HOMESTEAD AIR RESERVE BASE, Fla. (AP) — Secretary of State Marco Rubio says President Donald Trump launched the war against Iran even if it wasn’t “necessarily popular” to safeguard the world from the country’s nuclear ambitions. He wouldn’t comment directly Sunday about the Republican wipeout in the midterm elections that followed the unpopularity of the Iran war and its impact on gasoline prices. Asked about Vice President JD Vance’s social media post last week that largely blamed the war for the Republican losses, Rubio told reporters that Trump “identified a very real threat” in Iran and worked to stop the Islamic Republic from pursuing a nuclear weapon. Rubio said that “confronting difficult challenges for the security of our country” isn’t “necessarily popular, but necessary.”