FULL PRESSER: Marco Rubio on Iran War, Russia-Ukraine Peace Talks and China at G7 Summit — AC1G

[0:05] all right you guys ready so we had a good g7 meeting obviously uh hosted by some partners [0:11] as well that came from saudi arabia and brazil and egypt and south korea we talked about a couple [0:18] things today just to bring you up to speed first of all in the situation the middle east in [0:21] particular the straits of hormuz you know i informed our partners as we've been discussing [0:26] with you and others that at this point the economic campaign and the pressure and the [0:32] devastation that our economic campaign is having on the iranian regime is working so well that the [0:39] president really doesn't have any need to conduct major combat operations now obviously if iran [0:44] crosses certain red lines if their regime does certain things that should not happen i'm not [0:49] going to speculate what those are but you know what they are obviously the u.s military the most capable [0:54] military in the world stands ready to address it but as of now there's really no need for major combat [0:59] operations any longer because the blockade and the economic sanctions are doing devastation to [1:05] their economy and it's sad you know the iranian people deserve better than to be a third world [1:09] country which is where their leadership is taking them but that's what their leaders have brought [1:13] upon them in addition i reported back to them and just got an update just a few moments ago it looks [1:18] like the talks in abu dhabi were very productive i think the most important thing obviously there's a lot [1:22] of work to be done in that regard it's not like something that's on the verge of being solved in the [1:26] next 24 hours or anything like that but what's really important is that the europeans are at [1:31] the table they'll be discussing with our people they've been working very closely with jared and [1:35] steve who are there on every step along the way and it's actually our goal at some point to expand [1:41] this trilateral so it's not just the u.s ukraine and russia but also that the europeans be represented [1:46] at that table directly with these talks so hopefully they'll be i think they put out a joint statement [1:51] today with the european partners that are there alongside our team and obviously in the days [1:56] to come perhaps we can make some progress on including them in that front um so that was the [2:01] the main focus today of the talks was about the middle east and about ukraine and i thought it was [2:05] a good meeting and we'll see many of them uh in december in durant mr secretary uh your counterpart [2:13] at the department of war he had defended himself against the articles of impeachment i wonder if you can [2:20] confidently say the secretary headsets actions and orders on the iran war on drug boat strikes on the [2:26] capture of maduro on actions against yemen have been entirely lawful yeah the president united states [2:33] is the commander-in-chief and he has a right to defend this country and to address imminent threats [2:38] that pose a threat to the united states and he's done so i don't know how anyone could argue that drug [2:42] dealers trying to import poison into our country is not an imminent threat it's a real and imminent [2:46] threat and it's been addressed we've discussed iran extensively and the threat they've posed to the [2:51] united states not in the last year since 1979 a threat that's grown in the case of nicholas maduro that [2:57] was in many cases a law enforcement operation because he was a fugitive of american justice who [3:01] was captured and brought to justice and by the way had the ancillary uh impact of also opening and paving [3:07] the path for venezuela to have a better future um so as i said the the on all those things not only [3:14] that the pete execute on a direct order from the commander-in-chief in our constitution is is empowered [3:20] and trusted with the job of keeping americans safe but they did it quite effectively on all those fronts [3:26] just the secretary on that man you said that there's no need for any major military campaign [3:32] right now because the blockade is working not just the blockade sanctions yeah they're truly devastating [3:38] um so where does that leave us status quo no not status quo the economic pressure is going to get [3:45] even worse i mean understand that these sanctions begin to compound so for example iran still has a small [3:50] number of just a handful of barrels of oil left on the water that got past the blockade when there was the [3:56] mou and that brief ceasefire period once that dries up almost all of their oil revenue will dry up [4:01] there's other sanctions of asians tools that they're choosing like there's other things that [4:04] iran is trying to do to get around the sanctions but scott besson and the treasury department working [4:09] alongside our intelligence agencies and others keep closing those off so the economic pain that is [4:14] being inflicted on iran right now and on that regime is extraordinary and it compounds it's growing [4:19] every day like these sanctions they get worse over time they get more painful as time goes on [4:24] and it's all brought about by the fact that this radical regime of lunatics is imposing this on [4:28] their own people they're destroying their own country in how they're doing it and it's been so [4:32] effective you know the president has taken the time he's consulted with regional leaders he's heard [4:36] input from people throughout the middle east and around the world and based on the input he's getting [4:40] from all of our partners in the region and beyond it's clear that at this time there's no need for [4:44] major combat operations because the economic campaign that's being waged by the department of treasury [4:51] alongside others is devastating it's going very well there's no need to disrupt that at this [4:55] point so what does that leave room for does that leave room for negotiations i mean you think with [5:00] this economic devastation iran is ready to come back to the negotiating table oh i think iran would [5:06] iran would love a deal the problem is the conditions they continue to place are absurd like they're not [5:10] even serious right now so but that could change certainly i mean the pain that they're feeling is [5:14] eventually you have to eat eventually you have to be able to pay your own fighters and your own security [5:18] forces and so forth eventually the economic realities penetrate the skull of even the most [5:23] radical lunatic so i think as time goes on i mean that that will have an impact but um yeah the u.s [5:29] always stands ready if there's a real deal to be done we're open and there's countries out there that [5:33] are engaged the qataris were in washington yesterday the prime minister met with the president we've had [5:37] discussions with them ongoing and they and other countries continue to try to act as mediaries trying [5:41] to float ideas back and forth we're not discouraging them from doing it you know if there's a deal to be [5:46] done it the president will be the first one to be in favor of it but it's not going to be a stupid [5:49] deal it's not going to be a bad deal otherwise we'll you know they'll just continue to impoverish [5:53] themselves how can you describe the differences at the moment between the point of view for the [5:59] u.s and the european partners regarding the war in ukraine the differences between the point of view [6:06] i don't think there's a difference i mean i think we have the same interest in mind and [6:09] it's two our goals are the same we want the war to end and we want there never to be a war again [6:13] so that requires the not just ending the war but also ensuring that ukraine never again feels [6:19] threatened for its security we all share the same goal and then the question is how do you construct [6:23] that how do you come up with something that achieves both of those goals and they're interrelated [6:27] so i think we share the same goal and i think the one thing i would point to is that [6:31] and i heard from my colleagues there's always this concern in europe that they're going to be left out [6:34] that america's going to cut some deal with russia and leaves europe out of the equation well europe's at [6:38] the table they're with us they're right alongside us they've got representatives there are five [6:43] countries in the eu that are in abu dhabi as we speak and as our negotiators have made clear we [6:48] think the trilateral should eventually include our european partners at the table as well because they [6:53] are a part of solving this problem for the long term [6:58] it sounds a bit like you're making an argument in the middle east for the status quo and i mean you [7:03] mentioned you're a gold ally but what i've heard repeatedly one of the worst scenarios is they want [7:09] a diplomatic solution and it's devastating to them economically to help the insecurity of the current [7:16] situation so what would you say oh it's not the status quo because the economic pain we're imposing on [7:20] iran will get worse not better in essence it's going to continue to increment so it's not going [7:25] to be it's going to be worse for iran in a month and in two months and in three months than it is now [7:34] yeah i mean right now i mean look we're not going to pay iran you know is demanding reparations they [7:39] should be the ones paying reparations because they're the ones that have you know destabilized [7:43] the region for long periods of time uh they're demanding pallets of cash which the president's [7:47] made clear is not going to happen uh if they want a nuclear energy program they should have one like [7:52] many other countries around the world have so there's things they can do and can but just right [7:56] now they just don't seem you know at that point now i think they want a deal there's no doubt they'd [8:00] like a deal too but they're just not ready to make one apparently but we're open to a little [8:03] changes but i don't think status quo is the right way to phrase this a status quo means that things [8:07] are going to stay static they're not they're going to continue to grow what i'm saying to you is [8:11] that the economic campaign is so devastating that right now there really is no need for major combat [8:16] operations the president has basically said that over the last few days and that's what i told our [8:21] allies here today well i don't know we haven't heard that their economies are devastated their oil is [8:34] getting out i mean we can and in fact we encourage other countries to join us in the effort to protect [8:39] shipping in the end the iranians are still launching you know a couple drones a night trying to sink [8:43] commercial vessels but oil is getting out on some nights it's you know 80 85 percent of what was [8:49] getting out pre-conflict and the reason why it's not 100 is because the iranian oil is not getting [8:53] out the only oil that's not getting out consistently through the streets of hormuz is iranian oil now [8:58] it'd be better if they weren't having a handful of drones fired at them every other day but we'll [9:02] continue to defend and we've actually encouraged our partners to join us in the effort of defending global [9:06] shipping we shouldn't have to defend global shipping but in this particular case because the irgc is is [9:13] intent upon trying to you know sink these ships we'll continue to do that and been doing it quite [9:17] effectively given the uh given the history of iran lashing out of his neighbors that the economic [9:24] sanctions and the