Hegseth and Rubio Warn Iran Against Retaliation Threats Toward U.S.
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Sunday warned Iran against retaliating against U.S. strikes on Iranian nuclear sites, saying such an action would be “the worst mistake they’ve ever made.”
Rubio, who also serves as national security adviser, made the comments on Fox News’ “Sunday Morning Futures with Maria Bartiromo” show. Moreover, he called on China to encourage Iran to not shut down the Strait of Hormuz.
“I encourage the Chinese government in Beijing to call them about that, because they heavily depend on the Straits of Hormuz for their oil,” he said, adding that a move to close the strait would be a massive escalation that would merit a response from the U.S. and others.
“If they do that, it will be another terrible mistake. It’s economic suicide for them if they do it. And we retain options to deal with that, but other countries should be looking at that as well. It would hurt other countries’ economies a lot worse than ours.”
In the meantime, U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said the strikes on Iran’s nuclear sites were not a preamble to regime change, adding that Washington sent private messages to Tehran encouraging negotiation.
Officials kept operation “Midnight Hammer” highly secret, limiting knowledge of the mission to a small number of people in Washington and at the U.S. military’s Middle East headquarters in Tampa, Florida, according to Reuters.
Seven B-2 bombers flew for 18 hours from the United States into Iran to drop 14 bunker-buster bombs, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Dan Caine, told reporters.
Hegseth warned Iran against following through with past threats of retaliation against the United States and said U.S. forces would defend themselves.
Caine said initial battle damage assessments indicated that all three sites sustained extremely severe damage and destruction, but he declined to speculate whether any Iranian nuclear capabilities might still be intact.
In total, the U.S. launched 75 precision-guided munitions, including more than two dozen Tomahawk missiles, and more than 125 military aircraft, in the operation against three nuclear sites, Caine said, adding that the U.S. military had increased protection of troops in the region, including in Iraq and Syria.
Speaking in Istanbul, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi said Tehran would consider all possible responses. There would be no return to diplomacy until it had retaliated, he said.
“The U.S. showed they have no respect for international law. They only understand the language of threat and force,” he said.
In this regard, Iran’s Press TV said closing the strait would require approval from the Supreme National Security Council, a body led by an appointee of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
According to Reuters, much of Tehran’s 10 million residents have emptied out the capital, fleeing to the countryside to escape “Israeli” bombardment. Iranian authorities say over 400 people have been killed since “Israel’s” attacks began, mostly civilians.
