{"id":2609553,"date":"2026-06-02T12:16:51","date_gmt":"2026-06-02T16:16:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/rubio-says-iranian-navy-is-just-a-bunch-of-boston-whalers-with-machine-guns\/"},"modified":"2026-06-02T12:17:25","modified_gmt":"2026-06-02T16:17:25","slug":"rubio-says-iranian-navy-is-just-a-bunch-of-boston-whalers-with-machine-guns","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/rubio-says-iranian-navy-is-just-a-bunch-of-boston-whalers-with-machine-guns\/","title":{"rendered":"Rubio says Iranian Navy is just &#8216;a bunch of Boston Whalers with machine guns&#8217;"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"float:left\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">28<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Frubio-says-iranian-navy-is-just-a-bunch-of-boston-whalers-with-machine-guns%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2609553&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>Secretary of State Marco Rubio told the Senate Foreign Relations Commitee that the destruction of Iran\u2019s military has prevented the country from establishing a \u201cconventional shield\u201d that could protect its <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/pm-netanyahu-israel-will-not-allow-iran-to-obtain-a-nuclear-weapon\/\" title=\"PM Netanyahu: Israel will not allow Iran to obtain a nuclear weapon\">nuclear program<\/a> in the future. He argued that without the earlier U.S.operation (\u201cOperation Epic Fury\u201d), Iran would likely have been able to <a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/3YuVZYV\" >field large numbers<\/a> of missiles, drones, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/top-u-s-commander-we-must-assume-very-real-possibility-that-we-may-need-to-use-nukes-against-china-russia\/\" title=\"Top U.S. Commander: We Must Assume \u2018Very Real Possibility... That We May Need To Use Nukes Against China, Russia\">conventional weapons<\/a>, and even a navy-making it harder for the U.S. to respond.  <\/p>\n<p>Rubio said Iran\u2019s navy and conventional capabilities have been substantially degraded,with the vessels effectively ending up at the bottom of the ocean.During his testimony-his first as the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/report-biden-administration-quietly-flying-migrant-children-into-tennessee-gop-leaders-blast-administration\/\" title=\"Report: Biden ... Quietly Flying Migrant Children Into Tennessee; GOP Leaders Blast ...\">operation began<\/a> in late February-he said the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/the-continuous-media-covid-fear-mongering-may-backfire-and-diminish-democrat-voter-turnout\/\" title=\"The Continuous Media COVID Fear Mongering May BACKFIRE and Diminish Democrat Voter Turnout\">trump administration<\/a> is pushing for the Strait of Hormuz to reopen and for Iran to declare plans for disposing of its enriched uranium.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><\/p>\n<article class=\"fn-body\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Secretary of State <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/marco-rubio\/\">Marco Rubio<\/a> said Tuesday that the destruction of <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/iran\/\">Iran\u2019s military<\/a> has prevented the country from using a \u201cconventional shield\u201d to protect its nuclear program in the future.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Rubio suggested that if the United States had not launched <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/white-house\/4589414\/trump-brushes-off-iran-suspending-peace-talks\/\">Operation Epic Fury<\/a> earlier this year, Iran would have produced \u201cso many missiles, so many drones, so many conventional weapons, including a navy, that at that point there\u2019s nothing you could do about it.\u201d<\/p>\n<section class=\"explore-more-section\" id=\"wex-recommended-widget\">\n<div class=\"magazine-container single\">\n<h1 class=\"magazine-title mt-2\">Recommended Stories<\/h1>\n<p>             <i class=\"fa-solid fa-play icon\"><\/i>         <\/div>\n<div class=\"explore-grid\">\n<div class=\"explore-card\">                         <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/4590626\/russia-massive-drone-missile-attack-against-ukraine\/?itm_source=parsely-api\">                             <\/p>\n<div class=\"explore-thumb-wrap\">                                                                                                                                  <\/div>\n<h3>Russia launches massive drone and missile attack against Ukraine, killing at least 13 and wounding over 100<\/h3>\n<p>                         <\/a>                     <\/div>\n<div class=\"explore-card\">                         <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/world\/4590569\/israel-ben-gvir-netanyahu-trump-lebanon\/?itm_source=parsely-api\">                             <\/p>\n<div class=\"explore-thumb-wrap\">                                                                                                                                  <\/div>\n<h3>Israeli security minister tells Netanyahu \u2018time to say no\u2019 to Trump on Lebanon<\/h3>\n<p>                         <\/a>                     <\/div>\n<div class=\"explore-card\">                         <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/world\/4589860\/idf-soldier-killed-beaufort-castle\/?itm_source=parsely-api\">                             <\/p>\n<div class=\"explore-thumb-wrap\">                                                                                                                                  <\/div>\n<h3>Israeli soldier killed near Beaufort Castle, symbol of past occupation of Lebanon, as Trump demands ceasefire<\/h3>\n<p>                         <\/a>                     <\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/section>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cToday, there is no Iranian Navy,\u201d Rubio told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. \u201cThere is no such thing. There\u2019s a bunch of Boston Whalers with machine guns on them, but there is no navy.\u201d<\/p>\n<div class=\"article-paywall\">\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Secretary of State Marco Rubio testifies before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. (Graeme Jennings\/Washington Examiner)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cIt lies at the bottom of the ocean and will soon, within a number of years, be prime fishing spots because they\u2019ll turn into reefs,\u201d Rubio said. \u201cSo, my whole point is that the Iranian conventional shield has been substantially eroded.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong><a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/senate\/4590780\/watch-live-marco-rubio-testimony-capitol-hill-iran-ceasefire\/\">WATCH LIVE: MARCO RUBIO TESTIFIES ON CAPITOL HILL DURING IRAN CEASEFIRE<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">This appearance before the committee was his first since Operation Epic Fury began in late February. Members of the committee grilled Rubio to explain the \u201cindecipherable\u201d goals of President Donald Trump\u2019s administration.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Rubio said the Trump administration demands the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz and for Tehran to announce its intentions to \u201cdispose of [its] enriched uranium.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Secretary Marco Rubio: Iran\u2019s military collapse blocks a future \u201cconventional shield\u201d for its nuclear program<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3468,"featured_media":2609554,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/IMG_4139.jpg?w=696","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[76561,80691,80692,80690,72022],"class_list":["post-2609553","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-iranian-navy","tag-military-statements","tag-navy-comparison","tag-senator-marco-rubio","tag-u-s-iran-relations"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/IMG_4139.jpg?w=696","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2609553","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3468"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2609553"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2609553\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2609557,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2609553\/revisions\/2609557"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2609554"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2609553"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2609553"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2609553"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}