Rubio says Iran ‘the greatest single force of instability in the region’ and must be addressed

On Syria, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio says that “replacing one destabilizing force for another is not a positive development. And that is something we will watch very carefully.”

Regarding Lebanon, Rubio says that Israeli and US goals are aligned and the same: “A strong Lebanese state that can take on and disarm Hezbollah.”

“The common theme in all of these challenges is Iran,” says Rubio. “It is the greatest single force of instability in the region.” Iran is “behind every terrorist group, behind every act of violence, behind every destabilizing activity, behind everything that threatens peace and stability for millions of people” throughout the region.

When he speaks of Iran, he stresses, he is referring to the regime. And the people of Iran, he says, “are victims of that regime.”

Violence in Gaza, the West Bank, Lebanon, Syria, and Iraq “all have behind them one common theme – Iran. And that must be addressed,” Rubio says.

A nuclear Iran “can never happen,” he says, adding that Trump has been very clear on that issue as well.

Rubio closes by saying that the US has “extraordinary love and respect for everything you have faced, you are facing, and continue to face. It is an extraordinary story of bravery.”

Israel, he says, “has served as an example to the world, of a pluralistic society, of free enterprise and democracy.”

“If there were more Israels in the Middle East,” he says, it would be a much safer region.

Israel, he says, is a nation that has always sought peace, “but will not allow itself to be intimidated or destroyed by its enemies.”