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Iran is misreading the U.S. political system if it believes the November midterm elections could restrict President Donald Trump’s ability to act against Tehran, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Wednesday.
“I think the Iranians are under this illusion that Democrats are going to win in November, and the president will no longer be able to do things against them,” Rubio told reporters in New York on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly.
Rubio said Tehran appeared not to understand the division of powers in the U.S., arguing that while Congress plays an important role, the president retains extensive authority over national security matters.
“When it comes to the national security of our country, when it comes to the imposition of both sanctions and the use of military force, the president has extraordinary powers,” he said, pointing to Trump’s constitutional role as commander-in-chief.
His remarks came one day after Trump said he believed Washington would reach an agreement with Iran after the Nov. 3 midterm elections.
“I believe we’ll make a deal right after the election because it doesn’t make sense for them not to,” Trump told the U.N. General Assembly on Tuesday, claiming Iranian leaders were waiting to see how his Republican Party performed in the vote.
Rubio said the outcome of the elections would not change Trump’s approach, describing Iran’s nuclear program as a national security issue rather than a matter of domestic politics.
“For him, the Iranian issue is not a political issue,” Rubio said.
Rubio argued that U.S. presidents and most countries had agreed for nearly five decades that Iran must not acquire a nuclear weapon but had repeatedly failed to take sufficient action.
Trump, he said, was prepared to act despite the associated costs because the consequences of failing to prevent a nuclear-armed Iran would be “substantially higher,” particularly for future generations.
An adviser to Iranian Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei warned Thursday that Tehran may expand the Middle East war to the Indian Ocean if the U.S. attacks Iran again.
“Since the conflict has spread from the Persian Gulf and Strait of Hormuz to the Red Sea, it is possible that, in response to more war, the front will expand even further, reaching the Indian Ocean and perhaps beyond,” Yahya Rahim Safavi said in a video released by Iran’s Fars news agency.
Yemen’s Houthis, who are fighting Saudi-backed government forces, recently took control of the Red Sea coastline, tightening their grip on the strategic Bab el-Mandeb Strait, which links Asia to Europe through the Suez Canal.
Iran has long provided military support to the Houthis but denies involvement in the Yemen conflict.
Iran has also locked down the Strait of Hormuz off its coast in retaliation for U.S.-Israeli strikes that triggered the Middle East war at the end of February.
Iran and the United States are now vying for control of Hormuz, through which much of the world’s oil and gas passed before the war.
Iranian officials had already threatened to expand the geographic scope of the conflict if U.S. strikes resume.
But Thursday’s warning was the first time an adviser to Iran’s supreme leader explicitly mentioned the Indian Ocean, home to a strategic U.S.-British military base at Diego Garcia, nearly 4,000 kilometers from Iran.
Officials from both countries held talks in New York this week on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly in another attempt to end the conflict.
Iran has put forward its conditions for ending the war, including the lifting of sanctions targeting its economy and the unconditional release of its frozen assets abroad.
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