Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Sunday that the Iranian regime learned through the U.S. strike against its nuclear facilities that President Trump is “not a game-playing president.”

Mr. Rubio said this is a pivotal moment for Iran, which can choose to join the United States at the negotiating table or retaliate and deal with the repercussions.

“We will impose costs on Iran if they attack American personnel, whether they do it directly or whether they do it through some of these proxies that they try to hide behind,” Mr. Rubio said on CBS’ “Face the Nation.” “Let’s hope they don’t choose that route.”

“Let’s all hope that they actually decide, OK, let’s go negotiate because we want a diplomatic and peaceful solution,” he added.

Mr. Trump celebrated the strike against three key nuclear facilities as a “spectacular” success and warned, “There are many targets left.”

“If peace doesn’t come quickly we will go after those other targets with precision, speed and skill,” Mr. Trump said Saturday night. “Most of them can be taken out in a matter of minutes.”

Mr. Rubio said before the strike that the Trump administration and its predecessors bent over backwards in an attempt to get Iran to stop its nuclear program. He said it appears that Iran “thought they were playing with a different kind of leader.”

“They are the ones that played games, as they have done for 40 years, as they have done to multiple presidents,” he said. “They tried to play games with President Trump and they see what happens.”

“This is not a game-playing president,” Mr. Rubio said. “When he says he is going to do something, he is going to do it.”

Mr. Rubio stressed the strike was “not an attack on Iran,” “not an attack on the Iranian people,” and not a “regime change move.”

“This was designed to degrade or destroy three nuclear sites related to their nuclear weaponization ambitions and that was delivered on yesterday,” Mr. Rubio said. “Whatever happens next will now depend on what Iran chooses to do next. If they choose the path to diplomacy, we are ready. We can do a deal that is good for them, the Iranian people, and good for the world.”

• Seth McLaughlin can be reached at smclaughlin@washingtontimes.com.