June 21, 2026 / 11:48 AM EDT

/ CBS News

Add CBS News on Google

The following is the transcript of the interview with Mike Waltz, U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, that aired on "Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan" on June 21, 2026.MARGARET BRENNAN: We're joined now by UN Ambassador Mike Waltz, who joins us from New York. Good morning, and happy Father's Day.UNITED STATES AMBASSADOR TO THE UNITED NATIONS MICHAEL WALTZ: Hey, good morning. Thank you, and happy Father's Day to all the great fathers out there. Strong men make strong families. ThanksMARGARET BRENNAN: Well, Ambassador, the war is unpopular, as you just heard, but how it ends matters as you know. CBS's Olivia Gazis is reporting that senior members of Trump's national security team, including Secretary Rubio, remain doubtful Iran will comply with this deal's terms. The CIA director presented Trump with intelligence indicating inconsistencies with Iran's commitments. So, if even the president's own team doubts this is a win. How do you sell this to the public?AMB. WALTZ: Well, Margaret, I'll go back to other polling that shows that the American people absolutely agree with President Trump that Iran can never have a nuclear weapon. Of course, we all want lower gas prices, they are lower, below $4 and falling with more work to do. They're cheaper than under the Biden administration. We'll remember just a few months ago when analysts were saying oil would be upwards of $150 to $200 dollars a barrel. And it is not- it's now under $80. Of course, everyone wants cheaper energy, but what President Trump is doing is striking that balance with also ensuring that a genocidal regime that none of us trust can never have a nuclear weapon, and that process is underway right now as we speak. MARGARET BRENNAN: Well, the American people also don't want Iran to have a nuclear weapon, we see that in our polling, but they're unconvinced that this interim agreement achieves that. But, to the point you were just making about the regime, the Vice President is sitting right now behind closed doors, face to face with Speaker Ghalibaf. This is a man who oversaw the missile program in Iran when he was a commander in the IRGC Air Force. He has bragged, there are recordings of him doing so, about his own role in cracking down on protesters, describing how proud he was about having personally beaten them with wooden sticks. So, we went from President Trump telling protesters that help is on the way to now sitting across negotiating with one of the men who beat them. Aren't we offering the regime a lifeline?AMB. WALTZ: Well, number one, this is a step forward that no other administration has ever been able to do, and that's have direct talks. None of these senior members of this genocidal regime are good guys by any means, they certainly wouldn't pass an FBI background check. No one expects that. But, at the end of the day, the administration, our administration, is taking a pragmatic approach. This is who the regime has put forward to deal with, and they remain, and we remain focused on the goal of no nuclear weapons period. And what we've seen in the past is policy drift in terms of what our aims are. The President is laser focused, the American people, and not just the American people, the entire world, with UN Security Council resolution, after UN Security Council resolution for decades saying Iran can't have a nuke, and we need to give this process a chance. We need to give peace a chance, and as the Vice President has said, perhaps we can finally turn the page to a new Middle East. Like President Trump did with the Abraham Accords his first term--