Trump Keeps Iran Strike Decision on the Table, Rubio Says

Thank you. It's kind of strange. I think you guys know right here. First of all, I'm not going to comment about what the U.S. may not do militarily, nor am I going to be up here and broadcast that any decision in that regard has been made. I think the president's observation is the United States remains the most highly capable military power on Earth. We can achieve military objectives if we seek to. He hasn't made a decision. I have no announcement in that regard with you today, and nor do we take any of it lightly. The president prefers not to do it that way. If he did, he would have done it weeks ago and months ago. He'd prefer to solve it diplomatically, but I think what the President expresses to you is incredible confidence that if we needed to do something militarily, we would have the ability to do it, and we really, we have everything we need to be successful, but we would prefer to do it peacefully. The next, right behind, right there, the gentleman. How much time are you giving these Qatari-backed talks with Iran? An opportunity to succeed before you might resume military operations. Well, I mean, the message is simple. Iran is blowing up ships, including ships that have, for example, Indian sailors on them, including ships that have energy that's destined for countries represented at that table. We live in a world in which a country is openly, you know, a regime is openly saying we will blow up commercial ships. Think about that. Think about the world we now live in. It sounds like something from 100 years ago or 80 years ago. That's what's happening, and every country there is challenged. As far as the talks are concerned, I don't know if there's a time frame. It's up to the president to make decisions with regards to those sorts of things. There are multiple talks. Talks have actually never stopped. There's been active conversations going, both in some cases directly, but often through intermediaries, and the president's preference in any. The challenge around the world is to try to solve it diplomatically and peacefully if possible. He recognizes there are some issues in the world that cannot be solved peacefully, unfortunately, sadly. But we would prefer to solve it in that manner. So I'm not going to characterize either the progress on those talks nor any time frame on it other than to tell you that if there is a diplomatic solution, we would be open to it. But obviously it can't be one that endangers our national security or one that doesn't meet our core concerns that we have. That brought us into that in the first place, and that is primarily that Iran not only has shown that they clearly have ambitions to be a nuclear weapons power, and that can never be allowed to happen, but this is also a country and a regime that's at the center of all the instability in the Middle East. So, anywhere you turn, what you find is some Iranian proxy that's undermining the peace and stability of the Middle East. That's a fundamental threat that we have to confront on top of the fact that they want nuclear weapons. This is a regime that's massacred its own people. You can only imagine what it would do to others if they possess weapons of mass destruction, which will never be allowed to happen as long as President Trump is in the White House. Just going row by row and just like, I don't know how, I'm not really, there's no rhyme or reason to it, guys. My apologies.