Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., said Sunday the drone strike that killed Iranian military leader Qassem Soleimani "had to happen" after President Donald Trump was presented with intelligence about an "imminent threat" to Americans.
In an interview on CBS News’ “Face The Nation,” Rubio said he knew what the threat was but can’t disclose it.
“I know what the threats are and have been for months,” he said.
“When you gather information like this, it's highly sensitive,” he added. “It cannot be disclosed at this time without also putting a danger our sources, our methods.”
“Here's the bottom line: If the president of the United States is presented with information that there is an imminent and credible threat that could cost the lives of ...potentially hundreds if not thousands of American servicemen and women and other personnel in the region, the president has an obligation to act. Any president would have an obligation to act. And this president did.”
Rubio said after Iranians calculated “the benefits of that outweighed the costs,” it became “time for the president to reset that analysis for them and he did through this strike and through the strike last Friday as well. It was an important moment and it had to happen."
Rubio also insisted the administration’s strategy is “self-defense.”
“The United States has over 5000 military personnel in Iraq,” he said. “And, and of course, additional personnel in Syria who are under direct threat, not just from Iran, but from their proxy groups. And Iran needs to understand that if we are attacked, whether it's directly by the Iranians or through these proxy groups, we will respond.
“This president has shown, he's not getting a lot of credit for it, but tremendous restraint,” Rubio said.
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