Rubio says Iran wants to make Israel ‘an impossible place to live’

Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) said Sunday that Iran wants to make Israel an “uninhabitable place” as it bombs U.S. allies over the weekend.

“Well, Iran’s goal has always been the same, to make Israel an inhospitable place to live. Iran doesn’t believe it can do that – it knows it can’t defeat Israel militarily. But , Israel’s goal is to make Israel an uninhabitable place, a place no one wants to visit,” Rubio told Jake Tapper on CNN’s “State of the Union.”

The United States helped Israel repel an Iranian air attack overnight, and Israeli officials are currently meeting to discuss how to respond to Iran. Iran said the attempted attack was in response to an attack on the Iranian consulate in Syria that killed a member of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.

Rubio warned that the fallout from the Iran attack could put Israel’s economy, particularly the country’s tourism industry, at risk.

“Right now, I often hear people say that this was a performative attack, or that none of the attacks were successful, or that all of this is great. It’s good that the attack didn’t work and didn’t harm anyone. ” he said.

“But what do you think the tourist numbers in Israel will be today and in the coming weeks? What do you think the business numbers will be like… All of this is detrimental to the Jewish state, because it is Because that’s ultimately Iran’s goal. That’s why they’re trying to get us out of Iraq. That’s why they’re trying to get us out of Syria,” he continued.