How important is Rubio announcing Operation Epic Fury’s conclusion?published at 21:31 BST
Bernd Debusmann Jr
White House reporter
Rubio made clear that Operation Epic Fury – the US bombing of targets inside Iran done in conjunction with Israel – is over.
At least, officially, Rubio is correct. The operation as the world knew it ended when the ceasefire with Iran was announced.
The question many around the world will be asking, however, is whether the end of Epic Fury really matters?
When the ceasefire was announced, the conflict moved into a new phase.
Rather than US munitions falling on Iranian targets, it is one focused on squeezing Iran economically, both through the blockade on its ports and through “Economic Fury” – the effort to cut Tehran off from global financial institutions and markets.
As we saw yesterday, that status quo is tenuous. The vast amounts of military hardware focused on the relatively narrow Strait of Hormuz mean that shooting could erupt any day.
Rubio, Hegseth and others have made it clear that military force is still on the table. And, as I mentioned in an earlier post, Trump said just this weekend that strikes inside Iran as a “possibility” if it “does something bad”.
But the various comments we’ve had from officials today make it clear that the US has little desire or appetite for a return to full-scale operations that could further disturb markets, send prices skyrocketing and be unpopular with large swathes of Americans.
