Secretary of State Marco Rubio with Sean Hannity of Fox News

QUESTION: And joining us now is Secretary of State Marco Rubio is with us.He is in Türkiye tonight.Mr. Secretary, great to have you.Thank you for joining us.

SECRETARY RUBIO: Good to see you the other day, Sean.

QUESTION: Yeah, it was great to see you in person.You made a statement that NATO is only as strong as its weakest link.This issue about NATO and other countries paying their fair share is going to be coming to a head in about six weeks, is my understanding.Lot of nations have not lived up to that.Where are we in terms of pushing people on that issue?

SECRETARY RUBIO: Well, actually, 2018was one of the most important moments in NATO history.It’swhen President Trump at the NATO summit walked through the different contributions of differentcountries, some of whom were under 1 percent of GDP – less than 1 percent of their economy was being spent on defense.Since that time we’ve seen improvements, and I can tell you that we are headed for a summit in six weeks in which virtually every member of NATO will be at or above 2 percent, but more importantly, many of them will be over 4 percent and all will have agreed onagoal of reaching 5 percent over the next decade.It’llbe the first time ever in NATO history where they have reached targets and goals that will allow NATO partners to be more than 50 percent of the Alliance.That’sa historic moment if it comes to fruition.That’swhat was agreed upon today by the foreign ministers.AndI think all of thattracks back to 2018 when President Trump challenged the members of the Alliance to step up.

QUESTION: Mr. Secretary, you said, “The purpose of NATO is to prevent wars through its strength… that’s why we want to see it grow stronger.” You talked about a trillion dollars in our military spending.Tomorrow the Ukrainian delegation will be meeting with the Turkish foreign minister.And you also went into detail – there had been some hope, maybe, inthe background –wasnever any full commitment – that Vladimir Putin might show up at this and have a meeting with Zelenskyy.And then you werepretty cleartoday that you believeifthat’sgoing to happen, it would take Donald Trump sitting down with Vladimir Putin.What exactly did you mean by that?

SECRETARY RUBIO: Yeah,it’smy assessment and I thinkit’sthe President’s assessment.By the way, I think he said publicly today that the only way we’re going to have a breakthrough here – nothing is going to happen at this point – given everything we know, after months of working on this, nothing is going to happen until President Trump sits across the table from Vladimir Putin and puts it on the line and puts it on the table. I thinkthat’sthe only chance we have at peace at this point given everythingwe’veseen over the lastfewweeks.There’sbeen talks,there’sbeen negotiations,there’sbeen trips and meetings.But in the end, I thinkwe’vereached the conclusion, and rightfully so, as the President has, that the only way this is going to happen – if it has a chance to happen, the only way it happens is –isthe President directly engages with Vladimir Putin.

SoIdon’tknow what the date or the place of that is yet, butthat’sreally the only chance at this point.AndI think thereare a lot of countries here that would privately share that assessment as well.

QUESTION: Do you have, Mr. Secretary, any degree of confidence?You’vebeen clear that this war is going to end not through military solution – through a military solution but through a diplomatic one, and you saidit’seither going to besooner or later, and if it happens sooner less people will die, less destruction that there will be.And the President keeps talking about the human toll, the humanity – all the human loss and tragedy and destruction and death thathas taken place here,and for what reason?

SECRETARY RUBIO: Yeah, I – Sean, I think the President the other night or the other day in Saudi Arabia gaveperhaps oneof the most impressive speeches of his presidency and one of the most meaningful speeches by an American president overseas in decades.And in it, one of the things he talks about is how he wants to see more building and less bombing.In essence, hewants to see us building things up, not destroying things.

The President, frankly, is a lover of peace.He’s– this is a person that would – wants to stop wars and prevent wars and end wars.That’swhat the President endeavors to do.In fact, he openly has said – and he said it in the speech – that he wishes wedidn’thave to spend all this money on the military; we could spend it instead on creating wealth and prosperity and human development.Obviously,that’snot the way the world works, butthat’swhat he hopes we can achieve.Andthat’swhathe’strying to achieve here.That’sit.

I was just asked a question by the media here about this a few minutes ago, and I said I still don’t understand why some would be critical of the President – they should be happy that the President of the most powerful nation on earth is a peacemaker who seeks to prevent wars, seeks to end wars, and seeks to stop existing wars. I think this is something we should be very proud of, that we have a President that seeks peace, seeks the end of death and destruction – in this case, in the Russia-Ukraine war which has gone on far too long, destroyed thousands and thousands of lives, and really is going to cost billions of dollars to rebuild from.

