Trump discusses leaving NATO with Rutte amid Iran ceasefire

[0:00] Back in here to Live Now from Fox, I am Andy Mack. [0:02] We are just about 24 hours since this double-sided ceasefire took place, [0:07] and already both sides are accusing one another of violating the framework of this deal. [0:14] And one major component condition for this ceasefire was the opening of the Strait of Hormuz. [0:20] For more on this, let's go out right now to Jennifer Griffin with this report. [0:23] I agree to what's been stated is the Strait is open. [0:27] Just hours after agreeing to a two-week ceasefire and allowing at least four ships [0:32] to pass through the Strait of Hormuz, Iran's state media reported it would block the Strait [0:37] as long as Israel continues attacking Hezbollah in Lebanon. [0:41] It also wants a toll, $1 per barrel, passing through the Strait. [0:45] A typical oil tanker carries 2 million barrels. [0:48] The White House says President Trump was told privately the Strait is open. [0:51] At a Pentagon briefing, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs outlined what Operation Epic Fury [0:56] destroyed after the U.S. military hit 13,000 targets in 38 days. [1:02] CENTCOM forces destroyed approximately 80 percent of Iran's air defense systems, [1:07] striking more than 1,500 air defense targets, more than 450 ballistic missile storage facilities, [1:14] 800 one-way attack drones storage facilities. [1:18] All of these systems are gone. [1:20] What General Cain did not mention were the percent of American weapons stockpiles emptied [1:24] and costly U.S. warplanes lost, three F-15Es shot down in a friendly fire incident in Kuwait, [1:31] a fourth shot down in Iran, one A-10, over 16 MQ-9 Reaper drones, two MC-130J transport planes, [1:40] and four light special operations helicopters, totaling more than $900 million in losses. [1:46] I've laid out the statistics, but it does not truly capture the nature of combat. [1:53] This is gritty and unforgiving business. [1:56] CENTCOM says 50,000 U.S. service members, 16 warships, and a dozen air squadrons are staying. [2:02] A ceasefire is a pause, and the Joint Force remains ready, [2:06] if ordered or called upon, to resume combat operations. [2:10] The U.S. military carried out a closing salvo of 800 airstrikes last night in Iran. [2:16] At the end of 38 days of bombing, Iran still has 900 pounds of highly enriched weapons-grade uranium, [2:23] says it preserves the right to enrichment, has enough drones and missiles to threaten to close the strait, [2:29] and despite a large number of strikes on Iran's leaders, the regime and the IRGC remain. [2:35] In Washington, Jennifer Griffin, Fox News. [2:38] And we also know later on this week, VP J.D. Vance, Wittkopf, Kushner will participate in some of those negotiations [2:45] in Islamabad on Saturday morning local time, this according to the White House Press Secretary Caroline Leavitt. [2:51] Let's be joined right now by White House correspondent for Reuters, Honeycutt, Trevor Honeycutt. [2:55] Thank you so much for joining us here on Live Now from Fox. [2:58] And we talk about this, the chippiness, as Defense Secretary says, [3:02] it takes time for a ceasefire to take hold. Is the White House still optimistic about this in this two-week time frame? [3:10] Well, certainly are. I mean, we heard from Caroline Leavitt as well today that essentially the ceasefires are always going to be fragile, [3:17] and you're going to have to kind of give a little bit of time for this to take effect. [3:21] So we'll see if that happens. You know, I think the broader question here is just essentially, [3:27] is this a real ceasefire? And do Iranians have the same expectations as the White House about this? [3:34] Yeah, that is a very big question. Another question is around Lebanon and whether they are actually involved in all of this. [3:41] What's the stance behind the United States? Because we heard from Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, [3:46] saying they're going to continue to strike Hezbollah, the Iranian proxy group. Is Lebanon involved in this? [3:51] Are there two sides in consensus about that? [3:55] The White House says that Lebanon is not a part of this deal and that they've communicated that to all the parties of the ceasefire. [4:02] But that is clearly going to be an issue here during these two weeks is whether Hezbollah, which we know has allied with Iran, [4:10] whether they're going to allow these attacks to continue without bringing Iran back into this fight. [4:17] Yeah, that is a very big question, of course, that they're just north of the Israel border. [4:23] I do want to ask you because we do know those negotiations are going to take place later on this week. [4:27] Again, it's going to be led by VP J.D. Vance, along with Steve Witkoff and Kushner, [4:32] two other names that are very familiar with these talks. [4:34] How much is that Trump saying in support of J.D. Vance and why do you think he picked him to take the lead on this? [4:42] Well, so it's really interesting to see J.D. Vance, who's not necessarily been front and center during this war, [4:48] kind of coming to the fore here and having a bigger role in this. [4:53] You know, it kind of makes sense as the person who was kind of least, you know, [4:57] in favor of moving forward with this conflict, [5:00] that he would be the one who would be tasked with kind of bringing it to an end and bringing it to a close. [5:06] You know, and so it is an opportunity, I think, politically for the vice president to come out [5:10] and stake his own position about this