Sec. Rubio Joins Bartiromo on Fox Business Futures
QUESTION: Joining me now in his first interview since the U.S. action is the Secretary of State of America, Secretary Marco Rubio. Mr. Secretary, thank you for being here. Are we now at war with Iran?
SECRETARY RUBIO: No, we’re not. This is not a war against Iran. This is – this is very simple. Sixty-seven days ago, the President of the United States sent the Iranians a letter and it said you’re not going to have nuclear weapons, you’re not going to have a militarized nuclear program, let’s negotiate, I want to do this diplomatically, I want to do this peacefully.
They played – they tried to play him along the way they’ve played every American president for the last 35 years. And the President told them if we don’t get a deal, which is what we wanted, then I’ll have to handle it differently. And that’s what he did last night. He handled it differently. But that was an Iranian choice. We didn’t make that choice. They did. By playing games with Donald Trump, they made a huge mistake, and President Trump acted last night.
And I think the world today is safer and more stable than it was 24 hours ago, and a bunch of these countries putting out statements condemning us – privately they all agree with us that this needed to be done. They gotta do what they gotta do for their own public relations purposes, but the only people in the world that are unhappy about what happened in Iran last night is the regime in Iran.
QUESTION: Have you heard from anyone in Iran, and are you expecting retaliation?
SECRETARY RUBIO: Well, if they retaliate it’ll be the worst mistake they’ve ever made. Look, we can fly in and out of Iran at will. We went in last night. The President sent our military forces from halfway across the world, went in, conducted this operation, left. Not a shot was fired against us. They didn’t even know what had happened by the time we left. The planes were out of their airspace before they finally started realizing they had been hit.
So it would be a terrible mistake if Iran retaliates. So, but that’s not our goal. This – we are not declaring war in Iran. We’re not looking for war in Iran. But if they attack us, then I think we have capabilities they haven’t even seen yet. It would be a terrible mistake on their part. And frankly, it’s not what we hope for or wish. What we want now is to ensure that Iran never had nuclear weapons. If what they want is a civil nuclear program where they have power plants like every other – a lot of other countries in the world have, they can do that. That’s the deal that’s been offered to them. They rejected it. They played us. They tried to play us, I should say. They wouldn’t respond to our offers. They disappeared for 10 days. And now we had to take – the President had to take action as a response.
QUESTION: And the response included strategic ambiguity. Can you walk us through the plan in terms of how it was deceptive – not allowing the Iranians to understand what was really taking place?
SECRETARY RUBIO: Well, ultimately when we do these things it’s because we care about the safety and security of our troops, of our airmen, and all those who are supporting these missions. So you know obviously the element of surprise is important in military tactics. In this particular – now, I don’t think the Iranians or anyone should have been under any mystery. The President said very clearly we have 60 days to make progress on a deal; and if we don’t, I’m going to deal with it differently.
But in terms of what people call deception and surprise and things of this nature, the core of that is not the – the mission was going to be successful no matter what. The core of that was protecting our service men and women who were in harm’s way in conducting that mission. That’s the most important part. And they went in, they did what they needed to do with precision and skill that no other military in the world can do, and they left. And they were well outside of Iranian airspace before the regime even realized what had happened.
And that was the goal here and that was achieved. These planes came from halfway across the world, and no one even – Iran – no one saw them coming. And that’s a huge credit to Pete Hegseth and General Caine and General Kurilla and obviously our Commander-in-Chief for pulling that off.
QUESTION: Well, the President said in a post recently that he knows where the supreme leader is hiding but that he was not ready to take him out yet. What can you tell us about your expectations with regard to regime change in Iran?
SECRETARY RUBIO: Well, that’s certainly not the goal of what we’re working on here. The goal was stated very clearly in a letter the President sent the supreme leader about 65, 67 days ago. In that letter he said you’re not going to have a nuclear weapon, let’s negotiate peacefully a solution. We can make a really good deal that’s good for Iran, good for America, good for the world. If you don’t, however, then I’m going to have to deal with this differently.
