Rubio Blasts Iran, Explains Exactly Why They Are Now 'in Shambles'

redstate.com

If you watch how Iran has responded to Operation Epic Fury, you have to wonder if their leaders have a death wish.

Yes, they might be able to fire a missile or a drone, but the great cost they will incur in response would make most normal countries not choose such a foolhardy route.

As Secretary of State Marco Rubio explained, they are paying a high cost for their bad decisions, not only in a lot of damage to their military capabilities, but also to their economy and ability to survive.

.@SecRubio: "Iran is a rich country. One of the reason why Iran is in shambles is because every penny that this regime ever gets — be it through sanctions relief or through the oil they're able to get out — they invest it in Hezbollah. They invest it in Hamas... They should be… pic.twitter.com/E3OrpuBAHa
— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) July 20, 2026

"I mean, Iran's economy is in a shambles," Rubio said.
"300 percent inflation, particularly on life-sustaining goods. They have dwindling revenues to meet even their own payroll. They have food shortages. They have a drought which we didn't cause. And they have a gasoline shortage, and a fuel shortage."
"All of these problems existed before all this began - they've just gotten worse. It will continue to get worse."

He explained why this was.

"One of the reasons why Iran is in a shambles is because every penny that this regime ever gets—be it through sanctions relief or through the oil they're able to get out—they invested in Hezbollah. They invested in Hamas. They spend billions of dollars supporting militias in Iraq, Hezbollah, and Hamas."

They should be spending the money on the people, Rubio asserted, and building the country, but "instead, they use it to sponsor terrorism." And he said the people of Iran were getting that. "In fact, we have heard that from some of the people in their government," Rubio said.

Rubio said their behavior had to change before our response did because they violated the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU).

.@SecRubio: "You can't have an MOU that's alive if they're violating the terms... The U.S. always remains open to a diplomatic solution. We've tried multiple times with Iran and we'll continue to try... but their behavior is what we're responding to — and their behavior is… https://t.co/SIYaJOeAHK pic.twitter.com/qv4THvFqRg
— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) July 20, 2026

The problem, of course, is that the Iranian leaders don't care about the Iranian people. If they did, they wouldn't be engaging in this behavior. They would have made whatever deal they could, and they wouldn't have massacred so many of their own citizens for protesting, to begin with.

Report: President Trump Orders CENTCOM to 'Rain Hell' on IRGC After US Service Members Killed

They're going to find out the hard way that this kind of behavior isn't going to work.

Editor's Note: For decades, former presidents have been all talk and no action. Now, Donald Trump is eliminating the threat from Iran once and for all.

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