Iran conflict [5:14] and how the U.S. should be handling this issue going forward. [5:17] So I think it's really interesting to see how he's going to be different from Donald Trump on this issue. [5:21] And we know that there are going to be some sticking points. [5:24] The 15-point plan for the United States, very different from the 10-point plan from Iran. [5:29] What could be the main points that these two sides don't see eye-to-eye on? [5:34] Number one is nuclear enrichment, right? [5:36] Can Iran move forward with nuclear enrichment? [5:39] And at what level? [5:41] And will the United States tolerate that in any way? [5:45] There's no agreement between the sides that I've seen on that issue. [5:50] And then also, who controls the Strait of Hormuz? [5:52] Is that now Iran's responsibility? [5:55] Can they charge tolls for using that passageway or not? [6:00] Yeah, that is a very big point, that energy choke point. [6:03] We talk about it. [6:04] And that's also a point of contention whether or not it is open. [6:08] But talking about some of these negotiations and that nuclear enrichment, [6:12] is that a red line for the United States that they cannot have enrichment? [6:16] Is that a go or no-go for this Trump administration? [6:19] The White House reiterated today that that is a red line, that the president does not want to see nuclear enrichment, [6:25] and that he will not agree to any deal that allows Iran to develop the fissile material that they would need for a nuclear bomb. [6:35] And you mentioned the Strait of Hormuz. [6:38] They said it would potentially be unacceptable, Caroline Levitt did, if they did not reopen. [6:43] At what capacity is acceptable for this White House? [6:47] Is it just a few tankers? [6:48] Is it full 100% reopening? [6:51] Well, they said today that they think that the Strait of Hormuz should be open fully, which it clearly is not now. [6:58] They said that there is more traffic. [7:00] We have not seen a lot of evidence of a lot of traffic moving through there. [7:03] But they said they just want it free and open at this point, which it is not. [7:09] And the Iranian statement, you know, clearly couched what they were saying as not free and clear, right, [7:16] that any movement would have to take place in coordination with Iran. [7:21] So we're not back to an open straight yet. [7:23] And we've seen President Trump, his disappointment in other allies, including from NATO and President Trump on Truth Social, [7:30] saying NATO wasn't there when we needed them and they won't be there if we need them again. [7:34] Remember Greenland, that big, poorly run piece of ice. [7:38] So obviously he's talked about Greenland a time or two. [7:41] But talking about what's going on in the Middle East, [7:44] are there conversations happening about the future of NATO and whether the United States will be part? [7:49] Absolutely. So the president hosted the secretary general of NATO, Mark Ruda, at the White House today. [7:55] We just heard from Mark Ruda within the hour. [7:58] And he says that the president was very disappointed with NATO and that he expressed that in a private meeting. [8:04] And Ruda said that he understood where Trump was coming from to some degree about NATO members [8:10] not being fully cooperative with the Iran mission, even though they benefited from the results. [8:15] So clearly there are discussions happening. [8:18] Ruda was at the White House for over two hours. [8:21] Clearly they're having some very detailed discussions about what the future of NATO looks like [8:24] and what Washington's role in it is going to be. [8:27] Is there any movement in terms of NATO helping reopen the Strait of Hormuz [8:31] because the Trump administration doesn't want Iran to control it to have those tolls? [8:36] Is NATO going to step in in any capacity and help get tankers through? [8:40] So what I've been told by European officials here is that they are not at all ready to join an operation [8:48] to clear the Strait at this time because there's still no clarity that the hostilities have ended. [8:53] And that's a key point for them, that they don't want to be in an active shooting war here. [8:57] They'll come into the Strait and help with the cleanup process, but it needs to be after the war has ended. [9:01] And I've also heard that the European leaders did not tell Mark Ruda to promise Donald Trump [9:07] that they would be assisting anytime soon. [9:10] And just to wrap this up, because the double-sided ceasefire, it has been chippy so far. [9:14] We've seen lobs of bombs kind of both ways already. [9:18] This is a delicate ceasefire. [9:20] What are you watching over the next few days, [9:22] and what would it mean for the United States to snap back and say this thing is over? [9:26] We really need, from the global economy, U.S. economy perspective, [9:31] we need the Strait open, right, in terms of where oil prices are. [9:35] That's really the thing that hits American consumers quickest and fastest right in their pocketbooks. [9:40] And so we really need to see movements of tankers and ships through that Strait [9:45] to really see this conflict come to an end. [9:48] And then we also need to see, you know, a cessation to the bombings, right? [9:52] We need to see that Iran is not bombing its neighbors [9:58] and that they aren't being bombed by Israel. [10:01] Yeah, and obviously everyone coming to the table, [10:03] so we'll see what it looks like in Islamabad with VP J.D. Vance and others there for those talks. [10:09] Trevor Honeycutt, thank you so much. [10:10] I appreciate your time here on Live Now.