Secretary frames U.S. action as preventing Iran from reaching nuclear breakout

In the interview, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the United States acted to prevent Iran from reaching a point where a massive conventional arsenal would make its nuclear program unstoppable.

"What Iran was trying to do is they were trying to build up so many conventional weapons... that nobody could possibly touch them," Rubio said, arguing that behind that shield Tehran would have been able to break out toward a nuclear weapon. "Iran can never have a nuclear weapon," he added.

Rubio described sanctions as designed not merely to punish but to deny Tehran funds that he said would otherwise finance weapons and proxies. "They use the money to fund Hezbollah. They use the money to fund Hamas," Rubio said, asserting that Iran channels revenue into regional militias rather than public goods. He did not provide new operational details on specific strikes or law-enforcement steps but framed the policy objective as preventing a nuclear breakout and limiting Tehran's ability to export instability.