Rubio says war with Iran would be 'much messier than what people are used to seeing'

Secretary of State Marco Rubio warned in a new interview that a potential war with Iran would be “much messier” and “more complex” than military engagements the American people have seen reported in recent years.

“Any military action at this point in the Middle East, whether it’s against Iran by us or anybody else, could in fact trigger a much broader conflict,” Rubio said in an interview with The Free Press published Wednesday.

Rubio said the hypothetical conflict “will not be the sort of thing that people have become accustomed to watching on television, which is, a couple of drones got shot down, but we took out a hundred fighters or whatever.”

“This will be more complex,” he added.

Rubio said President Trump is committed to staying out of an armed conflict and said that’s why he’s directed officials to jumpstart nuclear talks with Iran.

“Any sort of armed conflict in the region is going to be much messier than what people are used to seeing. And that’s why the president is so committed to the peaceful resolution, the prevention of an armed conflict. Although he reserves every right to prevent Iran from getting a nuclear weapon, he is for peace. He has said that repeatedly. And that’s why we want to end the war in Ukraine, if that’s possible,” Rubio said.

The remarks come after The Free Press’s Bari Weiss asked the secretary about former Fox News anchor Tucker Carlson’s assertion that a strike on Iran’s nuclear facilities would “almost certainly result in thousands of American deaths at bases throughout the Middle East, and cost the United States billions of dollars. … Those aren’t guesses. Those are the Pentagon’s own estimates. A bombing campaign against Iran will set off a war, and it will be America’s war.”

U.S. officials said they made “very good” progress in the second round of nuclear talks with Iran this past weekend and said they planned to meet again the following week.

“We agreed to meet again next week and are grateful to our Omani partners for facilitating these talks and to our Italian partners for hosting us today,” a senior U.S. administration official said. 

Rubio said in the interview the U.S. is “a long ways away from any sort of agreement with Iran.”

“We recognize it’s difficult and hard. Oftentimes, unfortunately, peace is,” he continued. “But we’re committed to achieving a peaceful outcome that’s acceptable to everyone. It may not be possible, we don’t know.”

“I don’t even know if Iran knows how to make a deal. They’ve got their own internal political dynamics in their country they have to work through. But we would want to achieve a peaceful resolution to this and not resort to anything else, or even speculate about it at this point,” he added.