Trump wants Iranian leadership that will not 'threaten Americans': Waltz
Mike Waltz, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, told ABC News on Sunday that President Donald Trump wants Iranian leaders who will not threaten "the United States or allies in the region” when asked about the president's recent comments on choosing the country's next head of state.
"Well, as President Trump just said last night, he wants to see leadership in Iran – and this is just kind of a common sense approach here -- he wants to see leadership in Iran that no longer threatens the United States or allies in the region; that isn't attacking civilian airports, ports, shipping, terminals, hotels, and lashing out in the way that it is," Waltz told “This Week” co-anchor Martha Raddatz.
Waltz added that Iran's next leader should not "hold energy supplies hostage" for the rest of the world or try to build a nuclear weapon.
"So it has to be someone that we can deal with. It has to be someone that doesn't threaten Americans, attack Americans, and try to attack us and our allies at any given chance," he said.
Asked whether he believes the U.S. has already won the war with Iran, Waltz said the U.S. is "seeing tremendous success in our military objectives on this war," pointing to how Iran’s capability to produce ballistic missiles has faced "major degradation" and how major leadership figures in Iran have been "decapitated."
"So in terms of our military objectives, the president is right. We are not only ahead of schedule, we are winning," Waltz said.
When pressed by Raddatz on how long the military operation will take, Waltz responded: "What the president is focused on is an Iran that can no longer pose a threat to Americans, in an American-First foreign policy, but also no longer pose a threat to our allies in the region. And I know a lot of folks are focused on how this war initiated, but I can tell you, as a veteran, I just can't put my mind around how many Americans have been attacked and killed [by Iran] from Beirut to the Iraq War and to the hostages [in 1979 Iran hostage crisis]."
Raddatz also asked Waltz about the bombing of a girls elementary school in southern Iran on the first day of the war.
According to two people familiar with the initial findings, the U.S. military was striking targets in the area of Iran where the elementary school was hit. Sources told ABC News that officials believe it's possible U.S. forces were responsible for the attack because the Israelis were not conducting strikes in the vicinity of the school.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has said the U.S. is still investigating the incident but President Trump said Saturday that he believes Iran was at fault.
"Why did the president say he believes that it's Iran?" Raddatz pressed.
"I'll leave that to the investigators to determine," Waltz said. "We've seen instances like we saw in Gaza, for example, where Hamas immediately blamed the Israelis."
Waltz appeared to be referring to a hospital explosion in Gaza in October 2023 that killed hundreds during the early days of the Israel-Hamas war, which the U.S. later said was caused by a failed Palestinian rocket launch.
He added later, "I could tell you, as a veteran, in no uncertain terms, the United States does everything it can to avoid civilian casualties. Sometimes, of course, tragic mistakes occur -- unlike what we see from the likes of Hamas, Hezbollah, the Houthis, the Iranian regime."
