Secretary of State Marco Rubio dismantled radical Democrat Sen. Cory Booker’s desperate attempt to paint the Trump administration as weak and “begging” Iran for a deal.
Booker, still clinging to the disastrous Obama-era JCPOA that funded Iranian terrorism and nuclear ambitions, launched into a familiar rant:
“You have made our adversary in a stronger negotiating position. We are the strongest nation on the planet Earth and we’re in a stalemate with Iran. And now we’re begging to get back into a deal that you all trashed in the first place.”
Rubio didn’t flinch.
After Booker’s time expired, Rubio requested an opportunity to directly address the claim, arguing that the facts on the ground tell a far different story than the one Democrats are attempting to sell.
“No one’s begging for anything here,” Rubio said. “The Iranians might be begging because their economy is losing hundreds of millions of dollars a day. Understand, Iran had street protests going on before all of this started.”
The secretary proceeded to deliver a devastating assessment of Iran’s current condition, portraying the regime as economically crippled, militarily weakened, and increasingly vulnerable to internal unrest.
Rubio: “All of those factors—economic factors in Iran—are far worse today than they were six months ago when those protests were happening. They have hyperinflation, their currency is completely devalued, and they’re struggling to make payroll for their government workers.
“Iran is in a very serious situation. And if it was up to the political class there—and I understand everybody there is sort of radical in some way—but if it was up to the people who actually go to elections, wear the suits, and appear on TV, they’d probably make a deal tomorrow.
“The issue they’re facing is that the Supreme Leader and the IRGC are a little more immune from those pressures, until they can be convinced otherwise. And I think that’s the direction they’re moving in, because the reality is—I don’t know where you’re getting this perception that Iran is stronger.”
“Iran has no navy left. They’ve lost a substantial percentage of their defense industrial base. Iran has lost a substantial percentage of its missile launchers. And their economy is far worse today—and I mean far worse today—than it was six to nine months ago.
“And they are looking at hundreds of billions of dollars in reconstruction costs just to get back to where they were six months ago.”
WATCH:
.@SecRubio shuts down @SenBooker: “No one’s ‘begging’ for anything here. The Iranians might be begging — because their economy is losing hundreds of millions of dollars a day.”
“I don’t know where you’re getting this perception that Iran is stronger. Iran has no navy left.… pic.twitter.com/XHVerZeo8D
— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) June 2, 2026
Jim Hᴏft is the founder and editor of The Gateway Pundit, one of the top conservative news outlets in America. Jim was awarded the Reed Irvine Accuracy in Media Award in 2013 and is the proud recipient of the Breitbart Award for Excellence in Online Journalism from the Americans for Prosperity Foundation in May 2016.
You can email Jim Hᴏft here, and read more of Jim Hᴏft’s articles here.
Ad block users: Some site features may not work correctly while an ad blocker is enabled, because they break scripts and content this website depends on. If you can’t see comments below, for example, please disable your ad blocker.
