Secretary of State Marco Rubio says the United States can achieve its objectives in Iran without the use of any ground troops, Reuters reports.

Rubio said the US was achieving its objectives in the war — which he says are destroying Iran’s missile and drone capabilities and factories to produce those weapons, as well as its navy and its air force — and expected to conclude its operation in “weeks, not months”.

“We are ahead of schedule on most of them, and we can achieve them without any ground troops, without any,” Rubio said.

Rubio said recent deployments of thousands more troops to the region were intended to give President Donald Trump options to respond to contingencies in the conflict, but declined to go into operational details.

“In terms of why there are deployments, number one, the President has to be prepared for multiple contingencies… We are always going to be prepared to give the president maximum optionality and maximum opportunity to adjust the contingencies, should they emerge.”