The Iranians didn’t like the letter. They didn’t respond to it. They ultimately entered into fake negotiations and tried to play him along. In essence, they thought they could do with President Trump what they’ve done with presidents in the past and get away with it. And they found out last night that they can’t, and the world found out last night that you can’t. And that’s important not just on this issue but for so many other issues happening around the world. I think that what we are seeing is that this is a president that tells you what he’s going to do and then he does it. And I think that, to a lot of people, including the Iranian regime, is shocking.
QUESTION: What are your expectations in terms of Iran’s nuclear capabilities today?
SECRETARY RUBIO: Well, they’re certainly degraded. Look, at the end of the day if Iran is committed to becoming a nuclear weapons power, I do think it puts the regime at risk. I really do. I think it would be the end of the regime if they tried to do that.
It’s certainly been set back from a technical standpoint – not just due to what we did last night, but obviously the Israelis have done incredible work in advance as well. But ultimately, they have to make a decision. It’s a very simple decision. If what they want is nuclear reactors so they can have electricity, there are so many – so many other countries in the world that do that, and they don’t have to enrich their own uranium. They can do that.
But if what they want is a secret program buried in a mountain where no one can see it and inspectors can only come when they say they can come – if that’s what they want, then they’re going to have big problems because this is a dangerous, violent, radical regime. Not the Iranian people. We have no problem – we didn’t hit Iranian people last night. We hit nuclear facilities. And if what they want is some secret program that looks nothing like the civil nuclear programs around the world, that looks a lot like you’re trying to build a bomb, they’re going to continue to have problems, not just with us but with many other countries in the world.
QUESTION: Problems like what? What do you mean?
SECRETARY RUBIO: Like the problems they’re facing right now. Listen, why do we have bases in Saudi Arabia and Kuwait and Qatar and UAE? All of those bases are there to help protect those countries from Iran. Why did Hizballah exist? Because of Iran. What does Hamas exist? Because of Iran. How do the Houthis exist? Because of Iran. Who built the IEDs that maimed and killed American soldiers in Iraq? Iran. They’re behind every problem in this region, every – they are the source, the sole source, of instability in the entire Middle East. And the world’s been paying a price for this for 40-something years.
Imagine those people having a nuclear weapon, just one, just one nuclear weapon or even the capability to being on the threshold of having a nuclear weapon. That’s what the world was facing. That is unacceptable. President Trump did the world a favor last night, and now Iran should sort of wake up. The Iranian regime should wake up and say, okay, if we really want nuclear energy in our country, there’s a way to do it. That offer is still there. We’re prepared to talk to them tomorrow and start working on that. Steve Witkoff has traveled extensively around the world trying to reach that deal with them, but they play too many games. They play way too many games, and now they’ve found out.
QUESTION: The President has said many times no nuclear weapons, but the ultimate goal also happens to be no biological weapons, chemicals, no drones, no proxy warfare. Do you believe that the Iranians will follow that and you’ll achieve the ultimate goal of success here long term?
SECRETARY RUBIO: Well, I don’t know what they’re going to decide to do next. If they’re being rational, I think they realize if what they want is a country that has a nuclear energy program, they can have that. I mean, many countries around the world – I don’t like the regime, but we’re not into the regime-change business here. We’re into the safety and security of the United States business. So that’s a choice they’ll have to make. I hope they’re being rational in their decision making.
But I think the most important thing I hope they realize is the game is up, okay? They have played the world for 40-something years with these nuclear talks and this delaying things. They got a crazy deal out of John Kerry when he was secretary of state under the Obama administration, where they got billions of dollars and, by the way, agreed to something that allowed them to continue to build their missile capacity and sponsor terrorism. They’ve been playing the world for 40-something years.
They’re not going to play President Trump, and they found out last night that when he says he’s going to do something, he’ll do it. And he doesn’t want to do it, it’s not his first choice, but it’s the only choice. That’s the only choice the Iranian regime left us because they play too many games. They use diplomacy to hide behind and obfuscate and think they can buy themselves time. They think they’re cute. They’re not cute, and they’re not going to get away with this stuff, not under President Trump.
QUESTION: The Europeans have been feckless pretty much throughout this conflict in the last several weeks. What are your expectations for our partners and allies in Europe?
