Ted Cruz Asks Rubio on Israel's Attack on Lebanon: Hezbollah Is An Enemy of Lebanese People | N18G

Added: 2026-06-03

[00:00:00]Um, come by if you want a cafecito.

[00:00:03]Uh, let me start by saying that that President Trump's decision to strike Iran was the most consequential decision of a second term as president.

[00:00:13]And I want to commend you. I want to commend the president, the entire administration on the extraordinary success we have seen in less than 40 days.

[00:00:22]Uh, the United States has utterly and completely destroyed the military and nuclear infrastructure that that the Iranian regime spent nearly 50 years building.

[00:00:32]Uh, every day that passes increases American leverage. Iran is weaker, poorer, and more isolated than it's been in in decades.

[00:00:40]Um, the president has laid out four red lines for any resolution to this military conflict.

[00:00:48]Number one, that there be zero enrichment by Iran. Number two, that they hand over all of their enriched uranium.

[00:00:55]Number three, that they stop funding terrorism worldwide. And number four, that they open the Strait of Hormuz.

[00:01:02]I agree with all all four of those red lines.

[00:01:06]Do you agree with those red lines? And how achievable do you believe they are in the coming weeks and months?

[00:01:13]>> Yeah, you you stated the the four positions of president's taken accurately. And the entire administration is supportive of it because that's what we're we take our directives from the president. And and personally during my time in the Senate, these would be consistent with my thinking. I would only reverse it in the following order.

[00:01:29]The Straits of Hormuz not it would have to come first because what they're doing there is unlawful and illegal to begin with. That has to open immediately.

[00:01:37]And that has to open immediately in exchange not for anything else other than us lifting the blockade. We have a blockade on Iranian oil leaving. And the reason why we have a blockade on Iranian oil leaving is because they closed the Straits. If they open the Straits, and by open the Straits understand what we're saying, it's saying you're not going to threaten to shoot at commercial vessels of civilians and and and create, you know, ecological disaster. That's what they're doing. It's unlawful, it's illegal, it's outrageous. Every country in the world condemns it. If they end that, we lift the blockade, then we enter into the into the second phase, which is the nuclear question. On enrichment, they don't have to They don't need to enrich. If what they want is a nuclear energy program, they can have one without enrichment. And it was somebody other day it's a few questions ago, I forgot who it was, said that what we're working on is similar to JCPOA. It is not. JCPOA would have expired this year. And it allowed them to keep all the enrichment equipment that they needed and and and clearly that equipment could get them to 60 and 90% because they've done it to 60% as a result of it. So, we would have to deal with that question. And we would have to deal with the highly enriched uranium that they currently are in possession of. There's no reason to have The only reason to have 60% enriched uranium is to turn it into 90% enriched uranium and put it into a weapon. So, those remain the And on the sponsor of terrorism, absolutely. To the point where I would argue, for example, it's one of the interesting things that's happening, and I know Senator Shaheen has a great interest in Lebanon, it's one of the most ironic situations in the world. The Lebanese government and the Israeli government could do a peace deal tomorrow. Israel has no territorial claims in Lebanon. And Hezbollah isn't particular In fact, Hezbollah has called for the overthrow of the current Lebanese government. The impediment in Lebanon is the fact that Hezbollah has embedded itself into that country and is the reason for all the suffering that's happening there right now and all the suffering that's historically happened. Entirely funded, entirely controlled by Iran. There is no Hezbollah without Iran. There is no Hezbollah without Iran. I mean, they might be a political movement with ideology, but they don't have a bunch of rockets, they don't have a bunch of weapons without Iran. They are a complete total proxy of Iran, and that's the kind of activity that needs to be >> I I want to come back to Hezbollah in a in a moment. Just just focusing for a second on on Iran itself.

[00:03:41]Um for some time I have urged the administration, I've urged Israel to arm the protesters in Iran. I I don't think it it is fair to expect the Iranian people to stand up, protesters to stand up with rocks against soldiers with machine guns.

[00:03:58]Uh are we arming the protesters and and should we be?

[00:04:02]>> Yeah, I'm not aware of any program to arm civilians in Iran to overthrow their government. I mean, there may be other countries doing it or other elements in but certainly not the US government.

[00:04:11]>> All right, let's let's go back to to to Hezbollah. So so you spoke with the Lebanese president uh Joseph Aoun uh over the weekend. Uh you know, the State Department sent out an email to to journalists shortly after your call in in which the State Department of spokesperson said, "Quote, Iran wants to prolong the conflict in Lebanon so it can claim credit for saving the day." Um I have to admit that didn't strike me as accurate. I I I don't think Iran wants to to keep the conflict going in in in Lebanon. I think they desperately want Israel to stop killing Hezbollah. Do you agree with that at all?

[00:04:48]>> Yeah, I think the the the the point was trying to make is that we are trying to view view the Lebanon-Israeli talks as separate and distinct from Iran.

[00:04:58]And what Iran wants to do is mix it all together because Hezbollah is not legitimate. There's a government in Lebanon. That's who we're dealing with.

[00:05:04]And Hezbollah is not their equal in terms of who we're going to be dealing with or who needs to be in charge. So, the point we're trying to make is that is what Iran is trying to stymie. They are trying to stymie any effort in which Israel and Lebanon can work together and prolong it so that even arrangement is is reached at some point in the future, they can claim credit for having forced it through leverage.

[00:05:24]And and that's why you see, for example, Hezbollah agreed to a cease-fire about a week ago and then immediately violated the next within hours.

[00:05:32]>> You would agree every Hezbollah terrorist that the IDF kills makes America safer.

[00:05:37]>> Well, Hezbollah is a danger to the United States. There's no doubt about it. I think the question is how do you do that and how do you achieve the objective of demilitarizing and defanging Hezbollah while at the same time strengthening the legitimate government of Lebanon and particularly the president and others. That's been the challenge there for very long time.

[00:05:54]That remains the challenge now, of course.

[00:05:56]The capabilities of of the LAF are are are not where they need to be, but there are also elements within the LAF that are not who they need to be because they have they they facilitate in some cases and cooperate with Hezbollah. So, it's a very tricky situation, but I point you back to two things that have happened in the last few months. Number one, the Lebanese government expelled the Iranian ambassador because of Hezbollah. The Iranian ambassador says, "I'm not leaving and you can't make me."

[00:06:22]Okay, that's number one. The second thing that's happened is just a week ago, Hezbollah openly called went on said they openly called for the overthrow of the Lebanese government.

[00:06:30]So, no one here should be under any Hezbollah is not just an enemy of Israel and an enemy of America. Hezbollah is an enemy of Lebanon and of the Lebanese people.

[00:06:38]>> Thank you. Thank you. Thank you, Senator Cruz.

[00:06:41]>> Senator Rubio, you've been very generous with your time. We appreciate that.

[00:06:44]Uh I for the information members record remain open until the close of business tomorrow, June 3rd.