U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Tuesday that major U.S. military operations against Iran are over — but he stopped short of saying the conflict cannot be restarted. Rubio told reporters at the White House that “Operation Epic Fury” — the attack the U.S. and Israel mounted on Iran on Feb. 28 — “is concluded” because its objectives were met.
Rubio said recent clashes with Iran related to U.S. efforts to reopen the Strait of Hormuz were “defensive
in nature.”
“We’re not cheering for an additional situation to occur,” he said. “We would prefer the path of peace.” He said Iran must agree to President Donald Trump’s demands on its nuclear program and reopen the strait, a waterway vital to global oil and gas supplies.
U.S. forces pressed ahead with an effort to guide commercial ships through the strait, but so far only two vessels are known to have passed through. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said the U.S. prefers a peaceful effort to guide vessels out of the Persian Gulf but is ready to act if needs change.
It is unclear what will follow. Hegseth said the ceasefire reached nearly a month ago is not over. The United Arab Emirates, a key U.S. ally, said it was defending against more Iranian strikes. A spokesman for Iran’s joint military command denied striking the UAE “in recent days.”
Here is the latest:
Rubio says the major U.S. military operation against Iran is over but is stopping short of saying the conflict is over or cannot be restarted.
Speaking to reporters at the White House, Rubio said that “Operation Epic Fury” — the attack the U.S. and Israel mounted on Iran on Feb. 28 — “is concluded” because the objectives of the mission were all successfully concluded.
“We’re not cheering for an additional situation to occur,” he said. “We would prefer the path of peace.”
In order for that to happen, Iran must agree to Trump’s demands on its nuclear program and reopen the Strait of Hormuz, he said.
As Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi prepares to visit China on Wednesday, Rubio says that he hopes Tehran’s allies in Beijing reiterate the need for Iran to release its chokehold on the critical waterway as the fragile ceasefire continues.
“I hope the Chinese tell him what he needs to be told,” Rubio said. “And that is that what you are doing in the strait is causing you to be globally isolated. You’re the bad guy in this.”
The secretary went on to argue that China, more than the U.S., is suffering from Iran’s actions in the strait, saying that China's export-driven economy depends on shipments going through Hormuz.
“It is in China’s interest that Iran stop closing the strait,” he added.
Asked what the global appetite is for the U.S. effort to reopen the strait, Rubio says the issue has not been a lack of interest but that not many are able to provide the assets and resources needed.
“The capabilities is the issue. A lot of countries would love to do something about it. But they don’t have a navy, right? Or they can’t get there in time. ...” he said.
He said the onus is on the U.S.
“The primary responsibility for this Project Freedom is on the United States, because we’re the only country that can project power in that part of the world,” he said. “This is a favor to the world because it’s their ships that are stranded.”
Rubio is downplaying the rift between President Donald Trump and Pope Leo XIV over Iran ahead of a key visit the top U.S. diplomat will make to Vatican City this week.
Rubio told reporters at the White House on Tuesday that Trump’s recent criticism of the first American pontiff was rooted in his opposition to Iran potentially obtaining a nuclear weapon, which could be used against millions of Catholics and other Christians around the world.
Trump “doesn’t understand why anybody — leave aside the pope — the president and I, for that matter, I think most people, I cannot understand why anyone would think that it’s a good idea for Iran to ever have a nuclear weapon,” Rubio said.
Rubio says Iranian claims of not wanting to develop nuclear weapons are belied by its actions.
Rubio said Tuesday that Iran must make a choice between war and peace but that peace will require a convincing demonstration that the Iranian government won’t attempt to pursue nuclear arms.
Rubio told reporters at the White House that Iran’s development of advanced centrifuge technology, its enrichment of uranium and construction of underground bunkers made clear the government was not serious about its no-nukes pledge.
Rubio on Tuesday reiterated that U.S. efforts to reopen the strait is not an offensive operation despite clashes with Iran in the last several days.
