Secretary of State Marco Rubio testifies during a Senate Foreign Relations committee hearing in Washington, on Tuesday, June 2, 2026. (Eric Kayne/Stars and Stripes)
WASHINGTON — Secretary of State Marco Rubio told lawmakers Tuesday that Iran retains “a lot of drones” after Operation Epic Fury though Tehran’s drone-building capability has been eroded after U.S. and Israeli bombardment.
Rubio acknowledged during an appearance before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee that the technology — relatively cheap and easy to produce — remains a global threat that is difficult to address.
“This is a pervasive problem around the world,” he said. “The economics of it are something we have to solve for.”
Iran unleashed swarms of drones across the Middle East during the first days of the war, which began Feb. 28, largely targeting American military installations. U.S. Central Command said it hit two Iranian drones threatening ships over the weekend.
The U.S. and Iran have continued to exchange fire despite a ceasefire announced in April. Rubio said last month that Operation Epic Fury had ended and the U.S. was now in a “defensive” operation in the region.
On Tuesday, he touted the military’s successful degradation of Iran’s military, saying the country’s ability to build and fire missiles has been “substantially degraded” and its navy has been wiped out.
“Today there is no Iranian navy — there is no such thing,” he said. “There’s a bunch of Boston Whalers with machine guns on them but there is no Iranian navy. It lies at the bottom of the ocean.”
Rubio said U.S. military action has also “substantially eroded” the “conventional shield” of missiles, drones and naval assets that Iran uses to protect its nuclear program.
President Donald Trump’s administration has said its chief war aim is to eliminate Iran’s capacity to develop a nuclear weapon, but Tehran remains in possession of a significant stockpile of highly enriched uranium.
Negotiations on Iran’s nuclear program could take months, Rubio said. The talks would be “highly technical,” and they would take place after Iran reopens the Strait of Hormuz and commits to not firing or charging tolls on ships, he said.
An interim deal “could happen today, it could happen tomorrow, it could happen next week,” Rubio said, but there is no guarantee that it would be “acceptable to the Senate or acceptable to the American people.”
The negotiating process is being complicated by the slow relay of information from Iranian negotiators, who take three to five days to deliver responses to U.S. proposals, he said.
In the meantime, the U.S. military is continuing a naval blockade of Iranian ports and seizing sanctioned ships in the Indo-Pacific. The actions cost Tehran “hundreds of millions” in revenue per day, Rubio said.
The U.S. will lift the blockade once Iran reopens the Strait, he said. Some 50,000 troops remain deployed in the region.
