As delicate U.S.-Iran talks kick off in Switzerland, U.N. Ambassador Mike Waltz told CBS’s “Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan” the Trump administration understands Iranian officials aren’t “good guys,” but the U.S. is taking a “pragmatic approach” by continuing negotiations. <\/p>\n
MARGARET BRENNAN: Back to the deal, the Vice President indicated some of the– AMB. WALTZ: –Margaret, I’m sorry, I’m sorry, that’s a very important point. And I want those families to know their loved ones are not forgotten, and this president’s record in getting Americans home is unparalleled from any president in modern American history. So, I just want them to hear that loud and clear. This president has his eye on the ball. Sometimes these talks handle- are handled out of the public eye. MARGARET BRENNAN: Senator Tom Cotton said this will allow Iran to sell its oil based on pre-war production levels. It will get between $ 150 and $ 200 million every single day, up to $ 6 billion per month. What do you think these guys are going to spend that money on? AMB. WALTZ: Well, first, it’s that money is not going into some kind of slush fund. MARGARET BRENNAN: That’s oil revenue. AMB. WALTZ: It is going to places that we can still- we can still monitor. If it’s not going to the places that were agreed upon, we can absolutely turn it back off. The President can put the blockade back in. He just said this morning, if Iran doesn’t get Hezbollah under control to stop attacking Israel, that will be a violation, and he will go back to, again, the key point here is we have that military option, and all options on the table. Biden, Obama, none of the predecessors have that in a very credible way like President Trump does. MARGARET BRENNAN: But the President himself says he wants to avert economic disaster, and that we’re weeks away from a fuel shortage, so he seems to be saying that he wouldn’t necessarily want to return to conflict if that’s the cost of it. So, the credible use of force seems in question. AMB. WALTZ: But no, but there’s some nuance there, Margaret, that in the United States we are producing more than we ever have. Venezuela is now producing. Countries like Guyana in South America have whole new finds that we’re now helping. So, we’re actually getting more oil and gas on the market, but some of our allies absolutely have been affected, particularly in Asia, and the president has that in mind as he’s negotiating. But he also has seen in the UN, for example, the entire world condemning this regime, a UN record 143 countries for its illegal mining of the straits and for its attempt to hold the world economy hostage. So they’re diplomatically isolated, they’re economically devastated, they’re militarily devastated, and despite what you read in the headlines, or some prognosticating, we are going into these negotiations from a position of strength. MARGARET BRENNAN: Well, the Vice President described rapprochement this morning, and he indicated that some of the details of what was agreed to are not written down. He referred to a gentleman’s agreement. That phrase was also briefed to reporters by an administration official. And here is what the president said. PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: If they don’t honor the agreement, or some things aren’t even mentioned in the agreement, it’s a memorandum of understanding, but we have an understanding of certain things without writing it.<\/i> MARGARET BRENNAN: Are there classified annexes or portions of this that have not been made public, and will they be shared with Congress? AMB. WALTZ: Margaret, not, not to my knowledge. And I’ll just go back to your point on– MARGARET BRENNAN: What’s the Gentleman’s Agreement? AMB. WALTZ: –what’s on paper, and what’s being discussed. This is- this is an ongoing negotiation that we’ve never before had directly with the Iranians. And I’ll just say this from a lot of, from a lot of the doubts that you played in your opening, this is the same team that got all of the hostages out of the tunnels of Gaza, that nobody said could be done. They got a cease fire in place, not perfect, that no one could- said could be done, that took care of the Maduro regime, he’s in jail right down the street here in New York with- with no casualties, and Venezuela now on a better track. So, I wouldn’t doubt this president or this team, and there’s going to be some bumps in the road for sure. No administration has been able to get this far from a position of strength– MARGARET BRENNAN: Yeah. AMB. WALTZ: –and so you know I have full confidence that we’ll get to a deal, and as the Vice President said, perhaps, perhaps give this a chance, and we can have a transformed Middle East. No one would have thought, even a year ago, that you’d have Israel and the UAE working together militarily to defend each other as a result of the next evolution of the Abraham Accords– MARGARET BRENNAN: Well, they were kind of forced to. But also– AMB. WALTZ: –we’re in day one of the technical talks, and- and Margaret, by the way, there are- there are technical experts from the Department of Energy that are sitting down right now to get to the bottom of the down blending, the moving of the uranium, the highly enriched uranium, and how that will technically be done. So we have to give that process a chance as well. MARGARET BRENNAN: Well, that’s good to hear that the US has its own nuclear experts on site. The White House hadn’t said that. Is there anything else you can tell us? Who’s going to keep talking for 60 days? (CROSSTALK) AMB. WALTZ: Well, again, these are- these are our Department of Energy experts, our PhDs in physics, a lot smarter than- that I am, that are getting into those nitty gritty details, and- but the big picture is the president’s focus on Iran not having a nuclear program, and right now it’s destroyed, and if they- and we’re going to keep it destroyed and have it permanently destroyed, as opposed to the past, where it was ongoing, and we were basically bribing them to not continue. MARGARET BRENNAN: Well– AMB. WALTZ: It’s a totally different negotiation dynamic. MARGARET BRENNAN: Well, that stockpile was shipped to Russia and the JCPOA. There were limits. We want to see what limits these US negotiators are actually able to secure, and we’ll watch that diplomacy. <\/p><\/blockquote>\n