SECRETARY RUBIO: Well, look, I think the Europeans, and particularly the Germans, the French and the Brits, have made very clear that Iran cannot have nuclear weapons. In fact, I think the French for the first time have kind of leaned forward even more and said they can’t even have an enrichment capability. There are existing sanctions under the old JCPOA that we’re no longer a part of but they remain a part of. Iran is in complete violation, okay? And so those three countries have to make a decision by no later than October of this year whether to put sanctions back on Iran, snap them back. And we encourage them to continue to press them on that front, because that’s another set of pressure.
So obviously these are our allies and partners we work with closely on a bunch of issues around the world, and I think they have in their hands a very powerful piece of leverage on the Iranian regime, which is the snapback provisions under the previous JCPOA. And I think so far they’ve been very tough and strong on that. And we encourage them to continue to do so and to continue to tell the Iranians, the Iranian regime – I keep saying Iranian regime because it’s not the people we have a quarrel with – the Iranian regime – they’ve messaged – consistently messaged them, and we’re grateful for it – that the solution to this problem is negotiate directly with the Americans.
That’s another thing. They don’t even talk to us directly. We always have to have a middle-man. They want to pass messages and notes like we’re in third grade. We’re not doing that anymore. Direct negotiations, let’s talk about how we peacefully resolve this problem. The Europeans have pressured them on that point, and we encourage them to continue to do so and are grateful that they’ve been doing that so far.
QUESTION: What about our allies in the Middle East right now? Interesting to note that we have not heard from any of the proxies of Iran. No comment from the Iranians so far, no comment from Hizballah or the Houthis. What are your reactions there, as well as our allies in the Middle East, President Trump of course using his first trip internationally to go and strengthen relations with our friends in the Middle East?
SECRETARY RUBIO: Well, we made clear that any of these proxies attack America, we are not only going to deal with the proxies but we’re also going to pin it on Iran. We know who’s behind these. That’s another thing they do. They create these little groups, like the Shia militias in Iraq and Syria, and then they hide behind them and pretend it’s not them. We know it’s them, including the Houthis, by the way. So Iran will be held responsible for the actions of these groups.
In terms of the other countries in the region, look, I think that we’ve worked very cooperatively with them. The President just had a great visit to Saudi Arabia, to the UAE, and to Qatar – very productive. And – but I just ask and remind everybody: the only reason we have U.S. bases in the region, the only reason we have an air base in Qatar, an air base in UAE, and an air base in Saudi Arabia is because they are afraid that Iran will attack them, and they want us there to help defend them. And so if Iran wasn’t a threat, we wouldn’t need those bases there.
So these countries fully recognize the threat that Iran poses. That’s why they want us there to help defend their oil fields and their infrastructure or help them defend themselves. And if the Iranian regime was no longer a threat, we wouldn’t need to have any of these bases in the region. We wouldn’t need to have any American servicepeople in the region. But that’s the state of affairs right now. So these countries understand what Iran is and what the regime is, and they get it. They understand it.
QUESTION: How long have these plans been in place to take out the nuclear facilities?
SECRETARY RUBIO: Well, the President makes the ultimate decision. And look, he – in terms of plans, I mean, we have all sorts of contingency plans for all sorts of possible strikes all over the world. Once the President says, okay, work up options for me, they obviously go back and refine those. And then there are multiple points along the way in which the President has decisions to make about go or no go, and it really comes right up to 10 minutes before the bombs are actually dropped.
So the President retains as Commander-in-Chief full control of these operations, but we have incredibly capable military people in our country. The operation yesterday was extraordinary, really extraordinary. Obviously, there are elements of it that will not ever be publicly shared. But suffice it to say that there is no country in the world that can do what the United States did last night through our incredible military, led by our Commander-in-Chief. And I think a lot of credit goes out to Pete Hegseth – our Defense Secretary did a phenomenal job of managing this process – and obviously all the way down to the airmen and others who conducted this operation. It was flawless, it was perfect, it was executed with extraordinary skill and I think demonstrates the capabilities we have, which no other country in the world has anything remotely close to this.
QUESTION: Secretary, what does the road ahead look like from a military standpoint in the U.S. regarding Iran over the near term?
