Return to Transcripts main page

CNN News Central

Soon: Rubio Holds Briefing From White House; Trump's Political Power On The Ballot In Indiana Primaries; Rubio Holds WH Briefing As Tensions Escalate In Strait Of Hormuz; Rubio: U.S. Action In Strait Of Hormuz Is "A Defensive Operation." Aired 3-3:30p ET

Aired May 05, 2026 - 15:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

JOSH CAMPBELL, CNN SENIOR CORRESPONDENT: We'll see if they have more by the time the prosecution and the trial starts next month.

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN HOST: Josh Campbell, thank you so much for that reporting. A new hour of CNN NEWS CENTRAL starts right now.

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: Brianna Keilar Right now we're standing by to hear from Secretary of State Marco Rubio. Any moment he is expected to speak to reporters as questions grow about the fragile ceasefire with Iran. Earlier, President Trump declined to say what would constitute a violation of the truce as the U.S. and Iranian militaries have traded fire this week in the Strait of Hormuz.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What do they need to do to violate the ceasefire?

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Well, you'll find out because I'll let you know. They know what to do and they know what to do. We've -- they know what not to do, more importantly, actually.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: The U.S. military says it blew up six Iranian small boats Monday after Iran tried to attack U.S. Navy and commercial ships in the Strait of Hormuz. The UAE also says it came under fire from Iranian missiles and drones. Let's go now live to the White House with CNN's Kristen Holmes. So, Kristen, what should we expect from Secretary Rubio's press conference?

KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Boris, this should be interesting. I mean, the Secretary is not one who briefs regularly at the State Department. He's here in the White House. And while he talks to media, it's usually during gaggles. This is the first time we're having a briefing since that Press Secretary, Karoline Leavitt, went on her maternity leave. She said there would be a rotating cast coming through the Briefing Room. And clearly the first person up is Secretary of State Marco Rubio.

Now, he obviously has an expansive profile. So, there is a number of things that we'd love to be able to ask him, particularly when it comes to that fragile ceasefire. Now, President Trump wasn't the only one who wouldn't give any kind of qualifications for what Iran would have to do to break the ceasefire. The Secretary of Defense, Pete Hegseth, also wouldn't talk about that. So, it would be surprising if the Secretary of State got ahead of the President on that.

But there are a lot of questions regarding just how fragile the ceasefire is, the negotiations, what's actually happening behind the scenes, which, of course, Rubio is privy to. But there's also questions outside of that. We know that Marco Rubio is going overseas. He's going to go to Italy to meet with both the prime minister and the Pope. Those are essentially seen right now as meetings that are trying to smooth over the relationships after President Trump has attacked both of those leaders over the war in Iran and over rhetoric in the war in Iran or over Italy not joining the United States in the war in Iran. So, that's a big question.

And also, Rubio just came back from the Southern Command in Florida. He was there earlier today. He posed in front of a map of Cuba. So, that's another question. And finally, President Trump's trip to China, that's also going to be something that's on a lot of people's minds.

Remember, the President delayed that trip because of the ongoing war, saying he was going to wait to go back to China until after the war was over. Well, he's still going next week. Every single administration official is telling us he is still going to China. Well, there is no end in sight for this war in Iran. So, there are a lot of questions as to whether or not this puts President Trump in a weakened position in front of President Xi because he doesn't have any kind of dedication to an end of the war in Iran.

So, we've got a lot of questions here. And again, Rubio has one of the most expansive portfolios. So, we'll see how many of us he actually takes questions from.

KEILAR: Yes, it'd be very interesting. All right, Kristen, we'll be monitoring that as it gets underway. CNN's Nic Robertson is live from Islamabad, Pakistan.

Nic, Tehran is making moves to show it's in control of the Strait. Tell us what's happening.

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: Yes, we've heard from the IRGC Navy saying that any ships, the commercial vessels that try to use the Project Freedom don't apply to Iran for permission to come through the Strait of Hormuz, then they can expect action. There are also threats from Iran towards the UAE.

UAE took 19 incoming missiles last night. Iran denied firing any of those missiles. But they are certainly warning the UAE right now that if they unilaterally decide to target Iran, then there will be a very strong response. And to that point, to the point that both the IRGC, Iran targeted both the U.S. Navy and the UAE, the President really seems to have sort of chosen to blink on that. And for whatever reason, and obviously, intelligent satellite technology can really reveal the reality of whether or not Iran fired those missiles at the UAE, as everyone widely believes that they did.

