Sri Lanka, March 9 -- US Secretary of State Marco Rubio says the world is "going to be a safer and a better place when this mission is accomplished".

Speaking at an event in Washington DC, Rubio said the US is engaged in a mission targeting "the world's largest hostage taker, the world's leading sponsor of terrorism - the regime in Iran".

He noted that the goals of the mission are clear, and include destroying "the ability of this regime to launch missiles... destroy the factories that make these missiles and destroy their navy".

"We are well on our way to achieving that objective," he claimed.

"Every single day this regime in Iran has less missiles, has less launchers, their factories work less and their navy is being eviscerated." ...