McCaul Discusses Admin's Efforts to Prevent a Nuclear Iran with Secretary Rubio

WASHINGTON - At today's House Foreign Affairs Committee hearing, Chairman Emeritus Michael McCaul (R-Texas) discussed the administration's efforts to prevent a nuclear Iran with Secretary of State Marco Rubio. McCaul highlighted how, despite every president's assertion that a nuclear Iran is unacceptable, the Trump administration is the first to back those words with action.

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Full exchange:

McCaul: Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Let me thank you for your service, Secretary, I know you're wearing a lot of hats, a lot of responsibilities. I think you're doing an outstanding job. Let me just say since 1979, a dark veil of terror descended upon the Middle East, and we've had it ever since. And every president since that time has said that a nuclear Iran is not acceptable. And every Congress has said that.

In fact, last Congress, when I was chairman of this committee, I passed a resolution that said that a nuclear Iran was unacceptable and that the U.S. must use "any means necessary" to prevent them from obtaining a nuclear weapon. The vast majority of Democrats voted for this [and] almost all Republicans. It passed the House floor. A resolution stating that that is not acceptable.

We've had a lot of talk in these congresses and in prior administrations - a lot of talk - but we haven't had a whole lot of action. Your administration, you, sir, and the president, have taken action on this very dire, dangerous situation we find ourselves in with Iran [attempting to obtain] a nuclear weapon.

I also want to applaud you for your efforts in this Western Hemisphere. A free Venezuela, a free people. Possibly, one day, a free Cuba. And people don't realize Iran is in this hemisphere, and Russia is in this hemisphere. China is in this hemisphere. This is all kind of tied together in a coherent foreign policy strategy that I see. So I wanted to give you the time, sir, to respond to that because, again, [prior administrations were] all talk and no action. But you, sir, have put this into action.

Rubio: Thank you. Well, before I address that, the ranking member made accusations against the president, which I've never heard before, but number one, are completely false. Not once - just to be clear, not a single time, not even for a millisecond - has the president ever discussed his personal economics in relation to war or any public policy that he's made for that matter. And I've been in every one of his foreign policy meetings for the most part.

As to your point, what we need to understand is exactly what you just said. It's not just that we say they can't have a nuclear weapon; everyone says they can't have a nuclear weapon. The Chinese say they can't have a nuclear weapon. The Russians agree they couldn't have a nuclear weapon. But at a point, you have to do something about it.

What Iran was trying to do was build a conventional shield of drones and missiles and a navy and capabilities. At some point they would say to the world, "Now we're [going to] get a nuclear weapon, and you can't do anything about it because we have so many weapons and so many drones and so many naval vessels that the price we will inflict on you for trying to do something about it makes us untouchable, makes us immune." And the president was not going to allow them to build a conventional shield behind which they can develop their nuclear program.

Today, the Iranian Navy sits at the bottom of the sea. They do not have a navy; it no longer exists. They have no air force either. Their missile launchers have been significantly degraded. Their defense industrial base has suffered upwards of 80 to 90 percent attrition. It will take years for them to rebuild it.

Those are facts. That is the reality. That was the purpose of Epic Fury; it achieved its purpose in degrading that conventional shield. And it has brought them to the negotiation table that hopefully will lead to the point where Iran will give up its enrichment ambitions, will turn over their highly enriched uranium, will stop sponsoring terrorism around the world.

McCaul: You know, I think the goal should be the fulfillment of the Abraham Accords. We know why October 7th happened - because Israel and Saudi are getting very, very close, and in Iran's perspective, dangerously close, to a normalization agreement. And what did Iran do? They lit up their proxies. They lit up their proxies to stop that from happening.

I do foresee a free Iran. I do foresee a free Venezuela and a free Cuba. But you have to start somewhere. And I think we're taking the steps so that future generations will thank us for these actions.

Rubio: Look, we would love to see a change in Iran and that they be governed by the people, but that was not the goal of our mission. The goal of our mission was to take away their ability to threaten the region with an overwhelming number of missiles and drones that would basically make them immune to any sort of external pressure. And then they could break out to a nuclear weapon. That was the goal; it achieved that from a military perspective.

The reality of it remains that it's not just us; the entire world says they can't have a nuclear weapon, but no one wanted to do anything about it. And I can tell you this: they are not going to have a nuclear weapons program at least as long as President Trump is in the White House. That's been made clear to everyone in the administration from the very top down. It was the motivation behind these actions, and it's the reason why we engaged the way we did.

McCaul: Well, I want to thank you again in the last 10 seconds for your service. I would hope we could unify as a nation behind this. I would hope our allies would unify behind us on this because they've all said it as we've said it in the past, and yet it was all talk and no action.