00:00Secretary Rubio, thank you for talking to Al Jazeera.
00:02You're speaking to a global...
00:03Let me start by asking you this.
00:05Have formal talks begun with Iran,
00:07or are they still in direct communications,
00:10exploring common ground?
00:12And I think the president always prefers diplomacy,
00:14always prefers an outcome.
00:16And we could have done this before.
00:17I mean, imagine an Iranian regime
00:19who, instead of spending billions of dollars
00:21supporting terrorist groups and building up all these weapons,
00:24had invested that money into Iran.
00:26The main demands for Iran at this particular stage...
00:30Well, Iran can never...
00:32The Iranian regime can never...
00:33What they want is nuclear energy.
00:34There are multiple countries in the region
00:36that have or will soon have nuclear energy,
00:38and they're going to do it through a well-established mechanism
00:41that everyone else has agreed to,
00:42and that is that you allow imported fuel to...
00:45You import the fuel,
00:47and that fuel is used to power up your power grid
00:50and provide energy resources for your people.
00:52Consider to be the minimum concession from Tehran
00:56to bring this conflict to an end.
00:58What they cannot have is a system
00:59that allows them to quickly weaponize it.
01:01They have to stop making all of these drones
01:03and all of these missiles.
01:04We saw recently where they've lied.
01:06They said they didn't have long-range missiles,
01:08and then they fired two.
01:10The Strait of Hormuz is secure enough
01:12to restart the flow of oil and gas into global markets.
01:17Also, recognition of its sovereignty over the Strait of Hormuz.
01:21The Strait of Hormuz will be open.
01:22When this operation is over, it will be open,
01:25and it will be open one way or another.
01:26It will be open because Iran agrees to abide by international law
01:29and not block the commercial waterway,
01:31or a coalition of nations from around the world
01:34and the region with the participation of the United States
01:36will make sure that it's open.
01:38One way or the other, it's going to be open.
01:39The Strait of Hormuz is not going to be the only focal point for you
01:43because with the Houthis stepping in and firing besides into Israel...
01:46But we have very clear objectives that we're trying to achieve here.
01:49Those objectives are the destruction of their air force,
01:51which has been achieved, the destruction of their navy,
01:54which has largely been achieved,
01:56a significant reduction in the number of missile launchers that they have,
01:59which we're well on our way to achieving.
02:01And we are going to destroy the factories that make those missiles
02:03and those drones that they are using to attack their neighbors
02:06and the United States and our presence in the region.
02:09The cities bombed almost on a daily basis and they're looking for a clear path.
02:13Our objectives here from the very beginning had nothing to do with the leadership,
02:18but would we love to see a difference?
02:19Do we think the people of Iran deserve better leadership
02:22than what they've gotten from the clerical regime?
02:24One hundred percent.
02:25Would we be heartbroken if there was a change in leadership?
02:28Absolutely not.
02:29The EU and NATO countries betrayed the U.S. at this crucial moment.
02:32One of the reasons why NATO is beneficial to the United States
02:37is it gives us basing rights for contingencies.
02:40It allows us to station troops and aircraft and weapons
02:43in parts of the world that we wouldn't normally have bases.
02:48And that includes in much of Europe.
02:50And to see that in a time of need the United States has identified
02:53a grave risk to our national security and our national interests
02:55and we needed to conduct this operation.
02:57And we have countries like Spain, a NATO member,
03:00that we are pledged to defend, denying us the use of their airspace
03:03and bragging about it, denying us the use of their bases.
03:07And there are other countries that have done that as well.
03:09Platforms reaching viewers across the Middle East,
03:12including Qatar, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates,
03:15Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, and Iran.
03:18And so you ask yourself, well, what is in it for the United States?
03:21And I've been a big supporter of NATO.
03:22And one of the reasons why I've been a supporter of NATO
03:25is because I believe that these basing rights give us leverage
03:28and give us flexibility and operational capability all over the world.
03:33But if NATO is just about us defending Europe, if they're attacked,
03:36but them denying us basing rights when we need them,
03:38that's not a very good arrangement.
03:40That's a hard one to stay engaged in and say this is good for the United States.
03:44So all of them is going to have to be reexamined.
03:47...which doesn't seem to be really willing to team up with NATO
03:50when it comes to moving forward in Europe.
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