Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Sunday it’s “irrelevant’’ whether the US had intelligence that Iran was actively pursuing a nuclear weapon before bombing it.
Rubio said the mere fact that Iran had “everything they need to build nuclear weapons” justified President Trump’s decision to take action against the theocratic regime.
“That’s irrelevant,” Rubio told CBS’ “Face the Nation” when pressed about US intelligence on Iran’s nuclear ambitions. “They have everything they need to build a weapon.”
Earlier this year, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard testified, “The IC [intelligence community] continues to assess that Iran is not building a nuclear weapon and Supreme Leader [Ayatollah Ali] Khamanei has not authorized the nuclear weapons program he suspended in 2003.”
President Trump has split with that assessment, and Gabbard has since contended her words were taken out of context and highlighted other portions of her testimony in which she warned about Iran’s stockpile of enriched uranium.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who has already taken preemptive strikes against Iran, defended the moves by claiming he has “absolutely clear” intelligence that Iran was “working [on] a secret plan to weaponize the uranium.”
Questions about the intelligence have been fueled by concerns over blunders in the past, such as claims about weapons of mass destruction that led up to the US’s 2003 invasion of Iraq.
Israel’s attack against Iran came days before another round of negotiations with the theocratic regime over its nuclear program were set to take place.
“They have everything they need to build nuclear weapons. Why would you bury things in a mountain 300 feet under the ground,” Rubio argued, referring to the Fordow Fuel Enrichment Plant.
“You don’t need 60 percent enriched uranium. The only countries in the world that have uranium at 60 percent are countries that have nuclear weapons.”
Typically, 90% enrichment is seen as the weapons-level threshold, but scientists at the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) have noted that it’s easier to get from 60% to 90% enrichment than it is to get to 60%.
Rubio was also pressed about the US’s “trust deficit” with Iran in terms of achieving any peaceful detente.
“The trust deficit started with Iran,” Rubio shot back after being asked about the odds of coming to an agreement. “The ones that shouldn’t be trusted are the Iranians because they’re the ones that sponsor terrorism.
“Did they forewarn us before they blew up the embassy in Lebanon and killed over 200 American servicemen? Did they forewarn us before they built IEDs and blew the legs and arms off of American servicemen in Iraq?” he said.
“These are the people that are doing this forever.”
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