Rubio vows to 'destroy' parts of Iran's military Trump bragged were already decimated

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio appeared to contradict the commander-in-chief on Friday, speaking on the administration's war efforts in Iran.

“We’re going to destroy their navy, we are going to destroy their air force, and we are going to significantly destroy their missile launchers so they can never hide behind these things to get a nuclear weapon,” Secretary Rubio said, according to CNN. He also insisted the U.S. military is "ahead of schedule" on these goals.

But according to President Donald Trump, those goals were already completed.

"We're having, by the way, a tremendous success, as you know, in Iran," Trump told reporters on Tuesday. "We had one in Venezuela, and now we're having one in Iran."

"They have no Navy left. They have no Air Force left. They have no anti aircraft equipment left, no radar left, no leaders left. The leaders are all gone," he said.

"Nobody knows who to talk to," Trump continued, despite having also insisted that he is in productive negotiations with Iran. "But we're actually talking to the right people and they want to make a deal so badly. You have no idea how badly they want to make a deal."

Iran has publicly denied it is negotiating with the United States.

CNN also reported that Rubio said "that the US can achieve its objectives in the Iran war 'without any ground troops,' as more than 1000 extra service members have been ordered to deploy to the region."

PRESIDENT TRUMP: We’re having tremendous success in Iran. They have no navy, no air force, no anti-aircraft equipment, no radar, no leaders left.
You have no idea how badly they want to make a deal and we'll see what happens. pic.twitter.com/VXD0fokxxw
— Department of State (@StateDept) March 24, 2026