Waltz defends Trump’s threat to bomb ‘every single power plant’ in Iran
U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Mike Waltz defended President Donald Trump's renewed threat to decimate Iran's power infrastructure and bridges amid his push to try to strike a deal with the country ahead of another round of in-person talks in Pakistan on Monday.
Trump posted on his social media platform Sunday morning, "We're offering a very fair and reasonable DEAL, and I hope they take it because, if they don't, the United States is going to knock out every single Power Plant, and every single Bridge, in Iran. NO MORE MR. NICE GUY."
Waltz told ABC News' "This Week" co-anchor Jonathan Karl that "all options are on the table."
"We could take that infrastructure out relatively easily. The Iranian air defenses have been absolutely decimated," he said.
Waltz pushed back against accusations that such strikes would violate international law, arguing that infrastructure used for dual military and civilian purposes is a lawful target.
But pressed by Karl on how striking every single power plant and bridge wouldn't be a war crime, Waltz said that it would be an escalation and compared the current conflict to World War II.
"That would be an escalatory ladder. And if you go back in the history of warfare, go all the way back to World War II, of course, we bombed and took down bridges, other infrastructure, power plants that, yes, could be used for civilian, but also are used to manufacture drones and missiles," Waltz said.
"The Iranian regime in particular, and its terrorist proxies have a long history of actually deliberately hiding military infrastructure in hospitals, schools, neighborhoods and other, and other civilian assets," he added. "They have no ground to stand on."
Democratic Congressman Ro Khanna, appearing on "This Week" after Waltz, pushed back against the president's threats -- saying that the U.S. was escalating to "devestation" in Iran.
"They said they want to escalate to de-escalate. They've escalated to devastation. I mean, you have the pope lecturing America about possible war crimes. You have the president, as you pointed out, threatening to destroy all power plants. I didn't think we would ever get to that point," Khanna told Karl.
Khanna also criticized the administration for not focusing on domestic issues.
"Why aren't we addressing the needs of the American people? I'm Team America. He [Trump] seems to be more obsessed with the Middle East," he said.
On newly announced negotiations with Iran, Waltz said key U.S. negotiators would head to Islamabad.
"I have to remind everyone, these are the highest-level engagements between the United States and the Iranian regime in the 47 years, since it first came to power," Waltz said.
He added, "So I don't think anyone can say, President Trump isn't putting diplomacy first. Of course, that is backed by significant and very real and very capable military power."
In the interview, Waltz said that Vice President JD Vance would be leading the delegation again, but shortly after, Karl called the president to clarify who would be attending. Trump said Vance would not attend this round because the Secret Service did not feel comfortable sending the vice president to Pakistan on 24 hours' notice. A White House official told ABC News that Vance is going, along with special envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, the president's son-in-law.
