President Trump’s Secretary of State Marco Rubio held a press conference on Tuesday and answered questions regarding the U.S. war in Iran. Rubio declared: “The operation is over – Epic Fury, the president notified congress, we’re done with that stage of it. We’re now onto this project of freedom.” [NOTE: Soon after Rubio’s presser, Trump declared that the new “Project Freedom” was on hold.]
Rubio added: “Part of the negotiation process has to be not just the enrichment, but what happens to this material that’s buried deep somewhere, that they still have access to, if they ever want to dig it out, that has to be addressed.”
Don’t miss the significance of this: the administration is announcing the end of the war in effect without having achieved regime change, ending Iran’s nuclear program or eliminating its missile program. And its focus is now on solving a problem which didn’t exist prior to the… https://t.co/BrSxAJeK9G
— Jim Sciutto (@jimsciutto) May 5, 2026
Jim Sciutto. who was chief of staff and senior advisor to U.S. Ambassador Gary Locke at the U.S. Embassy in Beijing before becoming CNN’s chief national security correspondent, responded: “Don’t miss the significance of this: the administration is announcing the end of the war in effect without having achieved regime change, ending Iran’s nuclear program or eliminating its missile program. And its focus is now on solving a problem which didn’t exist prior to the war: a closed or nearly-closed Strait of Hormuz. The president could of course order new military strikes but the current state of play has not met his sometimes outsized expectations.”
Many commenters are responding to Rubio’s press conference by pointing out that the Secretary of State didn’t mention how much the U.S. has spent on the war, a figure some estimates put at approximately $50 billion, nor how many lives have been lost — 13 U.S. service members — with more than 380 service members seriously injured on U.S. bases in the Middle East.
Another critic in the comments wrote that Rubio didn’t address “the deaths of more than 3,000 people in Iran, including nearly 200 school children, & have prompted Iran to recognize and use a lever of power it never has before—making it far more powerful than it ever has been.”
Former U.S. Ambassador to Russia Michael McFaul wrote: “Wow. So they ended their war without (1) removing IRI’s enriched uranium, (2) without stopping IRI’s ballistic program, (3) without ending funding for terrorists, and (4) without liberating the Iranian people.”
One of the most-liked comments reads: “I think it’s both stupider and more devious than that. They’re saying Epic Fury is over so they can restart the 60-day War Powers Act clock. The war itself continues under a new name.”
[NOTE: Both Trump supporters and detractors have asserted that the ending of Operation Epic Fury — Trump told Congress in a letter the war was “terminated” when the ceasefire started on April 7 — is a way around the executive branch needing to seek congressional approval for the war after 60 days, as required under the War Powers Act.]