The following is the transcript of the interview with Rep. Mike Turner, Republican of Ohio, that aired on "Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan" on March 1, 2026.

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MARGARET BRENNAN: We're joined now by Ohio Republican Congressman Mike Turner. Congressman, you are on the Armed Services Committee. I know you've been in contact with the administration to understand what is going on. The ranking Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, Mark Warner was briefed by Secretary Rubio, and he is calling this- Warner is, a war of choice. He said there was no evidence of imminent harm to Americans or an imminent threat to our country. Were you informed of a specific and imminent threat to the United States?

REP. MIKE TURNER: Well, this issue of imminent is really this, this fallacy of the really that comes from the Obama administration's nuclear weapons- nuclear enrichment negotiations, where, with the Obama administration, the JCPOA set up this fallacy that we were just going to set up, you know, cameras and watch Iran do this nuclear enrichment until they got all the way to a nuclear weapon, and then they were going to kick to the next administration, whether or not there was going to be a military conflict, which is what we've come down to--

MARGARET BRENNAN: --That was a pretty detailed international accord with stages. There were parts at sunset--

REP. TURNER: But this- this concept of imminent, I mean, as we just saw from the international--

MARGARET BRENNAN: Well, that's separate and apart from imminent threat to justify U.S. military force--

REP. TURNER: No, but it's not because it goes to really this- this inherent policy that we see- that has, you know, a thread that's come through the Democrat side that we still see from the Democratic Obama administration's policies of what is imminent. Imminent here really is that the Iranian regime continues to be a a sponsor of terrorism and amassing of missiles and inventory where they have declared themselves an enemy of the United States and of our allies, where they have committed themselves to nuclear enrichment and refused to declare themselves as not pursuing a nuclear weapon, and--

[CROSSTALK STARTS]

MARGARET BRENNAN: They said they weren't--

REP. TURNER: --Well, actually they have- they have not, as we have seen--

MARGARET BRENNAN: --the Foreign Minister said--

REP. TURNER: Even just last year, we had the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency saying that they were just mere months away from being able to have several nuclear warheads--

MARGARET BRENNAN: --No, had a enough material

REP. TURNER: So this- this imminent issue -this imminent- this imminent issue is one where people want to have them be with their hand almost on the button to something that has been completely assembled. In this instance, the administration has declared that they had information and imminent aspect of that- that Iran was a threat, both to us and to Israel, our- our ally, and had the opportunity to take an action to eliminate that threat. That's important. We don't have to wait--

MARGARET BRENNAN: --Sorry which threat though--

REP. TURNER: We don't have to wait--

MARGARET BRENNAN: --because the president said the nuclear threat was obliterated. And none of the nuclear sites--

REP. TURNER: --No, no, he said that at those sites that we had taken action to eliminate were their nuclear enrichment sites that we had obliterated those sites, but they had continued to amass missile technology and missile inventory. They had continued, as has- had been declared, to pursue their intention of nuclear enrichment. They had continued.

MARGARET BRENNAN: Rubio said they weren't enriching.

REP. TURNER: They had continued their intention to pursue nuclear enrichment. They had- had said and declared that they were going to do that. Their programs had not been completely abolished, and their intention had not been abolished. They remained a threat, and the fact that we had the ability to- to intervene, that imminence is incredibly important. This- this- this standard of what is imminent. I mean, you- you- you--

MARGARET BRENNAN: Well, people want to know why. Why now? That's that's why I'm asking.

REP. TURNER: Because the opportunity is there to eliminate an imminent threat that is a imminent threat to the United States and our operations and in the area and our ally.

[END CROSSTALK]

MARGARET BRENNAN: I want to ask you about another standoff between the Pentagon and Anthropic which is the only AI company whose products are used in classified systems for things like Target ID, intel assessments and battlefield simulations. This morning, the Wall Street Journal is reporting that their AI was, in fact, used in these operations, even though Secretary Hegseth and Trump ordered it to be cut off due to this contractual dispute over the use of the model. Anthropic's CEO told CBS in an exclusive interview that it is up to Congress to act here to really create clarity as to how AI can be used. It's clearly essential, if the Pentagon's still using it in this operation. Will congress act here?

REP. TURNER: This is something that they're going to have to deal with and come to congress for. This is obviously–

MARGARET BRENNAN: The administration has to come--

REP. TURNER: In this circumstance- in this particular circumstances I'm unaware of this particular issue, this is going to have to be something that there's going to have to be dealt with in more detail than, obviously, an interview on CBS.

MARGARET BRENNAN: Can I ask you, in that targeting of the Supreme Leader, that Secretary- that Senator Cotton talked about. Did the U.S. carry out that strike?

REP. TURNER: Well, I think this is very important. The- what's very clear here, and I think this is important to discuss, you know, the President of the United States indicated that we were targeting the military, military infrastructure and- and not the regime, and not regime change. And yesterday, when I had the opportunity to talk to Secretary Rubio, you know, I asked that question, and he was very clear in the answer that we did not target Khamenei and the- and we were not targeting the leadership in Iran. So the aspect of- that the United States was not undertaking regime change is very important. Our aspect of what the President of the United States has undertaken was this imminent threat that he described in his announcement and- and that, I think- his response and his statement to the United States is an important aspect.

MARGARET BRENNAN: But just to be clear, you're not saying that Israel carried out that strike without the U.S. permission, green lighting, buy in?

REP. TURNER: You know the fact that that Khamenei has been a murderous authoritarian who has killed an unbelievable number of Israelis, they have absolutely, I think, a strong basis in which to do so. I think it certainly shows that if you're a murderous authoritarian and you are- that you are, you're at risk- and you're it's better to be a friend of the United States than a murderous authoritarian. It's also interesting that Putin just said that he lost–

MARGARET BRENNAN: --Speaking of murderous dictators

REP. TURNER: --that he lost a friend in in losing Khamenei, and we certainly didn't see Khamenei as a friend.

MARGARET BRENNAN: We will leave it there, Congressman Turner. We'll be back in a moment with more 'Face the Nation.'