“There’s no shooting unless we’re shot at first, OK? We’re not attacking them. We’re not,” Rubio told reporters. “If they pose a threat to our forces, we’ll shoot down drones, we’ll shoot down missiles. But it’s defensive in nature.”
So far, only two merchant ships are known to have passed through the new U.S.-guarded route, with hundreds more bottled up in the Persian Gulf. Shippers are still wary, and it’s unclear whether U.S. military action can reassure them without reigniting the conflict that began with U.S. and Israeli strikes on Iran on Feb. 28.
Rubio said about 23,000 civilian sailors are stranded in the Persian Gulf and “left for dead” as Iran chokes the Strait of Hormuz.
Speaking at a White House press briefing on Tuesday, he said the U.S. military effort to guide ships through the strait aims to help those sailors.
“They’re sitting ducks, they’re isolated, they’re starving, they’re vulnerable,” Rubio said. “At least 10 sailors have already died as a result.”
He the sailors come from 87 countries and are innocent bystanders.
“It’s criminal for sure, but it’s desperate and destructive to block the Strait of Hormuz,” he said.
Speaking to reporters Tuesday, Leo said the Catholic Church “for years has spoken out against all nuclear weapons, so there is no doubt there.”
Trump again accused Leo in an interview Tuesday of being “OK for Iran to have a nuclear weapon.” Leo has said no such thing and Catholic Church teaching says the mere possession of nuclear weapons is “immoral.”
Leo doubled down on his insistence that his call for peace and dialogue in the U.S-Israeli war in Iran is Biblically inspired.
“I’ve spoken from the first moment of being elected, and we’re near the anniversary: I said ‘Peace be with you,’” Leo said as he left his country house in Castel Gandolfo.
“The mission of the church is to preach the Gospel, to preach peace. If someone wants to criticize me for announcing the Gospel, let him do it with the truth,” Leo said. “And so I hope simply to be listened to about the value of the Word of God.”
Italy is again defending Pope Leo XIV and his call for peace and dialogue in the Iran war against President Donald Trump’s latest criticism.
Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani said in a social media post Thursday that
President Donald Trump’s attacks “are neither acceptable nor helpful to the cause of peace.”
“I reaffirm my support for every action and word of Pope Leo; his words are a testament to dialogue, the value of human life, and freedom. This is a vision shared by our government, which is committed through diplomacy to ensuring stability and peace in all areas where conflicts exist,” Tajani wrote.
Trump on Tuesday renewed his criticism of Leo’s peace message over the Iran war and warned Leo was “endangering a lot of Catholics and a lot of people.”
Trump’s criticism, in an interview with conservative commentator Hugh Hewitt, came even as his secretary of state, Marco Rubio, prepares to visit Italy and the Vatican ostensibly to ease tensions with Washington.
Rubio is due to meet with Leo on Thursday and is due to see Tajani and Premier Giorgia Meloni on Friday.
The president in an exchange with reporters said that China hasn’t “challenged” him as he continues to press Iran even as Beijing has repeatedly criticized the U.S. and Israel military action against Iran.
“You know, in all fairness, he gets, like, 60% of his oil from (the Strait of) Hormuz,” Trump said of President Xi Jinping.
China, in fact, imported about half its crude oil and almost one-third of its liquefied natural gas from the Middle East, according to China’s General Administration of Customs.
Trump offered a more measured take than Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, who a day earlier said the administration wants to see Beijing “step up” and pressure Iran to open the strait. Bessent in an interview with Fox News said Iran would be high on Trump’s agenda when he travels to Beijing next week for a summit with Xi.
Pakistan’s top military leadership on Tuesday urged restraint to help ease rising tensions between the United States and Iran.
The call came during a Corps Commanders Conference chaired by army chief Field Marshal Asim Munir.
Munir since last month has been in contact between the U.S. and Iranian officials as part of Pakistan’s efforts to end the conflict.
In a statement, the military said participants reviewed the evolving security environment amid Pakistan’s outreach to Washington and Tehran, adding that lasting peace depends on collective restraint, responsibility and respect for sovereignty.
