Mike Waltz: Iranian officials aren't "good guys," but Trump "laser focused" on nuclear weapons

[0:00] The first face-to-face meeting between the U.S. and Iran since President Trump agreed to a truce. [0:05] Now the 60-day window to reach an agreement on Iran's nuclear program [0:11] has begun and the challenge for these talks is daunting. [0:16] What the president has asked us to do is turn over a new leaf to transform our relationship with [0:22] the people of Iran and to extend an outstretched hand that says to the people of Iran that if your [0:27] leadership is willing to give up being a driver of regional instability if they are willing to give [0:33] up nuclear weapons ambitions for the long term then the United States is willing to fundamentally [0:38] transform our relationship with that country. Our CBS News poll out this morning shows that more [0:44] than three-quarters of Americans want to end the conflict now with 69 percent saying the conflict [0:50] with Iran was not worth the costs. More than half, 57 percent, say the president's war with Iran [0:57] created more problems than it solved and two and three believe that the administration reached [1:02] agreement with Iran mainly because it wanted the conflict to be over. We're joined now by U.N. [1:08] Ambassador Mike Walz who joins us from New York. Good morning and happy Father's Day. [1:14] Hey, good morning. Thank you and happy Father's Day to all the [1:19] great fathers out there. Strong men make strong families. Thanks. [1:23] Well, Ambassador, the war is unpopular as you just heard but how it ends matters as you know. [1:29] CBS's Olivia Ghaziz is reporting that senior members of Trump's national security team, [1:35] including Secretary Rubio, remain doubtful Iran will comply with this deal's terms. [1:41] The CIA director presented Trump with intelligence indicating inconsistencies with Iran's commitments. [1:48] So if even the president's own team doubts this is a win, how do you sell this to the public? [1:53] Well, Margaret, I'll go back to other polling that shows that the American people absolutely [2:04] agree with President Trump that Iran can never have a nuclear weapon. Of course, [2:08] we all want lower gas prices. They are lower below $4 and falling with more work to do. They're [2:15] cheaper than under the Biden administration. We'll remember just a few months ago when analysts were [2:21] saying oil would be upwards of $150 to $200 a barrel. And it is not. It's now under 80. Of course, [2:28] everyone wants cheaper energy. But what President Trump is doing is striking that balance [2:35] with also ensuring that a genocidal regime that none of us trust can never have a nuclear weapon. [2:41] And that process is underway right now as we speak. [2:44] Well, the American people also don't want Iran to have a nuclear weapon. We see that in our polling. But [2:49] they're unconvinced that this interim agreement achieves that. But to the point you were just [2:55] making about the regime, the vice president is sitting right now behind closed doors face to face [3:01] with Speaker Khalibov. This is a man who oversaw the missile program in Iran when he was a commander in [3:07] the IRGC's Air Force. He has bragged. There are recordings of him doing so about his own role in [3:14] cracking down on protesters, describing how proud he was about having personally beaten them with wooden [3:21] sticks. So we went from President Trump telling protesters that help is on the way to now sitting across [3:28] negotiating with one of the men who beat them. Aren't we offering the regime a lifeline? [3:33] Well, number one, this is a step forward that no other administration has ever been able to do, [3:43] and that's have direct talks. None of these senior members of this genocidal regime [3:51] are good guys by any means. They certainly wouldn't pass an FBI background check. No one expects that. [3:57] But at the end of the day, the administration, our administration is taking a pragmatic approach. [4:02] This is who the regime has put forward to deal with. And they remain and we remain focused on the goal [4:10] of no nuclear weapons, period. And what we've seen in the past is policy drift in terms of what our [4:18] aims are. The president is laser focused. The American people and not just the American people, [4:23] the entire world with U.N. Security Council resolution after U.N. Security Council resolution [4:28] for decades saying Iran can't have a nuke. And we need to give this process a chance. [4:34] We need to give peace a chance. And as the vice president has said, [4:37] perhaps we can finally turn the page to a new Middle East, like President Trump did with the [4:43] Abraham Accords his first term. Yeah. [4:45] Let's give this a chance his second term. But Margaret, I want to be very clear. [4:49] As Secretary Rubio said, we know the type of people that we're dealing with. [4:53] We have condemned them for killing 40,000 to 50,000 of their own citizens in just a weekend. [4:59] Yeah. [5:00] They hold Americans hostage. They've never returned the remains of Bob Levinson, [5:05] a former contractor from 20 years ago. We know who we're dealing with eyes wide open. [5:10] They have six Americans hostage right now. [5:10] But the difference with the Obama administration is going to be all about verification, [5:18] no trust, and all verify whatever they put down on paper. And we know, [5:24] and the other piece too is it's backed by credible military force that the previous administrations [5:31] took off the table, removed their leverage. We are going in with a devastated Iranian economy, [5:37] a devastated Iranian military, and perhaps with some carrots that will be verified and pay for [5:46] performance that we'll see a better deal this time. [5:51] I know the families of hostages appreciate you mentioning them. [5:54] Many were disappointed that their families were not included in any kind of goodwill