Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s State Department is taking aim at far-left political terrorism in a new international counterterrorism push. Rubio said America’s counterterrorism strategy has worked against jihadist terrorism in Europe, but has had a major “blind spot” when it comes to extremist violence from the political left. The department said far-left and anarchist violence has increased in the United States and Europe in recent years. The announcement also puts renewed focus on Antifa-style networks and other far-left groups that use violence, intimidation, sabotage, and attacks on police or infrastructure.
The remarks came as the State Department held the Ministerial on the Resurgence of Political Terrorism, a meeting focused on expanding international cooperation against political violence. The department said the gathering brought together governments from the Western Hemisphere, Europe, and Asia. The goal was to improve coordination, information sharing, law enforcement cooperation, and travel restrictions targeting violent far-left actors. Rubio’s remarks framed the effort as part of a larger correction to years of counterterrorism policy that focused heavily on jihadist threats while minimizing violence from the radical left.
The State Department said the “resurgent threat of transnational far-left terrorism” includes attacks on private citizens, government officials, police, law enforcement, businesses, and critical infrastructure. The department said far-left terrorists were responsible for 93% of terrorist attacks and 58% of terrorism-related deaths in the West between 1970 and 1980. It also said far-left plots and attacks have sharply increased in the United States and Europe since 2016. In 2025, according to the department, far-left actors were responsible for 63% of recorded anti-government attacks or plots in the United States.
Rubio began the clip by pointing to the success of the existing fight against jihadist terrorism in Europe. “The number of people killed by jihadist terrorism in Europe dropped by roughly 97 percent from the year 2015 to the year 2024,” Rubio said. “In other words, to a very great extent, our counterterrorism strategy has worked.”
He added that the threat has not vanished. “The threat has not disappeared,” Rubio said. “Of course, it will continue to exist, particularly so long as we tolerate immigration systems that import these threats directly into our respective homelands.”
Rubio said the jihadist threat has been “severely diminished,” but argued that counterterrorism policy failed to treat far-left violence with the same seriousness. “The world looks very different today because of it,” he said. “For far too long, however, our counterterrorism doctrine has had a blind spot. A blind spot when it comes to extremist violence from the political left,” he said.
Watch Rubio discuss the State Department’s far-left terrorism push here:
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The department said the threat is not limited to the United States. In 2024, they said there were 21 attacks in the European Union attributed to far-left and anarchist terrorists, compared with 24 jihadist attacks that year. Of the 45 reported terrorist attacks in Europe in 2025, the department said 12 were attributed to far-left and anarchist actors. It also said Europe has seen record numbers of attacks on rail networks, critical infrastructure, and private businesses over the past three years.
The announcement also fits into the larger fight over Antifa and similar far-left networks. Antifa has often been described by defenders as a loose movement rather than a formal organization, but the State Department’s language focused on cross-border coordination, travel, financing, and attacks.
The department said some partner countries have seen far-left terrorist activity involving economic sabotage, improvised explosive or incendiary devices, and violence against government officials. It also said there has been overlap between far-left terrorist networks and violent anti-American, antisemitic, and anti-tech movements.
Rubio’s State Department said it has already designated four violent far-left groups as Foreign Terrorist Organizations and Specially Designated Global Terrorists. It also said more designations are under review. In December 2025, the department announced Rewards for Justice offers of up to $10 million for information that disrupts financial mechanisms supporting designated far-left terrorism groups. The release said the United States is also working with foreign governments to restrict terrorist travel and improve law enforcement cooperation.