The President appears to blink. And I think we got a sense of why from Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth today when he was explaining out that how they were trying to let the Iranians know about Project Freedom and all about how they sort of see the different factions in Tehran interlocking, working, not working together. This is how he explained it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PETE HEGSETH, DEFENSE SECRETARY: And we're communicating both overtly and quietly to the Iranians to allow this defensive operation to happen on behalf of the world.

[15:05:05]

There are some actions the IRGC takes sometimes that are outside the bounds of what maybe Iranian negotiators would like. That's their job to rein that in. And ultimately, create a condition for a deal, right? That's not something I talked about in these remarks, but that's happening in real time. Iran has an ability to make that deal. But what we're demonstrating with Project Freedom is they don't control the Straits.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROBERTSON: They don't control the Strait. That's the image they're trying to project and ensure the IRGC understands. It's not clear that the IRGC does understand that. But the reason to ignore what the IRGC is doing, it appears, is because they want to continue to have a conversation with what's described there as the negotiators in Tehran rather than the hardliners who got the weapons in the Strait of Hormuz. And that clearly sends -- sends a strong signal that the President definitely wants to continue the possibility of trying to find this diplomatic off-ramp.

But with the IRGC remaining strong and some of the rhetoric that we're hearing coming out of Tehran at the moment, it's not really clear that that path is one that's sustainable.

SANCHEZ: Nic Robertson, live for us in Islamabad. Thank you so much.

Still to come, key primaries are underway right now in Ohio and Indiana. How the elections will test the strength of President Trump's grip on the Republican Party.

Plus, health officials giving a new update on the deadly hantavirus outbreak on board a cruise ship. What we're learning there.

KEILAR: And later, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. launching new initiatives to help Americans get off antidepressants. We'll have that and much more coming up on CNN NEWS CENTRAL.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:11:10]

SANCHEZ: Who's your candidate? I don't know if that worked. I don't know. I don't know.

It's primary day in Indiana. And here at CNN, we're doing something we don't normally do. We're closely following a handful of races for state Senate. While races for state office are usually decided on local issues, President Trump has turned Indiana's primary into a test of his political power by backing the challengers of seven state senators who voted against his redistricting efforts. I want to bring in CNN Chief National Affairs Correspondent Jeff Zeleny, who is following these key races.

So, Jeff, give us the backdrop of this.

JEFF ZELENY, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: On an Indiana election day, a Hoosier joke is always appropriate. But look, we don't normally cover state races, like you said ...

SANCHEZ: Jeff, I'm so sorry to cut you off. Our timing, unfortunate, because Secretary of State Rubio is taking the podium in the press briefing room at the White House. Let's listen in.

MARCO RUBIO, SECRETARY OF STATE: ... brief remarks and then we'll get to your questions. As you know, over the weekend, the President announced this Project Freedom. And the goal of it is to frankly, if you want to talk about it, it's to rescue like almost 23,000 civilians from 87 different countries that are trapped inside of the of the Gulf and left for dead in the Persian Gulf by this Iranian regime.

You know, for more than two months now, these innocent sailors and commercial crew members have been stranded out at sea because Iran is conducting something that's not just criminal. It's criminal for sure, but it's desperate and destructive. This blockade of the Straits of Hormuz.

Nations from around the world, the overwhelming majority of whom are not even engaged in any military hostilities, are now at risk not just of losing their cargo, but the lives of their own citizens because of this blockade. These ships, you know, you don't leave a ship out there for this long. You start running out of food. You start running out of potable water, essential supplies. And they're at the mercy of this piracy. What it is, it's piracy.

And -- and not only that, but some of them have seen, you know, been open fire on and rained down senseless attacks on -- on several civilian ships already. So frankly, the way to put it, these are innocent bystanders. These are countries that and -- and ships and so forth that have nothing to do with any of this and nonetheless are being caught in the middle of it and being held hostage merely because Iran could do that just because of -- just as the regime brutally slaughtered 10s of thousands of their own citizens for the -- for the crime of peaceful protest because they're unhappy with the quality of life or the lack of quality of life in Iran today. And so, they're sitting ducks.

