Rubio defends Iran war while acknowledging it has driven up gasoline prices
Secretary of State Marco Rubio delivered a sweeping speech to fellow conservatives on Friday evening, telling the Federalist Society that Americans are struggling in the current economy while criticizing what he called the “weaponization” of international law to constrain the United States from acting in its own interests.
Economic pain was a central question of the midterm elections, and U.S. voters pointed to it as they handed Rubio’s Republican Party massive losses.
Rubio set out his own test for economic health. “I think we have to recognize that people are struggling. There’s no doubt about it,” Rubio said. “The health of our economy has nothing to do with the stock market. The health of their economy is whether they have enough money to be able to afford the things they need.”
The stock market is the metric President Donald Trump often cites as evidence the economy is doing well. Yet voters angry over higher costs handed Democrats control of Congress, blaming Trump for his tariffs, his war in Iran and his unfulfilled campaign promise two years ago to bring down prices.
Rubio defended the Iran war on Friday as necessary to stop the threat of the Islamic Republic obtaining a nuclear weapon. He acknowledged, however, that the unpopular conflict has driven up gasoline prices for Americans and other connected costs.
Rubio did not present the trade-offs as painless. “It’s not easy to address these things because it’s not popular to address them,” Rubio said. “It’s difficult. And oftentimes it inflicts, you know, pain, economic pain and otherwise. So we recognize that.”
Rubio also called on American leaders to preserve a tradition of leaving the next generation better off than the one before it. Prosperity is “not self-perpetuating,” he said, but an enormous undertaking that requires years and decades and is not accomplished “election cycle to election cycle.”
“That’s the challenge before us now, because I do think there’s a legitimate fear that we will be the first generation to leave the next worse off, and that can’t happen. That’s un-American,” Rubio said.
A former Florida senator, Rubio has consistently refused to discuss whether he would seek the presidency in 2028 in a race that could pit him against Vice President JD Vance. Last month he gave another wide-ranging speech, in Greece, that focused on Western values.
Rubio also rebutted criticism of Trump administration policies such as deadly strikes on alleged drug-smuggling boats in Latin America, the January capture of then-Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and strict immigration policies.
Rubio accused other countries and international organizations of trying to prevent the United States from acting in its own best interests by accusing the Trump administration of violations of international law.
“We’ve heard the concept international law invoked against nearly every major foreign policy decision or action of this administration,” Rubio said, calling it “the weaponization of international law.”
Matthew Lee, AP Diplomatic Writer in Washington, contributed.