PBS NewsHourSen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, asked Secretary of State Marco Rubio about what he described as President Donald Trump’s “four red lines” in resolving the U.S. war in Iran during a hearing Tuesday held by the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations.
The red lines, as Cruz described them, are for Iran to enrich no uranium, hand over all enriched uranium, stop funding terrorism worldwide and open the Strait of Hormuz.
“I agree with all four of those red lines,” Cruz said. “Do you agree with those red lines and how achievable do you believe they are in the coming weeks and months?”
Rubio said he agrees with Trump’s position, but said he would change Cruz’s order, saying opening the Strait of Hormuz “would have to come first because what they’re doing there is unlawful and illegal to begin with. That has to open immediately.”
Rubio said the U.S. blockade on Iranian oil will only be reversed once Iran opens the Strait of Hormuz.
“Then we enter into the second phase, which is the nuclear question,” Rubio said. “On enrichment, they don’t need to enrich. If what they want is a nuclear energy program, they can have one without enrichment.”
Rubio faced back-to-back hearings before Senate and House committees on Tuesday, his first since the Iran war started at the end of February.
