Rubio Says Iran Is At Its 'Weakest Point'
- By RFE/RL
In two separate interviews with ABC News and Al Jazeera, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said that the United States is making rapid progress in degrading Iran's military capabilities, and expects to achieve its objectives "in a matter of weeks, not months," while emphasizing that US President Donald Trump "prefers diplomacy."
"We’re going to wipe out their defense industrial base, meaning their ability to make new missiles and new drones in the future, because it posed a great threat to the region. This Iran that you’re seeing now, this is Iran at its weakest point," he told ABC News on March 30.
"We are on pace and in fact ahead of schedule" he added, saying that the United States is "going to achieve those things in a number of weeks, not in a number of months."
"I think the first point the president makes is he prefers diplomacy," Rubio said. "As I have said, those efforts are nascent. There is messages being relayed back and forth, some conversations going on, including through intermediaries."
Commenting on Iran's threats to control the Strait of Hormuz "in perpetuity," and introduce a tolling system, Rubio said that Washington would not allow that to happen.
"Not only is the sovereignty over the Straits of Hormuz not acceptable to us, it won’t be acceptable to the world," he said. "The president has a number of options available to him, if he so chooses, to prevent that from happening."
He stressed that the Iran's sovereignty over the Strait of Hormuz was "not acceptable" to the United States.
Speaking about Mojtaba Khamenei, the new supreme leader in Iran, Rubio said: "First of all, we don’t even know if he’s in power."
"I know they say he's in power. No one has seen him; no one has heard from him. It's very opaque right now. Its not quite clear how decisions are being made inside of Iran," Rubio told Al Jazeera on March 30.
With a number of European countries declining to support the conflict with Iran, Rubio answered a question about whether he believed EU and NATO countries betrayed the United States at this crucial moment by saying "it was very disappointing."
"Without the United States, there is no NATO," he warned the European allies, adding "If we decided tomorrow that we were going to remove our troops from Europe, that would be the end of NATO. So they know that."
'Grave Risk Of Radiological Release' From Bushehr Nuclear Plant, Says Iranian Foreign Minister
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi has warned of potential consequences following reported attacks near Iran’s civilian nuclear facilities, including the Bushehr power plant.
In a letter addressed to UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, which was published April 5, he raised concerns about what he described as repeated strikes.
Araqchi wrote that such attacks “expose the entire region to the risk of radioactive contamination with grave humanitarian and environmental consequences.”
He claimed the Bushehr facility was “an installation devoted exclusively to peaceful purposes and operating under the IAEA's comprehensive safeguards regime,” and warned that strikes nearby constitute “an intolerable escalation, entailing a grave risk of radiological release.”
The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said on April 4 that Iran had informed it of a projectile striking close to the Bushehr site, killing a guard. The nuclear watchdog said that the main parts of the plant were unaffected and radiation levels remained normal.
The reported strike has not been independently confirmed, and neither the US nor Israeli militaries have confirmed any involvement in an attack on the facility.
The Bushehr plant, Iran’s only operational nuclear facility, was built with Russian assistance and is jointly run by Iranian and Russian personnel.
Russia state-owned energy agency said on April 4 that it had evacuated scores of personnel from the facility.
Iran Says 2 More Protesters Executed After Winter Unrest
Iran said it executed two protesters in the early hours of April 5, according to the judiciary-linked Mizan News Agency.
The two men — Mohammad Amin Biglari and Shahin Vahedparast — were arrested during nationwide protests at the turn of the year and accused of attempting to access a military arms depot in Tehran.
Their executions bring the number carried out over the past week to at least nine.
A third defendant in the same case, teenager Amirhossein Hatami, was executed days earlier on national-security charges.
Authorities said the sentences were upheld by the Supreme Court, though details of the trial conditions remain unclear.
Rights groups, including Amnesty International, have warned of a surge in executions, including cases involving minors, following protests in late December and January that were violently suppressed.
Fires Reported At UAE, Bahrain, Kuwait Energy Sites
Authorities in the United Arab Emirates said they were battling fires at a petrochemical facility that was caused by falling debris as Iran continued to launch aerial attacks on neighboring Persian Gulf states.
"Authorities are responding to multiple fires in Borouge petrochemicals plant, caused by falling debris following successful interceptions by air defense systems," the emirate's media office said on April 5.
It added that operations at the Abu Dhabi facility “have been immediately suspended while damage is assessed” and that no injuries were reported.
