Watch: Rubio Battles CBS’s Brennan on Iran’s Nuclear Capability
Sunday on CBS’s “Face the Nation” Secretary of State Marco Rubio debated host Margaret Brennan about Iran’s nuclear weaponization.
Partial transcript as follows:
BRENNAN: Secretary of State and acting White House National Security Adviser Marco Rubio now joins us. Mr. Secretary, I know it has been an intense few hours, but so far, it does not appear that Iran has yet retaliated against the United States. What intelligence do you have at this point about their capabilities to respond, the intent of their proxies? Is there any kind of command and control structure left to activate them?
RUBIO: Yeah, well, we’ll see what Iran decides to do. I think they should choose the route of peace. We have been- we’ve done everything. We have bent over backwards, okay, to create a deal with these people. Steve Witkoff has traveled the world extensively, met with them- well not even met with them, met through the Omanis with them, and discussed back and forth. We even put an offer to them that they wanted elements of it in writing, and we offered it to them- very generous offer by the way. We’ve done- and we’re prepared right now. If they call right now and say, we want to meet, let’s talk about this. We’re prepared to do that. The President’s made that clear from the very beginning. His preference is to deal with is to deal with this issue diplomatically, but he also told them we had 60 days to make progress or something else was going to happen. And I think they thought they were dealing with a different kind of leader, like the kinds of leaders they’ve been playing games with for the last 30 or 40 years. And they found out that’s not the case. So this mission was a very precise mission. It had three objectives, three nuclear sites. It was not attack on Iran. It was not an attack on the Iranian people. This wasn’t a regime change move. This was designed to degrade and, or destroy three nuclear sites related to their nuclear weaponization ambitions, and that was delivered on yesterday. What happens next will now depend on what Iran chooses to do next. If they choose the path of diplomacy, we’re ready. We can do a deal that’s good for them, the Iranian people and good for the world. If they choose another route, then there will be consequences for that.
BRENNAN: Let me follow up on a phrase you just word, ‘weaponization ambitions.’ Are you saying there, that the United States did not see intelligence that the Supreme Leader had ordered weaponization?
RUBIO: That’s irrelevant. I see that question being asked in the media all the- that’s an irrelevant question, they have everything they need to build the weapon–
BRENNAN: –That is the key point in U.S. intelligence assessments. You know that.
RUBIO: No its not.
BRENNAN: Yes it was–
RUBIO: No its not–
BRENNAN: –The political decision had not been made.
RUBIO: –No, no. Well, I know that better than you know that, and I know that that’s not the case. You not- you don’t know what you’re talking about–
BRENNAN: But I’m asking you whether the order was given.
RUBIO: And the people who say that- it doesn’t matter the order was given. They have everything they need to build nuclear weapons. Why would you bury- why would you bury things in a mountain, 300 feet under the ground? Why would you bury six- why do they have 60% enriched uranium? You don’t need 60% enriched uranium. The only countries in the world that have uranium at 60% are countries that have nuclear weapons, because it can quickly make it 90. They have all the elements they have. Why are they- why do they have a space program? Is Iran going to go to the moon? No, they’re trying to build an ICBM so they can one day put a warhead on it–
BRENNAN: No, but that’s a question- that’s a question- that’s a question of intent. And you know, in the intelligence assessment that it was that Iran wanted to be a threshold state and use it as leverage–
RUBIO: How do you know what the intelligence assessment says? How do you know what the intelligence assessment says–
BRENNAN: –I’m talking about the public March assessment. And that’s why I was asking you, if you know something more from March if an order was given–
RUBIO: –Well, but that’s also an inaccurate representation of it- that’s an inaccurate representation of it. That’s not how intelligence is read. That’s now how intelligence is used. Here’s what the whole world knows. Forget about intelligence. What the IAEA knows they are enriching uranium well beyond anything you need for a- for a for a civil nuclear program. So why would you enrich uranium at 60%, if you don’t intend to one day use it to take it to 90 and build a weapon? Why are you why are you developing ICBMs? Why do you have 8000 short range missiles and two to 3000 long- mid range missiles that you continue to develop? Why do you do all these things–
BRENNAN: Understood.
RUBIO: They have everything they need for a nuclear weapon. They have the delivery mechanisms, they have the enrichment capability, they have the highly enriched uranium that is stored.
BRENNAN: Yeah.
RUBIO: That’s all we need to see.
BRENNAN: Right. Well, and that’s–
RUBIO: Especially in the hands of the regime that’s already involved in terrorism and proxies and all kinds of things are on- they are the source of all the instability in the Middle East–
BRENNAN: –And no one’s disputing- no one’s disputing that. I’m not doing that here. And they were censured at the IAEA for that enrichment and for violating their non-proliferation agreements. I was simply asking if we had intelligence that there was an order to weaponize because you said ‘weaponization ambitions,’ which implies they weren’t doing it–
RUBIO: –Well, we have intelligence that they have everything they need to build a nuclear weapon, and that’s more than enough.
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