They're isolated. They're starving. They're vulnerable. And -- and at least 10 sailors have already died as a result of the civilian sailors. So, already many nations privately and some publicly have asked the United States to -- to help free their ships and to restore freedom of navigation in the Straits of Hormuz and this critical artery of global trade.

And so, President Trump, as he always does, stepped up and answer the calls for their help. And he's directed the United States military to guide these stranded ships to safety, to provide a protective bubble under which they can operate and move product and get themselves out of there and out of harm's way. And this is the first step towards reopening the Strait and bringing this regime's last-ditch act of economic arson, bringing that to a close.

Not only we're doing it, not only because we were asked, but because we're the only ones who can. We -- only we have the power to sort of take the steps that we've taken now. Under this president, under President Trump, the United States will help our friends. We're going to stand up to rogue regimes like the one in -- in Tehran. And we're going to be unashamed to use our power and our abilities to project military power in the service of our national interests above all else.

Now, what's really important for you to report and for everyone to understand is this is not an offensive operation. This is a defensive operation. And what that means is very simple. There's no shooting unless we're shot at first, okay? We're not attacking them. We're not -- but if they're attacking us or they're attacking a ship, you need to respond to that. You're not going to let some fast-boat come up on a ship and shoot it up. We're going to respond to it. And we've been successful at it. I don't know what the exact number is, but I know a number of those fast-boats have now been targeted and will continue to be if they pose a threat to our forces.

[15:15:05]

We'll shoot down drones. We'll shoot down missiles. But it's defensive in nature. This is defensive. So, if you hear stories about attacks and launching of -- of firing back and forth, it's not back and forth. We are only responding if attacked first. This is a defensive operation. And that's what's occurring here.

Just about the importance of the Straits for a moment. This is approximately a quarter of the world's oil trade, along with significant volumes of fuel and fertilizer that -- that operate through the Straits of Hormuz. The Iranian regime cannot be allowed to dictate who uses this vital waterway. I don't think this is also being reported enough. Maybe you are reporting. I don't read everyone. I don't have many damn outlets here. I don't know who you all are. But -- I mean, I know who some of you are, but I don't know who all of you are.

But -- but I will say this about it, (INAUDIBLE) this is an international waterway, okay? This is an international waterway. And international law is very clear. And I love it because everybody always talks about international law. And this -- international law on this is very clear. International waterways, no country can control them. There is no international law that allows you to say, I'm going to put mines in an international body of water, and I'm going to blow up ships that don't listen to us and try to go through.

That's what Iran is doing. This is a criminal act. And someone needs to do something about it. Something needs to be done. It's completely illegal, completely illegitimate, and completely unacceptable. And that's why the United States military is guiding stranded commercial ships safely through the Strait and is working to restore freedom of navigation and putting an end to these efforts to -- to hold the global economy hostage.

So far, as a proof of concept and as a proof of function, two U.S.- flagged merchant ships have successfully transferred through the Strait of Hormuz in the first stages of this project, and they're now safely on their way. The U.S. military is deploying the necessary assets to extend this defensive umbrella over commercial shipping.

But there should be no mistake. And as I said this already, this is a defensive operation. I want to reiterate that point. This is important to understand. If no shots are fired at these ships and no shots are fired at us, we're not firing shots. But if we're fired on, we will respond, and we will respond with lethal efficiency.

The assets supporting this project, by the way, include guided missile destroyers, over a hundred land- and sea-based aircraft, multi-domain unmanned platforms, and 15,000 of the finest military service members on the planet. These forces have already destroyed, as I told you earlier, I thought it was six, it's seven Iranian fast boats that failed to heed our warnings.

And by fast boats, we're talking about, you know, some of these things look like Boston Whalers, okay? So, these are not like Navy ships. But nonetheless, they come fast at these boats, try to swarm them, try to harm them. We're not going to let that happen. So, seven of them now sit at the bottom of the sea, along with, by the way, the rest of Iran's navy. That's where you can find their navy today. And we're going to continue to systematically clear this passageway through the Straits to restore freedom of navigation.

Now, while this project steadily progresses, Operation Epic Fury -- Economic Fury, I'm sorry, continues to impose maximum pressure on the Iranian regime and what remains of their already frail economy. Today, inflation in Iran is 70 percent, and their currency is in total and complete freefall.

