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President Donald Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Monday warned Iran that more severe military action is forthcoming if Tehran does not agree to end its nuclear program.
The remarks follow a weekend of U.S. and Israeli missile strikes on Iran that, according to U.S. officials, resulted in the death of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei. Iran has since launched retaliatory attacks targeting Israel and U.S. military installations in parts of the Middle East.
In comments to CNN, President Trump said the military campaign is progressing favorably from the U.S. perspective and suggested that a larger wave of strikes is imminent.
“We’re knocking the crap out of them,” he said. “We’ve got the greatest military in the world and we’re using it. We haven’t even started hitting them hard. The big wave hasn’t even happened. The big one is coming soon.”
President Trump also said the United States is ahead of schedule in taking down Iranian capabilities and indicated the operation could last about a month.
Rubio echoed the warning, telling reporters that the next phase of the campaign will intensify pressure on Iran.
“The hardest hits are yet to come from the U.S. military,” Rubio said. “The next phase will be even more punishing on Iran than it is right now. The objectives of this operation are to destroy their ballistic missile capability and make sure they can’t rebuild it, and make sure that they can’t hide behind that to have a nuclear program.”
The Department of State has urged American citizens in the Middle East to leave the region as the conflict escalates. The request comes as Iranian officials have condemned the strikes and vowed continued retaliation.
RSBN previously reported that Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Defense said Monday night that the United States Embassy in Riyadh was struck by drones, causing minor damage but no reported casualties.
A ministry spokesperson said in a statement posted on X that two drones targeted the embassy compound in Riyadh.