Transcript: U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Mike Waltz on "Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan," July 26, 2026
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Updated on: July 26, 2026 / 12:34 PM EDT / CBS News
The following is the transcript of an interview with U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Mike Waltz that aired on "Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan" on July 26, 2026.
MARGARET BRENNAN: And we're joined now by the United States Ambassador to the United Nations, Mike Waltz. Good to have you here in person. Thanks, Margaret. You just heard our polling. The American people support the goals. The stated goals: opening the Strait, ending a nuclear program, stopping Iran's ability to threaten other countries. But they don't think that the U.S. is achieving those goals, and 67% want to end the conflict now. What happens if the U.S. decides to cut its losses?
AMBASSADOR MIKE WALTZ: Well, I don't think it should surprise anyone that we want the conflict to end. We wanted this conflict to end since 1979. I think that's incredibly--
AMB. WALTZ: But I can tell you, as a veteran, you know, Afghanistan, Iraq, these wars– these endless wars, where the policy goals, what were we doing there, drifted so badly. The president has been consistently clear on what our goals are. I think your poll showed that the American people support those goals. Yes, it's been difficult, but I, for one, am quite thankful that he is taking the difficult right to do the thing that I think historians will look back on and say was the absolute right thing to do to prevent Iran from ever having a nuclear weapon. And sometimes that's going to be harder than you know, harder than initially planned for. But the president's laser focused on getting this done and achieving those goals that 78– 70, what 80% of Americans support. And by the way, also important in there, I don't think anyone else sees a better plan. That--
MARGARET BRENNAN: Well, that's what I wanted to--
AMB. WALTZ: --Yeah, that Democrats you know complain--
AMB. WALTZ: --criticize, but no one's coming with a better plan, and the plans in the past administrations have failed.
MARGARET BRENNAN: Okay, so talk to me about what's happening because after 13 straight days of bombing, there was no bombing Friday, there was no bombing Saturday. Is that to help the diplomacy that was underway in Tehran to reopen the Strait of Hormuz?
AMB. WALTZ: It's giving diplomacy some space. It's giving diplomacy a little bit of time. Of course, the president tried diplomacy last year. He's tried it this year. He is a president of peace. He is giving diplomacy a chance. We'll see over the next coming days. But make no mistake, assets– additional military assets are moving into the region. They should believe the president. The regime should believe the president when he says they're locked and loaded, and where all options are on the table.
MARGARET BRENNAN: So, but just to be– put a fine point on it, this is a round of discussions just to reopen the Strait of Hormuz with a 30 day pause in the fighting?
AMB. WALTZ: No, all conversations are– are continuing--
AMB. WALTZ: --this is at the highest levels, all the way down to the technical levels, to do with the nuclear program, to do with the Straits of Hormuz. The diplomacy has not stopped.
MARGARET BRENNAN: But the bombing did. So how long will the bombing stop for to allow for this--
AMB. WALTZ: Well, to give that– well, I'm not going to take that option off the table for the president. That's up to him. Let's see how these conversations go.
MARGARET BRENNAN: Well, the president said to--
AMB. WALTZ: By the way I have to give Aman some- some credit there. They have been engaging in a helpful way.
MARGARET BRENNAN: About– so, President Trump told Axios that he was close to making a decision and considering a massive attack bigger than ever before. That was Thursday. Did he make a decision yet?
AMB. WALTZ: I wouldn't advertise that, Margaret but--
MARGARET BRENNAN: Well, it's widely reported there was a big meeting Friday.
AMB. WALTZ: There– there was a meeting Friday, but there's ongoing meetings. There was a senior--
MARGARET BRENNAN: There was no final decision.
AMB. WALTZ: He'll– he'll make that decision in– in good time. But I also want to address this nonsense that somehow 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.
MARGARET BRENNAN: Well, specifically, CBS has reported we cannot sustain the rate at which the United States has expended precision munitions, as we did early in the campaign with Iran. That there is a shortage of interceptors.
AMB. WALTZ: Yeah, I wish they would also talk about the massive degradation of Iranian munitions--
AMB. WALTZ: --that has far less– that has far less than what they started with not only in their industrial base but what they have on hand. Number one, but number two--
AMB. WALTZ: --what if the president had done nothing and they had built that massive conventional shield--
AMB. WALTZ: --for which they could then hide their breakout behind?
AMB. WALTZ: --then we would have been in trouble.
MARGARET BRENNAN: Let me take a break because we need to finish this on the other side of it. Stay with us, Ambassador, if you would. We'll be right back.
MARGARET BRENNAN: Welcome back to Face the Nation. We return to our conversation with UN Ambassador Mike Waltz. So, Ambassador, Ukraine's President Zelenskyy is headed to Washington this week for Senator Graham's memorial ceremony. Zelensky said yesterday that since the beginning of July, Ukraine has recorded active Russian satellite surveillance of the Gulf states and the U.S. military installations that are located there, and he says those images then appear in Iran. How deep is the level of Russian involvement in helping Iran target and kill Americans?
AMB. WALTZ: Well, I think you've seen this symbiotic relationship with Russia-Iran, particularly with the Iranian drones. Now that manufacturing capability has been devastated in Iran…
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