▶ Watch Video: U.S. ambassador Mike Waltz talks Iran war and Saudi nuclear deal
Mike Waltz, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, said in an interview on “Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan,” the pause in strikes against Iran is “giving diplomacy some space” and “a little bit of time” to work.
He said of President Trump, “He is a president of peace. He is giving diplomacy a chance.”
But he added that “additional military assets are moving into the region.”
The U.S. paused strikes against Iran Friday and Saturday night after 13 straight days of bombing following the collapse in early July of a nearly three-month ceasefire. On Sunday, Tehran also paused its strikes. Over the last two days, Iranian officials and their Omani counterparts have been having discussions that have been constructive, one Iranian official told CBS News on Sunday. Waltz praised Oman’s efforts during his conversation with Brennan.
Waltz also brought up reports that indicated the depletion of some types of weapons was a point of concern for the administration. He called it “nonsense that we don’t have the assets that we need.”
“Not only do we have what we need in theater, there’s more moving into theater,” Waltz told Brennan.
CBS News reported last week that the rapid pace at which the U.S. is expending some of its most advanced air-defense interceptors and precision-guided weapons in the Middle East is a point of great tension inside the Trump administration.
The public has concerns about the war, too, with most Americans describing their feelings about it as “uncertain” or “frustrated,” according to a CBS News poll published Sunday. It also found that while it remains important to Americans to open the Strait of Hormuz, stop Iran’s nuclear program and its threats against the region, they think the conflict is not going well.
Senators Bernie Sanders and John Kennedy differ on what the U.S. should be doing in Iran. Sanders, a Vermont independent who caucuses with Democrats and has opposed the Iran war from the outset, told Brennan on “Face the Nation” that it’s time for the U.S. to resume diplomacy with Iran.
“Let’s sit down. Let’s negotiate with them. Let’s stop the killing,” he said. “Let’s stop the devastation to our economy, which is raising gas prices, prices all across the board. That’s what we’ve got to do. Sit down, negotiate. Let’s end this war.”
Kennedy, a Republican senator from Louisiana, appeared on “Face the Nation” after Sanders and listened to his interview.
“Bernie wants to just come home. He wants to turn out the lights, make sure the cat’s inside, and go to bed,” Kennedy told Brennan. ”That would be a huge, huge mistake.”
He added, “I don’t think we ought to just cut and run. If we can stand the pain of the rising cost of energy, we need to stay the course at least for a few more months. I also don’t think we need to send in troops.”
Kennedy also told Brennan, “We ought to tighten the sanctions on the sale of Iranian oil. I think we ought to continue the blockade and starve them out.” He said the U.S. “ought to bomb” Pickaxe Mountain, a suspected nuclear site buried deep under rock, “and try to reach what’s underneath it.”