SECRETARY RUBIO: Well, we’ve achieved – yeah, we’ve achieved our objective. Our objective was to severely degrade and/or destroy three nuclear sites inside of Iran. One of them had 60 percent enriched uranium – 60 percent. Remember, you only need, like, 3.67 percent for a nuclear power plant. You only need 20 percent enriched, very small quantities, for, like, medical isotopes and that kind of thing. The only countries in the world that have anything close to 60 percent enriched uranium are countries that have nuclear weapons. They have stored 60 percent enriched uranium in one facility there called Isfahan. They were threatening to create even more of it. And then they had all these centrifuges that were capable of enriching up to weapons grade at 90 percent buried in mountains. In mountains. And oh, but it’s all for peaceful purposes. Give me a break. Everybody gets it. Unfortunately, they’ve been able to get away with that game for a long time.
Those were the objectives last night. We hit three nuclear-related sites controlled by the Iranian regime, and now what happens next will depend on what Iran does next and the regime does next. If they attack us, it would be a terrible mistake on their part. There are a lot of – they are completely vulnerable, completely vulnerable. They don’t control their own airspace. They can’t protect their own airspace. They can’t even protect their own leaders. So I think it would be a big mistake if they did anything against us. But look, they’ll have to make that decision, and the President will respond accordingly and decisively. But no one after last night should be under any illusions. When Donald Trump says he’s going to do something, when the President says he’s – this President says he’s going to do something, he’s not just wasting words. He means it.
QUESTION: So was it fair to say they were one week away from having a nuclear weapon, and is that all destroyed at this point? Is that gone?
SECRETARY RUBIO: I think it’s – I think it’s fair to say they have everything you need to make a nuclear weapon. Everything. They have the enrichment capability. They have highly enriched uranium in sufficient quantities to make at least nine or 10 bombs. All they have to do is spend a couple days enriching it from 60 to 90 percent. We’re certain they have a weapons design. They have mid-range missiles, they have short-range missiles that they could put warheads on. And they’re – and by the way, they claim to have a space program. It’s not a space program. Iran is not going to the moon. They have a space – they have a space program because they’re trying to develop ICBMs, long-range rockets that could one day reach the United States the way North Korea can already reach the United States with their ICBMs. That’s what they’re working on.
They have all the pieces in place to have a nuclear weapon. All that’s missing is flipping the switch. But in terms of all the things you need, all the structures, all the science, all of that – they had it all in place. Now, not so much. And that’s why we did the world a great favor, or we would all wake up one day in less than a decade in a world where radical Shia clerics control nuclear weapons capable of reaching not just the Middle East but all of Europe and potentially the East Coast of the United States. That is an unacceptable risk. There is no way we were leaving that for future generations.
QUESTION: Secretary, final question here. Do you expect Iran to move to close the Strait of Hormuz to try to disrupt oil transportation across the world?
SECRETARY RUBIO: Well, I would encourage the Chinese Government in Beijing to call them about that, because they heavily depend on the Straits of Hormuz for their oil. If they do that, it’ll be another terrible mistake. It’s economic suicide for them if they do it. And we retain options to deal with that. But other countries should be looking at that as well. It would hurt other countries’ economies a lot worse than ours. It would be, I think, a massive escalation that would merit a response not just by us but from others.
So look, they’re going to – they’re going to say what they need to say. These are the things that need to happen for their own internal politics and so forth. But in the end, we’re going to judge them by the actions that they take moving forward. We had three objectives. We struck those three objectives with decisive force. And that was the point of this mission and that’s what we achieved. What happens next will depend on what they do. They want to negotiate, we’re ready to negotiate. They want to get cute and do things that are dangerous, we have responses available that are devastating.
QUESTION: Okay. Secretary, was China complicit? We know that jets flew into Iran. We don’t know what were on those jets.
SECRETARY RUBIO: No, we don’t have any evidence that the Chinese were involved in anything —
QUESTION: Okay.
SECRETARY RUBIO: — other than perhaps trying to get Chinese nationals out of Iran.
QUESTION: Okay. Secretary, thank you very much for joining us. Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
SECRETARY RUBIO: Thank you.
QUESTION: Thank you, sir.
https://www.state.gov/releases/office-of-the-spokesperson/2025/06/secretary-of-state-marco-rubio-with-maria-bartiromo-of-fox-business-sunday-morning-futures/