The UAE Defense Ministry had said earlier that it was responding to missile and drone attacks.
Elsewhere, an Iranian drone attack has caused a fire at a storage tank belonging to Bahrain's state energy firm, the company said in a statement on April 5.
"Bapco Energies confirms an incident occurred at one of its storage facilities earlier today resulting in a tank fire, as a result of a hostile Iranian drone attack," the company said, without specifying the location of the blaze, adding that the blaze “has been fully extinguished and that “the situation is under control.”
No injuries have been reported.
Also on April 5, the Kuwait Petroleum Corporation said a fire broke out in its Shuwaikh oil sector complex, which houses the oil ministry and the state corporation's headquarters, KPC headquarters, after a drone attack, the Kuwaiti state news agency reported.
Kuwaiti state media said an Iranian drone hit an office complex for government ministries, causing significant damage but no casualties. Also, Kuwait's electricity and water ministry said two power generation units were shut off after Iranian drones targeted two power and desalination plants, causing substantial damage.
With reporting by AFP and Reuters.
'We Got Him' - Missing US F-15E Crew Member Rescued In Iran
US forces rescued the second crew member of a downed F-15 fighter jet in Iran, concluding a high-risk combat search-and-rescue mission deep inside hostile territory.
Several media outlets, including The New York Times, reported the soldier, who was recovered in southwestern Iran early on April 5, was taken to a hospital in Kuwait for medical treatment.
There was no information immediately available on whether there were any casualties from the mission, though media reports said two transport planes that were supposed to be part of the mission failed to leave a remote base in Iran. The aircraft were destroyed to keep Iran's military from obtaining them.
"We got him," US President Donald Trump posted on Truth Social shortly after word of the rescue was made public. "He sustained injuries, but he will be just fine," he added.
The F-15E Strike Eagle was shot down by Iranian air defenses on April 3, becoming the first US aircraft lost over Iran during the five-week conflict. The first crew member was recovered within hours of ejecting from the crippled jet.
“Mission accomplished,” a US official told RFE/RL following the operation.
Read more here.
Satellite Firm To Stop Publishing Imagery From War Zone At US Request
Following a request from the US government, satellite imagery company Planet Labs on April 4 said it will stop publishing high-resolution aerial pictures of the area involved in the Middle East war.
Planet said the US government had asked satellite imagery providers to implement an "indefinite withhold of imagery."
"Effective retroactively from March 9, 2026, Planet is moving to a managed access model, extending the publication delay for all new imagery within the designated AOI (area of interest), and releasing imagery on a case-by-case basis and for urgent, mission-critical requirements or in the public interest," the company said in a message to clients.
The affected area has been defined as all of Iran and allied bases in the area, as well as Gulf states and existing conflict zones.
Vantor, the other top provider of satellite imagery, has also announced major restrictions.
Planet Lab's images were generally available to its clients within hours of their satellites passing overhead.
With reporting by AFP
Iran Says 5 Killed in Israeli Strike On Petrochemical Plant
Iranian media reported that air strikes at the Mahshahr Petrochemical Zone in southwestern Iran killed people, with Israel asserting it had targeted a plant it said produced materials for explosives and missiles.
“After we [previously] destroyed 70 percent of its ability to create steel, which is used as the raw material for the weapons used against us, today we attacked their petrochemical factories,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a video address on April 4.
“These two things are their money machine, which funds their war of terror against us and against the world,” he added.
"We will continue to hit them, as I promised,” he said.
Iran's claim of five killed in the attack could not be independently verified.
US Arrests Relatives Of Slain Iranian Commander, Accused Of Supporting 'Terrorist Regime'
WASHINGTON -- US authorities have arrested the niece and grand-niece of slain Iranian military commander Qassem Soleimani, accused of supporting the "terrorist regime in Iran" while living in the United States.
"Hamideh Soleimani Afshar and her daughter are now in the custody of US Immigration and Customs Enforcement," the State Department said on April 4 after Secretary of State Marco Rubio revoked their lawful permanent resident status, known as a "green card."
"Identified by both press reporting and her own social media commentary, Soleimani Afshar is an outspoken supporter of the totalitarian, terrorist regime in Iran."
"While living in the United States, she promoted Iranian regime propaganda, celebrated attacks against American soldiers and military facilities in the Middle East," the statement added.
