There are many critical interviews today that will be highlighted. We are at an important geopolitical inflection point with multiple consequences amid each chosen path.
The bombing of Iran has united the neocon pro-war groups within the Senate and legislative branch (pro-Ukraine, Pro-Israel) which may assist President Trump’s primary objective to get the Big Beautiful Bill over the finish line. That can be a big short-term strategic benefit, if the operational strikes on Iran do not escalate into a regional conflict.
That said, Secretary of State/National Security Advisor Marco Rubio is the principal person to watch as President Trump’s geopolitical agenda is carried out. Here he is talking to CFR Maria Bartiromo in his first comments after the strike took place. “No regime change” but the era of “playing games” is over. WATCH:
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Marco Rubio gives me so much confidence that he’s 100% on board with the President’s foreign policies.
He’s going to be the favorite in 28 at this rate.
He scars me. I think he’s two faced
I never put it past anyone in Fed Gov to be two faced. I do like that each face is quite humorless.
How ’bout waking up this morning and being that guy… huh?
I am more impressed with Rubio every day.
I might eventual have to give up calling him “Little Marco”.
I gave that up already. So far, he’s stood tall and steady with the President we voted for. I’m impressed with the SOS job he’s doing.
Rubio also deserves credit for the shift he’s made since the 2016_election. I’ll admit I wrote him off so I’m not sure of the details, but the big one is support of Preside Trump and us MAGA people.
This interview has given me more confidence in Trump administration objectives and outlook for the Middle East and the world. Trump is in control of this and not forced into this as I feared by elements in the Senate who have his agenda, the big beautiful bill (BBB), in their hands.
I’m very impressed by Secretary and NSA Rubio, Secretary Hegseth and Chairman Cane. Their communication today has been exemplary!
Let’s continue to hope that Iran comes to the realization that Trump is not to be toyed with like past presidents and that they stop their maligned actions in the Middle East. Besides, their retaliatory actions are quite limited. As Secretary Rubio astutely pointed out, closing the Straits of Hormuz would severely damage the Chinese economy more so than the USA and Iran can scarcely afford to alienate the Chinese now.
As for regime change that’s in the hands of the Iranians. There is still a path to peace that Secretary Rubio clearly outlined here where they can have nuclear reactors without clandestine enrichment capabilities.
We will see what Iran decides to do but the USA under this strong leadership seems to be prepared for anything
As Sundance points out, its very concrrning, when the “Support Ukraine till the last Uke is dead” group, that also seems to be the “Support Israel, at ALL COSTS ” group, lauds PDJT for some action he has taken.
Still, it is simplistic to assert that President Trump ‘gave in’ to pressure from the neocon warmongers.
For his A1st agenda, Iran CAN NOT have a nuclear weopon, what the neocons think about it is irrelevent.
In his speech last night President Trump was sincere in what he would not allow from the Iranian mullahs. As he pointed out they are no longer free to maim and kill.
But like most things in life, his actions might be influenced by more than one reason.
CFR ??
Council on Foreign Relations
Thank you
Iran has now announced it will close the Straits of Hormuz to ship traffic (oil tankers). China would be the most negatively affected by such action.
From what I have read, China will be the least affected by this, because they get their oil from Iran via their new direct rail line, straight over land from Iran to China.
Someone correct me if I’m wrong.
Still it affects the price of oil globally. Thats not in China’s interest being an industrial giant that they are. Their trucks still need to transport all of their manufactured goods!
Don’t worry – Israel will take care of that……………….
Was wondering why they hadn’t already.
Because that would bring Israel into direct conflict with China and the other central Asian countries along the route.
That’s an easy fix.
You are correct. Even though 90% of Iran’s output is sold to China, a large part of it goes by rail.
Nah you are on point, player. “You can’t front on that”..
That’s right. The main purpose of that rail line.
https://www.eurasiantimes.com/first-freight-train-from-china-wheels-into-iran/
I think one practical measure is to compare the capacity of a rail tanker car and calculate how many such cars would be the equivalent of one typical sized oil tanker, not necessarily super tankers. See how it pencils out.
Historically, water is the cheapest and most efficient method of transporting bulk products long distances. Rail is good, and generally better than road and wheel, but in my opinion water is still far superior.
Lastly, has China created the rolling stock for this backup plan? That would be something to investigate. Their development of this rail link does open up many options.
Listening in on the current Security Council meeting in progress, I note the most adversarial statements to the U.S. action have been from China and Russia. Most other countries have focused on validation of the nuclear facilities and nuclear material and de-escalation. I haven’t gotten to Dorothy Shea’s statement yet.
