Rubio puts entire world on notice against rise of 'poisonous' far-left terror 'masked as equality'

Secretary of State Marco Rubio declared Thursday that violent far-left political terrorism "can no longer be denied" as he urged more than 60 countries gathered in Washington to treat the threat as a global counterterrorism priority.

Speaking at the opening of a State Department summit attended by roughly 65 foreign delegations, Rubio said governments had spent too long overlooking what he described as a resurgence of transnational far-left extremist violence and called for greater international cooperation to counter it.

Rubio described radical leftism as "a poisonous resentment cloaked in the language of equality and justice."

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"Today we face a new wave of this old evil here in the United States: the share of left-wing terrorist attacks and plots has risen to levels not seen in decades," the secretary went on. 

Rubio said the administration is rebuilding the U.S. counterterrorism strategy around what it views as an increasingly transnational threat, announcing that additional foreign terrorist organization designations are forthcoming after the State Department designated four foreign far-left groups in November 2025. 

Rubio said far-left extremist networks coordinate across borders by sharing training materials, encrypted communications, financing and safe houses while working alongside hostile foreign states. He argued the United States and its allies must respond by expanding intelligence sharing, law enforcement cooperation and efforts to disrupt terrorist financing.

"You are here because this is real, and it is getting worse, and it can no longer be denied, and it can no longer be ignored," Rubio said. "It is time to crush this evil forever."

"It's time for people of the civilized world to defend themselves," he added. 

A foreign terrorist organization designation criminalizes providing material support to the group, enables the U.S. government to freeze assets under its jurisdiction and blocks members from entering the United States. 

Governments had spent the past 25 years building systems to combat jihadist terrorism after the Sept. 11 attacks, Madrid train bombings and the London transit attacks, Rubio said, arguing that strategy helped sharply reduce jihadist plots and deaths in the West.  

Rubio accused media organizations, universities and other "legacy" institutions of minimizing left-wing violence or treating it as a form of political expression. He pointed to the 2020 riots after George Floyd’s death, saying local officials in some cities refused to prosecute people who committed violence and destruction.

"You will no doubt see the dogma rear its head in the coverage of this very conference, in spite of the clear and the undeniable reality, in spite of the objective numbers and statistics, in spite of the fact that in this room today there are representatives from across the political spectrum, we will hear that this kind of organized violence and terror will be dismissed," Rubio said. "It will be dismissed as a partisan fiction."

Thursday's event included FBI Director Kash Patel, Education Secretary Linda McMahon, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller.

"A whole industry grew up in our countries around the study of extremism," Rubio continued. "We have think tanks and fellowships and journals and consultancies, with the unspoken understanding among them… that only one kind of political violence was a true threat to the system."

Administration officials said the ministerial is the culmination of an eight-month diplomatic effort to convince foreign governments that violent far-left extremist networks have become a growing cross-border threat requiring greater international coordination.

The initiative comes as some analysts and foreign officials have questioned whether violent far-left groups constitute a cohesive international terrorism threat comparable to Islamist extremist organizations. Others have raised concerns governments could use such initiatives to target political opponents under the banner of counterterrorism.

Administration officials rejected those concerns Wednesday, arguing the effort is narrowly focused on criminal and terrorist violence rather than political beliefs.

"We haven't waded into trying to disambiguate people's beliefs and ideologies," a senior State Department official told reporters. "In America, you can believe anything you want. The minute that you cross the legal threshold, that changes."

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Officials argue governments spent much of the past two decades concentrating on jihadist terrorism while underestimating what they describe as a resurgence of politically motivated violence from violent far-left extremist networks operating across borders.

"This has been a blind spot for a lot of our partners, frankly. They have not seen these trends... since the 1970s," the senior State Department official said. "Our partners have talked to us about the rise of assassinations or assassination plots."

Administration officials pointed to a series of recent attacks in Europe that they argue underscore the need for greater international cooperation.

On July 1, coordinated firebomb attacks targeted the homes of members of Greece's governing New Democracy party in Thessaloniki, killing the mother of parliamentary candidate Afroditi Nestora and injuring four others. Greek anti-terrorism police later arrested three suspects.

In January, an arson attack on a power transmission facility in Berlin, Germany, knocked out electricity to tens of thousands of homes and businesses. German authorities later transferred the investigation to the federal prosecutor over suspected involvement by a terrorist organization.

The meeting builds on a series of actions the administration has taken since late 2025, including designating four foreign far-left organizations as Foreign Terrorist Organizations and Specially Designated Global Terrorists, along with offering a reward of up to $10 million for information leading to the disruption of their financial networks.

Officials also disputed reports that foreign partners were reluctant to participate, saying several governments approached the United States seeking to join the initiative after recognizing similar trends within their own borders.

"We've had countries who have reached out to us that want to be part of this," the senior State Department official said.

The four organizations designated by the administration in November were Antifa Ost, the Informal Anarchist Federation/International Revolutionary Front (FAI/FRI), Armed Proletarian Justice and Revolutionary Class Self-Defense. The administration says the groups, which operate in Germany, Italy and Greece, have coordinated violent attacks across national borders.