Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Sunday that whether Iran has decided to build a nuclear weapon is “irrelevant,” as he was pressed on the lack of evidence that Tehran has taken steps to weaponize its nuclear program.
Rubio made the comment in an interview with CBS News when asked about the fact that US intelligence has no evidence that Iran was seeking a bomb before Israel launched its war on the country.
“That’s irrelevant. I think that question being asked in the media – that’s an irrelevant question. They have everything they need to build a weapon,” Rubio said.
In March, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard said that there was no evidence that Iran decided to build a nuclear weapon, and that was still the consensus of the US intelligence community, according to multiple media reports.
Rubio pointed to the fact that Iran was enriching uranium at 60%, which is still below the 90% needed for weapons-grade, as evidence that Iran has the capability to build a bomb, since it could quickly increase to the 90% level.
Iran had made clear when it was engaged in negotiations with the US that it was willing to bring its enrichment level back down to 3.67%, but the US decided to back an Israeli attack instead of pursuing such a deal and ultimately bombed three Iranian nuclear facilities.
Iran took the step to start enriching uranium at 60% in 2021 following an Israeli sabotage attack on its Natanz nuclear facility, which was meant to disrupt negotiations between the Biden administration and Iran that were ongoing at the time.