gesture. [5:58] There are six Americans being held. But back to the deal, the vice president indicated some of [6:04] that. But Margaret, I'm sorry. I'm sorry. That's a very important point. And I want those families to [6:09] know their loved ones are not forgotten. And this president's record in getting Americans home [6:16] is unparalleled from any president in modern American history. So I just want them to hear that [6:23] loud and clear. This president has his eye on the ball. Sometimes these talks handle, [6:29] are handled out of the public eye. Senator Tom Cotton said this will allow Iran to sell its oil [6:35] based on pre-war production levels. It'll get between $150 and $200 million every single day, [6:41] up to $6 billion per month. What do you think these guys are going to spend that money on? [6:49] Well, first, that money is not going into some kind of slush fund. [6:53] It is going to places that we can still monitor. If it's not going to the places that were agreed upon, [7:02] we can absolutely turn it back off. The president can put the blockade back in. He just said this [7:08] morning, if Iran doesn't get Hezbollah under control to stop attacking Israel, that will be a [7:15] violation. And he will go back to, again, the key point here is we have that military option and all [7:21] options on the table. Biden, Obama, none of the predecessors have that in a very credible way [7:28] like president Trump does. But the president himself says he wants to avert economic disaster [7:33] and that we're weeks away from a fuel shortage. So he seems to be saying that he wouldn't [7:38] necessarily want to return to conflict if that's the cost of it. So the credible use of force seems in [7:44] question. But no, but there's some nuance there, Margaret, that in the United States, [7:51] we are producing more than we ever have. Venezuela is now producing countries like Guyana in South [7:58] America have whole new fines that we're now helping. So we're actually getting more oil and gas on the [8:05] market. But some of our allies absolutely have been affected, particularly in Asia. And the president [8:10] has that in mind as he's negotiating. But he also has seen in the UN, for example, the entire world [8:18] condemning this regime, a UN record 143 countries for its illegal mining of the straits and for its [8:26] attempt to hold the world economy hostage. So they're diplomatically isolated. They're economically [8:32] devastated. They're militarily devastated. And despite what you read in the headlines or some [8:37] prognosticating, we are going into these negotiations from a position of strength. [8:41] Well, the vice president described rapprochement this morning, and he indicated that some of the [8:47] details of what was agreed to are not written down. He referred to a gentleman's agreement. [8:52] That phrase was also briefed to reporters by an administration official. And here is what the [8:56] president said. If they don't honor the agreement or some things aren't even mentioned in the [9:03] agreement, it's a memorandum of understanding. But we have an understanding of certain things without [9:07] writing it. Are there classified annexes or portions of this that have not been made public? [9:14] And will they be shared with Congress? Margaret, not to my knowledge. And I'll just go back to your [9:22] point on what's on paper and what's being discussed. This is an ongoing negotiation that [9:29] we've never before had directly with the Iranians. And I'll just say this from a lot of the doubts that [9:36] you played in your opening. This is the same team that got all of the hostages out of the tunnels [9:40] of Gaza that nobody said could be done. They got a ceasefire in place, not perfect, that no one [9:46] said could be done, that took care of the Maduro regime. He's in jail right down the street here in [9:52] New York with no casualties and Venezuela now on a better track. So I wouldn't doubt this president [10:00] or this team. There's going to be some bumps in the road for sure. No administration has been [10:05] able to get this far from a position of strength. And so, you know, I have full confidence that we'll [10:13] get to a deal. And as the vice president said, perhaps, perhaps give this a chance and we can [10:19] have a transformed Middle East. No one would have thought even a year ago that you'd have Israel and [10:24] the UAE working together militarily to defend each other as a result of the next evolution of the [10:33] Abraham Accords. So we're kind of forced to, but also we're in day one of the technical talks [10:37] and Margaret, by the way, there are there are technical experts from the Department of Energy [10:43] that are sitting down right now to get to the bottom of the down blending, the moving of the [10:49] uranium, the highly enriched uranium and how that will technically be done. So we have to give that [10:55] process a chance as well. Well, that's good to hear that the U.S. has its own nuclear experts on [11:00] site. The White House hadn't said that. Is there anything else you can tell us? Who's going to keep [11:05] talking for 60 days? Vance says he has to come home. Again, these are our Department of Energy [11:10] experts, our PhDs in physics, a lot smarter than I am, that are getting into those nitty-gritty [11:17] details. But the big picture is the president's focused on Iran not having a nuclear program. [11:24] And right now it's destroyed. And if they and we're going to keep it destroyed and have it permanently [11:31] destroyed as opposed to the past where it was ongoing and we were basically bribing them to not [11:38] continue. It's a totally different negotiation dynamic. Well, that stockpile was shipped to Russia [11:43] and the JCPOA. There were limits. We want to see what limits these U.S. negotiators are actually able [11:49] to secure. And we'll watch that diplomacy. Thank you very much, Ambassador Waltz.