Secretary of State Marco Rubio spoke with Fox News host Sean Hannity on Thursday night about President Donald Trump’s trip to the Middle East. One of the main topics the pair discussed was Iran.
Trump has teased on multiple occasions during the trip that he is cautiously close to making a deal with Iran regarding the country’s nuclear capabilities, with Trump maintaining that Iran could never have a nuclear weapon. Rubio echoed this sentiment on Thursday in his interview with Hannity, explicitly mentioning the country’s governing regime.
“Look, the regime – and our problem is not with the Iranian people,” Rubio said. “The Iranian people are a peaceful people, an ancient civilization and culture we admire greatly. Our problem is with a clerical regime that is behind every problem in the region: Hizballah, Hamas, the Houthis, the militias that have conducted attacks out of Iraq and Syria. They all – it – they all track back to the Iranian regime.”
Then Rubio gave a blunt response about the possibility of Iran having nuclear weapons.
“A regime like that can never have nuclear weapons, and the president has made clear they will not have a nuclear weapon,” Rubio said.
Then, the secretary of state explained why he felt Trump and Iran could work out a deal. He emphasized that the president wanted Iran to become prosperous and flourish. However, he said, ultimately, it’s up to Iran’s leader.
“But in the end, the decision lies in the hands of one person, and that’s the supreme leader in Iran,” Rubio said. “And I hope he chooses the path of peace and prosperity, not a destructive path. And we’ll see how that plays out.”
Despite the optimism, Rubio continued to warn of the dangers that come with Iran becoming a nuclear power. It’s a reality that is not too far off, specifically highlighting several reports that revealed Iran is at a 60% enrichment level, which essentially meant that Iran is at the “threshold of a nuclear weapon.”
Rubio explained the specifics to Hannity and stressed the valid concerns about the reality of Iran’s nuclear capabilities.
“Look, when you say 60, it’s misleading when people hear that number because they think 60% enrichment and 90% is what you need for a weapon,” Rubio explained. “Actually, 90% of the work it takes to get to weapons-grade enrichment is getting to 60.” “Once you’re at 60, you’re 90% of the way there,” he added. “You are, in essence, a threshold nuclear weapon state, which is what Iran basically has become. They are at the threshold of a nuclear weapon. If they decided to do so, they could do so very quickly. If they stockpile enough of that 60% enriched, they could very quickly turn it into 90 and weaponize it.”
He also explained the trepidation associated with this real possibility, which is an impetus for wanting to reach a fair and legitimate deal quickly with Iran.
“That’s the danger we face right now,” Rubio warned. “That’s the urgency here. That’s why Israel is – feels urgency about it, and that’s why we feel urgency about it, but not just us. Throughout the Gulf region, no country in the region wants Iran to have a nuclear weapon.”
“And you also talk about not just a weapon; they have long-range missiles that they can deliver that weapon, those weapons, through,” he added. “So this is a very grave risk. And they are enriching at that level, and they are openly doing it, by the way. In fact, their congress, for – their legislative branch actually passed a law requiring them to enrich at a certain level because JCPOA, the Obama deal with Iran, was canceled.”
“This is a critical moment,” Rubio said.
Rubio reiterated his desire for the Iranians to negotiate their nuclear ambitions fairly and honestly, classifying it as urgent.
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“The President has made it a priority,” Rubio said. “And now people understand the urgency here because they are fairly close, too close for comfort, to a nuclear weapon.”
“We have to roll that back one way or another,” he added. “We hope it’s peacefully and through the process of negotiation.”