US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Monday that the American military campaign against Iran is focused squarely on neutralising missile and naval threats, not regime change.
“The objectives of this operation are to destroy their ballistic missile capability and make sure they can’t rebuild it, and make sure that they can’t hide behind that to have a nuclear programme,” Rubio told reporters on Capitol Hill. “That’s the objective of the mission.”
He said the operation is meant to eliminate the threat of Iran’s short-range ballistic missiles and the threat posed by their Navy, particularly to naval assets.
‘NOT ABOUT REGIME CHANGE’
Rubio asserted that despite comments from President Donald Trump linking the strikes to possible regime change, that is not the stated military goal.
“We would love for there to be an Iran that’s not governed by radical Shia clerics,” Rubio said before heading into a classified briefing. “That’s not the objective.”
The initial joint US-Israeli strikes killed Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and several senior leaders, sharply escalating tensions across the Middle East.
‘IMMINENT THREAT’
Rubio argued the action was pre-emptive, saying Washington believed Iran would retaliate if attacked and that waiting would have been costlier.
“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 going to sit there and absorb a blow before we responded,” he said.
“The assessment that was made that if we stood and waited for that attack to come first before we hit them, we would suffer much higher casualties.”
Rubio, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and other senior officials briefed the so-called “Gang of Eight” — top congressional leaders and intelligence committee heads — on the evolving operation.
‘HARDEST HITS ARE YET TO COME’
Pressed on how long US forces would remain engaged, Rubio offered no timeline.
“How long will it take? I don’t know how long it will take,” he said. “We have objectives. We will do this as long as it takes to achieve those objectives.”
He warned that the campaign could intensify.
“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.”
OIL PRICE SPIKE
The conflict has already rattled global energy markets. Oil and gas prices surged Monday after Israeli and US strikes triggered Iranian retaliation, including disruptions near the Strait of Hormuz.
Rubio said the administration is preparing steps to contain rising energy costs.
“Starting tomorrow, you will see us rolling out those phases to try to mitigate against that. We anticipated this could be an issue,” he said, adding that Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Energy Secretary Chris Wright would outline the plan.
(With inputs from agencies)
