Secretary of State Marco Rubio spoke to the press Monday afternoon, and laid out in no uncertain terms why the ‘Operation Epic Fury’ military operation against Iran was necessary, and why it could no longer be delayed.
Rubio’s remarks to the press came after he briefed the “Gang of Eight” congressional leaders at the Capitol, which consists of the following:
U.S. House Committee on Intelligence:
– Rick Crawford (R): (Chair)
– Jim Himes (D): (Ranking member)
United States Senate Committee on Intelligence:
– Tom Cotton (R): (Chair)
– Mark Warner (D): (Ranking member)
U.S. House:
– Mike Johnson (R): (Speaker of the House)
– Hakeem Jeffries (D): (Minority leader)
U.S. Senate:
– John Thune (R): (Majority leader)
– Chuck Schumer (D): (Minority leader)
Rubio explained that Iran was building up its missile arsenal so fast that within a year, it would have been basically untouchable.
“What they were trying to do is build a conventional weapons capability as a shield that they can hide behind, meaning there would come a point where they would have so many conventional missiles, so many drones, and can inflict so much damage that no one can do anything about their nuclear program,” Rubio said.
“No matter what, ultimately this operation needed to happen,” Rubio explained. “This operation needed to happen because Iran, in about a year or a year and a half, would cross the line of immunity, meaning 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.”
“Look at the damage they’re doing now. And this is a weakened Iran…imagine a year from now,” he continued. “So that had to happen. 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. But this had to happen no matter what.”
Many Democrats have been screaming that President Trump did not seek congressional approval before launching the operation against Iran.
However, Rubio argued, “We notified Congress. We notified the Gang of Eight. We notified the 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. But there’s no law that requires the president to have done anything with regards to this. No presidential administration has ever accepted the War Powers Act as constitutional.”
“We’ve complied with the law 100%, and we’re going to continue to comply with it,” he added.
He said he believes the objective can be achieve without ground forces, but they will not rule anything out.
“Right now, our focus is on the destruction of their ballistic missile launches, their ballistic missile stockpiles, and their ballistic missile manufacturing capability, as well as their one-way attack drones and their Navy,” Rubio said.
Rubio also announced that Iran hasn’t even felt the worst of the impact yet and said, “the hardest hits are yet to come.”
“They’re suffering a tremendous amount of damage,” he said, adding, “I’m not going to give away the details of our tactical efforts, but 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.”
On how long the operation will last, Rubio said, “I don’t know how long it will take, 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.”
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— Fox News (@FoxNews) March 2, 2026
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