U.N. Ambassador Mike Waltz says U.S. is "never going to take an approach of trust" with Iran

[0:00] We turn now to the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, Mike Waltz, who joins us this morning [0:04] from New York. Welcome back to Face the Nation, Ambassador. [0:09] Thank you. Good to be with you. [0:10] So the president said Iran broke the ceasefire, but he is still offering them a deal. Is this a [0:17] presentation of terms or should we expect an actual prolonged negotiation? [0:26] Well, I think this will be a continuation of the terms that the vice president offered a week ago. [0:33] And look, we have to take a step back here in that President Trump, the U.S. Navy is controlling [0:41] what is coming out of the straits. We've had the highest level engagement in the history of the [0:47] Iranian regime with the vice president leading. We have historic ceasefire talks going on between [0:55] the Israelis and the Lebanese. The markets are up. Oil prices are relatively stable. [1:01] The Iranian economy is devastated and they've never been, I can tell you here at the United [1:06] Nations, they've never been more diplomatically isolated. So Iran does not have the cards and [1:13] we are confident they will come to the table and finally give up their obsession with having [1:19] a nuclear weapon. [1:21] Well, Iran has not yet announced that it's sending a delegation to Islamabad. I know there's this [1:25] back and forth all morning long about whether the vice president would be leading it or not. [1:30] CBS, as you just heard, is reporting he will be. But why is it important that he be there in person? [1:36] Is it because Iran has refused to send anyone with decision-making authority unless he is there? [1:43] Well, you've seen the chaos, I mean, that you just pointed to on the Iranian side the last 48 hours. [1:50] You have their foreign minister announcing that they're going to stop attacking shipping. Then you [1:55] have the IRGC saying that they will and then doing so, as President Trump pointed out, an absolute [2:01] violation. So the Iranian side's in a bit of chaos. This is absolutely due to the devastating strikes on [2:09] their leadership. But I think the vice president leading shows the level of engagement from the U.S. [2:16] side, that we are absolutely serious. And I, for one, thank God for future generations, [2:21] that we are arresting a problem before it's too late. We're not waiting until the U.S. has no [2:27] options and Iran has some kind of breakout, which would lead to a nuclear breakout all over the Middle [2:32] East. Let me follow up on what you just said, though, because that's important. The Iranian side's [2:36] in chaos. So how do you know you're negotiating with the right person? It's been reported the Institute [2:41] for the Study of War says that the IRGC Commander General Bahidi has secured control over the [2:46] negotiations and the military within the past 48 hours. Does that mean Foreign Minister Aragji is [2:53] not the person to be sitting across the table from? Who's in charge? Well, look, again, the Iranian [3:04] regime, we've put them in chaos. But at the same time, we are never going to take an approach of trust. [3:12] Any deal that comes out of this will have to absolutely be verifiable and be enforceable. [3:19] I can tell you from sitting in my seat at the U.N., we've been in extensive discussions with the [3:24] International Atomic Energy Agency, the IAEA, which would have ostensibly a key role in ensuring [3:31] Iran lives up to any deal that it signs up to. There is no trust on this side. There is verified [3:40] and enforceable provisions that are on the table from the U.S. to ensure they never have a nuke. [3:47] Okay. That's important in terms of enforcement. Does that mean if you actually get to a negotiated [3:52] deal and the U.N.'s nuclear watchdog would be very much in those details of going in and perhaps [3:59] securing that enriched uranium, does this mean you're going to put a deal for approval before [4:04] the United Nations? Is it going to be codified like that? [4:07] Well, I'll tell you, there are dozens and dozens of resolutions over the years, [4:17] not just the United States, the entire world, saying Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon. [4:23] We had snapback provisions that are in place now for global sanctions and that Iran could not enrich. [4:29] So anything that would change those resolutions would then need to come back before. But let's not [4:35] get ahead of ourselves. Let's see if the Iranians actually sign up to a very reasonable offer that is [4:42] sitting on the table from the United States, which is an off-ramp from them, and also will ensure the [4:49] region, the United States, Europe, and the world is never threatened by a regime with its hand on a [4:54] nuclear button. Okay. So, but back to the point of who's in charge. President Trump says he hopes [5:00] they take the deal. That was the post this morning. But on Friday afternoon, he spoke to my [5:05] colleague, Weijia Zhang, and he gave us an incredibly optimistic read. He said Iran had, quote, [5:11] agreed to everything, including to stop enriching uranium forever and to stop backing all proxy [5:16] groups like Hezbollah. He made it sound like it's all been sorted out. So, which is it? Was there an [5:22] agreement with certain parts of the Iranian government, but now there are others in [5:26] charge? Or was he just, you know, I don't know, speculating about something he hopes comes true? [5:34] Margaret, anybody who has dealt with the Iranians will tell you it is often two steps forward, [5:41] three steps back. They're incredibly slippery. They can't be trusted. They cheated over the years, [5:47] which is one of the reasons that President Trump withdrew us from the JCPOA. They were hiding [5:53] sites. They were hiding capabilities. And this is why he made the bold decision last year in [5:59] Operation Midnight Hammer to just