Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Thursday that President Donald Trump is a “peacemaker” who would “prefer to avoid” taking military action against Iran — while adding that Iran will not be allowed to get a nuclear weapon under the Trump administration. 

In an interview with journalist Catherine Herridge on his first 30 days in office, Rubio was asked about Iran’s pursuit of a nuclear weapon and Trump’s directive to attack Iran if it were to assassinate him. “Suffice it to say, if the United States chose to do so, it could bring about the end of the Iranian regime,” he said. “But the president is a peacemaker — he’d prefer to avoid that.”

“How we prevent a nuclear Iran, I’m not going to discuss the options available to us, or anyone else for that matter,” Rubio said. “But I want to be abundantly clear — the Iranian regime can never be … allowed to possess a nuclear weapon where they can hold the world hostage and where they could potentially attack Israel.”

Rubio also added that a beneficial implication of reopening normal diplomatic relations with Russia was to discourage them from allying with Iran. “There are items in the world where we have a common interest. I’m not sure the Russians are fans of the Iranian regime having nuclear weapons, as an example,” Rubio said.

Discussing Hamas’ release of deceased hostages earlier in the day, Rubio said the fact of the Bibas children being kidnapped and their coffins being paraded around Gaza before their release “tells you who we’re dealing with with Hamas. This is not a government, this is not simply an ideological movement, these are evil, terrible people. And the idea that they would ever be allowed to continue to have arms, to be militarized, and to control territory anywhere in the world is unfathomable.”

“Hamas cannot be allowed … to do three things,” he continued. “Terrorize the people of Gaza, attack Israel, and actually be a government or anything like a government.”

“If a group existed in Mexico that came across our border, kidnapped Americans, babies, and launched rockets, we would eliminate them. We would wipe them out and no country in the world can coexist alongside a group whose intended purpose is the destruction of your state and is willing to commit atrocities like this in pursuance of it,” the secretary said. 

Rubio once again laid out Trump’s plan to relocate the Palestinians living in Gaza and rebuild the Strip but acknowledged that “our partners in the region don’t like that plan.” He said he had spoken with the Egyptians, the Jordanians, the Saudis and the UAE. “My challenge is, if you don’t like the president’s, then I think you should come up with a better plan. And I hope they do. I hope they come up with a plan that allows for the reconstruction of Gaza, and the United States will try to help — or will help.”

Asked what an “America First” State Department looks like, Rubio answered, “An ‘America First’ State Department is not an ‘American only’ State Department. It’s a State Department that defines what is the important national interest the United States has in different parts of the world, and then everything we do is aligned with that principle.”