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U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio on CBN’s Face the Nation, March 16, 2025. Photo: U.S. Department of State’s official X account.
In an interview with conservative radio host Hugh Hewitt on Wednesday, Secretary of State Marco Rubio clarified that President Donald Trump “will take action” to prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon, if efforts to negotiate a new Iran nuclear deal do not bear fruit.
In an interview that touched on different threats and challenges facing the U.S. in the second Trump term, Hewitt asked Secretary Rubio, “If it comes to blows, will we act in an alliance against Iran, do you think, or will we act alone?”
“Well, I think the President’s been clear. He’s prepared to do whatever it takes to prevent Iran from ever having a nuclear weapon,” Rubio responded.
However, Rubio also noted that President Trump, who campaigned on a platform of ending various conflicts, “wants to promote peace.”
“Now, he’s a president that wants to promote peace,” the secretary explained. “If you asked him, he would tell you he would much prefer to work this out diplomatically without a war. And that’s his preference. That will always be his preference.”
“But if you force him to choose between a nuclear Iran or taking action, the President’s been clear: He will take action.”
Secretary Rubio also expressed his own desire to achieve a political resolution to the conflict, if possible.
“I always tell everybody I’d love to handle it through the State Department, but if we can’t, then I have to turn these things over to (Secretary) Pete Hegseth over at the Department of Defense,” he remarked. “And – but we’d prefer to deal with it at the State Department, but you need a willing partner to do that.”
Regarding the decision to act alone or in a coalition, Secretary Rubio did not provide a clear answer but indicated the involvement of other nations would not determine the decision of the U.S. to take action.
“He will take action. Whether other countries seek to join us in that endeavor or simply cheer us on, sometimes quietly from the sidelines, that’s another matter. But it certainly will not determine the steps we take, because we view a world with Iran having – and the ayatollahs, these religious fanatics, having nuclear weapons – that’s just not acceptable.”
Hewitt also asked Secretary Rubio if the U.S. military has “the weapons necessary to destroy their [nuclear] sites,” in an apparent reference to the underground facilities Iran has constructed to protect their nuclear program.
While saying the question is “better directed to DOD”, Rubio remarked, “I’m confident enough to say that if the President makes the decision that we need to take action to prevent Iran from having a nuclear capability, we have the ability to do that, and to go further and perhaps even threaten the regime.”
According to a recent report in Axios, President Trump’s letter to Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei included a two-month deadline to achieve a nuclear agreement, before the U.S. considers other options.
While the report doesn’t specify when the two-month deadline begins, it says that the likelihood of U.S. or Israeli military action against Iran’s nuclear facilities will dramatically increase once the deadline has passed.
The Iranian leadership had denied receiving the letter, which Axios explains is due to the fact that the letter was only recently hand-delivered to Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, after being passed on by United Arab Emirates envoy Anwar Gargash in a recent trip to Tehran.
Hewitt also asked Rubio about the repeated Houthi claims of attacking the USS Truman in the Red Sea. “First of all, have the Houthis attacked us, or are they just putting out press releases over the last three days?”
Rubio acknowledged that the Houthis are trying unsuccessfully to attack, but said that regardless of the unsuccessful nature of the attacks, they are unacceptable to the U.S.
“They say they attack,” Rubio answered. “I mean, they launch and then they get shot down 100 miles away before it even is a threat, so DOD’s had no problem defending.”
Rubio also noted that despite the lack of success such attacks are “nonetheless unacceptable.”
He clarified that the U.S. response is “not a one-day thing.”
“It’s been going on now every night,” Rubio explained. “It’s been sustained, and it’ll continue until they no longer have the capability to threaten not just the U.S. Navy but global shipping.”
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