Marco Rubio: the Islamic Republic attacks merchant ships like Nazi U-boats

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, speaking to an Indian television channel on Tuesday, 20 October 2026, compared the Islamic Republic's attacks on merchant ships in the Strait of Hormuz to the tactics of Nazi Germany's U-boats in the Second World War and called on the world to condemn the attacks.

Rubio said the United States faces a regime that openly declares it is targeting merchant ships and trying to kill seafarers who have nothing to do with the war. Such behaviour, he said, had not been seen since the Second World War.

Night-time attacks and the US defence of shipping

The secretary of state said the Islamic Republic keeps firing missiles and drones at merchant ships and that US forces defend shipping in the region every night, destroying most of these missiles and drones. He added that some of the attacks hit their targets; most ships are able to continue on their way, but in some cases engine rooms are damaged and crew members are killed or wounded.

Referring to the deaths of several Indian seafarers, Rubio said the large share of Indian nationals in international shipping had left them vulnerable to these attacks. According to him, the night-time passage of oil and energy cargoes through the Strait of Hormuz has now returned to around 80 to 100 percent of its pre-war level.

The remarks came a day after Qatar's foreign ministry called on the Islamic Republic to stop its attacks in the Strait of Hormuz.

Economic pressure continues

Rubio called reaching an agreement with the Islamic Republic difficult and said decision-making in Tehran is in the hands of hardline Shia clerics with ideological and religious motives. He said Donald Trump's administration will keep up heavy economic pressure, because the regime's revenues are spent on terrorism and on building missiles and drones instead of on the welfare of the Iranian people.

The secretary of state placed responsibility for ending the attacks on the Islamic Republic and said the United States would defend shipping until the threat is removed. He had earlier said that the war with the Islamic Republic is in some ways over and that the United States is in a defensive posture in the Strait of Hormuz.

The US secretary of state called attacks on merchant ships behaviour unprecedented since the Second World War.