Next phase of Iran war ‘will be even more punishing,’ Rubio says

Secretary of State Marco Rubio briefed congressional leaders on the war in Iran on Monday afternoon. On Tuesday, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, CIA Director John Ratcliffe and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Dan Caine will hold an all-Congress briefing, the White House confirmed on Monday.

Before entering the briefing on Monday, Rubio told reporters that “there absolutely was an imminent threat,” from Iran and reiterated comments from President Donald Trump that a more intense offensive was still to come.

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

Rubio did not give a clear timeline for the conflict, saying the U.S. “will do this as long as it takes to achieve” its objectives.

“The world will be a safer place when we’re done with this operation.” Rubio said.

Congress has been away from Washington since before the attacks overnight Saturday Eastern time. The Senate returns late Monday, and the House plans to reconvene on Tuesday.

White House spokesperson Dylan Johnson on Monday said relevant congressional staffers had also been briefed.

“Yesterday, the Department of War briefed the bipartisan staffs of several national security committees in both chambers for over 90 minutes on the military action in Iran,” Johnson said in an email.

Immediately after the attacks, which killed Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, bipartisan lawmakers called for briefings on the military action. Democrats, in particular, questioned the legality of the strikes, which were carried out without authorization from Congress.

Democrats in both chambers have vowed to force votes this week on war powers resolutions that could limit President Donald Trump‘s authority to carry out further attacks on Iran.

Rubio will meet with the Gang of Eight, a group that includes leaders from both parties in the House and Senate, as well as the chairs and ranking members of the Senate and House Intelligence committees. The Gang of Eight was briefed last week ahead of the attack.

In an appearance on CNN’s “News Central” on Monday morning, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., was asked what his biggest question was going into the briefing.

“The administration has failed to provide any justification for these preemptive strikes. And so we’ll continue to look for information that they owe the American people to suggest that there was intelligence indicating that Iran was prepared to strike the United States,” Jeffries said. “Nothing has been presented to justify what’s taken place up until this point, and the administration has an obligation to be able to prove that.”

Rep. Jim Himes, D-Conn., the top Democrat on the House Select Committee on Intelligence, said in a statement Saturday that based on information received from the administration, “this is a war of choice with no strategic endgame.”

“As I expressed to Secretary Rubio when he briefed the Gang of Eight, military action in this region almost never ends well for the United States, and conflict with Iran can easily spiral and escalate in ways we cannot anticipate. It does not appear that Donald Trump has learned the lessons of history,” Himes said.