blockade having a real bite on their economy will cause them again to lash out [9:30] against civilian infrastructure i mean if they if they do that then they'll pay a terrible price i mean [9:34] if iran decides to escalate and they decide to initiate military action i don't need to tell you what [9:39] will happen as a result of it all i'm saying to you is that right now the economic pressure on iran [9:43] is so devastating and is working so well that the president's concluded that for the time being [9:48] there's no need for major combat operations because we're achieving the same objective [9:51] through economic means while we defend shipping and we impose the blockade which is like a historic [9:56] blockade no one's ever seen anything like it israelis every very how about the israelis agree with i [10:01] mean i don't i don't know what their viewpoint is on it in this regard obviously the and i'm not going to [10:05] speak for the israeli government i'm telling you what the american position is did you get any kind [10:11] of a response on what i mean from the g7 when you raised this with presumably the french and the [10:17] germans and the italians the idea of helping on the on the street no i raised it i didn't get a response [10:23] no okay so they're still stuck in the well i think part of the challenge yeah look i mean part of the [10:28] challenge we have is there's countries out there that say well we're ready to provide forces to help [10:33] defend shipping once there's no risk of conflict but if there was risk of conflict we wouldn't [10:37] need them so it's kind of a catch-22 look we're going to continue to do it we've done it quite [10:41] effectively we think it's in their interest frankly we think it's in the interest of the world to [10:45] protect shipping because the u.s doesn't get any oil from there that's our we don't rely on middle east [10:50] energy to for our own economy so i think these countries should step up i think a couple of [10:54] thinking about it to be honest but you didn't get anything well i don't think the foreign ministers are in [10:58] a position to make those commitments to be honest those are probably would have to be made by the heads of [11:02] their government so why do you find saying the russian the russian negotiators in abu dhabi thus [11:07] far that they are serious about bringing you know the commitment to bringing them to the world well [11:12] that's what we're testing obviously that's i mean we're it's good that they're there that's what we're [11:16] testing i'm just informing i'm not there in abu dhabi so i can't speak to their body language or their [11:21] attitude towards it all i can say is they showed up they're there they agreed that the trilateral [11:25] and and i'm reporting to you that you know our european allies who are so involved in this and care a lot [11:30] about it we're there as well they're not at the table yet but we think they should be and i think [11:34] this trilateral eventually will be expanded to include them in order to arrive at a final [11:39] agreement here sorry just back to iran why is it staling on the iran war beneficial to the united [11:44] states it's not a stalemate you call it a stalemate i know it's not a stalemate how is it a stalemate the [11:48] united states is imposing extraordinary damaging uh effects through our sanctions and other measures in [11:54] the blockade on the iranian uh economy that every month continues to collapse what is their inflation [12:00] rate is at three or four hundred percent now i don't know how that's a stalemate they're bleeding [12:04] they're bleeding economically well we're open to diplomacy you're asking me what's happening [12:10] today and i'm telling you that the iranian demands are totally unrealistic we expect that [12:13] could change and if it does we'll be prepared for diplomacy and all i'm saying and and on the [12:18] economic front is we don't need to conduct military strikes if we're achieving the same objective [12:22] through economic means and economic pressure but that's not a stalemate that's actually not that's [12:26] the contrary of the stalemate it is an increased pressure on iran that continues to grow every [12:31] day if you put a sanction on them today it hurts but it hurts more and more as every day goes by [12:36] because they're losing money every day and that begins to compound so that's not a stalemate on [12:40] the contrary that's growing pressure on them that this economic pressure is putting how does that [12:44] further you mean their nuclear program well they need money for a nuclear program they need money in order [12:48] to fund terrorism they for everything they do around the world be it their support of hamas hezbollah [12:53] the mashiach militias their efforts to kill people all over the world their cyber activities their [12:58] nuclear program all these things cost money the less money they have available to them the less money [13:03] they can use to fund all their malign and nefarious activity is there a threshold [13:08] how unified is the administration no but the president united states makes these decisions [13:16] i mean ultimately our job is to execute now you know on the president's orders now the president [13:21] takes a lot of input from people in his administration he takes input and ideas from our partners and our [13:26] allies around the world to outside experts to the people he talks to but in the end the decision is [13:30] the president and once the president chooses a direction it's our job in this administration to [13:35] execute on the president's direction the iranians have continued to attack shipping going through [13:39] the strait is there a threshold beyond which attacks lead to a military i'm not going to [13:44] speculate on any thresholds the president talked about last night our military is capable