After Gulf attacks, Rubio faces pushback on 'war is over' claim

WASHINGTON — Secretary of State Marco Rubio clashed with lawmakers on Wednesday as he maintained that the US military operation against Iran had concluded despite continued attacks on both sides. 

Rubio addressed the House Foreign Affairs Committee a day after he told a Senate panel that “the war is over.” On Wednesday, he said recent US strikes against Iran were “completely defensive in nature” and meant to protect commercial vessels. 

“[Operation] Epic Fury has concluded,” Rubio said, using the codename for the coordinated US-Israeli operations against Iranian military infrastructure that began on Feb. 28. 

“If they don't shoot at those ships, we don't shoot, but we have to respond,” he said, adding that Iran is primarily threatening commercial shipping with cheaply made, one-way attack drones.

Rubio spoke as the region experienced some of its heaviest fighting since a ceasefire was reached in mid-April. US forces on Tuesday struck military ground control stations on Qeshm Island as well as an empty oil tanker they said was attempting to breach their blockade, prompting Iranian retaliation on two Gulf states that host American military bases.  

At least one person was killed and more than 60 people were injured in an Iranian drone attack that targeted Kuwait’s international airport on Wednesday, the country’s Health Ministry said. 

The Kuwait attack came after Bahrain’s military said on Wednesday that its air defenses successfully intercepted three Iranian missiles and “a number of drones.” Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said it targeted the headquarters of the US Navy’s 5th Fleet in Bahrain as well as another country, without naming Kuwait. 

Rubio returned to Capitol Hill for a second day of hearings on the State Department’s annual budget request, where lawmakers also challenged him on efforts to reopen the Strait of Hormuz as part of a preliminary deal with Iran. 

Iran’s closure of the critical waterway has driven the US national average gasoline price up 50%, reaching $4.50 per gallon. In an interview with the New York Post published earlier Wednesday, President Donald Trump said it was possible that the retaliatory US naval blockade of Iranian ports could last until Labor Day, which falls on Sept. 7.  

Pressed by the committee’s ranking member, Rep. Gregory Meeks (D-N.Y.), Rubio declined to give a direct yes-or-no answer on whether he had warned Trump that launching a war could lead Iran to close the Strait of Hormuz and drive up prices. 

“The president and the full administration was aware that there would be consequences to action, but the consequences of Iran having a nuclear weapon were worse,” Rubio said.