Secretary of State Marco Rubio snapped at a reporter on Friday after being pressed on how the ceasefire with Iran can still be in place after the U.S. and Iran exchanged fire the day before – including U.S. missile strikes on a port city.

“What you saw yesterday was U.S. destroyers moving through international waters, being fired upon by the Iranians, and the U.S. responded defensively to protect itself,” Rubio told reporters, adding:

That’s what you saw. I mean, that’s separate and distinct from Operation Epic Fury. If you fire a drone or a missile at our destroyer, what are we supposed to do, let it hit? We have to respond to it. We have to knock down the missile, and we have to knock out whatever it is that launched that missile. The alternative is to let it sink one of our ships. That’s crazy. So, of course, we responded to it.

A reporter pushed back, “Well, yes, but the point is if there’s not much ceasing in the firing, because we’ve–”

“Well, you should ask that of the Iranians,” shot back Rubio, cutting off the reporter.

“Don’t ask me—we didn’t fire, they fired on us. My point is, if you fire at a U.S. Navy ship, what are we supposed to do? Say, ‘Oh, there’s a ceasefire, we’re not going to shoot down your drone?’ That’s a stupid question. That’s a stupid position to take. Of course, we fired back at them; they were shooting at us. That’s what I would expect to do. Only stupid countries don’t shoot back when you’re shot at, and we’re not a stupid country,” Rubio sharply concluded.

ABC News’ Rachel Scott spoke to President Donald Trump in the early evening on Thursday about the U.S. strikes on Iran, which he called a “love tap.” Scott wrote on X:

President Trump tells me in a phone call the retaliatory strikes against Iranian targets are just a “love tap.”

“It’s just a love tap.”

When I asked if the it means to ceasefire is over.

“No, no, the ceasefire is going. It’s in effect.”

Watch the clip above via C-SPAN.

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