US Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Wednesday stood by his claim that the war with Iran was over, even as deadly strikes continued."We're no longer conducting sustained strikes inside of Iran to degrade their military, because Epic Fury is over," Rubio told the House Foreign Affairs Committee, asserting that the United States had secured victory.The US-Israeli war, which Washington dubbed Operation Epic Fury, has engulfed the entire Middle East since the first strikes on Iran on February 28.

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Marco Rubio declared Operation Epic Fury concluded after two months of US-Israel strikes on Iran, shifting to a defensive posture in the Strait of Hormuz.