U.S. sanctions enforcement is stepping up. It's moving in lockstep with the naval blockade to degrade Iran's capacity to generate, to move and repatriate revenue. It directly targets the regime's primary revenue lifelines. The blockade alone is costing Iran as much as $500 million a day in lost revenue. Ninety percent of total Iranian trade has been halted, causing permanent damage to Iran's oil infrastructure as wells are forced to shut in.

Again, all of this is in response to their piracy, okay? It cannot be that you have these straits, and they blow up any ship that moves, and the only ships they get to go through are theirs. You can't have a situation in which the Straits are close to everyone else, but they benefit from the piracy. That can't happen. That's why the blockade is in place, and that's why these sanctions are crippling them.

Any foreign financial -- by the way, Treasury is now identifying and cutting off every dollar of revenue that's flowing to this regime. And so, look, any foreign financial institution or commercial actor that enables Iran's sanctions evasion is going to face secondary sanctions exposure and a loss of access to the U.S. financial system.

As President Trump has said, and the facts clearly bear out, the United States of America holds all the cards. There is no scenario here in which, if they decide to join a ladder of escalation, they wind up getting the last say.

But our preference is for these straits to be opened to the way they're supposed to be opened, back to the way it was. Anyone can use it. No mines in the water. Nobody paying tolls. That's what we have to get back to, and that's the goal here.

Every day the conflict continues, however. Our leverage on Iran will continue to increase, and their position will continue to weaken, especially as the blockade really begins to bite in conjunction with the sanctions.

So, look, the time has come for Iran to make a sensible choice. And it's not easy for them to do that, obviously, because they have a fracture in their own leadership system. And apart from that, I mean, the top people in that government are, to say the least, you know, they're insane in the brain.

[15:20:03]

And so, we need to address that, and it's difficult because it's hard to get past that in their system.

But it's important for them to make a sensible choice and the one that's right for their people. The President, our president, has proven time and again that his preference is peace. But Iran must accept the reality of this situation and come to the negotiation table and accept terms that are good for them but ultimately good for the world.

The diplomatic path -- if there's a real diplomatic path, I do not know if there's going to be one, but if there's a real diplomatic path and we continue to explore it, Steve and Jared are working on that very hard. If there is one there, it could be one that leads them to reconstruction, to prosperity, and to stability, and to not posing a threat to the world. The alternative is growing isolation, economic collapse, and ultimately total defeat.

I know what the right choice is for Iran. I hope that the people over there making decisions will make the right one. The last point I would make, and it really is important for them to understand this, is they really shouldn't test the will of the United States, at least not under President Donald Trump. He has proven time and again that he will back up what he says. And if they test him, ultimately they will lose. The hard way, the easy way, the long way, the short way, they will lose. And with that, it's time for your questions, so ...

(CROSSTALK)

RUBIO: ... Catherine Herridge, let's start with you first.

CATHERINE HERRIDGE, INDEPENDENT JOURNALIST: I'm Catherine Herridge, I'm an independent journalist.

Secretary Rubio, have you seen any recent indications that Iran is willing to give up its nuclear weapons program that is credible, verifiable, and that would lead to an immediate de-escalation?

RUBIO: Well, look, this is a long-standing problem for them, right? I mean, they have won -- they -- they have always said they don't want a nuclear weapon. Let's be clear, they've always said that, they just don't mean it. And why do you say -- well, how do you know they don't mean it?

Well, we don't mean it because they do all -- they're doing all the things and historically have tried to do all the things that you do if you want a nuclear weapons program. For example, they innovate and try to innovate long-range delivery missiles that now in some cases are capable of reaching much of Europe. They -- they build these large underground centrifuges to -- for enrichment activity.

There are many -- there are countries in the world that are involved in the enrichment business, but these guys do it in mountains and in caves and in hiding. They -- they've always had secret components of their nuclear program undisclosed to the world. And we know for a fact that they retain highly enriched uranium at 60 percent that they -- that they did so. And that has no civilian use, none, zero whatsoever.