and ready [13:49] at any moment if necessary to conduct devastating attacks but we don't see the need for it now because [13:53] the truth of the matter is that the economic pressure we put on them is incredibly effective [13:58] incredibly devastating and we have reason to believe that it's having a true impact on them internally [14:03] and that will play itself out in the weeks and months to come how about china the big gap here [14:07] is the chinese purchases of iranian oil well there won't be much oil to purchasing i mean the only [14:12] oil they can purchase is the oil that's out on the water and there's not much of it left let me ask [14:17] another china question if i may uh can you talk about the state of discussions with the chinese [14:22] on ai guard rails have there been serious talks since the last presidential level there's been you [14:29] expect them to continue yeah after well i think there's been conversation yeah but it should be [14:35] an issue that we raise at the summit i'm sure it'll be an issue among all the leaders are there at apex [14:40] not just the u.s and the chinese on a bilateral basis and i'm certain it'll be a topic at g20 as well [14:45] where the chinese will be present um i know there's been conversations with them sort of at a [14:50] technical level but we don't have anything to announce on it obviously we've heard their perspective [14:55] they've heard ours but that's still a work in progress and what about this client story make [14:59] you concerned about being able to trust the chinese on these issues that they're they're not playing [15:03] straight what do you mean well there are allegations of chinese spying related to trying to acquire uh [15:10] information about nvidia's practices does that color the way you feel about talks with them i think [15:17] well let me just say i think that the chinese system is always going to act in the best interest of [15:22] the chinese system and the united states will always act in the best interest of the united [15:25] states so we're going to do whatever it takes i work for the american people the president represents [15:29] and work for the american people we are always going to be on the american side of every issue [15:33] now we understand the chinese are going to be on the chinese side of every issue the difference [15:37] between this president and previous administrations is sometimes other presidents forgot and other [15:42] administrations and other people in the role that i play now have forgotten that we work for america we [15:46] don't work for the global order we don't work for other countries we work for the united states [15:51] and so on policy matters such as this or anything other whether it's our bilateral relation with [15:55] the country the status of ai we are always going to be in favor of what's good for america and [15:59] americans beyond and above everything else and that will often put us in conflict or in disagreement [16:04] with other countries including china so we're realistic and open-eyed about it but i work for america [16:10] we're always going to and the president fights for america and so we're always going to be on the american [16:14] side of every issue what's the status of the uh the um trilateral talks between the us russia and china [16:22] right now trump said those talks might include denuclearization is that something that china is [16:26] open to ahead of his summit well i don't want to characterize what they're open to or not suffice [16:30] it to say that i think there's an intent to have that meeting we're working to organize it and to frame [16:34] it in the appropriate way and hopefully you know we'll have some news for you about that fairly soon [16:38] but i don't have an announcement on it today other than to tell you what's already been stated which is [16:42] that the president wants that meeting to happen if it's possible we think it should be possible [16:46] and that among the topics he believes that should be discussed is the status of nuclear weapons in [16:50] the world which the president thinks its proliferation is very dangerous the egyptian foreign minister was [16:56] uh president today you weighed 320 million dollars of uh military assistance to egypt's weighting [17:05] years since then there's been a very big crackdown on independent journalism in egypt um is that something [17:10] raised with your addiction capital well we didn't discuss it today but egypt is also i mean like [17:15] anything else in foreign policy there's always a balancing act to further the national interest [17:19] of the united states and in the end egypt has been a reliable and good defense partner of the united [17:24] states uh every you know we've made requests of them in the past that are key to our national security [17:29] and they've complied and so i think decisions that we make reflect that that doesn't mean you agree [17:34] with everything another government does you may have and i'm not opining about the journalists i'm just [17:39] saying in general there may be things you don't agree with but at the end of the day when you make [17:43] a mature foreign policy it requires you to balance those things particularly when a country you've [17:48] made requests of them that are important for us and they've complied with it and so they've proven to [17:52] be you know good reliable partners on a number of fronts there are reports that the u.s evacuated some [17:58] military aircraft from another airbase yeah i have to refer you to the department of war on that i mean i saw [18:04] like a headline somewhere about it but i can't comment on the decisions they make other than to say that [18:09] all i will say to you is we're we are constantly repositioning forces around the world for a [18:13] variety of reasons so i don't want to speak to a specific report i have to refer you