Rubio: Iran's 'insane' leaders should not test Trump
· UPIMay 5 (UPI) -- Speaking to reporters in a White House press briefing Tuesday afternoon, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said that Iran's leaders are "insane in the brain" and should not test President Donald Trump over the Strait of Hormuz. He did call on those leaders to negotiate an end to the war, however, which he said has moved on to a new stage.
"The time's come for Iran to make a sensible choice," Rubio said during the briefing, CBS News reported, "and it's not easily for them to do that, obviously, because they have a fracture in their own leadership system, and apart from that, I mean, the top people in that government are, to say the least, you know, they're insane in the brain."
Rubio was the first person to stand in for White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt, who is on maternity leave.
The secretary of state said that the stage of the Iran war that started with the U.S. and Israeli attacks in February - Operation Epic Fury -- is over, even as Iranian and U.S. forces have exchanged fire this week. He said the focus is now on Project Freedom, the effort to safeguard commercial ships through the Strait of Hormuz, which he called a defensive operation even as tensions remain high.
"The operation is over," Rubio said at the briefing, CNN reported. "Epic Fury, as the president notified Congress, we're done with that stage of it. We achieved the objectives of that operation. We're on now to this Project Freedom."
U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth said earlier Tuesday that a cease-fire with Iran is not over despite Iran-U.S. clashes over the strait.
Rubio also downplayed rising gas prices, saying that U.S. residents are in a better position than those in other countries.
"Everybody needs to think about it this way," he said. "If Iran had a nuclear weapon and they decided to close the straits and make our gas prices like $9 a gallon or $8 a gallon, we wouldn't be able to do anything about it."
AAA reported Tuesday that U.S. prices are at an average of$4.48 a gallon, with diesel fuel at an average of $5.66.
Rubio is expected to leave Wednesday for Italy, where he will meet with Italian officials and officials from the Vatican.