So, they have an opportunity here to agree to something that will make it clear that they're -- that they're not interested in a -- one thing is to say we don't want a nuclear weapon. Another thing is to do the things that prove you don't want a nuclear weapon. By the way, if what Iran wants is a civilian nuclear program for power plants and stuff like that, there are a lot of countries in the world that have that and they don't enrich. They -- they import -- they import the enriched material, you know? They could have that if that's what they wanted, but they're not acting like that's what they wanted. They're acting like they want a military, you know, nuclear program. That's unacceptable.

So, that's the process we're engaged in now to create -- that's the -- the object of this diplomacy is to come up with some level of understanding about what are the topics that they've agreed to negotiate on. We don't have to have the actual agreement written out. And one day this is highly complex and highly technical, but we have to have a diplomatic solution that is very clear about the topics that they are willing to negotiate on and the extent and the concessions they're willing to make at the front end in order to make those talks worthwhile.

That's what Steve and Jared and the whole team is working on and I hope to have good news on it. That's the outcome we would prefer. That's the outcome we would have preferred a year ago. That's the outcome I think most of us would have preferred a long time ago, but that's not the option they've given us given their activity. All right, can I -- there's no way I can figure out who to call on. I'm just going to press right in the middle. Right there, you right there. Yes, yes, in the back row.

(CROSSTALK)

RUBIO: I'll go to you next. (INAUDIBLE) all right, go ahead.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Thank you, Secretary Rubio.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Keep going right.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Welcome to the White House.

RUBIO: What's that?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Are you talking to me, sir?

RUBIO: Yes, to you. Yes, sir.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Thank you. I have two questions on two separate issues that come under ...

RUBIO: Do they get two questions for these?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Two questions (INAUDIBLE) ...

RUBIO: (INAUDIBLE) there's a lot of people in here.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE) under your umbrella.

RUBIO: All right. You answer -- you can ask me two questions, I'll give you one answer. Go ahead.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Thank you very much.

RUBIO: And I'll pick the one I like better.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Thank you, Mr. Secretary. The first has to do with the blockade. There are lawmakers from both parties who claim the blockade is an act of war. What do you say to that? And my second question has to do with the fuel embargo of Cuba. How long, Mr. Secretary, will that last?

RUBIO: Okay, two things. All right, good. I'll answer both your questions because I like the second one, too.

The first one on the blockade, and so why do we have a blockade? We have a blockade because they shut down the Straits. So, I don't know which members of Congress you're talking to, but here's what I would ask them, I would ask everybody here. It's very simple. These guys have shut down the Straits of Hormuz. This is what Iran is saying. We will shut down the Strait. No one can go through. No country in the world can go through unless we allow you to go through, and you have to pay us. But our ships can go through, meaning the Iranian ships, as much as they want.

That's crazy. Who would agree to that? So, how are we going to have a situation where they get to close the Straits to everybody, and the only people who are allowed to go through there a hundred percent without paying anything are the Iranians? If you do that, they'll keep the Straits closed forever. They're trying to make this some new normal, okay?

Under no circumstances can we ever allow them to normalize the fact that they get to blow up commercial ships and put mines in the water.

[15:25:04]

So, the response to that is, we're going to blockade your ships. If everyone's ships are not getting out, your ships are not getting out either. That's not an act of war. That's a defensive measure. It's a counter to what they have decided to do. You know what is an act of war? Putting mines in the water.

Why don't the members of Congress, whoever it is that's complaining about it, they should be all over that. These guys put mines in the water. That alone -- mining in the water is illegal, period, under any circumstances, and they've done it. That's -- this is crazy stuff, but this is what they've done.

On Cuba, oil blockade on Cuba, there -- there's no oil blockade on Cuba, per se. Here's what's happening with Cuba, okay? Cuba used to get free oil from Venezuela. Used to give them a bunch of free oil. They would take like 60 percent of that oil and resell it for cash. It wouldn't even go to benefit the people.

So, the only blockade that's happened is the Cubans have decided -- I mean, the Venezuelans have decided we're not giving you free oil anymore. And you can only imagine nowadays, the way oil prices are, no one's giving away free oil, much less to a failed regime. So, the problem with Cuba is -- is worse, okay? Their economic model doesn't work, doesn't work. And the people who are in charge can't fix it.

And the reason they can't fix it is not just because they're communists, that's bad enough, but they're incompetent communists. The only thing worse than a communist is an incompetent one. And that's what -- so, incompetent communists run that country, they don't know how to fix it. They really don't. And we have 90 miles from our shores, a failed state that also happens to be friendly territory for some of our adversaries. So, it's an unacceptable status quo and we'll be addressing it, but not today. Okay.

