U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Tuesday that the military campaign against Iran is approaching its final stage, though he cautioned that the conflict will not conclude immediately.

Speaking with Fox News host Sean Hannity, Rubio said the United States is closing in on its objectives but emphasized that the end is not imminent. “We are well on our way. We are on or ahead of schedule on each of those four objectives. And we can see the finish line. It’s not today. It’s not tomorrow, but it is coming. We are going to get to the point where our military will have achieved all of its objectives in this mission.”

.@SecRubio: "We are going to get to the point where our military will have achieved all of its objectives in this mission, and they're doing so with extraordinary efficiency — something that I think will go down in history as one of the best run tactical military operations in… pic.twitter.com/NaoMThIhs2

— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) April 1, 2026

Rubio sharply criticized Iran’s leadership, describing it as driven by extremist ideology. “This is a regime that is led by radical Shia clerics, by people who believe that it is their calling. I know this sounds fantastical, but it’s absolutely true. This is a regime led by people who believe that it is their calling and their purpose in life to usher in the end of the world.”

He argued that Iran’s nuclear ambitions are evident from its actions and capabilities. “These people want nuclear weapons. Why do we know that? Because they are assembling all the things you need for nuclear weapons. They’re assembling long-range rockets that can eventually reach the United States, can already range Europe. We saw them demonstrate two of them last week, despite denying that they had them. They enriched uranium to 60%…from 60 to 90%, which is what you need for a bomb, takes 12 to 14 days. They bragged about still having that. They demand the right to enrich, which is how you get from 60 to 90%. They’re the leading sponsor of terrorism, not in the region, in the world.”

Rubio reiterated that preventing Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons has been a central objective of President Trump for years. “They can never be allowed to have a nuclear weapon, which is what President Trump made very clear from the very first day of his presidency. In fact, from the very first day of his candidacy. When he came down that escalator in 2015, he talked about this,” he said, adding that Trump has consistently warned about the Iranian threat even before entering politics and has remained committed to confronting it.

He outlined the military campaign’s goals, saying significant progress has already been made. “We are going to destroy their Air Force. We have largely done that. We were going to destroy their Navy, which we have largely achieved that. We were going to destroy a significant percentage of their missile launchers. We are well on our way to achieving that. And we were going to wipe out their defense industrial base, meaning the factories that make the drones and the missiles. We are on our way to doing that,” he said.

Addressing the possibility of diplomacy, Rubio said the U.S. remains open to negotiations but remains cautious based on past experience. “We can’t ignore that for 47 years they’ve avoided and rejected any effort to negotiate. That doesn’t mean we’re going to stop trying.”

He emphasized that while negotiations are preferable, they cannot be used as a stalling tactic. “President Trump always, always would rather have negotiations than war. And he will always, we gave them 60 days early last year. We gave them additional time to negotiate after Midnight Hammer again earlier this year. But each and every time those things have proved fruitless. But we’re going to keep trying. There are messages being exchanged. There are talks going on. There is the potential for direct meeting at some point. We’re always going to be open for that. But President Trump is not going to allow fake negotiations to be used as a delay tactic to buy more time to buy themselves space.”

{Matzav.com}