Rubio clashes with CBS host over Iran nuclear weapon intelligence

Secretary of State Marco Rubio and CBS Host Margaret Brennan sparred over whether U.S. intelligence had found that Iran had ordered the development of a nuclear weapon, with Rubio dismissing Brennan’s question as “irrelevant.”

Brennan asked Rubio if the United States saw “intelligence that the Supreme Leader had ordered weaponization” of uraniam on Face the Nation Sunday. Rubio, who also serves as National Security Advisor, shot back at the CBS host, saying that whether Iran’s supreme leader ordered weaponization didn’t matter, the regime was already pursing a nuclear weapon. 

“That’s irrelevant. I see that question being asked in the media all the time. That’s an irrelevant question. They have everything they need to build a weapon,” Rubio said.

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The CBS host countered that whether weaponization was ordered was the “key point” in U.S. intelligence assessments. Rubio denied that was the case, and claimed that he knew the subject “better” than Brennan. 

“Why would you bury things in a mountain, 300 feet under the ground? Why would they have 60% enriched uranium? You don’t need 60% enriched uranium. The only countries in the world that have uranium at 60% are countries that have nuclear weapons, because it 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. They’re trying to build an ICBM so they can one day put a warhead on it,” Rubio responded.

Brennan cited Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard’s March congressional testimony that Iran had not ordered the construction of a nuclear weapon. The “Face the Nation” host asked Rubio if the U.S. intelligence community had learned anything new since Gabbard’s testimony. Rubio accused Brennan of not presenting the assessment accurately.

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“That’s an inaccurate representation of it. That’s not how intelligence is read. That’s now how intelligence is used,” Rubio said. 

Rubio went on to state that the International Atomic Energy Agency recently found Iran was not in compliance with its nuclear nonproliferation obligations. The IAEA report found that Iran could not account for how traces of uranium were found at undeclared nuclear sites. 

“The Board of Governors… finds that Iran’s many failures to uphold its obligations since 2019 to provide the Agency with full and timely cooperation regarding undeclared nuclear material and activities at multiple undeclared locations in Iran … constitutes non-compliance with its obligations under its Safeguards Agreement with the Agency,” the report said.

“They have the delivery mechanisms, they have the enrichment capability, they have the highly enriched uranium that is stored. That’s all we need to see. Especially in the hands of a regime that’s already involved in terrorism and proxies and all kinds of things around. They are the source of all instability in the Middle East,” Rubio said.