Rubio faces lawmakers as Iran ceasefire hangs in the balance

Iran continues to field a robust drone arsenal, Secretary of State Marco Rubio told lawmakers on Tuesday, attributing the resilience — despite America’s 38-day bombing campaign — to the low cost and high replaceability of the technology.

“They still have a lot of drones because these are easy to make,” Rubio said as he appeared before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee for the first time since the United States launched Operation Epic Fury on Feb. 28. “This is a pervasive problem around the world.”

The Islamic Republic’s Shahed-136 drones have become emblematic of a new era in warfare defined by cheap, mass production. Costing between $20,000 and $50,000 apiece, the roughly 11-foot-long, delta-winged munition carries an explosive warhead that detonates on impact.

Rubio nonetheless insisted that the U.S. had been “highly successful” in achieving its military objectives in Iran, contending that the campaign had significantly degraded the country’s Navy, industrial base and its ability to manufacture missiles.

“There is no Iranian Navy. It lies at the bottom of the ocean, and will soon, within a number of years, be prime fishing spots because they’ll turn into reefs,” he quipped.

The nominal ceasefire between Washington and Tehran, however, remains tenuous.

U.S. Central Command announced on Sunday that it conducted “self-defense strikes” against Iranian radar and drone control sites over the weekend. Iran, meanwhile, declared it targeted U.S. forces at an airbase in Kuwait. American officials said the attack was thwarted and no personnel were harmed.

Rubio, a central player in the negotiations to end the war, stressed the intricacy of the process, given the heavy reliance on intermediaries. The discussions are “not like talks with Switzerland,” he noted wryly. Still, he pointed to signs of progress, citing the regime’s alleged willingness to begin bargaining over facets of its nuclear program.

He said the latest framework for review is built around a two-pronged model, beginning with the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz. Under that phase, he said, Iran would forgo tolls, assist in removing mines it had laid, and commit to not firing on ships — preconditions he described in aggregate as “the predicate that opens the door to phase two.”

The second phase would require Iran to enter “very specific negotiations” on the means of disposal of highly enriched uranium that is “buried deep in the mountain.” The secretary of state added that the regime would also have to accept “severe and long-term limitations and/or cancellation, of enrichment.”

Rubio talked up the overall outlook for a deal, but diplomatic channels have fallen quiet in recent days, according to Iran’s semiofficial Fars and Tasnim news agencies. The outlets report that Tehran has suspended communication with mediators in the wake of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s order of an incursion deep into Lebanon to target Hezbollah, effectively unraveling the truce between the countries.

President Donald Trump disputed the claim of severed communications in a Truth Social post on Tuesday. “The conversations between us have been going on continuously, including four days ago, three days ago, two days ago, one day ago, and today,” he asserted.

The crisis in Lebanon represents a significant hurdle on the path to a U.S.-Iran peace deal. Netanyahu appears adamant about prolonging Israel’s invasion of its northern neighbor — and preserving the right to strike inside its borders. But the Iranians are equally insistent that any enduring cessation of hostilities must encompass Lebanon.

“The ceasefire between Iran and the U.S. is unequivocally a ceasefire on all fronts, including in Lebanon,” Iranian Foreign Minister Seyed Abbas Araghchi said on Monday. “Its violation on one front is a violation of the ceasefire on all fronts.”