Rubio Refuses to Answer Israel Nuclear Question

(MENAFN) US Secretary of State Marco Rubio sidestepped a direct question Wednesday on whether Israel holds nuclear weapons, telling lawmakers the matter is too sensitive for open session and warrants a classified forum instead.

Appearing before the House Foreign Affairs Committee, Rubio stopped just short of confirmation — while making clear where global opinion stands.

"Before speaking frankly, I think most of the world assesses that they do, but they've never acknowledged that publicly," he told the panel.

"Delicate Balancing Act" Between Competing Interests
Rubio framed his reluctance as a matter of diplomatic necessity rather than evasion, acknowledging the web of competing interests surrounding Israel's long-ambiguous nuclear posture.

"These things require delicate balancing action between different equities," he said, neither confirming nor denying Israel's nuclear capabilities.

He assured committee members that a fuller briefing was possible under the right conditions, promising a "more fulsome answer" in a setting that was "both classified and sensitive."

Decades of Deliberate Ambiguity
Rubio framed Israel's long-standing refusal to publicly acknowledge its nuclear program not as an oversight, but as a deliberate and enduring pillar of US foreign policy architecture.

"It's a serious question," he said, noting that Israel's non-acknowledgment of a nuclear program has long been "a feature of our foreign policy."

Israel has maintained a policy of nuclear ambiguity for decades — neither confirming nor denying possession of atomic weapons — a stance that Washington has historically declined to challenge publicly.

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