JUST IN: Marco Rubio to Brief Lawmakers on Iran Situation Ahead of Trump State of the Union Speech
Secretary of State Marco Rubio will brief top lawmakers about the apparent slide toward war taking place in the Middle East.
President Donald Trump has said Iran cannot be allowed to have the ability to obtain a nuclear weapon, and while talks to accomplish that end have been under way, they are making little progress.
As the negotiations have slogged onward, the U.S. has launched a massive military buildup in the Middle East that includes two aircraft carriers and other assets, enabling attacks on Iranian targets and protection of American installations and regional allies.
The briefing will take place at the White House prior to Trump’s State of the Union message on Tuesday night, according to Politico, which cited sources it did not name.
House and Senate leaders and the senior members of the House and Senate Intelligence Committees have been invited, Politico reported.
Although talks continue on the issue of Iran’s nuclear program, a report from Reuters indicated that officials in the region “consider a conflict to be more likely than a settlement, these sources say, with Washington building up one of its biggest military deployments in the region since the invasion of Iraq in 2003.”
Two Israeli officials Reuters did not name said the differences between Iran and the U.S. are too wide for there to be an agreement.
“Both sides are sticking to their guns,” Alan Eyre, a former U.S. diplomat and Iran specialist, said, adding no deal will take place “unless the U.S. and Iran walk back from their red lines — which I don’t think they will.”
“What Trump can’t do is assemble all this military, and then come back with a ‘so‑so’ deal and pull out the military. I think he thinks he’ll lose face,” he said. “If he attacks, it’s going to get ugly quickly.”
Within Iran, students held anti-government protests over the weekend, according to the Associated Press.
🔴IRAN NOW:
The uprising is growing again. Huge crowds forming.
Incredible.
— 𝐍𝐢𝐨𝐡 𝐁𝐞𝐫𝐠 🇮🇷 ✡︎ (@NiohBerg) February 24, 2026
Protests that erupted in January were suppressed.
As tensions build, the prospect of a regional war looms.
A report in The Times of Israel said Israel has warned the government of Lebanon that if the terrorist group Hezbollah participates in a conflict between the U.S. and Iran, Israel will hit Lebanese targets.
The report came against a background of the State Department ordering all non-essential personnel at the U.S. Embassy in Beirut to leave Lebanon, according to NewsNation.
On Tuesday, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt sought to muffle the war drums by saying Trump’s “first option is always diplomacy,” but he has shown that “he is willing to use the lethal force of the United States military if necessary,” according to The Times of Israel.
“I’ve seen a lot of sensationalist reporting over the past day that is just completely untrue. And anyone speculating to the media, hiding behind an anonymous source, pretending to know what President Trump is thinking or a decision he will make with respect to action against Iran, has no idea what they’re talking about,” she added.
Truth and Accuracy
We are committed to truth and accuracy in all of our journalism. Read our editorial standards.
Advertise with The Western Journal and reach millions of highly engaged readers, while supporting our work. Advertise Today.
