Cornyn Questions Sec. Rubio on Potential Fall of Iranian Regime, Middle East Posture
January 28, 2026
CORNYN: ‘I know the President's being presented with a range of options. We’ve noticed a lot of movement into the region by our Navy…but what happens if the Supreme Leader is removed in Iran?’
RUBIO: ‘We have to have enough force and power in the region…to defend against that possibility that at some point, as a result of something, the Iranian regime decides to strike at our troop presence in the region.’
‘I hope it doesn't come to that, but that's I think what you're seeing now, is the ability to posture assets in the region to defend against what could be an Iranian threat against our personnel.’
WASHINGTON – Today in the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, U.S. Senator John Cornyn (R-TX) discussed with U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio the Trump administration’s force posture within the Middle East amid heightened tensions with Iran. Excerpts are below, and video can be found here.
CORNYN: “I know the President’s very concerned about what’s happening to the demonstrators in Iran and, of course, there’s some estimates that as many as 30,000 Iranian demonstrators have been executed by the regime, but I know the President’s being presented with a range of options. We’ve noticed a lot of movement into the region by our Navy and other authorities, but what happens if the Supreme Leader is removed in Iran? What happens next?”
RUBIO: “You’re talking about a regime that’s in place for a very long time, so that’s going to require a lot of careful thinking, if that eventuality ever presents itself.”
“On the issue of our presence in the region, here’s the baseline I want to set for everybody: we have 30 to 40,000 American troops stationed across eight or nine facilities in that region.”
“All are within the reach of an array of thousands of Iranian one-way UAVs and Iranian short-term ballistic missiles, short range of ballistic missiles that threaten our troop presence. We have to have enough force and power in the region, just on a baseline, to defend against that possibility that at some point, as a result of something, the Iranian regime decides to strike at our troop presence in the region.”
“The President always reserves the preemptive defensive option.”
“I think it’s wise and prudent to have a force posture within the region that could respond and potentially – not necessarily what’s going to happen, but if necessary – preemptively prevent the attack against thousands of American servicemen and other facilities in the region and our allies.”
“I hope it doesn’t come to that, but that’s I think what you’re seeing now, is the ability to posture assets in the region to defend against what could be an Iranian threat against our personnel.”