Secretary of State Marco Rubio defended the decision to strike Iranian nuclear facilities Sunday in a fiery exchange with “Face the Nation” host Margaret Brennan.
The United States struck sites in Fordow, Natanz, and Isfahan related to Iran’s effort to develop nuclear weapons early Sunday morning, using as many as 14 GBU-57 Massive Ordnance Penetrators in the operation. Brennan questioned Rubio’s use of the phrase “weaponization ambitions” to justify the operation.
“Are you saying there that the United States did not see intelligence that the Supreme Leader [Ayatollah Ali Khamenei] had ordered weaponization?” Brennan asked Rubio.
The Secretary of State responded, “That’s irrelevant. I think that’s a question being asked in the media all the time, that’s an irrelevant question-”
“That is the key point in the U.S. intelligence assessment, you know that,” Brennan said, interrupting Rubio, who in return shot back, “No, it’s not.”
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After a back-and-forth between Brennan and Rubio ensued, the Secretary of State described the alleged evidence that Iran was pursuing nuclear weapons.
“It didn’t matter if the order was given,” Rubio said. “They have everything they need to build nuclear weapons? Why would you bury, why would you bury things in a mountain 350 feet under a mountain? Why do they have 60% enriched uranium? The only countries in the world that have uranium at 60% are countries that have nuclear weapons, because they can quickly make it 90%! They have all the elements. Why do they have a space program? Is Iran going to go to the moon? No.”
Rubio also cut Brennan off after she raised a March intelligence assessment presented by Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard.
“That’s an inaccurate representation of it,” Rubio said. “That’s not how intelligence is read. That’s not how intelligence is used. Here’s what the whole world knows: forget about intelligence, the IAEA knows, they’re enriching using uranium well beyond anything you need 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 developing ICBMs?” Rubio continued. “Why do you have 8,000 short-range missiles and 2-3,000 long-range missiles that you continue to develop? Why do they have all these things? 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. That is all we need to see.”
Many Democrats criticized the strike, with Democratic New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez calling for Trump’s impeachment, the New York Times reported. Republican Kentucky Rep. Thomas Massie called the bombing “not Constitutional” in a post to X on Saturday night.
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Author: Harold Hutchison
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