U.S. Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, has said radical Islamic movements around the world view the United States as the “greatest evil on Earth.”

He warned that such extremist groups remain committed to expanding their influence globally. 

Mr Rubio, who spoke during an interview with Fox News, said it was a mistake to assume that radical Islamist groups would be content with controlling limited territories in regions such as Iraq or Syria.

He stated, “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. 

 “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,” he said. 

According to him, radical Islamist ideology is fundamentally expansionist and revolutionary, with stated ambitions to spread control over more territories and populations.

“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 is a revolutionary in its nature. It seeks to expand and control more territories and more people, and radical Islam has designs openly on the west. 

“On the United States, on Europe. We have seen that progress there as well and they are prepared to conduct acts of terrorism in the case of Iran. Nation state actions, assassinations, murder, you name it.”

He added that extremists were prepared to carry out acts of terrorism, assassinations, and other forms of violence to advance their goals.

Mr Rubio also linked the animosity of extremist groups toward nations such as Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and Bahrain to their cooperation with the United States of America.

“Whatever it takes for them to gain their influence and ultimately their domination of different cultures and societies that’s a clear and imminent threat to the world and to the broader west but especially to the United States, who they identify as the chief source of evil on the planet. 

“The reason why they hate the kingdom of Saudi Arabia, the leadership of the UAE and Bahrain, is because they have allowed the United States to partner with them. That’s why they hate them they consider them infidels for it. They hate Israel, but they also hate America, and they hate anywhere in the world that we have influence. They seek to attack it, including here in the homeland,” he added. 

The Secretary of State further warned that the U.S. homeland remains a target, noting that most domestic attacks in recent years were inspired by radical Islamist ideology.

He stated, “That includes the shooting at the Pulse nightclub in Orlando, Florida. That includes the Saudi pilot in Pensacola, my home state, who carried out an attack.”

Mr Rubio said the persistence of such ideological extremism represents a “clear and imminent threat” not only to the United States but to the broader Western world.