US Secretary of State Marco Rubio speaks to the press during the G7 foreign ministers summit in Paris.
Day 257 | Rubio says “no need” to attack Iran as diplomacy gathers pace
Top US diplomat Marco Rubio said Tuesday that he saw no need to attack Iran again, as diplomatic efforts to end the war gathered steam and Tehran urged Washington to accept its demands for reopening the Strait of Hormuz.
Hours after President Donald Trump said he saw "positive momentum" towards resolving the eight-month war, Rubio said the United States' squeezing of Iran's economy made further attacks unnecessary.
"The economic campaign (against Iran) is so devastating that right now there is no need for major combat operations," the secretary of state said after a meeting of G7 foreign ministers in Paris. "That's what I told our allies here today."
Iran's efforts to blockade Hormuz, the major exit route for Gulf energy shipments, have sent oil prices soaring -- a major factor in the humbling of Trump's Republicans in last week's midterm elections.
Washington has imposed a counter-blockade on Iranian ports and in August announced what it called an "economic asphyxiation" campaign aimed at financially strangling Iran, already battered by years of sanctions.
Britain's Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband called for greater efforts to end the conflict, while warning of the economic damage of an ongoing impasse.
"We need to move beyond the 'no war, no peace' stalemate, which is causing deep economic pain for our countries," he said in Paris.
"We must see an all-out diplomatic effort to end this conflict, prevent a nuclear Iran and the threats it poses around the world, and get the Strait of Hormuz properly reopened."
Washington has appeared to taper down its threats of renewed strikes after the Republicans' defeat, and even ‘Israeli’ Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu -- who launched the war alongside Trump and recently lobbied to "forever eliminate the existential threat of Iran" -- appeared to recognise the shifting diplomatic reality.
"In the very near future, we're going to be confronted by international pressure to accept a nuclear-armed Iran and the preservation of this terror regime that seeks to annihilate us," he said on Tuesday.
Iran’s military chief vows “surprises” in any new conflict
Major General Ali Abdollahi, Chief of the General Staff of Iran’s Armed Forces and commander of the Khatam al-Anbiya Central Headquarters, said on Tuesday that Iran’s missile capabilities would produce a series of surprises against adversaries in any future war.
Speaking at the unveiling of a new underground “missile city” belonging to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) Aerospace Force, Abdollahi told personnel that “surprises in a future war will be revealed one after another."
The ceremony was also attended by Brigadier General Seyed Majid Mousavi, commander of the IRGC Aerospace Force.
Abdollahi praised the force’s personnel as “the true heroes of this country” and credited the determination and “spirit of resistance” of Iranian combatants as the decisive factor in recent confrontations, rather than equipment or resources.
He said statistics showed the United States had never deployed such a volume of advanced munitions and military equipment in any comparable period of conflict.
Abdollahi stated that the will of Iranian forces had caused the United States to fail and later regret its actions.
“What led to this failure, even more so than weapons, equipment, or resources, was the human will,” he said, adding that the size or capabilities of an adversary do not dictate Iran’s decisions.
Iranian media reported he linked these remarks to what Tehran describes as unsuccessful efforts by the United States and ‘Israel’ to achieve their objectives against the Islamic Republic.
Responding to recent comments by ‘Israeli’ Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu—who said either ‘Israel’ must destroy Iran or Iran will destroy ‘Israel’—Abdollahi called the statement familiar and asserted that Iran would destroy what he called the “Israeli regime”.
He said ‘Israel’ and the United States had already tested their full capabilities in previous confrontations but failed to reach their goals of destroying the Islamic Republic, leaving them as “the definitive losers” so far, according to him.
The remarks come amid ongoing regional tensions and follow earlier warnings by Abdollahi.
In October he had cautioned that any new war against Iran would “engulf everyone” and that Iranian responses would be immediate, effective, and without geographical limits.
Iranian state-linked outlets presented the new missile facility as part of continued efforts to strengthen deterrence and readiness.
Iran still producing 50 ballistic missiles each month: report
A Western intelligence assessment cited by Bloomberg indicates that Iran can produce roughly 50 ballistic missiles per month—about half its prewar capacity—despite months of US and ‘Israeli’ airstrikes that have heavily damaged its industrial base.
The alleged estimate suggests Tehran retains a formidable means of retaliation if hostilities resume.
US officials have maintained since the early stages of the conflict, which began on February 28, that Iran’s arsenal and ability to reconstitute it were thoroughly degraded.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth reiterated this view on Tuesday, stating that 80 percent of Iran’s industrial base had been destroyed and that more than 80 percent of its nuclear industrial base was gone.
The assessment contrasts with those claims by highlighting ongoing limited production.
According to a Western official citing military intelligence reports, Iran most likely retains at least 1,700 ballistic missiles and continues building more at roughly half the prewar rate.
Its conventional military forces have largely been wiped out by the air campaign, yet the remaining stockpile and production capacity provide significant retaliatory potential.
‘Israel’ had estimated Iran possessed about 2,500 ballistic missiles before the war.
Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps released footage on Tuesday of what it described as the unveiling of a new underground “missile city.”
In the video, published by the semi-official Fars news agency, Gen. Ali Abdollahi, chief of the general staff, told troops that “surprises in a future war will be revealed one after the other.”
Jim Lamson, a former CIA analyst and visiting research fellow at King’s College London, said there could also be thousands of Shahed-type strike weapons remaining.
Exact numbers for both ballistic missiles and Shaheds are difficult to determine because the size of Iran’s prewar stockpile is unknown, as is the extent to which it has reconstituted fired or destroyed systems.
“The Iranians have likely reconstituted a substantial amount of drones and missiles,” said Ankit Panda, a senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.
A stockpile of missile components has enabled Tehran to continue assembling weapons even as airstrikes severely degraded large-scale manufacturing capacity, Lamson noted.
Iran has launched more than 4,900 Shahed propeller-driven cruise missiles and at least 2,200 ballistic missiles since the conflict began, according to Bloomberg Economics analysis.
Western intelligence officials have also reported that Russia is providing strike weapons to Iran, though the types and quantities remain unclear.
President Donald Trump has indicated he does not currently see a need for further major strikes, though a maritime blockade of Iran remains in place and continues to impose economic pressure.
Analysts note that while the United States holds substantial reserves of precision munitions, heavy use of interceptors has depleted some stocks.
“It was never a direct contest between Iran and American missile stockpiles,” said Becca Wasser of Bloomberg Economics.
“The US outguns Iran, but Iran’s strategy requires just enough capability to disrupt, impose costs and endure.”
US Republicans derail bid to impeach Pentagon chief
Republicans in the US House of Representatives on Tuesday blocked an effort to impeach Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth over the Iran war, handing President Donald Trump a victory days after his party's crushing midterm election defeat.
The House voted 211 to 204 to send the impeachment resolution to the Judiciary Committee, effectively derailing a planned vote Wednesday on whether to bring formal charges against the embattled Pentagon chief.
The resolution was introduced by Republican Thomas Massie, a Trump critic who was the only member of his party to oppose the procedural maneuver, according to US media.
The impeachment drive had threatened to deepen Trump's troubles after Democrats swept last week's midterms, with anger at the sputtering Iran war and soaring fuel prices helping drive voters to a historic rejection of Republicans.
Republicans still hold a narrow House majority until January, when Democrats take control of both chambers of Congress. And 11 Democrats missed the vote.
Trump hailed the procedural defeat as an "EXONERATION of a Great American Patriot," in a post on Truth Social, while Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell, in a post on X, called the vote as a "TOTAL VICTORY!"
"We look forward to ending this sham impeachment in the committee room, where facts will continue to prevail and this distraction can be put to rest," Parnell added.
Hegseth earlier Tuesday dismissed the impeachment effort as a "farce" and defended his record leading the Iran war and other military operations under Trump.
"It's a farce, and it's a stunt, and everybody knows it," he said at a Pentagon press conference, branding the accusations "slander" and "sabotage."
Moments after Hegseth's televised appearance, Trump signaled his support.
"Pete Hegseth gets an 'A' PLUS, PLUS, PLUS," the 80-year-old president wrote on his Truth Social platform.
Vice President JD Vance also backed the defense secretary, saying he had "obviously not" committed impeachable offenses.
“'Would do it again”
Massie's eight articles of impeachment accused Hegseth of illegally waging war without congressional authorization and abusing his powers as Pentagon chief.
Several related to the eight-month Iran war, accusing him of violating the War Powers Resolution, which places limits on US military interventions without congressional authorization.
Other allegations involved the 2025 conflict with Yemen's Iran-backed Houthis and strikes on alleged drug-smuggling boats in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific, which Massie branded "extrajudicial killings."
He also accused Hegseth of suppressing free speech by trying to punish Democratic Senator Mark Kelly over a video urging military and intelligence personnel to refuse illegal orders.
Hegseth defended the operations in Yemen, Iran, Venezuela and against alleged drug smugglers, while seeking to equate the impeachment effort with an attack on US troops.
"I stand behind every one of these operations. I was proud to execute them, and I would do it again tomorrow," he said.
The decision to send the resolution to committee halts the immediate impeachment drive but does not prevent Democrats from reviving the effort after taking control of Congress in January.
Massie, who lost his Republican primary to a Trump-backed challenger, will leave Congress at the end of his term.
VIDEO - Iran’s IRGC releases footage of new missile city
Undated footage released by Iran’s Revolutionary Guards on November 10 shows the chief of staff of Iran’s armed forces, Ali Abdollahi, and IRGC Aerospace Force commander Majid Mousavi inside a new missile city.
US charges three “Iranian operatives” over UK airbase plot
The US Justice Department on Tuesday announced charges against three men described as "Iranian operatives" over their role in an alleged terrorist plot at Britain's RAF Fairford airbase.
Mohammad Baqer Saad Dawood al-Saadi, Mohsen Mohajeri and Mohammad Ali al-Hassani were charged in relation to the September incident at the base, which has been used by the US military in its operations against Iran.
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