Next phase of Iran war 'will be even more punishing': Rubio

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Monday defended ongoing joint airstrikes by American and Israeli forces against Iran, claiming there was an “imminent threat” from Iran linked to its missile capabilities and alleged plans to target American bases and its allies in the region.

“There absolutely was an imminent threat,” Rubio told reporters on Capitol Hill before briefing the Gang of Eight – the four congressional leaders and the heads of the House and Senate Intelligence Committees.

“We knew that if Iran was attacked, and we believed it would be attacked, that they would immediately come after us, and we were not going to sit there and absorb a blow before we responded,” he said.

He said the Defense Department had warned that waiting for Iran to strike first would result in “more casualties and more deaths,” arguing that the US “went proactively in a defensive way” to prevent higher damage.

“And so the president made a very wise decision: We knew that there was going to be an Israeli action. We knew that would precipitate an attack against American forces. And we knew that if we didn’t preemptively go after them, before they launched those attacks, we would suffer higher casualties,” Rubio said.

According to media reports, however, Pentagon officials told congressional staff in closed-door briefings Sunday there was no intelligence indicating Iran planned to attack US forces first.

Rubio said the purpose of the US attacks on Iran is to destroy their missile capability as well as the “threat” posed by their navy to global shipping and warned that further escalation is likely.

“I’m not going to give away the details of our tactical efforts, but the hardest hits are yet to come from the US military. The next phase will be even more punishing on Iran than it is right now,” he said.

“How long will it take? I don’t know how long it will take. We have objectives. We will do this as long as it takes.”