Secretary of State Marco Rubio spoke with the press on Capitol Hill on Monday and provided the latest updates on Operation Epic Fury — America’s strategic strike campaign in Iran.
He also argued that the strikes were justified.
“America conducted this operation with a very clear goal in mind … I don’t understand what the confusion is,” Rubio said. “Let me explain it to you, once again as clearly as possible, and perhaps you’ll report it that way.”
Rubio continued: “The United States is conducting an operation to eliminate the threat of Iran’s short-range ballistic missiles and the threat posed by its Navy, particularly to naval assets. That is what it is focused on doing right now, and it’s doing it quite successfully.”
“The second question I’m asked is, ‘Why now?’ There are two reasons. The first is that it was abundantly clear that if Iran came under attack by anyone, the United States or Israel, they were going to respond and respond against the United States. The orders had been delegated down to the field commanders — it was automatic — and it turned out to be true. In fact, within an hour of the initial attack on the leadership compound, the missile forces in the South and the North had already been activated to launch; they were prepositioned.”
“The third is, the assessment that was made that if we waited for the attack to come first, before we hit them, we would have suffered much higher casualties. And so, the President made the very wise decision. We knew there would be an Israeli action; we knew that it 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 have suffered higher casualties … and then we’d all be here answering questions about why we knew that and didn’t act.”
Watch the clips below:
🚨 JUST IN: Secretary Marco Rubio is on Capitol Hill to brief members of Congress on the Iran strikes
And he’s CLEARING UP confusion around Operation Epic Fury, making three key points:
1. "The United States is conducting an operation to eliminate the threat of Iran's short… pic.twitter.com/PTbz8APRDa
— Nick Sortor (@nicksortor) March 2, 2026
Rubio also confirmed that the Trump Administration notified the Gang of 8 prior to the strikes, saying, “we complied with the law 100%.”
Watch the clip below:
🚨 BREAKING: Sec. Marco Rubio is on FIRE right now
"Why not notify Congress?!"
RUBIO: "We can't notify 535 members of Congress. Vote on whatever they want. There's NO law saying we have to do that."
"We did notify the Gang of 8…NO LAW requires the president! NO presidential… pic.twitter.com/nrtf9sWNFt
— Eric Daugherty (@EricLDaugh) March 2, 2026
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