Rubio Zeroes in on Iran, Shreds Hostage | Political News
With the Iran battle being top of thoughts, Secretary of State Marco Rubio gave a speech Monday at the State Department in which he zeroed in on what he called “hostage diplomacy,” declaring the Iranian regime “the world’s leading hostage-taker, the world’s leading sponsor of terrorism.”
In remarks made during the division’s “U.S. Hostage and Wrongful Detainee Flag Raising Ceremony,” Rubio asserted that actions Iran has taken since the strikes first started additional show the factors made by the United States about the risk they posed to the area and the world:
I feel we’re all seeing proper now the risk that this clerical regime poses to the area and to the world. They try to maintain the world hostage. They are attacking their neighbors. They are attacking neighboring nations, their vitality infrastructure, their civilian population. They’re attacking embassies. This is a terrorist authorities. This is a terroristic regime. And we’re seeing them conduct terrorism utilizing nation-state components, utilizing weapons like missiles and one-way assault drones. And the target of this mission is to destroy their capability to continue to do that, and we’re properly on our method to reaching that goal. Every single day – with overwhelming drive, with overwhelming precision – the navy, the United States navy, the boys and girls in uniform are conducting an extraordinary operation.
The Monday gathering was held on the nineteenth anniversary of the disappearance of Robert Levinson in Iran. Levinson served in the FBI as a particular agent for 22 years. His sons, Dan and Doug, have been in attendance for Rubio’s speech.
Rubio also famous that since Trump’s inauguration, “over 100 Americans have been brought home.” And while that’s undoubtedly good news, Rubio said that President Trump’s objective was to stop these issues before they occur:
But the President isn’t just centered on homecomings. He’s also centered on ending the cycle of exploitation, of saying enough is enough, of ending the cycle in which Americans are by some means seen as a priceless commodity, that you possibly can grab an American, you possibly can unjustly maintain them, and then strive to commerce them later on for some diplomatic concession or some political concession. We have to end that cycle. We have to – now we have to make sure that Americans are no longer seen as targets of alternative around the world, and – and nation-states and terroristic regimes just like the one in Iran know that there are penalties for doing that.
This is why the “State Sponsor of Wrongful Detention” classification was created, he noticed:
And that’s why we established the State Sponsor of Wrongful Detention designation, in essence designating governments and entities that particularly use this as a software of leverage to their benefit and to our detriment. They view Americans as a commodity that they will grab onto and then commerce in the future. That cycle has to stop, and that’s why this designation now exists. And that’s why we – the first, I consider, nation we designated, proper, under this authority on February twenty seventh was this clerical, terroristic regime in Iran. Because when it comes to hostage taking, there was no worse offender in the world than the clerical regime in Tehran. They are the worst offenders in the world of terrorism and they’re the worst offenders in the world of hostage taking, from their very early days. And so they have been our first designation.
In closing, Rubio declared that “the message is going to be very clear: The United States will not tolerate hostage diplomacy. They’re not going to tolerate – we’re not going to – we’re going to continue to hold that regime accountable –and all other regimes that engage in this – accountable for these practices.”
Later, on X, Rubio gave Afghanistan the State Sponsor of Wrongful Detention designation:
Today, I’m designating Afghanistan as a State Sponsor of Wrongful Detention. The Taliban continue to use terrorist ways to search coverage concessions, but it gained’t work under this administration. The Taliban must release Dennis Coyle, Mahmood Habibi, and all Americans unjustly…
— Secretary Marco Rubio (@SecRubio) March 9, 2026
Rubio’s full speech will be read right here and/or watched below.
WATCH: Secretary Rubio delivers remarks at the U.S. Hostage and Wrongful Detainee Flag Raising Ceremony at the State Department. https://t.co/xRGPjOgZKR
— Department of State (@StateDept) March 9, 2026
Editor’s Note: Thanks to President Trump and his administration’s daring management, we’re revered on the world stage, and our enemies are being put on discover.
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