Rubio Torches the Idea of Waiting Around for Iran to Strike Americans [WATCH]

Sen. Marco Rubio briefed Congress on a U.S. military operation aimed at reducing Iran’s ability to launch short-range ballistic missile attacks and threaten American naval forces in the region. Rubio said the action was taken to prevent higher casualties and to stop a potential Iranian retaliation that officials believed was already being prepared.

Rubio said the mission was focused on neutralizing specific military threats tied to Iran’s missile forces and naval capabilities. The senator said the operation’s objective was clear.

“The United States conducted this operation with a fair goal in mind. I haven’t got a chance to see a lot of reporting. I don’t understand what the confusion is. Let me explain it to you, and I’ll do it once again as clearly as possible. Perhaps you’ll report it that way.”

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Rubio said the military action is focused on eliminating threats posed by Iran’s missile arsenal and naval assets.

“The United States is conducting an operation to eliminate the threat of Iran’s short range ballistic missiles and the threat posed by their navy, particularly to naval assets, that is what it is focused on doing right now, and it’s doing quite successfully.”

He added that operational details are being handled by military leadership.

“I’ll leave it to the Pentagon and the Department of War to discuss the tactics behind that and the progress that’s being made. That is the clear objective of this mission.”

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Rubio also addressed questions about the timing of the operation and why the action was taken when it was.

“The second question I’ve been asked is, why now? Well, there’s two reasons why now. The first is it was abundantly clear that if Iran came under attack by anyone the United States or Israel, or anyone, they were going to respond and respond against the United States.”

Rubio said intelligence indicated that Iranian military orders had already been passed down to field commanders and that forces were preparing for a potential strike.

“The orders had been delegated down to the field commanders. It was automatic, and in fact, it bears to be true, because in fact, the within an hour of the initial attack on the leadership compound the missile forces in the South and in the north, for that matter, had already been activated to launch.”

He said missile systems had already been placed in position.

“In fact, those had already been pre positioned.”

Rubio said officials believed waiting for an Iranian strike would have resulted in greater losses for American forces.

“The third is 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 said President Donald Trump made the decision to act before Iranian forces could carry out those plans.

“And so the President made the very wise decision. We knew that there was going to be an Israeli action. We knew that that would precipitate an attack against American forces, and we knew that if we didn’t preemptively go after them before they launched those attacks, we would suffer higher casualties and perhaps even hire those killed, and then we would all be here answering questions about why we knew that and didn’t act.”

Rubio said the goal of the operation was to destroy Iran’s expanding missile capability.

“Going back to the purpose. The purpose of this is to destroy that missile capability.”

He said Iran’s conventional weapons programs are intended to provide cover for its nuclear ambitions.

“Why does Iran want that ballistic missile capability? What they are trying to do, and have been trying to do for a very long time, is build a conventional weapons capability as a shield where they can hide behind meaning, there would come a point where they have so many conventional missiles, so many drones, and it can inflict so much damage that no one can do anything about their nuclear program.”

Rubio said Iran’s strategy is to create a deterrent strong enough to discourage outside action.

“That is what they were trying to do, is put themselves in a place of immunity, where the damage they can inflict on the region would be so high that no one can do anything about their nuclear program or their nuclear ambitions.”

He also pointed to the pace of Iran’s missile production compared to defensive capabilities.

“They are producing, by some estimates, over 100 of these missiles a month. Compare that to the six or seven interceptors that can be built a month.”

Rubio said Iran’s weapons development also includes drones.

“they can build 100 of these a month, not to mention the 1000s of one way attack drones that they also have.”

He added that the development of those capabilities has continued despite years of international sanctions.

“They’ve been doing this for a very long time, and by the way, they’ve been doing it under sanction.”

Rubio also referenced recent Iranian attacks on non-military targets.

“You see the attacks they’re conducting right now. They’re attacking airports, they’re attacking hotels. They’re hitting not just military bases. They’re attacking our embassies directly. They’re attacking facilities that have nothing to do with war or with military.”

He said those actions demonstrate the potential risk if Iran’s military capabilities continue to grow.

“that’s a weakened Iran that’s in Iran despite years of sanction. Imagine a year from now, or a year and a half from now, the capabilities they would have to inflict damage on us.”

Rubio said the threat posed by the Iranian government makes the situation particularly dangerous.