ABC’s George Stephanopoulos Presses Rubio on Trump’s Vow to ‘Take the Oil’ From Iran, Ground Troops

ABC’s George Stephanopoulos pressed Secretary of State Marco Rubio on a recent pledge by President Donald Trump to “take the oil in Iran.”

On Good Morning America on Monday, Stephanopoulos kicked off the interview by asking Rubio about Trump’s comments to The Financial Times the day before, in which the president said: “My favorite thing is to take the oil in Iran but some stupid people back in the U.S. say, ‘Why are you doing that?’ But they’re stupid people.”

On Kharg Island, Trump added: “Maybe we take Kharg Island, maybe we don’t. We have a lot of options. It would also mean we had to be there [in Kharg Island] for a while.”

“Let’s talk about the president’s comments overnight talking about taking the oil on Kharg Island,” Stephanopoulos asked Rubio. “How would he do this? Why would he do this? Won’t it take ground troops?”

After Rubio deflected the questions by touting the U.S. military’s achievements in the war and reminding of Trump’s objectives, he said that Trump “has a number of options available to him.”

Stephanopoulos then asked again: “Let’s talk about taking the oil because the president laid out that objective last night and taking the oil will take ground troops, won’t it?”

Rubio again brushed off the questions, instead noting how American forces “are destroying Iran’s navy,” adding, “We are destroying their ability to their missile launchers by a significant percentage. We’re going to wipe out their defense industrial base, meaning their ability to make new missiles and new drones in the future because it poses a grave threat to the region.

Read the exchange below:

GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS: Secretary, thank you for joining us this morning. Let’s talk about the president’s comments overnight talking about taking the oil on Kharg Island. How would he do this? Why would he do this? Won’t it take ground troops?

SECRETARY OF STATE MARCO RUBIO: Well, first of all, it’s important to remember the objectives of this operation from the very beginning. We were going to, We are destroying Iran’s navy. We are destroying their ability to their missile launchers by a significant percentage. We’re going to wipe out their defense industrial base, meaning their ability to make new missiles and new drones in the future because it poses a grave threat to the region. This Iran that you’re seeing now, this is Iran at its weakest point. Imagine them two years from now if they had thousands of more missiles to thousands of more missile launchers and factories to make even more. That was an unacceptable risk. It needed to be addressed and President Trump is addressing it now. They are making threats about controlling the Hormuz Straits in perpetuity, creating a tolling system and the like. that’s not going to be allowed to happen. And the president has a number of options available to him if he so chooses to prevent that from happening. Obviously, I’m not going to discuss what those options are and we’re not going to discuss military tactics. Uh, the Department of War would be in charge of of those things. I’d refer you to them, but obviously they’re not going to discuss it with you either. But there is a way forward here to achieve our objectives. We are going to achieve our objectives in a matter of weeks, not months.

STEPHANOPOLOUS: Well, but let’s talk about taking the oil because the president laid out that objective last night and taking the oil will take ground troops, won’t it?

RUBIO: Well, again, the the Iranians are threatening that when that they’re going to set up some permanent system in the Straits of Hormuz where they get to decide who goes through international waterways. That will never be allowed to happen. By the way, the rest of the world should take note of that. They have more at stake there than we do. We get very little of our energy in this country coming through the straits of Hormuz. The rest of the world gets a lot more. That said, the president has several options at his disposal, and the Department of War is preparing optionality for the president for this and various other contingencies that might arise. That’s what always needs to happen in situations like this. But what I want the American people and the people watching this broadcast to know is that fundamentally what this is about is the destruction of their air force, which has been largely achieved. The destruction of their navy, which has been largely achieved, the destruction of their factories that they make all these weapons with, which is — we’re well on our way to achieving; and a substantial reduction in the number of missile launchers that they have so that they cannot continue to threaten their neighbors in the future. All of those objectives are being met ahead on or ahead of schedule and uh, and should be able to achieve in a matter of weeks.

Watch above via ABC.

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