.
He also expressed hopes for a shift in the Iranian government, with an emphasis on supporting the Iranian people in the future. "We would love for there to be an Iran that is not governed by radical clerics," Rubio said. "If there's something we can do to help the people of Iran down the road, we would be open to it, but our objective is the destruction of Iran’s ballistic missile capabilities."
Rubio concluded by reaffirming the mission's central goal: preventing Iran from developing nuclear weapons that could pose a threat to the U.S. and its allies. "President Trump would love for the people of Iran to use this opportunity to rise up and remove these leaders, but the objective of this mission is to make sure Iran doesn’t have nuclear weapons that can threaten us and our allies in the region."