U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Mike Waltz expressed optimism that the Trump administration is very close to reaching a “memorandum of understanding” to move into the next phase of diplomacy with Iran, which could be signed as soon as today, during an interview with ABC’s “This Week” on Sunday. “It is doubtful that any agreement that arises is going to be significantly different or a significant improvement from the deal that we had in the first place,” President Obama told ABC News in an interview about Trump’s potential deal with Iran. “You’d think we would have learned that lesson by now, but it seems like every so often we have to relearn that lesson again.” “Respectfully, to President Obama, no one here is bombing their way to a deal,” Waltz said. “This president has always put diplomacy first, but unlike his predecessors, it has to be backed with credible military force. That is what we’ve seen over the years, the only thing that regimes like Iran will ultimately respect. Otherwise, your diplomacy is feckless and meaningless.” “The president has every intent for it to happen. I’ll leave the actual details and timing to the White House,” Waltz said. “The Iranians are incredibly difficult negotiators, coupled with the fact that they’re having a very hard time getting guidance from their supreme leader, and they’re not always on the same page within their team, between the civilians and military. So, you know, the teams have their hands full dealing with them.” “I don’t want to get ahead of the president or the vice president, but they have every intent of getting this done today.”

MARTHA RADDATZ, ABC NEWS: Let’s talk about this deal. As we sit here right now, it has not been signed. Will it be signed today? Will that be digitally? Will they be on a digital or a Zoom call? How will this work, and how confident are you that it will happen today? AMB. MIKE WALTZ: Well, the president has every intent for it to happen. I’ll leave the actual details and timing to the White House. The Iranians are incredibly difficult negotiators, coupled — coupled with the fact that they’re having a very hard time getting guidance from their supreme leader, and they’re not always on the same page within their team, between the civilians and military. So, you know, the teams have their hands full dealing with them, but the president has every intent to get this done. RADDATZ: So what is holding it up at this point? Again, how confident are you that it will happen today? WALTZ: I’m confident. The team is confident. Again, I’ll let the final details be announced by them. I don’t want to get ahead of the president or the vice president, but they have every intent of getting this done today. RADDATZ: So, what specifically has Iran committed to in terms of their nuclear program? WALTZ: Well, look, what has the president been very clear on in setting out, that the highly — in getting this done, the highly enriched uranium has to go. Their enrichment capabilities, they have to walk away from. Their support for terrorist proxies has to end, that has terrorized the entire Middle East, from the Houthis to Hezbollah to Hamas, to the militias in Iraq that have killed American soldiers, my friends and colleagues, and the veterans for many decades. RADDATZ: And they have agreed to that? WALTZ: And all of those things, they are — they are agreeing to. So look, this is a strong deal and — but the most important piece going forward — remember, Martha, this is a memorandum of understanding. A lot of these details are going to be worked out as we go forward into the next round of negotiation and oh, by the way, you can’t throw sea mines into international waterways. You can’t collect tolls from international shipping. And you certainly can’t indiscriminately fire on civilian infrastructure, hotels, ports, resorts, like they’ve done with our Gulf allies. And I just can’t overemphasize our Gulf allies, the Kuwaitis, Bahrainis, Qataris, especially the UAE, are standing shoulder to shoulder with us. The Iranians have shown their true colors. And I think they’ve made a massive — the regime has made a massive strategic mistake by attacking its allies and its neighbors the way it has.

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