US’ Rubio says ‘hardest hits’ on Iran are still to come

Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the US military would step up its attacks against Iran, a stark warning after two days of strikes across the country that the Trump administration says took out its leadership and targeted its ballistic-missile programme. 

‘‘I’m not going to give away the details of our tactical efforts, but the hardest hits are yet to come from the US military,’’ he told reporters on Capitol Hill. ‘‘The next phase will be even more punishing on Iran than it is right now.’’

Mr Rubio was on the Hill to brief members of Congress on President Donald Trump’s campaign along with Israel to target Iran. 

He offered more clarity on the US objectives, saying the focus was to destroy the country’s ballistic missile programme, which he argued it was using as a shield to fuel its nuclear ambitions, as well as its naval fleet and attack drones.

Mr Rubio reiterated to reporters Mr Trump’s claim that Iran posed an ‘‘imminent threat’’ to the US and Mr Trump did not need authorisation from Congress to launch the campaign. Democrats have disputed that characterisation. 

Senator Jeanne Shaheen, the top Democrat on the Foreign Relations Committee, said after the briefing that administration officials provided a rationale to justify the attack but did not share substantive support for that rationale.

Other Democrats said the briefing spurred more questions than answers.

‘‘What is the objective? What is the exit plan? What obligation do we have now to the Iranian people, if they do rise up based upon his call for them to go to the streets,’’ asked Senator Mark Warner, the top Democrat on the Intelligence Committee, referring to Mr Trump’s comments after the initial strikes. ‘‘And what is the imminent threat to the United States interest that causes conflict?’’

Mr Rubio defended the administration’s communication with Congress and said he personally called congressional leaders the night before the operation. 

‘‘We complied with the law 100 per cent,’’ he told reporters.

Iran has long insisted that it didn’t want to build a nuclear bomb. While its ballistic missiles are capable of hitting US forces in the region as well as American allies, it didn’t have the capability to target the US directly.

Mr Rubio denied regime change is the goal, even though the US-Israeli strikes have taken out Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and dozens of other top leaders. 

He said there were currently no diplomatic exchanges happening with Iran.

‘‘While we would love to see a new regime, the bottom line is – no matter who governs that country a year from now, they’re not going to have these ballistic missiles and they’re not going to have these drones to threaten us,’’ MR Rubio said. 

He didn’t rule out deploying ground troops but said the US wasn’t currently postured for a ground invasion and played down the possibility of that happening anytime soon.

Source: Bloomberg
--Agencies