Why Rubio’s Iran Advice Clashes Awkwardly With Trump’s $1.5T Military Budget

Secretary of State Marco Rubio appeared on ABC's Good Morning America on March 30 with one piece of advice for Iran. He claimed that Iran will see immense development if it invests in its people and not weapons.

"Imagine an Iran that, instead of spending their wealth, billions of dollars, supporting terrorists or weapons, had spent that money helping the people of Iran,” Secretary Rubio said, adding, "You'd have a much different country."

He made similar remarks during a recent interview with Al Jazeera. When asked whether there has been direct communication between the United States and Iran, Secretary Rubio claimed that the two countries have been talking primarily through intermediaries. He further stated that President Donald Trump will always lean toward “diplomacy.” However, he said that it is Iran that is not ready to explore common grounds.

Reiterating his views on the Middle Eastern country, Secretary Rubio said, “Imagine an Iranian regime who, instead of spending billions of dollars supporting terrorist groups and building up all these weapons, had invested that money into Iran for the people of Iran, so they wouldn’t have water shortages, so their economy would provide opportunities for incredible people.”

Secretary Rubio claimed that the people of Iran do not reach their full potential because of the current regime. He said that instead of working toward the goodwill of its people, the Iranian regime is busy sponsoring terrorist groups all around the world.

He stated, “The people of Iran are incredible people, very resourceful, very entrepreneurial. But it’s the regime that’s been a problem. And instead, they have chosen to spend the wealth of their country to support Hezbollah and Hamas and Shia militias inside of Iraq and try to destabilize Syria when Assad was there and all over the world to sponsor terrorist plots and build these drones and build these weapons to threaten their neighbors unnecessarily."

However, days later, President Trump announced that the federal government cannot afford child care, Medicaid, or Medicare, which seemed to contradict Secretary Rubio’s priorities. During a White House Easter gathering that was closed to the press, President Trump reportedly told his guests that he had ordered his budget director, Russell Vought, not to prioritize federal funding for day care. He was quite clear when he announced where his priority lies.

"We're fighting wars. We can't take care of day care," President Trump said. "It's not possible for us to take care of day care, Medicaid, Medicare — all these individual things. We have to take care of one thing: military protection. We have to guard the country," he added.

Shortly after the luncheon, the White House submitted its budget proposal for the coming year. It officially asked for $1.5 trillion in total defense spending, and tagged it as a "$445 billion or 42 percent increase" over the current year, marking the largest single-year leap in military spending since the Korean War.