Rubio sounds alarm on ‘sustained attack’ against U.S. forces by Iran ‘proxy forces’

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Florida Republican Sen. Marco Rubio sounded the alarm on American forces being attacked in Iraq Thursday night just as President Joe Biden delivered a primetime speech on the two most recent major wars breaking out in Ukraine and Israel.

Reuters reported that a base housing U.S. forces was attacked by “drones and rockets” in Iraq.

“Iran has unleashed its proxy forces in the Middle East on U.S. troops,” Rubio said. “U.S. forces in the region are now under sustained attack.”

The attacks come as Iran-aligned militants in the area have “threatened” U.S. interests in the area after the country vowed to support Israel in its war against Hamas terrorists.

American forces were also reportedly targeted on Wednesday.

Shortly before Biden’s speech, Rubio said he doesn’t “want the U.S. to go to war with Iran,” but said the U.S. “must respond” if Americans are attacked.

“Iran appears to have concluded they can use the proxy groups they control to target, injure and kill Americans,” he said.

“That is why tonight one of the most important messages the President must deliver is that we will consider attacks against our troops by these groups to be an attack by the government of Iran against the United States requiring a retaliatory response.”

In his speech, Biden said the U.S. is seeking to deescalate global conflicts by working with allies, arguing it’s important to cool off conflicts rather than being forced at a later date to send American troops into harm’s way.

Rubio’s comments come after he ramped up strong rhetoric against Iran earlier this month amid the Middle East regime being behind the planning of Hamas’ terror attacks on Israel.

“The message needs to be, if the U.S. is attacked, or this thing is escalated that implicates whether its U.S. service members or facilities in the region, whether its Iran directly or through its their proxies, we’re going to hold Iran responsible,” Rubio said on ABC News. “We are going to consider it an attack on the Iranian state and we will respond in kind.”

“This organization that likes to talk about occupation, they have occupied Gaza. Their name is Hamas. It is an organization whose mission statement is explicit and unequivocal. They want to kill every Jew in the Middle East or drive every one of them out of the region.”