to the [18:17] department of war on that i've been here so you're going to run um you talked about their bleeding uh [18:23] do you have a timeline for you know how long the iranian regime can hold on and if the end game [18:29] regime collapse or does the regime come to the table with that no the i think the way to look at it is you [18:34] you do bad things bad things will happen to you that's the way to read it and at the end of the [18:38] bad things are happening to the iranian economy and it's unfortunate the people of iran deserve [18:42] better they don't but but it's their own leaders that are imposing this on them you know this is [18:47] not a country that in the past for example when obama gave them sanctions relief they didn't use [18:51] that money to build up hospitals roads bridges and universities they used that money to build weapons [18:55] and arm proxies in the region to attack us and other countries so it's unfortunate that they have to [19:00] be punished for that and that the iranian people ultimately pay the price but that's because [19:04] they have really bad lunatic leaders so um we just have to deal with that reality but you know [19:10] for bad behavior there will be a there'll be consequences there has to be otherwise countries [19:14] wouldn't like these regimes like this will do whatever they want there's been sanctions for many [19:18] years not like these the embargo has been on for quite a few months now like is there a timeline [19:23] no no it hasn't been on for a few months so for example the blockade [19:26] uh that was initiated then it was stopped as part of the mou that they themselves violated [19:31] they violated the mou they they canceled the mou by attacking shipping again so if you look at the [19:36] blockade they got oil out during the mou period that oil that's now on the water is almost out so [19:42] at that point they won't have any revenue so you say sanctions have been in place never has iran ever [19:46] faced the inability to sell energy in the global market like they are today they've never faced this [19:52] and other things that we're doing which i can't discuss that are having a huge impact on them [19:55] economically the mou was the mou a mistake well i think the mou was a good faith effort i guess to [20:02] sort of try to figure out diplomatic means but i think it confirmed for me and for others who you're [20:05] dealing with here in the end they violated the mou they insisted that uh an end to the conflict in [20:12] lebanon before the ceasefire is that one of the demands you consider absurd or is that something [20:17] well why would we negotiate lebanon with iran what does iran have to do with lebanon [20:20] i mean they can claim whatever they want but lebanon is its own country to figure out the [20:26] future of lebanon we'll deal with lebanon not with iran now i think by saying that to you they're [20:31] admitting that they are the ones that are behind hezbollah that has destroyed that country everything [20:35] bad that's happened to lebanon has been the direct result of hezbollah's presence there [20:39] we deal with the lebanese government we deal with president ayun we deal with the lebanese armed [20:43] forces that's who we did an agreement with israel and lebanon with so um why would we talk to iran [20:50] about lebanon it's none of their business well we already we've already been engaged i don't know [20:58] if you've tracked this but we've already been engaged in peace negotiations directly between lebanon and [21:03] the israelis that's created the pilot zones in the south where iran the israelis are pulling back from [21:10] regions and the lab is taking over them and we want we've been on top of that and want that to [21:13] continue to happen we are actively now trying to construct a verification model for that so that [21:18] trusted verifiers can verify that both sides are complying but this is an issue we're going to [21:23] we're going to work as mediators between lebanon and israel not iran iran has no role to play when [21:28] it comes to lebanon other than stop sponsoring and supporting hezbollah because hezbollah has [21:33] done tremendous damage to the state of lebanon and to the people of lebanon [21:36] can you discuss with your saudi counterpart the second front kind of that the uh houthis have [21:42] opened with their attacks on uh aramco on riyadh airport on all of these oh we i mean we didn't [21:48] discuss it here in depth we've discussed it plenty with them quite a bit yeah absolutely i mean and [21:52] we're concerned about that obviously and we and others you know we have defense agreements with [21:56] with uh saudi arabia and we're living up to those commitments and other countries are involved in [22:01] supporting them as well but it's another point to be made if you guys go through the middle east talk about [22:05] all the instability in the middle east houthis the militias in in iraq hezbollah hamas um the [22:14] civil war that occurred in syria that almost destroyed that country uh all of what do these [22:19] things all have in common behind every single one of these destabilizing activities in the middle east [22:24] there's one common denominator the iranian regime they are behind all the instability in the region they [22:29] are the source of instability in the region and i think the countries of the region realize that as [22:33] well saudi arabia others realize it as well but yeah we're troubled by what we see with the houthi [22:38] engagement what's happening with the houthis and it's it's a real problem and i think the saudi's [22:42] know who behind who's behind it it's not ultimately the houthis wouldn't even exist were it not for [22:46] iranian support so um that said it's something we'll continue to help them with and hopefully can be solved [22:52] okay guys let's go home thank you