Iran has no unlimited pain threshold, diplomatic window narrowing: Rubio

Alongside his remarks on the Strait of Hormuz crisis, Secretary of State Marco Rubio used  press briefing to lay out the US position on Iran’s nuclear programme, the War Powers Act, and the ongoing diplomatic push for a negotiated resolution, warning Tehran that the window for a deal is “narrowing fast.”

Speaking at a Washington press briefing, Rubio dismissed Iran’s repeated claims of peaceful nuclear intent as “not credible” and outlined a clear choice for the regime to pursue reconstruction, stability, and prosperity through serious negotiations, or risk growing isolation, economic collapse, and eventual defeat.

Rubio was blunt on Iran’s repeated claims of having no interest in nuclear weapons are simply not credible. “They have always said that; they just don’t mean it,” he said.

He pointed to Iran’s development of long-range delivery missiles capable of reaching much of Europe, large underground centrifuges built inside mountains and caves, and its stockpile of highly enriched uranium at 60 percent, “which has no civilian use, none, zero whatsoever.

Rubio said the goal of ongoing diplomacy, being led by special envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, is not to draft a full agreement immediately but to establish the framework for serious talks.

“We have to have a diplomatic solution that is very clear about the topics that they are willing to negotiate on and the concessions they are willing to make at the front end in order to make those talks worthwhile,” he said.

He acknowledged the difficulty of dealing with a fractured Iranian leadership. Talks have been slowed because “an offer will be made, and then it takes five or six days to get a response; you have to get it through their whole system, and they have to find the supreme leader wherever he hides.”

He also noted a visible divide within the regime between pragmatic elected officials and hardline clerics and IRGC figures who, he said, “could care less” about the suffering of ordinary Iranians.

Rubio offered Iran a clear choice is to opt for a diplomatic path leading to “reconstruction, prosperity, and stability,” or “growing isolation, economic collapse, and ultimately total defeat.”

He added that Iran does have a high pain threshold, “but they don’t have an unlimited pain threshold. Nobody does.”