U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio speaks at the 62nd Munich Security Conference in Munich, Germany, on Feb. 14, 2026. Alex Brandon/Pool/AFP via Getty Images
“White House deploys Marco Rubio to clarify messaging about Iran conflict.” So reads the headline on the front page of the Washington Examiner’s website in the early hours of April 1, the third month of U.S. military operations against Iran, which have been taking place since Feb. 28.
Michael Barone is a senior political analyst for the Washington Examiner, resident fellow at the American Enterprise Institute (AEI), and longtime co-author of “The Almanac of American Politics.” His latest book is “Mental Maps of the Founders: How Geographic Imagination Guided America’s Revolutionary Leaders.”
