‘That’s Irrelevant’: Rubio Shuts Down Margaret Brennan On Iran Nuclear Ambitions Intel

Secretary of State and National Security Adviser Marco Rubio delivered a stern retort on Sunday to CBS News journalist Margaret Brennan after she pressed him on whether the United States lacked intelligence on Iran’s supreme leader ordering weaponization of its nuclear program.

“That’s irrelevant,” Rubio declared in a “Face the Nation” interview conducted after President Donald Trump ordered strikes on three of Tehran’s nuclear facilities this weekend to prevent the Iranian regime from obtaining nuclear weapons.

“It doesn’t matter that the order was given. 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% enriched uranium? You don’t need 60% enriched uranium. The only countries in the world that have uranium at 60% are countries that have nuclear weapons because they can quickly make it 90,” Rubio said.

MUST WATCH: @SecRubio schools Margaret Brennan on the Iranian regime’s nuclear program.

“Why do they have 60% enriched uranium? … The only countries in the world that have uranium at 60% are countries that have nuclear weapons because they can quickly make it 90%!” pic.twitter.com/XO8ol5jBIn

— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) June 22, 2025

He continued: They have all the elements — why do they have a space program? Is Iran going to go to the moon? No. They’re trying to build an ICBM [intercontinental ballistic missile] so they could one day put a warhead on it.”

Brennan said that is a question of intent and claimed that an intelligence assessment found that Iran wanted to be a “threshold state” and use its leverage.

“How do you know what the intelligence assessment says?” Rubio asked.

After Brennan insisted that information came from an intelligence assessment in March, Rubio shot back.

“That’s an inaccurate representation of it. That’s not how our intelligence is read. That’s not how intelligence is used. Here’s what the whole world knows — forget about intelligence — what the IAEA knows,” Rubio said, referring to the International Atomic Energy Agency.

“They are enriching uranium well beyond anything you need for a civil nuclear program,” Rubio said. “So why would you enrich uranium at 60% 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 2-3 thousand mid-range missiles that you continue to develop? Why do you do all these things?”

Brennan said she “understood,” but Rubio was not done.

“They have everything they need for a nuclear weapon,” Rubio said. “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 the regime that’s already involved in terrorism and proxies and all kinds of things. They are the source of all instability in the Middle East.”

Brennan said “no one is disputing” what Rubio was explaining. She noted that Iran was censured by the IAEA for its uranium enrichment and violating their nonproliferation agreements. She then stressed that she was “simply asking” if the United States had intelligence that there was an order to weaponize.

“We have intelligence that they have everything they need to build a nuclear weapon and that’s more than enough,” Rubio said.