Vice President JD Vance heads to Iowa on Tuesday, his first visit since taking office to the state where Republicans in less than two years will cast the initial votes to pick their party’s next presidential nominee.
Seen as one of the GOP’s strongest potential candidates for president in 2028, Vance stopped first in Cincinnati to vote in the primary, saying he picked Vivek Ramaswamy for governor. He’s also holding a fundraiser in Oklahoma City as finance chair of the Republican National Committee.
Higher prices for gas and fertilizer and Trump’s tariffs have been hitting voters hard, and Vance’s political prospects are complicated by the war in Iran. Vance has seemed a reluctant defender of the 9-week-old war, for which Trump has struggled to find an off-ramp.
Iowa’s farmers have steadfastly supported the president, but they’ve been looking for assurances that the troubles won’t last.
The secretary of state is putting on yet another Trump administration hat — White House spokesperson.
Rubio is scheduled to fill in Tuesday for White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt, who is on leave awaiting the birth of her second child. His briefing is scheduled for 3 p.m. EDT.
The nation’s top diplomat already doubles as Trump’s national security adviser and for a while was the acting archivist of the United States and the acting administrator of the U.S. Agency for International Development.
His last formal briefing for reporters was at the State Department briefing room in December.
Scuttlebutt around the White House has been that Rubio will be among a handful of high-level administration officials leading the press briefings while Leavitt is away.
The proposed Security Council resolution, co-sponsored by the United States and Gulf nations, threatens Iran with sanctions or other measures if it doesn’t restore freedom of navigation and immediately disclose where sea mines have been placed in and around the vital waterway.
The draft, obtained Tuesday by The Associated Press, also demands that Iran “immediately participate in and enable the United Nations efforts to establish a humanitarian corridor in the strait” to enable vital aid, fertilizer and other goods to transit.
The proposed resolution was drafted under Chapter 7 of the U.N. Charter, which can be enforced militarily. It threatens “effective measures that are commensurate with the gravity of the situation, including sanctions” if Iran doesn’t comply.
A previous resolution aimed at opening the Strait of Hormuz, where about 20% of the world’s crude oil had transited, was vetoed by Russia and China.
Former military officers who have served on the Strait of Hormuz have said opening it would be dangerous and highly challenging, even with military escorts, which the U.S. isn’t providing now.
There’s little room to maneuver in the narrow waterway, and Iran can reach all of the strait and its approaches with anti-ship cruise missiles. It also can target vessels with longer-range missiles, drones, fast attack craft and naval mines.
Experts say reducing the threat would involve targeting offensive installations on the ground inside Iran and having constant surveillance and patrols.
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Marcus Baker, global head of marine, cargo and logistics for insurance broker and risk adviser Marsh Risk, said it would take a few days to see how the insurance market reacts.
“We just have to see what happens, whether the Iranians keep the peace, whether the Americans keep the peace, and exactly what that’s going mean for shipping,” he said.
“There’s rhetoric from both sides on this, and we’ve just got to be mindful of that,” he added. But he said “anything that starts to increase certainty around safety has got to be a good thing.”
“At this point in time our risk assessment remains unchanged,” the Hamburg, Germany-based shipping company Hapag-Lloyd AG said in a statement. “Transits through the Strait of Hormuz are for the moment not possible for our ships.”
The United Arab Emirates is “actively engaging” with missile and drone attack from Iran, the country’s defense ministry said on X Tuesday evening.
It said sounds heard in parts of the Gulf federation are related to the interception of ballistic missiles, cruise missiles and drones.
The Health Ministry in Beirut said Tuesday that 8,311 people were wounded during the same period.
The latest Israel-Hezbollah war started on March 2, when Hezbollah fired rockets into Israel following the U.S. and Israel’s attacks on Iran.
A ceasefire has been in place since April 17 but both Israel and Hezbollah have been carrying out daily attacks since then.
