Secretary of State Marco Rubio, while testifying before the Senate, hinted that the United States could take preemptive action against Iran and told lawmakers that Tehran's leadership is at its weakest point in years.

"I think it's wise and prudent to have a force posture within the region that could respond and potentially, not necessarily what's going to happen, but if necessary, preemptively prevent the attack against thousands of American servicemen and other facilities in the region and our allies," Rubio said during Wednesday's Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing on Venezuela, Gulf News reported.

The Trump administration's push to strengthen U.S. assets in the Middle East, including the deployment of the USS Abraham Lincoln to the U.S. Central Command area of responsibility, is aimed at protecting more than 30,000 service members in the region.

"I hope it doesn't come to that, but that's, I think what you're seeing now is the ability to posture assets in the region to defend against what could be an Iranian threat against our personnel," Rubio said, referring to a potential preemptive strike.

He added that Iran's military capabilities are "weaker" than they have ever been, but warned that the country has "thousands and thousands" of long-range ballistic missiles even though its "economy is collapsing."

Meanwhile, President Donald Trump has publicly supported protesters in Iran, warning Tehran that violence against them would bring military consequences.

He repeated that warning Wednesday, saying future action against Iran would be "far worse" than last summer's strikes on its nuclear facilities.

"Hopefully Iran will quickly 'Come to the Table' and negotiate a fair and equitable deal – NO NUCLEAR WEAPONS – one that is good for all parties. Time is running out, it is truly of the essence!" Trump wrote on Truth Social.

"As I told Iran once before, MAKE A DEAL!" he added. "They didn't, and there was 'Operation Midnight Hammer,' a major destruction of Iran. The next attack will be far worse! Don't make that happen again."

Iran's mission to the United Nations, in response, said that it would "defend itself and respond like never before," but signaled that it would be open to talks.

"Our brave Armed Forces are prepared — with their fingers on the trigger — to immediately and powerfully respond to ANY aggression against our beloved land, air and sea," Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said on social media.

Meanwhile, Rubio said there are no simple answers about what could happen in Iran if its current regime falls, "other than the hope that there would be some ability to have somebody within their systems, that you could work towards a similar transition."

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