You may be correct in regards to Iran, I don’t know, but they also obtain oil frozen other Middle East countries in the region.
Global oil prices will be impacted.
They don’t need nuclear.
They have oil to spare.
Time for the Iranian People to take their country back.
Iranians have periodicaly valiantly attempted uprisings and the result always has been thousands and thousands tortured and killed. The IRGC (Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps) and their police are apparently still in control.
Perhaps the time will come when there is an opportunity for Iranians to free themselves, as with Poland and East Germany, when the Soviet Block started to weaken financially etc. But I’m not sure now is the Iranians’ time for a successful revolution.
I’m old enough to remember a vibrant Western culture in Iran before the Shah fell. Where women went to school, jobs and appeared in public in Western clothing. I recently read that only 30% are moslem, How hard it would be to live there as a non-moslem under their oppressive regime.
Wishing the Iranian people well, but I do not blame them for their situation anymore than I would people living under desperate conditions in North Korea. Sometimes the time isn’t right for a successful uprising.
China has Thorium aplenty to go nuclear powered energy.
So it was no one’s turn to go on CBS to say, “I really don’t care, Margaret”?
Retired Magistrate here: Marco Rubio has the same mannerisms and delivery that Michael Corleone had in the God Father I and II when certain individuals were trying to intimidate him.
Rubio is cool, calm and collected; very matter of fact.
Yes! A pleasant surprise indeed. I’m liking him more and more. He gives me more confidence about this whole affair than I’ve had.
I can definitely see him more now as a successor to Trump than I can Vance at this stage, though I would be thrilled to see either at the helm in the future or as a ticket in 2028
Great comparison Marcia.
He is, and I love his quips (“This isn’t 3rd grade”; “no more cutesy”). He’s also fast on his feet.
It must be quite distressing for Team Rogue to watch their very own ex-SSCI homie now working for Orange Man Badass
Great interview! Maria asks a question, then lets Rubio answer. Rubio has FAR exceeded ALL my expectations. I think we have all been seeing what 47 saw when he appointed him. Well done, Mr. Secretary.
I vote for Marco Rubio to be our permanent Secretary of State.
Contrast him with Hillary’s “Foreign Policy For Sale” sign.
Iran has been FA’ing for many years. Now they FO.
And, anybody (Bush, Bush, Obammy, Joe) COULD havce, but only PDJT DID.
Everybody, Somebody, Anybody and Nobody.
There was an important job to be done and Everybody was sure that Somebody would do it. Anybody could have done it, but Nobody did it. Somebody got angry about that, because it was Everybody’s job. Everybody thought Anybody could do it, but Nobody realized that Everybody wouldn’t do it. It ended up that Everybody blamed Somebody when Nobody did what Anybody could have.
“Who’s on first?”
He’s excellent. He fits perfectly in his role and as SoS.
Hahahahahaha, John Kerry🤣
I appreciate what Sec. Rubio is doing to officially represent the Trump doctrine around the world to allies and adversaries alike.
It seems a good long term strategy as well, to set himself up for ‘28.
However, at that point I become a bit queasy about his extensive globalist connections from the past.
I’m not sure.
You should be worried about Wiles and Bondi. They worked for the Qatari-CIA conglomerate. The fox is already in the hen house.
I watched this live this morning. The clarity and calm he brought to the table was reassuring. He’s a liberated man.
Disrupting the Iranian goal of attaining a nuke is in the interest of all Americans.
So long as this does not escalate into a major conflict involving our servicemen it will turn out to be a long over due act of political self interest.
I have full confidence that our President is working hard to do what is best for our country.
If he wasn’t doing so there would be a major escalation operation going on as we speak.
Remember the six month buildup to Iraq.
Where as all the cheerleaders are just shooting their mouths off if they were prevailing Their efforts would be laying the foundation of major escalation.
I don’t see that as of yet.
I say we ignore the likes of Mark Levin and Miss Lindsey and Support Trump and thank God he is in the control of the Whitehouse.
What do you think of Rubio’s answer to Maria’s last question?
She always looks like she just got out of bed.
You could do a lot worse, Vet. 🙂
Everyone says Iran should wake up. A Nihilistic Theocracy will do whatever it wants. Many say if others have them why not Iran. Others are not suicidal.
Good interview. Rubio continues to impress. I was so worried about him coming from the Senate Intelligence Committee.
Yes, me too (after being around here for so long). Would love to have been a fly on the wall when Trump had the big meeting with him in the beginning 🙂
New information – The enriched uranium not held in Fordow but in one of the other sites that got bombed. Hopefully we can detect radiation around that location. Iran still can make dirty bombs though.
