I don't know where Rubio actually said this quote, so I don't know the context. Esmaeil Baqaei is the spokesperson of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Iran's government.
It may be something Marco Rubio told Iran in private since Marco Rubio is the US Secretary of State. Iran may have made up the quote. IRIMFA_SPOX is an official Iran government twitter account. The tweet was reported on multiple news agencies in Iran.
On October 20 2026, Marco Rubio told India News18 "(Iran) are targeting commercial vessels; (Iran) are trying to kill sailors who have nothing to do with the war; (Iran) are trying to sink commercial ships. You haven’t seen that since the Second World War. They are doing Nazi U-boat tactics." I copy/pasted this quote from Breitbart (right wing news site) and also watched the video on youtube.
On June 23 2026. Marco Rubio told reporters on airport runway, "(Strait of Hormuz) is an international waterway. No country is allowed to charge tolls or fees on an international waterway. That’s existing international law."
Rubio has also defended the US strikes on Venezuela fishing boats from 2025-26. Rubio placed sanctions on the ICC, possibly for investigating the boat strikes.
I don't know where Esmaeil Baqaei got the quote, but he is an official of the Iran Government.