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Iran’s days of “playing the world” are over, Secretary of State Marco Rubio told Fox News on Sunday, one day after the U.S. obliterated three of the nation’s key nuclear facilities in a surprise attack.
“The most important thing I hope that they realize is that the game is up,” he told “Sunday Morning Futures” host Maria Bartiromo.
“They have played the world for 40-something years with these nuclear talks and delaying things… they’re not going to play President Trump, and they found out last night that when he says he’s going to do something, he’ll do it. And he doesn’t want to do it. It’s not his first choice, but it’s the only choice. That’s the choice the Iranian regime left us, because they play too many games.”
While distinguishing the regime from the Iranian people, Rubio accused the former of using diplomacy to “hide” and “buy themselves time” in the past.
HEGSETH, MILITARY BRASS DESCRIBE ‘INCREDIBLE AND OVERWHELMING SUCCESS’ OF US STRIKES ON IRAN
“They think they’re cute,” he continued. “They’re not cute, and they’re not going to get away with this stuff, not under President Trump.”
Rubio went further by critiquing Iran’s leadership for failing to directly negotiate with the United States, forcing the need for a middleman while the regime opts for “passing messages.”
“We’re not doing that anymore,” he said succinctly.
“With direct negotiations, let’s talk about how we peacefully resolve this problem. The Europeans have pressured them on that point, and we encourage them to continue to do so and are grateful that they’ve been doing that so far.”
TRUMP DECLARES ‘VERY SUCCESSFUL ATTACK’ ON IRAN’S NUCLEAR PROGRAM AS US FORCES STRIKE 3 KEY SITE
The U.S. launched “Operation Midnight Hammer” on Saturday with B-2 stealth bombers departing from Whiteman Air Force Base in Missouri at 12:01 a.m.
Some of the bombers flew to the west and into the Pacific as a decoy, top defense officials revealed on Sunday. Gen. Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, called it a “deception effort known only to an extremely small number of planners and key leaders.”
The main strike force proceeded to fly silently eastward, undertaking the 18-hour flight to the target area, Caine said.
President Donald Trump addressed the nation from the White House following the attacks on Saturday night, touting the success in taking out the Iranian regime’s three key facilities — Fordow, Natanz and Isfahan.
“Iran’s key nuclear enrichment facilities have been completely and totally obliterated,” he said, warning that the regime should answer the call for peace or risk “far greater” tragedy.
Fox News’ Stephen Sorace, Cameron Arcand and Rachel Wolf contributed to this report.
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