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US Secretary of State Marco Rubio held an exclusive interview with Fox News in which he said that Iran were all hardliners: “But there are hardliners who understand they have to run a country and an economy, and there are hardliners that are completely motivated by theology – the hardliners that are motivated by theology are not just the IRGC officials, but obviously the Supreme Leader and the council that surrounds him,” he said.
Rubio said If Iran were just a radical country that was run by radical people, it would still be a problem, but they are revolutionary, so in essence, they seek to expand end export their revolution, not just with what they do in Iran, which is way they’re with Hezbollah in Lebanon, and that’s why they’ve supported Hamas and the militias in Iraq: “They don’t just seek to dominate Iran, they seek to dominate the region, and imagine that with a nuclear weapon,” he said.
“The Strait of Hormuz is basically the equivalent of an economic nuclear weapon and they’re trying to use it against the world, and they’re bragging about it, they’re putting up billboards in Tehran and bragging about how they can hold 20% of the world’s energy hostage, now imagine if those same people had access to a nuclear weapon – they would hold the whole region hostage,” he claimed.
Rubio said the level of sanctions on Iran is extraordinary, the pressure on Iran is extraordinary, and he thought more can be brought to bear: “I hope in the aftermath of this conflict, the whole world’s eyes have opened to the threat Iran poses,” Rubio said, adding that the blockade is not a blockade against shipping in general: “It’s a blockade against Iranian shippi9ng, because they cannot be the sole beneficiaries of an illegal, unlawful, and unjustified system of tolling and control in the straits.”
Fox’s Trey Yingst asked Rubio how you walk the line between targeting infrastructure in Iran that hurts the regime but doesn’t hurt the civilian population that the US were trying to win over, to which Rubio replied that the first thing is always intent: “Our desire is not to hurt the people of Iran, we have no problem with the people of Iran – Frankly, we wish the voices of the people of Iran were heard, as opposed to leaving 30,000 or 40,000 of them murdered on the streets.”
Rubio said that the targets will always be things that support the regime directly: “Obviously, there might be a road or a plant or a factory somewhere that also benefits the economy, but its primary role is to benefit the regime and its security apparatus,” he said, adding: “I think the Iranians are serious about getting themselves out of the mess they’re in, [because] all the problems that Iran had before the start of this conflict are still in place, and most of them are worse – and now they have half the missiles, none of the factories, and no navy.”