(CROSSTALK)

RUBIO: All right, let's go to the front, right there.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Secretary Rubio, Secretary Rubio.

RUBIO: Yes. HOLMES: You are going to the Vatican to meet with the Pope. Is this an

attempt to smooth things over with the Pope, given the rhetoric between President Trump and Pope Leo?

RUBIO: No. No, I mean, it's a trip we had planned from before. And obviously we had some stuff that happened. And no, look, there's a lot to talk about with the Vatican. I'll give you one example. The Pope just returned from a trip to Africa where the church is growing very vibrantly. And we have shared concerns about religious freedom -- religious freedom in different parts of the world. We'd love to talk to them about that.

The topic of Cuba, you know, we gave Cuba $6 million of humanitarian aid, but obviously they won't let us distribute it. We distributed it through the church. We'd like to do more. We're willing to give more humanitarian aid to Cuba, by the way, distribute it through the church, but the Cuban regime has to allow us to do it. They won't allow us to give their own people more humanitarian aid. And we're willing to do it through the church. So, there's a lot to talk about.

HOLMES: And the President recently said that the Pope is endangering a lot of Catholics as a result of his rhetoric around the Iran war. Is that a sentiment you agree with?

RUBIO: Well, I don't think that's an accurate description of what he said. I think what the President basically said is that Iran can't have a nuclear weapon because they would use it against places that have a lot of Catholics and Christians and others for that matter. It goes back to the central point. I think the President, without trying to speak for him, but I think I can characterize it this way. He doesn't understand why anybody, leave aside the Pope, the President and I, for that matter, I think most people, I cannot understand why anyone would think that it's a good idea for Iran to ever have a nuclear weapon.

Look what they're doing with the Straits right now. They're holding the whole world hostage. They have these sailors, you know, on commercial ships that are going to starve to death out there. They don't care. They don't care that this is melting down economies around the world, even of their own allies. This is what they're doing with the Strait.

What do you think they would do if they had a nuclear weapon? They would hold the world hostage with that nuclear weapon. That's what they would do. They would do exactly to the world with a nuclear weapon what they're doing now with the Strait. And I think the President's point is how anyone cannot see that as an unacceptable outcome and an unacceptable risk is beyond him. It's puzzling and someone has to do something about it.

The difference between this president and like the six presidents that preceded him were that he's the only one that's actually been willing to do something about it. Everyone says Iran can't have a nuclear weapon, but you've got to do something about it at some point. And he's been willing to address that threat. And that's what he promised he would do when he got elected, by the way, is address threats like this.

(CROSSTALK)

RUBIO: Yes. You -- you, yes. I wish I know your names, guys. I apologize.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, thank you so much, Mr. Secretary.

RUBIO: Can you put name tags on?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Thank you so much, Mr. Secretary.

RUBIO: That would help. Okay. Who are you with? Who are you with?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm with Rudaw Media Network.

RUBIO: Okay.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Mr. Secretary, the President has said multiple times that weapons were provided to the Kurdish group is to pass on the Iranian people. However, Kurdish political parties and the regional government says they have not received such weapons. Even some claim these weapons remain in the U.S. base in the region. Can you clarify who those weapons were given to and whether you intend to retrieve them or still want to pass to the Iranian people?

RUBIO: Yes, look, ultimately, the -- what the President is expressing and I think has repeatedly is he wished the Iranian people had, you know -- look, he's heartbroken by these images. You think about it. You're an Iranian, okay? You're unhappy that your economy doesn't work for you. You don't have freedom. You don't have an opportunity to express yourself. You know, you've got friends that have been shot in the head because they're out protesting. And he just -- it's heartbreaking to him to see that these people are abused in this way and have no measures to take against their own government as a result of it.

By the way, this goes back, if you guys remember the protests in 2009 where they slaughtered people in the street. This is a vicious regime, guys, okay? These are people that hang people from the cranes in the town square so everyone can see. They -- they continue these executions of people and -- and have done, continue to do so for -- for over a decade and a half now.

[15:30:04]

And so, I think what the President is expressing is the desire that he wishes the Iranian people.