Rubio says Iran would 'blackmail the world' if it had a nuclear weapon

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio stated that Iran, if it possessed a nuclear weapon, would utilize it to blackmail the world and to take lives. He explained that Iran could control the strategic Straits, impose tolls on maritime traffic, and determine who would receive energy resources and who would not. Rubio emphasized that this scenario would pose an unacceptable risk to global stability.

Additionally, he accused Iran of misusing funds obtained through sanctions relief or economic gains to construct nuclear weapons and spread its revolutionary ideology, rather than focusing on improving the well-being of its own citizens. Rubio alleged that Iran redirects these resources towards supporting terrorist groups such as Hezbollah and Hamas, as well as financing Shia militias in Iraq.

He further criticized Iran's leadership, asserting that the true power lies with radical Shia clerics who hold an apocalyptic worldview. These clerics believe that their religious duty is to hasten the end of the world, or the apocalypse.