Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Tuesday asserted that the U.S. military had "substantially" degraded the Iranian military, opening the path to targeting its nuclear program.

"Iran's desire to build a nuclear weapon was going to be built, was going to be effectuated behind a conventional shield," Rubio said. "They were going to build for themselves so many missiles, so many drones, so many conventional weapons, including a navy, that at that point there's nothing you could do about it."

Rubio made the remarks during testimony before the Senate, marking his first appearance before the body since the start of the conflict. He also took the opportunity to tout the U.S.'s military achievements in the war.

"Today, there is no Iranian navy. There is no such thing. There's a bunch of Boston whalers with machine guns on them, but there is no navy," he added. "There is no Iranian navy. It lies at the bottom of the ocean, and will soon, within a number of years, be prime fishing spots, because they'll turn into reefs. So, my whole point is that the Iranian conventional shield has been substantially eroded, eroded."

The war began in late February, with joint U.S.-Israeli strikes on Iran that took out Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

Ben Whedon is the Chief Political Correspondent for Just the News. Follow him on X.