US Secretary of State Marco Rubio stated that Iran was “on the verge” of having a weapons program too strong to overcome in a video posted to the White House’s X/Twitter page on Tuesday night.
Rubio addressed the reason behind the US strikes on Iran as well as the timing, repeating the goal that US President Donald Trump has repeatedly stated since the start of the war: to eliminate any possibility of Iran gaining a nuclear weapon.
Trump expressed this sentiment on Tuesday as well, sharing with reporters that if Tehran was not willing to make a deal, the US would put Iran "into the stone age," rendering the country incapable of nuclear growth.
“Iran wants to have nuclear weapons. Of that there is no doubt,” Rubio said.
Rubio disputed the claim that Iran’s nuclear program was geared towards producing nuclear energy, stating that if Iran did want nuclear energy, its nuclear facilities would not be built underground “away from the public glare,” and that Iran would have imported fuel.
Why attack Iran now?
According to Rubio, Iran has “been offered every opportunity to have a nuclear program that allows them to have energy, not weapons, and every single time they have turned it down.”
Iran had been building a “conventional shield,” a program of enough missiles and drones to ensure no one could attack them or their nuclear facilities, Rubio said.
“Under no circumstances can a country run by radical Shia clerics with an apocalyptic vision of the future ever possess nuclear weapons,” he said, adding that “this was our last best chance” to avoid this.
To prevent this “intolerable risk,” Trump made the correct decision to destroy the threat, Rubio said.
Without their missiles and drone program, the goal is to have Iran “have to deal with the world seriously about never ever having nuclear weapons,” he explained.
Rubio says US 'can see the finish line' of war with Iran
Rubio said later on Tuesday that Washington could see the "finish line" in the Iran war, which is now in its fifth week, and the US will have to reexamine ties with NATO after the conflict.
"We can see the finish line. It's not today, it's not tomorrow, but it is coming," Rubio told Fox News. He then said there were messages being exchanged between Iran and the US, and that there is potential for a "direct meeting at some point" between the two sides.
"There are messages being exchanged, there are talks going on. There is the potential for a direct meeting at some point," Rubio said, adding that "there's nothing any government is doing, or any country in the world is doing now to help Iran that is in any way impeding our mission."
He added that Washington will have to reexamine its relations with NATO after the Iran war.
"Ultimately, that's a decision for the president to make, and he'll have to make it," Rubio said. "But I do think, unfortunately, we are going to have to reexamine whether or not this alliance that has served this country well for a while is still serving that purpose, or has it now become a one-way street where America is simply in a position to defend Europe, but when we need the help of our allies, they're going to deny us basing rights, and they're going to deny us overflight," he added in reference to use of military bases.