Secretary of State Marco Rubio mounted a strong defense of President Donald Trump's Iran policy on Friday, arguing that Trump chose to confront Iran's nuclear ambitions rather than leave the problem to future presidents.
Speaking at the CPAC Circle Retreat and Gala at Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, Florida, days after Republicans lost both houses of Congress in Tuesday's midterm elections, Rubio said Trump had been elected to make hard decisions even when they carried no political advantage. Rubio also serves as national security adviser.
"It would have been very easy to do what multiple presidents before him have done, which is to ignore the Iran thing, leave it for the next guy," Rubio said. "Put it aside and don't worry about it. That would have been the easiest thing to do."
Instead, he said, Trump confronted Iran because the regime seeks "not just to destroy our country" but to destroy the American way of life and threaten Americans' children. "We cannot live in a world in which the most radical, terroristic regime on the planet possesses a weapon of mass destruction," Rubio said.
"He did it for you. Not for him, not for anybody else. He did it for you and for our country," Rubio added, saying Americans, their children and "children not yet born" owe Trump a deep sense of gratitude. He closed by saying it was an honor to serve as secretary of state.
The remarks come as the Iran war faces growing political pushback. Many Republicans have tied the party's midterm losses to voter frustration over the conflict and the cost of living, and Vice President JD Vance said after the election that "the reason we lost is the war."
