PARIS: Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Friday the United States could achieve its objectives in Iran without the use of any ground troops and expected its operation to conclude in a matter of weeks, despite recent deployments of additional forces to the region.
Rubio spoke to reporters before returning to the U.S. after he discussed with G7 foreign ministers in France the conflict launched by the U.S. and Israel late last month.
Rubio said the U.S. was achieving its objectives in the war – which he said were destroying Iran’s missile and drone capabilities and factories to produce those weapons, as well as its navy and its air force – and expected to conclude its operation in “weeks, not months”.
“We are ahead of schedule on most of them, and we can achieve them without any ground troops, without any,” Rubio said.
Rubio said recent deployments of thousands more troops to the region were intended to give President Donald Trump options to respond to contingencies in the conflict, but declined to go into operational details.
“In terms of why there’s deployments, number one, the President has to be prepared for multiple contingencies… We are always going to be prepared to give the president maximum optionality and maximum opportunity to adjust the contingencies, should they emerge,” he said.
Rubio also said Iran may decide to set up a tolling system for the Strait of Hormuz and insisted that European and Asian countries that benefit from trade through the waterway should contribute to efforts to secure free passage through the strait once the conflict ends.
Israel says it is seizing a chunk of southern Lebanon to create a ‘buffer zone’ against Hezbollah militants.