QUESTION:Well, obviously, we – we hope that that – that some kind of breakthrough can take place.Let me go to the – where we are here in the Middle East.Andyou’vebeenvery, very clear, and the President has been clear:The number one state sponsor of terror – that would be the Iranians – theyhave towalk away from sponsoring terrorism; walk away from helping Hamas, Hizballah, the Islamic Jihad, the Houthis.Theyhave tostop firing missiles at Israel, but more importantly, walk away from building long-range missiles that have no other purpose than to have nuclear weapons and walk away completely from enrichment.

When you talk about that,I’ma trust-but-verify guy, as I know that you are.That would mean – that means zero enrichment, that would mean American inspectors, and that would mean anyplace, anywhere, anytime inspections in the future as any – as part of any deal.They would have to destroy their facilities.Those facilities would have to be destroyed for them for that to happen.Are you – we for the first time this week gotan indicationthat they might be willing to make a deal on this.You have any high degree of confidence thatthey’dbe smart?The President has been clear:They’lleither do it theeasy wayor it will be done for them.Idon’tthink he could be anymore clearthanhe’sbeen.Do youthink –have any degree of confidence they will be smart?

SECRETARY RUBIO: Well,first of all, I think what the President did is extend an opportunity.And the opportunity is Iran can be a prosperous and peaceful country.Andthat’sthe opportunity before them, and he hopes thatthey’lltake this opportunity and thatthey’lltake this offer.He says this offerwon’tbe around forever.And what he means by that is at some point decisions will have to be made about more maximum pressure and other options because Iran can never have a nuclear weapon.Look, the regime – and our problem is not with the Iranian people.The Iranian people are a peaceful people, an ancient civilization and culture we admire greatly.Our problem is with a clerical regime that is behind every problem in the region: Hizballah, Hamas, the Houthis, the militias that have conducted attacks out of Iraq and Syria.They all – it –they alltrack back to the Iranian regime. Syria – all the instability in Syria tracks back to the Iranian regime.It’sa regime that every day and every Friday chants, “Death to Israel,death to America.” Wehave tobelieve them when they say that.

A regime like that can never have nuclear weapons, and the President has made clear they will not have a nuclear weapon.We hopeit’sthrough the path of negotiation.We hopeit’sthrough the path of diplomacy.Steve Witkoff is doinga great jobat negotiating ina very difficultnegotiation.This will not be easy, buthe’sdoinga great jobat trying to bring about that peaceful resolution to this problem, and we should pray thathe’ssuccessful.I have confidence in him.But in the end the decision lies in the hands of one person, andthat’sthe supreme leader in Iran.And I hope he chooses the path of peace and prosperity, not a destructive path.Andwe’llsee how that plays out.

QUESTION: Mr. Secretary, one – through published reports, public reports, and people that I have spoken to that would have knowledge of such things, their level of enrichment is quite high.It’sbelieved – the IAEA has said so.Ifyou’reat 60 percent enrichment, it is not a stretch to get to weapons-grade enrichment at 80, 90 percent, whatever the level happens to be.My understanding is that could happen within a matter of months, so that decision of the Iranians will have to be made that quickly.Where do we stand in terms of their willingness to give up their ambition to have these weapons?

SECRETARY RUBIO: Well, we know.We’reabout to test it andwe’llfind out.Look, when you say 60,it’smisleading when people hear that number because they think 60 percent enrichment and 90 percent is what you need for a weapon.Actually, 90 percentof the work it takes to get to weapons-grade enrichment is getting to 60.Onceyou’reat 60,you’re90 percent of the way there.You arein essence athreshold nuclear weapon state, which is what Iranbasically hasbecome.They are at the threshold of a nuclear weapon.If they decided to do so, they could do so very quickly.If they stockpile enough of that 60 percent enriched, they could very quickly turn it into 90 and weaponize it.

That’sthe danger we face right now.That’sthe urgency here.That’swhy Israel is – feels urgency about it andthat’swhy we feel urgency about it, but not just us.Throughout the Gulf region, no country in the region wants Iran to have a nuclear weapon.And you also talk about not just a weapon; they have long-range missiles that they can deliver that weapon, those weapons,through.Sothis is a very grave risk.And they are enriching at that level, and they are openly doing it, by the way.In fact, their congress,for –their legislative branchactually passeda law requiring them to enrich at a certain level because JCPOA, the Obama deal with Iran, was canceled.

Sowe are at a – this is a critical moment.The President has made it a priority.And now people understand the urgency here because they arefairly close, too close for comfort, to a nuclear weapon.Wehave toroll that back one way or another, and we hopeit’speacefully and through the process of negotiation.

QUESTION: All right.Secretary of State Marco Rubio, we appreciate you being with us.Thank you so much for joining us.

SECRETARY RUBIO: Thank you.Thanks, Sean.