Rubio dismisses Amnesty criticism over Iran war, calls organization ‘a fraud’

“If you’re asking me what I think, what Amnesty International thinks, you know what I think Amnesty International should be focused on? An Iranian regime," Rubio said.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio sharply rejected criticism over alleged American war crimes during the conflict with Iran on Wednesday, calling Amnesty International “a fraud” and arguing that the organization should instead focus on alleged abuses committed by the Iranian regime against its own people.

Rubio was responding to a question concerning US military activity involving Portugal’s Lajes Air Base, including flights by refueling aircraft, fighter jets, and drones, and whether the Portuguese government had been informed about the nature of the mission.

Asked about an internal process involving Portugal’s public prosecutor, Rubio said he could not comment.

“I can’t comment on that. That’s your internal process, so that’s not up to us to comment on,” Rubio said.

He then turned to Amnesty International.

“Amnesty International is a fraud,” Rubio said. “If you’re asking me what I think, what Amnesty International thinks, you know what I think Amnesty International should be focused on? An Iranian regime that murdered in cold blood tens of thousands of people in the streets of Tehran and other parts of the country.”

Rubio also accused the Iranian regime of targeting wounded protesters inside hospitals.

“What Amnesty International should focus on is how the Iranian regime goes into hospitals when protesters are injured and murders the people in their hospital bed, and, by the way, sometimes murders the doctors or the nurses who treated them,” he said.

“Those are war crimes. Those are crimes against humanity, and those are crimes they’re committing against their own people.”

Rubio defends US use of Portuguese bases

On the question of US military operations conducted through Portugal, Rubio said Washington operates under longstanding agreements with Lisbon and its other NATO allies.

“We have a strong, regulated relationship with Portugal, as we do with every one of our NATO allies, and we follow those protocols every single time,” Rubio said.

“We would never violate the sovereignty of any country. We don’t violate the sovereignty – that’s not how allies behave.”

Rubio declined to disclose whether specific conversations took place with Portuguese officials concerning the operations.

“I’m not going to get into the details of conversations that happened or didn’t happen,” he said. “Suffice it to say that we have existing protocols that govern our presence here and how we use our bases, and we always follow them out of respect and out of compliance with the agreements that we have with our NATO allies.”

Rubio defends NATO strategic value

The secretary of state also used the exchange to defend the strategic value of NATO to the United States.

“I’ve been a longtime supporter of NATO, going back to my time in the Senate,” Rubio said, explaining that the alliance allows the United States to maintain a presence in Europe and “project power in a time of crisis or contingency into other parts of the world.”

“That is one of the reasons why NATO is valuable to the United States,” he said.

Rubio repeatedly praised Portugal as a US ally, while stressing that military cooperation remained governed by established agreements.

“Portugal has been a great ally,” he said, “but it’s always been a great ally within the construct of the rules and the agreements that we have in place that regulate our presence here and the use of our bases.”