A viral clip of then, Senator Marco Rubio from 2015 has resurfaced, showing him laying out exactly what he believed would happen if President Obama’s Iran nuclear deal went into effect. A decade later, much of what Rubio warned about appears to have come to pass. Now, with Rubio serving in the Trump administration, the United States is approaching Iran in a way he argued it should have all along.
🚨 WATCH! 2015 footage of then-Sen. Marco Rubio is RESURFACING, and he CALLED IRAN’S PLAYBOOK PERFECTLY, 11 years ago!
— Gunther Eagleman™ (@GuntherEagleman) March 5, 2026
In this resurfaced clip, Rubio warned exactly what would happen if the Obama Iran deal went through:
• Iran uses sanctions relief cash to build missiles,… pic.twitter.com/I0AwEUIG5a
"I do want to be recorded for history's purposes before I know what is going to happen in regards to this if it goes through. Iran will immediately use the money that it's receiving in sanctions relief to begin to build up its conventional capabilities," Senator Rubio said at the time. "It will establish the most dominant military power in the region outside of the United States and it will raise the price of us operating in the region. They're going to build anti-access capabilities, rockets capable of destroying our aircraft carriers and ships. They'll continue to build these swift boats that are able to come on us, these fast boats that are able to swarm our naval assets. And they'll make it harder and harder for U.S. troops to be in the region."
They'll also work with other terrorist groups in the region to target American servicemen and women. And they may or may not deny that they're involved, but they will target us and raise the price of our presence in the Middle East until they hope to completely pull us out of that region. They'll also continue to build long-range missiles, missiles capable of reaching the United States.
Those are not affected by this deal. And they'll continue to build them as they've been doing. And then at some point in the near future, when the time is right, they will build a nuclear weapon.
"And they will do so because at that point they will know that they have become immune, that we will no longer be able to strike their nuclear program because the price of doing so will be too high," he added. "This is not just a work of imagination. It exists in the world today."
Rubio went on to argue that the same pattern had already played out with North Korea before explaining why he believed Iran posed an even greater danger. In his view, Iran was not a typical geopolitical adversary but a regime motivated by a revolutionary Islamic ideology, which he warned made its leadership more willing to take drastic actions.
"And never in the history of the world has such a regime ever possessed weapons so capable of destruction. Iran is led by a supreme leader who is a radical Shia cleric with an apocalyptic vision of the future," he said. "He is not a traditional geopolitical actor who makes decisions on the basis of borders or simply history, or because of ambitions. He has a religious apocalyptic vision of the future. One that calls for triggering a conflict between the non-Muslim world and the Muslim world. One that he feels especially obligated to trigger."
And he's going to possess nuclear weapons? This is the world that we are on the verge of leaving our children to inherit. And perhaps we ourselves will have to share in it. And so I want to be recorded for history's purposes, if nothing else, to say that those of us who opposed this deal understood where it would lead.
Not only was Rubio warning about the future, he is now in a position to help lead the effort to ensure Iran no longer threatens the United States. While past administrations sought negotiations with hostile regimes and allowed far weaker countries to stall Washington with promises of a rosy path to peace, the Trump administration is making clear that nations like Iran cannot test American resolve without deadly consequences.