‘Irrelevant!’ Rubio Battles CBS’s Margaret Brennan on Iran’s Nuclear Capability in Heated Debate

Secretary of State Marco Rubio battled CBS’s Margaret Brennan, Sunday, about whether Iran’s supreme leader had ordered nuclear weaponization ahead of Saturday night’s U.S. military strike on three Iranian nuclear sites.

In a heated debate on Face the Nation, Brennan confronted the secretary about whether U.S. intelligence confirmed that Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Hosseini Khamenei had ordered nuclear weaponization.

“Are you saying that the United States did not see intelligence that the Supreme Leader had ordered weaponization?”

“That’s irrelevant!” Rubio replied. “I see that question being asked in the media all the time. That’s an irrelevant question. They have everything they need to build a weapon.”

“That is the key point in U.S. intelligence assessments,” Brennan said.

“No, it’s not!” Rubio shot back.

“Yes, it was,” Brennan replied.

“I know that better than you know that,” Rubio said. “And I know that’s not the case.”

“I’m asking you whether the order was given,” Brennan said.

“It doesn’t matter if the order was given!” Rubio said. “They have everything they need to build nuclear weapons. Why would you bury things in a mountain 300 feet under the ground? … Why do they have 60 percent enriched uranium? You don’t need 60 percent enriched uranium. The only countries in the world that have uranium at 60 percent are countries that have nuclear weapons.”

Brennan went on to reference Congressional testimony from Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard that the supreme leader had not authorized a nuclear weapons program. Gabbard, on March 26, testified before a House Select Committee that Iran was not constructing a nuclear weapon.

“The IC continues to assess that Iran is not building a nuclear weapon and Supreme Leader Khomeini has not authorized the nuclear weapons program that he suspended in 2003,” Gabbard said. “We continue to monitor closely if Tehran decides to reauthorize its nuclear weapons program.”

President Donald Trump has since rejected Gabbard’s testimony — insisting that Iran was “very close” in its pursuit of nuclear weapons.

“I don’t care what she said,” Trump told reporters on Monday.

Brennan followed up with Secretary Rubio about Gabbard’s testimony.

“I’m talking about the public March assessment,” Brennan said. “And that’s why I was asking you if you know something more from March.”

“That’s an inaccurate and representation of it,” Rubio repleid. “That’s not how intelligence is read. That’s not how intelligence is used. Here’s what the whole world knows: Forget about intelligence, what the IAEA knows. They are enriching uranium well beyond anything you need for a civil nuclear program. So why would you enrich uranium at 60 percent if you don’t intend to one day use it to take it to 90 and build a weapon? Why are you developing ICBMs? Why do you have 8,000 short-range missiles, and 2,000 to 3,000 long mid-range missiles that you continue to develop? Why do you do all these things? They have everything they need for a nuclear weapon. They have the delivery mechanisms, they have the enrichment capability, they have the highly enriched uranium that is stored. That’s all we need to see — especially in the hands of a regime that’s already involved in terrorism and proxies and all kinds of things around there.”

Watch above, via CBS.