Hopefully, Rubio is learning the MAGA economic pressure method of diplomacy and not the bomb, bomb, bomb method. If so, he will get my vote in 28.
New information from where???
I am squarely in the Rubio camp now.
This was a good interview to watch. Everything that needed to be outlined for the public was outlined. Little Marco has grown into MAGA Marco! I didn’t have that on my Trump 2.0 bingo card. Pretty nice surprise.
FAFO
Well done, Secretary Rubio!
MAGA. 👊👊🇺🇸🇺🇸🙏🏻🙏🏻❤️❤️
A strange, side benefit to the neo-cons on board with the Iran bombing….getting the BBB passed.
I absolutely love this interview! Rubio is brilliant and not only countered every talking point Maria B threw at him, I believe that he convinced her that he and President Trump made the correct decision in regards to taking out Iran’s nuclear capabilities.
btw: I also read this morning, via the NY Post, that Tulsi G was in fact in the situation room with the rest of the team.
Be sure to read the transcript of the Margaret Brennan interview. It’s even better. She tried to tell him how intelligence works. That didn’t go well for her.
Rubio’s getting better by the minute. Obviously, he’s got an immense and keen capacity to learn. Not only about geopolitics, but also about critical thinking, effective communication, influencing, and diplomacy.
I realize he wants to be the president some day, and so does Vance, about whom I could also repeat the things said above about Rubio, but I think Trump is working with both men to bring out the best in them, and to convince them of the righteousness of his cause, despite their future personal political goals.
Rubio said all of the right things in that interview. Good for him. Good for us.
I think POTUS has taken Little Marco under his wing and is showing him how to grow a set of Trump MAGA sized kahunas. I appears Marco is enjoying and exceeding expectations with his newly developed manhood. I’m with him, as long as he stays 1000 % loyal to POTUS .
Sorry to say but SKB is sounding more and more like the jihadi-squad member of Congress….the Indian Rep from Commiefornia, Rohana(?) even noticed Bannon’s Rhetoric.
Rohana says Massie NOW represents MAGA!!
Massie has never been maga
Ro Khanna.
I saw an appearance of Rubio which really flipped a switch for me. He pointed out that the US has bases surrounding Iran on almost every border. This is because it’s not just the US and Israel which is worried about Iran’s behavior, but nearly all other countries in that region. Iran’s puppets and proxies are now silent and inactive instead of helping Iran. Seems like they know the gloves are off and we are not playing any longer.
Iran has been like this for a very long time. And waiting as long as we have had only made Iran more capable of terrorizing the world. With the weapons and resources they have enjoyed to date, it’s more than bad enough. If Iran was interested in power or medical devices, they already achieved that capability. What develops next is weapons. No one has developed nuclear propulsion to my knowledge, that would be safe in atmosphere. But what do we know about Iran’s space program?
The sudden escalation of events is absolutely jarring. There is clearly something we don’t know. So I’m going to assume something in order to help this make more sense: They are far closer to having a nuclear weapon than they are letting on and announcing what they know would compromise sources and methods.
In short, Iran’s long history is “fine at a distance” and doesn’t affect us that much so long as controls remain effective. But it’s not fine for the countries we spend trillions defending by maintaining stockpiles and operating military bases out there just to manage the threat of Iran. So as a cost cutting measure, we should better manage Iran. That makes a LOT of sense to me and how it can benefit MAGA.
But the abrupt feeling of severe action? I don’t know. No one does. But to keep our compass pointing in the right direction, we have to trust Trump in what he is doing. Otherwise we end up losing our minds.
“And waiting as long as we have had only made Iran more capable of terrorizing the world”.
I was 19 years old and attending Submarine School in Groton CT when Jimmuh Cahtuh demonstrated what a totally foolish dumbass he was and chose to ” trust” an Islamist over the Shah…said Khomeini was “a man of God….spit.
I noticed Maria and Margaret both asked 99% the same questions in the same order.
Marco Rubio is a very articulate, straight talking no nonsense SofS who is right behind POTUS. Like he said about the Iranians passing notes like they’re in the 3rd grade. “We are not in the 3rd grade anymore”. Indeed, the adults are in charge now.
China is the concern. Do we really believe the 747 transports flying into Iran from China were to only evacuate ? Something tells me China is helping Iran make things more difficult in a very short time frame. Advanced air defense systems is my most reasonable guess. Takes a few days/weeks to put into place and get up to speed. Additional advanced offensive rockets is my second guess. If Iran chooses to close the Strait, and believes their railway to China will not be impacted, that could be where China places their assets to protect their cheap oil supply. Iran is probably giving their oil to China for free in order to obtain what they can from China.