US Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Wednesday stood by his claim that the war with Iran was over, even as deadly strikes continued.
“We’re no longer conducting sustained strikes inside of Iran to degrade their military, because Epic Fury is over,” Rubio told the House Foreign Affairs Committee, asserting that the United States had secured victory.
The US-Israeli war, which Washington dubbed Operation Epic Fury, has engulfed the entire Middle East since the first strikes on Iran on February 28.
Iran has responded by targeting US allies in the region and effectively blocking the Strait of Hormuz, the key shipping channel for Gulf oil and gas.
“We define victory as destroying their defense industrial base, significantly reducing the number of missile launchers that they possess, significantly reducing their stockpile of drones,” Rubio said.
“And we achieved all those, in addition to destroying what they had left of an air force and wiping out their entire conventional navy.”
Rubio faced strong pushback from Democrats, who argued the conflict is still raging, with Iran striking Kuwait’s airport on Wednesday, killing one person and wounding 63 in a major escalation of the conflict.
Bahrain, which like Kuwait hosts a significant US military presence, also saw overnight drone strikes from Iran.
“You can change the name of the operation. It doesn’t change the fact that the Strait’s still closed, and my service members, and all of our service members, are still in harm’s way,” Representative Sara Jacobs of California told Rubio.
Rubio updated legislators on negotiations with Iran, saying the Islamic republic’s highly enriched uranium stockpiles were at the center of discussions and that Tehran has not yet agreed to a peace deal.
Washington insists Iran must turn over its near-weapons-grade enriched uranium, agree to curb its nuclear activities and re-open the Strait of Hormuz for any peace agreement to take hold.
“I think now, in some of the papers that have been exchanged back and forth, it’s clearly addressed, but we…still don’t have final sign off from their system as of this morning,” Rubio told the House committee.
Iran has said it needs the release of $12 billion in frozen assets before engaging in substantive talks on its nuclear program, and dismissed earlier comments by US President Donald Trump who suggested that its stockpile of enriched uranium would ultimately be destroyed.
