US Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Tuesday said that the country has completed its offensive operations against Iran, nearly a month into a fragile ceasefire. He said that US is done with the stage of Operation Epic Fury, as Donald Trump earlier said that “Iran has no chance”.
“The operation is over, as the president notified Congress. We’re done with that stage of it,” Rubio told reporters at the White House.
Rubio insisted the US was taking defensive action in enforcing its blockade of Iranian ports. He said that the country will only respond “if attacked first.”
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Calling Project Freedom a defensive operation, Rubio said, “If no shots are fired at these ships and no shots are fired at us, we’re not firing shots, but if we’re fired on we will respond.”
Earlier, the US President announced an initiative called Project Freedom to guide ships of several countries stuck in the Strait of Hormuz out of it. Rubio said the United States has been in touch with a number of ships about moving out of the strait.
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This statement by Rubio came hours after Trump said that “Iran has no chance. They never did. They know it. They express it to me when I talk to them. Then they get on television and say how well they’re doing.”
The President also listed a comprehensive breakdown of Iranian military assets he claims have been neutralised.
US exploring diplomatic solution
In his briefing, Rubio said that it was time for Tehran to “accept the reality of the situation”, adding that US envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner were continuing to explore a diplomatic solution.
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That solution had to address any nuclear material that Iran still had buried “deep somewhere,” Rubio said. He further said that Trump wants the negotiation to not just include the enrichment, but what happens to this material “that’s buried deep somewhere that they still have access to if they ever wanted to dig it out,” he said.
Rubio declined to provide details on what progress had been made and said the actual agreement would not need to be written out in one day.
