US Secretary of State Marco Rubio appeared Monday on ABC’s “Good Morning America" with George Stephanopoulos to discuss President Trump’s military operation against Iran, stressing that core objectives are being met ahead of schedule.
Rubio outlined the goals from the outset: destroying Iran’s navy, significantly reducing missile launchers, and wiping out its defense industrial base to prevent future threats.
“Well, first of all, it’s important to remember the objectives of this operation from the very beginning. We were going to - we are destroying Iran’s navy. We are destroying their ability - their missile launchers by a significant percentage. We’re going to wipe out their defense industrial base, meaning their ability to make new missiles and new drones in the future, because it posed a great threat to the region. This Iran that you’re seeing now, this is Iran at its weakest point. Imagine them two years from now if they had thousands of more missiles to - thousands of more missile launchers and factories to make even more. That was an unacceptable risk, it needed to be addressed, and President Trump is addressing it," he said.
Rubio reported substantial progress, “The destruction of their air force, which has been largely achieved, the destruction of their navy, which has been largely achieved, the destruction of their factories that they make all these weapons with, which is - we’re well on our way to achieving, and a substantial reduction in the number of missile launchers that they have so that they cannot continue to threaten their neighbors in the future. All of those objectives are being met ahead - on or ahead of schedule and should be able to achieve in a matter of weeks."
Addressing Iran’s threats to control the Strait of Hormuz, Rubio said, “Now, they are making threats about controlling the Hormuz Straits in perpetuity, creating a tolling system and the like. That’s not going to be allowed to happen." He noted the President has options available, though details were not discussed, referring military matters to the Department of War. “We are going to achieve our objectives in a matter of weeks, not months," he added.
Rubio responded to the President’s recent statements expanding potential targets, including oil wells, Kharg Island, electric-generating plants, and desalinization plants if diplomacy fails. “Well, I think the first point the President makes is he prefers diplomacy. As I have said, those efforts are nascent. There is messages being relayed back and forth, some conversations going on, including through intermediaries. And he always prefers that."
He highlighted fractures within Iran and hopes for change. “There’s some fractures going on there internally. And at the end of the day, I think that if there are people in Iran who now, given everything that’s happened, are willing to move in a different direction for their country, that would be great." Rubio described the Iranian people positively but criticized the leadership. “The people of Iran are incredible people. The people who lead them, this clerical regime, that is the problem."
Rubio sharply criticized the current regime for supporting terrorism and pursuing nuclear capabilities. “Every single terrorist group in this region has a link to the Iranian regime. Every single one: the Houthis, Hezbollah, Hamas, the Shia militias that are attacking everyone out of Iraq."
He added, “These people are lunatics. They are insane. They are religious zealots who can never be allowed to possess a nuclear weapon because they have an apocalyptic vision of the future."
On a potential “new and more reasonable regime," Rubio said some are “saying some of the right things privately" but stressed the need to test if they hold power and can deliver. “We’re going to test that proposition very strongly, because we always prefer to settle things through negotiation and diplomacy. But we also have to be prepared for the fact that that effort might fail."
Rubio reiterated the specific objectives: “Number one, the destruction of their air force. Number two, the destruction of their navy. Number three, the severe diminishing of their missile launching capability. And number four, the destruction of their factories so they can’t make more missiles and more drones to threaten us in the future. All of this so that they can never hide behind it to acquire a nuclear weapon. That was our objective from the beginning; that remains our objective now. We are on pace and in fact ahead of schedule on some of those things, and we are going to achieve those things in a number of weeks, not in a number of months."