ABC News Chief White House Correspondent Mary Bruce asked Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Tuesday if the U.S. is actually any closer to “getting rid of Iran’s nuclear material?” Rubio offered a lengthy reply, which included declaring Operation Epic Fury official over.

“Secretary, on the rising oil and gas prices, the president has said that this is a small price to pay for getting rid of a nuclear weapon. But 10 weeks in, are we any closer to getting rid of Iran’s nuclear material?” Bruce asked Rubio, who was filling in for Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt while on maternity leave.

‘Yeah, but look, here’s the way to think about Iran. And this is what I described at the very beginning of this. What was Iran’s plan? You have to understand what their plan was. Their plan was that they were going to build this conventional shield where they would have so many thousands of missiles, drones, and rockets that they couldn’t be attacked,” Rubio replied, adding:

And behind that conventional shield that they were trying to build, they would then break out and do whatever they wanted with their nuclear program. They no longer have that conventional shield. We told you guys from the very beginning, and we’re very consistent in this messaging: the operation that has concluded was going to destroy their Navy. They have no Navy left. Not a navy. They have small boats in Boston, but they don’t have a Navy left.

They don’t have an Air Force. I challenge you: when is the last time you read or heard about an Iranian jet flying anywhere? They don’t have an air force. Their missile-launching capability has been substantially degraded, and their industrial base—their defense industrial base—has been severely, severely damaged. So their ability to build a shield behind which they could hide their nuclear program was wiped out. That’s a very substantial achievement, and that was the purpose of this operation from day one.

Why do you have to get their nuclear material in order for this war to end? Well, that’s one of the topics that needs to be discussed. I don’t know about—I think you’re linking it. The operation is over. Epic Fury, the president notified Congress. We’re done with that stage of it, okay?

We’re now on to this project of freedom. As far as the negotiation is concerned, I think the president’s been clear that part of the negotiation process has to be not just the enrichment, but what happens to this material that’s buried deep somewhere that they still have access to if they ever wanted to dig it out. That has to be addressed. And that’s being addressed in the negotiation. I’m not going to go further on what progress has been made on that topic because I don’t want to endanger the negotiations, but suffice it to say that the president and this entire team is aware of the centrality of that question, and that will have to be addressed one way or the other.

Watch the clip above via Fox News.

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