00:01All right, you guys ready?
00:03So we had a good G7 meeting, obviously hosted by some partners as well that came from Saudi
00:08Arabia and Brazil and Egypt and South Korea.
00:13We talked about a couple things today just to bring you up to speed.
00:16First of all, in the situation in the Middle East, in particular the Straits of Hormuz,
00:20I informed our partners, as we've been discussing with you and others, that at this point, the
00:25economic campaign and the pressure and the devastation that our economic campaign is
00:31having on the Iranian regime is working so well that the President really doesn't have
00:36any need to conduct major combat operations.
00:39Now, obviously, if Iran crosses certain red lines, if their regime does certain things
00:44that should not happen, and I'm not going to speculate what those are, but you know what
00:47they are, obviously the U.S. military, the most capable military in the world, stands
00:52ready to address it.
00:53But as of now, there's really no need for major combat operations any longer because
00:57the blockade and the economic sanctions are doing devastation to their economy.
01:02And it's sad.
01:03You know, the Iranian people deserve better than to be a third world country, which is
01:06where their leadership is taking them.
01:08But that's what their leaders have brought upon them.
01:10In addition, I reported back to them and just got an update just a few moments ago.
01:14It looks like the talks in Abu Dhabi were very productive.
01:16I think the most important thing, obviously, there's a lot of work to be done in that regard.
01:20It's not like something that's on the verge of being solved in the next 24 hours or anything
01:24like that.
01:24But what's really important is that the Europeans are at the table.
01:28They'll be discussing with our people.
01:30They've been working very closely with Jared and Steve, who are there on every step along
01:34the way.
01:35And it's actually our goal at some point to expand this trilateral.
01:38So it's not just the U.S., Ukraine, and Russia, but also that the Europeans be represented at
01:42that table directly with these talks.
01:45So hopefully they'll be – I think they put out a joint statement today with the European
01:49partners that are there alongside our team.
01:51And obviously, in the days to come, perhaps we can make some progress on including them
01:54in that front.
01:56So that was the main focus today of the talks, was about the Middle East and about Ukraine.
02:00And I thought it was a good meeting.
02:01And we'll see many of them in December in Daraa.
02:06Mr. Secretary, your counterpart at the Department of War, Pete Hegseth, just defended himself
02:13against the articles of impeachment.
02:15I wonder if you can confidently say that Secretary Hegseth's actions and orders on the Iran war,
02:21on drug boat strikes, on the capture of Maduro, on actions against Yemen have been entirely
02:27lawful.
02:28Yeah, the President of the United States is the Commander-in-Chief, and he has a right
02:32to defend this country and to address imminent threats that pose a threat to the United States,
02:35and he's done so.
02:36I don't know how anyone could argue that drug dealers trying to import poison into our country
02:40is not an imminent threat.
02:41It's a real and imminent threat, and it's been addressed.
02:44We've discussed Iran extensively and the threat they've posed to the United States, not
02:48in the last year, since 1979, a threat that's grown.
02:51In the case of Nicolas Maduro, that was, in many cases, a law enforcement operation because
02:55he was a fugitive of American justice, who was captured and brought to justice, and by
02:59the way, had the ancillary impact of also opening and paving the path for Venezuela to have a
03:05better future.
03:06So, as I said, on all those things, not only did Pete execute on a direct order from the
03:13Commander-in-Chief in our Constitution, is empowered and trusted with the job of keeping
03:19Americans safe, but they did it quite effectively on all those fronts.
03:22Mr. Secretary, on that ram, you said that there's no need for any major military campaign
03:28right now because the blockade is working.
03:30Not just the blockade, the sanctions.
03:32But the sanctions.
03:33Yeah, they're truly devastating.
03:35So, where does that leave us?
03:37Status quo?
03:38No, not status quo.
03:40The economic pressure is going to get even worse.
03:42I mean, understand that these sanctions begin to compound.
03:44So, for example, Iran still has a small number of just a handful of barrels of oil left on
03:49the water that got past the blockade when there was the MOU and that brief ceasefire
03:53period.
03:54Once that dries up, almost all of their oil revenue will dry up.
03:57There's other sanctions of Asians' tools that they're choosing.
04:00Like, there's other things that Iran is trying to do to get around the sanctions.
04:03But Scott Besson and the Treasury Department, working alongside our intelligence agencies
04:07and others, keep closing those off.
04:09So, the economic pain that is being inflicted on Iran right now and on that regime is extraordinary.
04:14And it compounds.
04:15It's growing every day.
04:16Like, these sanctions, they get worse over time.
04:18They get more painful as time goes on.
04:20And it's all brought about by the fact that this radical regime of lunatics is imposing
04:24this on their own people.
04:25They're destroying their own country in how they're doing it.
04:27And it's been so effective.
04:28You know, the President has taken the time.
04:30He's consulted with regional leaders.
04:31He's heard input from people throughout the Middle East and around the world.
04:34And based on the input he's getting from all of our partners in the region and beyond,
04:38it's clear that at this time there's no need for major combat operations because the economic
04:44campaign that's being waged by the Department of Treasury, alongside others, is devastating.
04:49It's going very well.
04:50There's no need to disrupt that at this point.
04:51So, does that leave room for negotiations?
04:56I mean, you think with this economic devastation, Iran is ready to come back to the negotiating
05:00table?
