Washington: US Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Wednesday raised the prospect of preemptive military action against Iran, telling lawmakers that Tehran’s leadership is at its weakest point in decades, as the United States continues to reinforce its force presence across the Middle East.
Testifying before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Rubio said the Trump administration’s decision to bolster US military assets in the region, including the recent deployment of the USS Abraham Lincoln and its strike group to the US Central Command area, was a “prudent” measure to safeguard more than 30,000 American service members stationed in the region.
“And so I think it’s wise and prudent to have a force posture within the region that could respond and potentially, not necessarily what’s going to happen, but if necessary, preemptively prevent the attack against 1000s of American servicemen and other facilities in the region. And our allies,” Rubio told senators during a hearing focused on Venezuela.
“I hope it doesn’t come to that, but that’s I think what you’re seeing now is the ability to posture assets in the region to defend against what could be an Iranian threat against our personnel,” he added.
Rubio’s remarks come as US regional partners, including the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia, prepare for the possibility that President Donald Trump could authorise strikes against Iran following Tehran’s crackdown on and amid fears of retaliatory action.
Describing Iran’s military capacity, Rubio said the country is “weaker than it has ever been,” but cautioned that it possesses “thousands and thousands” of long-range ballistic missiles “that they’ve built despite the fact that their economy is collapsing.”
the protests that erupted in late December and were largely suppressed earlier this month, warning Iran’s leadership that violence against demonstrators would carry military consequences. However, despite earlier pledges, the president has yet to announce specific assistance to protesters, even as reports suggest thousands were killed in the crackdown.
The early Wednesday, saying any future US action would be “far worse” than last summer’s strikes on Iran’s nuclear facilities.
“Hopefully Iran will quickly ‘Come to the Table’ and negotiate a fair and equitable deal – NO NUCLEAR WEAPONS – one that is good for all parties. Time is running out, it is truly of the essence!” Trump wrote on Truth Social.
“As I told Iran once before, MAKE A DEAL! They didn’t, and there was “Operation Midnight Hammer,” a major destruction of Iran,” Trump added. “The next attack will be far worse! Don’t make that happen again.”
responded by warning that it would retaliate “like never before,” while also indicating openness to negotiations. Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi echoed that position on social media, stating, “Our brave Armed Forces are prepared–with their fingers on the trigger–to immediately and powerfully respond to ANY aggression against our beloved land, air and sea.”
When asked by Senator John Cornyn about a post-regime scenario in Iran, Rubio said, “I don’t think anyone can give you a simple answer as to what happens next in Iran if the Supreme Leader and the regime were to fall, other than the hope that there would be some ability to have somebody within their systems, that you could work towards a similar transition.”