‘Radical Islam poses grave threat to the US and entire world’: Marco Rubio

United States Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Wednesday that radical Islamic movements pose a grave threat not only to the United States but also to the entire world, saying that their aim is to expand and “not merely to occupy one part of the world”. In a Fox News interview, Rubio said, “Radical Islam has shown that their desire is not simply to occupy one part of the world and be happy with their own little caliphate, they want to expand. It’s revolutionary in its nature. It seeks to expand and control more territories and more people...That’s a clear and imminent threat to the world and to the broader West.”

Rubio further said that all Islamic movements around the world eventually identify the West, and primarily the United States, as “the greatest evil on earth”.

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Speaking with Sean Hannity of Fox News, Rubio said, “Because ultimately all radical Islamic movements in the world identify the West writ large but the United States in particular as the greatest evil on the Earth. And every chance they have, the notion that somehow radical Islam would be comfortable with simply controlling some province in Iraq or Syria is just not borne out by history.”

And radical Islam has designs, openly, on the West, on the United States, on Europe. We’ve seen that progress there as well. And they are prepared to conduct acts of terrorism – in the case of Iran, nation-state actions, assassinations, murders, you name it. Whatever it takes for them to gain their influence and ultimately their domination of different cultures and societies.”

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"Okay, the reason why they hate the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, the leadership of the UAE, of Bahrain, is because they’ve allowed the United States to partner with them. That’s why they hate them. They consider them infidels for it. They hate Israel,” he added.

Rubio further said that overwhelming majority of domestic terrorist attacks have also been inspired by radical Islamic viewpoints, including the shooting in the Pulse nightclub in Orlando, Florida.

Rubio also announced that the United States is taking decisive action in response to the atrocities and violence against Christians in Nigeria and around the world and will restrict US visas for those who direct, authorise, fund, support, or carry out violations of religious freedom.

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In a post on X, Rubio said, “The United States is taking decisive action in response to the atrocities and violence against Christians in Nigeria and around the world. The @StateDept will restrict U.S. visas for those who knowingly direct, authorize, fund, support, or carry out violations of religious freedom. This visa policy applies to Nigeria and other governments or individuals that persecute people for their religious beliefs.”

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