WATCH: Rubio Shuts Down Fake News Question Then Walks Away After Defending Iran Strike

Secretary of State Marco Rubio delivered a blunt defense of the Trump administration’s military campaign against Iran before abruptly ending an exchange with reporters. Rubio was speaking with reporters about the escalating U.S.-Israel military operation targeting Iranian missile infrastructure when a question was raised about criticism from some voices on the political right regarding the strikes.

Before the reporter could fully expand on the criticism, Rubio launched into a forceful explanation of the administration’s decision to act.

“The United States made a decision,” Rubio said. “Under the president of the United States made a decision.”

Rubio argued that the military action was necessary to stop Iran from expanding its missile and drone capabilities, which he said posed a growing threat not only to American forces but to global security.

“Iran cannot have these missiles, cannot have these drones, cannot threaten the world,” Rubio continued. “The president said this is the weakest they’ve ever been.”

“If we don’t hit them now, a year from now, a year and a half from now, no one will be able to touch them,” Rubio said. “And they’ll be able to do whatever they want.”

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According to Rubio, the president ultimately decided that a preemptive strike offered the best chance of preventing a much larger conflict later. He also explained that the decision to launch the operation jointly with Israel was intended to maximize the likelihood of success.

The secretary warned that allowing Iran to attack first could have dramatically increased the danger to American troops stationed throughout the region while also weakening the effectiveness of the U.S. military response.

“We were not going to absorb a blow from them,” Rubio said. “We were going to go first.”

Rubio also suggested that waiting for Iran to act could have cost American lives and potentially undermined the military campaign’s ability to eliminate key targets.

“He was not going to run the risk that they could attack us before we could hit them,” Rubio said. “Because in addition to costing lives, it would undermine the effectiveness of our operations.”

As reporters attempted to continue the exchange, Rubio abruptly ended the conversation. The comments come as President Donald Trump oversees one of the most consequential foreign-policy crises of his presidency.

U.S. forces have carried out a sweeping series of strikes across Iran in coordination with Israeli forces, targeting missile launchers, air-defense systems, and military command infrastructure. The operation began after U.S. intelligence concluded that Iran had positioned weapons capable of striking American bases across the Middle East, raising fears that a large-scale confrontation was imminent.