The statement did not specify what the next steps would be, although persons who have their green cards revoked are generally deported unless found to have broken specific US laws.
The State Department said Afshar’s husband has also been barred from entering the United States.
Iranian media on quoted two daughters of Qassem Soleimani a denying that two Iranian women detained in the United States were their relatives.
Qassem Soleimani was a top Iranian general who was targeted and killed in a US air strike in Iraq in 2020 during US President Donald Trump's first term.
Soleimani wase commander of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Crops' Quds Force, an elite unit usually focused on external operations.
EU Finance Ministers Call For Windfall Tax On Energy Companies As Iran War Drives Prices Higher
Finance ministers from Germany, Italy, Spain, Portugal, and Austria have jointly urged the European Commission to introduce a bloc‑wide windfall tax on energy companies’ profits, citing soaring fuel costs linked to the ongoing war in the Middle East, Reuters reported.
The ministers said such a tax could help ease financial pressure on households and demonstrate European solidarity.
In a letter sent on April 3 to EU Climate Commissioner Wopke Hoekstra, the group said the current spike in energy prices reflects “market distortions” caused by the Middle East conflict and argued that firms benefiting from the crisis should contribute to relief measures.
They cited emergency tax measures used in 2022 during Europe’s energy crisis following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine as a precedent.
The letter comes amid a surge in European fuel costs. Gas prices have risen more than 70 percent since late February, and average EU petrol and diesel retail prices have climbed noticeably, with gasoline up around 14 percent and diesel about 30 percent in the weeks following the conflict, Marketscreener reported.
As of April 4, Brent crude oil prices were trading near $100.50 per barrel, retreating from a high of nearly $120 per barrel reached in late March.
The ministers said the proposed windfall tax would help distribute the financial burden more fairly among consumers affected by the conflict and called on the European Commission to act swiftly to implement a legal framework.
Trump Gives Tehran 48 Hours To Make Deal, Open Strait Or Face 'Hell'
US President Donald Trump on April 4 told the Iranian regime that “time is running out” and that it must make a deal or open the crucial Strait of Hormuz to shipping or face “hell,” renewing an earlier threat in which he vowed to send Iran “back to the stone ages.”
“Remember when I gave Iran ten days to MAKE A DEAL or OPEN UP THE HORMUZ STRAIT. Time is running out - 48 hours before all Hell will reign down on them. Glory be to GOD!,” he wrote on his Truth Social platform.
The remarks came even as US forces searched for a missing crew member after an F-15E jet fighter was shot down a day earlier over Iran. One crew member has been rescued, US officials said.
Trump has previously set deadlines for Iran to make a deal or to open the Strait of Hormuz, through which some 20 percent of global oil and natural gas supplies pass. Tehran has effectively blocked the passage, leading to a worldwide energy crisis.
On March 30, Trump said that "if for any reason a deal is not shortly reached" US forces will react " by blowing up and completely obliterating all of their Electric Generating Plants, Oil Wells and Kharg Island (and possibly all desalinization plants!)”
Trump on March 21 originally gave Tehran a 48-hour deadline, but then extended it, saying he wanted to give talks a chance to succeed.
Iran has rejected a 15-point US plan presented to it through Pakistani mediators but on April 4 left open the possibility of further negotiations.
Read more here.
Russia Evacuates Dozens Of Staff From Iran’s Bushehr Nuclear Power Plant
Russia’s state-owned nuclear agency, Rosatom, evacuated 198 staff members from Iran’s Bushehr nuclear power plant on April 4, continuing a withdrawal that began after the conflict escalated in the region in late February, according to Russian news agencies.
The Bushehr plant, Iran’s only operational nuclear facility, was built with Russian assistance and is jointly run by Iranian and Russian personnel.
The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said on April 4 that Iran had informed it of a projectile striking close to the Bushehr site, killing a guard. The nuclear watchdog said that the main parts of the plant were unaffected and radiation levels remained normal.
The reported strike has not been independently confirmed, and neither the US nor Israeli militaries have confirmed any involvement in an attack on the facility.
IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi said in a post on X: “[Nuclear power plant] sites or nearby areas must never be attacked… maximum military restraint is essential to avoid the risk of a nuclear accident.”
Rosatom chief Aleksei Likhachev said the situation was developing according to a worst-case scenario and confirmed that Russian President Vladimir Putin had been informed. It was unclear if the evacuation of personnel was planned or connected to the reported strike close to Bushehr.