05:01Oh, I think Iran would love a deal.
05:03The problem is the conditions they continue to place are absurd.
05:06Like, they're not even serious right now.
05:07So, but that could change, certainly.
05:09I mean, the pain that they're feeling is that eventually you have to eat.
05:12Eventually you have to be able to pay your own fighters and your own security forces and
05:15so forth.
05:16Eventually the economic realities penetrate the skull of even the most radical lunatic.
05:21So, I think as time goes on, I mean, that will have an impact.
05:24But, yeah, the U.S. always stands ready.
05:26If there's a real deal to be done, we're open.
05:28And there's countries out there that are engaged.
05:30The Qataris were in Washington yesterday.
05:31The Prime Minister met with the President.
05:33We've had discussions with them ongoing.
05:34And they and other countries continue to try to act as mediaries, trying to float ideas
05:39back and forth.
05:39We're not discouraging them from doing it.
05:41You know, if there's a deal to be done, if the President will be the first one to be
05:44in favor of it, it's not going to be a stupid deal.
05:46It's not going to be a bad deal.
05:47Otherwise, you know, they'll just continue to impoverish themselves.
05:50Secretary, how would you describe the differences at the moment between the point of view for the
05:55U.S. and its European partners regarding the war in Ukraine?
05:59The differences between the differences and the point of view as to the I don't think there's
06:02a difference.
06:03I mean, I think we have the same interest in mind and is to our goals are the same.
06:07We want the war to end and we want there never to be a war again.
06:10So that requires the not just ending the war, but also ensuring that Ukraine never again
06:15feels threatened for its security.
06:17We all share the same goal.
06:18And then the question is, how do you construct that?
06:19How do you come up with something that achieves both of those goals?
06:22And they're interrelated.
06:23So I think we share the same goal.
06:25And I think the one thing I would point to is that, and I heard from my colleagues, there's
06:29always this concern in Europe that they're going to be left out.
06:31That America's going to cut some deal with Russia and leaves Europe out of the equation.
06:34Well, Europe's at the table.
06:35They're with us.
06:36They're right alongside us.
06:37They've got representatives there of five countries in the EU that are in Abu Dhabi as
06:41we speak.
06:42And as our negotiators have made clear, we think the trilaterals should eventually include
06:47our European partners at the table as well, because they are a part of solving this
06:51problem for the long term.
06:52Anything?
06:53Secretary Rubio, it sounds a bit like you're making an argument in the Middle East for the
06:57status quo.
06:58And I mean, you mentioned the Gulf allies, but what I've heard repeatedly from them is
07:02one of the worst scenarios is the status quo, because they want a diplomatic solution.
07:07And it's devastating for them economically to help the insecurity of the current situation.
07:12So what would you say to them?
07:13Oh, it's not the status quo, because the economic pain we're imposing on Iran will get worse,
07:17not better.
07:18In essence, it's going to continue to increment.
07:20So it's not going to be – it's going to be worse for Iran in a month and in two
07:23months
07:24and in three months than it is now.
07:25But do you foresee that then forcing Iran to effectively capitulate, to come to the
07:29table on the terms?
07:30Yeah.
07:30I mean, right now, I mean, look, we're not going to pay – Iran, you know, is demanding
07:34reparations.
07:35They should be the ones paying reparations, because they're the ones that have, you know,
07:38destabilized the region for long periods of time.
07:41They're demanding pallets of cash, which the President's made clear is not going to happen.
07:45If they want a nuclear energy program, they should have one like many other countries
07:49around the world have.
07:50So there's things they can do.
07:51But just right now, they just don't seem, you know, at that point.
07:54Now, I think they want a deal.
07:55There's no doubt they'd like a deal, too, but they're just not ready to make one, apparently.
07:58But we're open to it.
07:59Look, it changes.
08:00But I don't think status quo is the right way to phrase this.
08:02Status quo means that things are going to stay static.
08:04They're not.
08:05They're going to continue to grow.
08:06What I'm saying to you is that the economic campaign is so devastating that right now there
08:10really is no need for major combat operations.
08:13The President has basically said that over the last few days, and that's what I told our
08:17allies here today.
08:18But there's no need for further.
08:21Your Gulf allies are seeing their economies devastated by this ongoing situation.
08:25So what would you say to me?
08:27Well, I don't know.
08:27We haven't heard that their economies are devastated.
08:29Their oil is getting out.
08:30I mean, we can – and in fact, we encourage other countries to join us in the effort to protect
08:34shipping.
08:35In the end, the Iranians are still launching, you know, a couple drones a night trying to
08:39sink commercial vessels.
08:40But oil is getting out on some nights.
08:42It's, you know, 80, 85 percent of what was getting out pre-conflict.
08:46And the reason why it's not 100 percent is because the Iranian oil is not getting out.
08:49The only oil that's not getting out consistently through the Straits of Hormuz is Iranian oil.
08:53Now, it'd be better if they weren't having a handful of drones fired at them every other
08:57day, but we'll continue to defend.
08:59And we've actually encouraged our partners to join us in the effort of defending global shipping.
09:03We shouldn't have to defend global shipping.
09:05But in this particular case, because the IRGC is intent upon trying to, you know, sink
09:11these ships, we'll continue to do that.
09:13We've been doing it quite effectively.
09:14Secretary.