end it once and for all. And again, we have to take the perspective [6:06] that we're not waiting. We're not trusting. We are reducing their capabilities. Their military is in [6:12] shambles. Their missile program is in shambles. And now, hopefully, diplomatically, they will do it [6:18] the easy way rather than the hard way of finally giving up on this illegal ambition. [6:23] The Defense Intelligence Agency told Congress this past week Iran has thousands of missiles and [6:28] one-way attack drones that can still threaten the United States. So, there's still a threat in [6:33] certain ways. General Cain said on Thursday the U.S. is going to pursue Iranian-flagged vessels or any [6:39] vessel providing support, including those carrying Iranian oil. Beijing's the top customer. Are you going to [6:44] start boarding vessels headed to China? When do these operations begin? [6:52] Well, I'm not going to get into operational timelines, but I'll tell you, all options are on [6:57] the table. The president's prepared to escalate, to de-escalate. He means it when he said nothing [7:03] that benefits Iran is coming out of the straits. And then on top of that, Secretary Besant announced [7:10] Operation Economic Fury, where we are prepared to put secondary sanctions on banks who are [7:16] transacting in illegal Iranian oil dollars. So, we are truly putting maximum pressure on every [7:25] aspect of the Iranian economy. And at some point, they are going to see some level of common sense [7:31] and pragmatism and say, enough is enough with this nuclear obsession. [7:35] Is that the first step before you go back to combat? Because President Trump is talking [7:38] about bombing power plants. Are the sanctions and the seizing of vessels step one? [7:45] Well, we've taken – well, we've taken – you know, again, I'm not going to publicly [7:47] sequence the steps, but the blockade was a tremendous step. It has been tremendously effective [7:54] with dozens of ships turned around. Others that are already out on the water. Our Pacific Command [8:00] is prepared to interdict. We're going after the banks. We're going after this shadow fleet, [8:07] one of which was run by a relative of Khamenei. So, we are taking a number of steps. We're even [8:14] looking – our acting attorney general has made it very clear he is going to start aggressively [8:20] prosecuting. Our threat finance unit is going after their illegal dollars. So, this is a whole of [8:25] government full-on press. I hope we don't have to go back to a military option, but President Trump's [8:31] made it very clear. And by the way, bridges, power plants that are run by the IRGC, which runs the [8:37] entire military, are absolute legitimate military targets, not only now, but have been historically. [8:43] That is a false, fake, and ridiculous notion that this is some type of war crime. [8:48] Well, we'll talk about that and we'll see if that happens. But Germany and other allies have said [8:53] they will help the United States with that navigation through the Strait of Hormuz [8:56] eventually, once combat ends. But they said they need cover. They need an international mandate at [9:02] the United Nations. Will Russia and China get on board? Are you trying to do that at the UN? [9:08] Well, as our Gulf Arab allies made it very clear at the UN, I guess that would be nice to have [9:15] after the conflict. But they need help and are ready to take action now, particularly Bahrain, UAE, [9:23] Qatar, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia. We had a historic resolution at the UN with 135 nations condemning [9:31] Iran for its attacks on civilian infrastructure, on resorts, civilian airports, ports, shipping. [9:38] That was truly tremendous. It's disappointing. The Russians and Chinese chose to side with Iran [9:44] rather than our Gulf Arab allies and freedom of navigation. And you still lifted sanctions on [9:47] Russia. But you're going to see, yeah, you're going to see continued action this coming week. [9:53] The entire world is united that a country cannot hold an international waterway and cannot hold the [10:01] world's economies hostage because it has a conflict with another country. You don't see that in the [10:06] Straits of Gibraltar, the Bering Strait, the Straits of Malacca, or any other international waterway. [10:11] Iran is absolutely in the wrong here from a legal, diplomatic, and economic standpoint. [10:17] Let me ask you about Lebanon. President Trump posted Friday that, quote, [10:21] Israel will not be bombing Lebanon any longer. They are prohibited from doing so by the USA. [10:27] Enough is enough. How is the U.S. prohibiting ally Israel from bombing in Lebanon? And what is the [10:34] United States doing to confiscate weapons from Hezbollah? Like, how are you helping the Lebanese [10:39] military do that? Well, to answer your last question first, the U.S. contributed over $250 million [10:47] to the Lebanese armed forces. This is a tremendous historic opportunity for Lebanon, [10:56] the Lebanese government, led by President Aoun, a former general, the head of the Lebanese armed [11:01] forces, to take their country back. Finally, with Iran on its back foot and militarily devastated, [11:08] with Syria in a much better place with the fall of the Assad regime and the effective diplomacy that [11:14] we've had there. And from the pager and beeper operation to now, Hezbollah has never been in a [11:21] worse place. This is a true moment. And it was a real honor for me to be at the opening of the first [11:27] Israel-Lebanon talks, first ever. How are you going to prohibit Israel from bombing? [11:33] In modern history. So we have, look, but we have diplomacy on the march in a number of places, [11:41] backed, of course, by military strength. But we have to take a moment to understand the magnitude [11:46] of what's going on. Ambassador Waltz will be watching to see what happens in the coming days. [11:51] Thank you for your time this morning.