STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
President Trump's ambassador to the United Nations has been listening with us, and he's on the line. Ambassador Mike Waltz, welcome.
MIKE WALTZ: Hey. Good to be with you, Steve.
INSKEEP: Thanks for joining us. Now, as we just heard from Deepa, the president described three hours of talks, which we believe are between his envoy Steve Witkoff and Iran's foreign minister. What are the elements of that discussion? What's on the table?
WALTZ: Well, always on the table, Steve - and the president's been quite clear about this in terms of our strategic objectives - is Iran can never have a nuclear weapon. And I just want to remind everyone, as the U.N. ambassador, that's not just President Trump's position. That has been multiple presidents' position for decades now, and in fact, it's been the entire world's position. There have been U.N. resolutions after U.N. resolution for the better part of 20 years, with...
INSKEEP: Sure.
WALTZ: ...The entire world joining us, that Iran just cannot have a nuke. God help us if this genocidal regime that just machine-gunned - literally, Steve - 40,000 of its own people in the course of a few days gets its hands on weapons of mass destruction.
INSKEEP: Understood. But let's talk about the more limited discussions that we think are underway. According to news reporting, the Iranians have perhaps talked of a trade. They would reopen the Strait of Hormuz to free oil traffic in exchange for the easing of some of the economic pressure the U.S. has put on them. Is that how this discussion seems likely to be shaped?
WALTZ: Well, what's interesting is when the Iranians come to the table, they don't - they're not necessarily as concerned about military action as they want access to cash. And remember, the IRGC controls about 40% to 50% of the Iranian economy.
INSKEEP: That's the...
WALTZ: So there's frozen assets.
INSKEEP: ...Republican Guard, right?
WALTZ: There's sanctions relief that they want, but they cannot use the world's economy. They cannot use - it's in contravention of international law to choke off a waterway. Imagine if Spain or Morocco choked off the Strait of Gibraltar because of a dispute with another country, right? So we will not allow that to happen, and we certainly won't allow the Iranians to expand what they're trying to do here in terms of leverage. They're now trying to expand it into Lebanon, into other areas where their terrorist proxy forces have terrorized the region for years.
INSKEEP: Can you just answer me if...
WALTZ: So we'll see what...
INSKEEP: Yeah.
WALTZ: ...Comes of it. But it is significant, Steve. It is significant that this was the first direct contact since, you know, the ceasefire broke down some time ago.
INSKEEP: Is the deal that I described, though - is that what's on the table? And are you telling me that wouldn't be acceptable to the United States? The U.S. isn't going to trade anything...
WALTZ: Well, I won't get...
INSKEEP: ...To open the strait.
WALTZ: I don't want to get ahead of internal discussions that we're having. But again, it was significant that there was direct contact. And the president has made it clear that they have to come to the table in good faith, in line with U.N. resolutions, to back away from this obsession with a nuclear weapon.
INSKEEP: Did they agree to further meetings?
WALTZ: We'll see. We'll see. We're literally...
INSKEEP: Got it.
WALTZ: We're literally internalizing what they brought to the table.
INSKEEP: Oh. Interesting. So they brought a proposal, and the United States is considering it. Is that the way we should think about this?
WALTZ: We will always consider any type of negotiation to - and diplomacy to bring this to a responsible resolution.
INSKEEP: OK. The president also yesterday spoke of the oil agreement with Venezuela. And we'll just remind people, after replacing Venezuela's president, the U.S. worked with the new rulers, if you will - the same regime, new people - to get oil out of Venezuela. And he said, quote, "to the victor belong the spoils." I found that a very interesting phrase because it's a different U.S. approach. In World War II, for example, as I'm sure you know very well - you're - you study history - the U.S. emphasized, we're not in it for the money. We're defeating Germany and Japan, but not for the money. Can you lay out the principle here? When should the U.S. be using war to take other countries' resources?
WALTZ: Well, Steve, I would actually just push back on the premise of your question...
INSKEEP: OK.
WALTZ: ...In that regard. But look. The United States has had sanctions on the Maduro regime. Again, this is a regime that has so abused its own people over time. You had more Venezuelan refugees - over 8 million - than you did out of the conflicts like Syria. So it's been quite devastating. The United States and our allies have borne a number of those costs over the years. And obviously, we had an incredibly successful military operation to capture - he's actually in jail just down the street - and enter into the U.S. court system a wanted and charged narcoterrorist in Nicolás Maduro.
Look, the - we've entered in now to a number of - I mean, call them joint ventures, equity agreements with the Venezuelan oil industry. The president feels that the United States should pull some of those costs back and that the American people should benefit from those successful activities. So that's essentially the underpinning of what we're trying to do. And look. I can tell you, we've met with Venezuelan officials that normally we could not engage with at all.
INSKEEP: Sure.
WALTZ: And they are moving towards a brighter and better future for that critical, critcal country. And, Steve, just more broadly, what's happening in the Western Hemisphere? Seven elections have gone America's way in terms of governments now that want to embrace the relationship with the United States just in the last 18 months. I'll tell you, if the Abraham Accords was the story of the first Trump administration, what's happening in the Western Hemisphere, from the Arctic to securing our southern border to the Panama Canal and now in South America...
INSKEEP: You...
WALTZ: ...Is transformative and will be the story of the second Trump administration.
INSKEEP: You put a lot on the table, and I want to ask you about some of that. In fact...
WALTZ: Sure.
INSKEEP: I'm hoping that you can stay with us after a brief break. But in the few seconds before that break, what did the president mean by, to the victor belong the spoils?
WALTZ: Well, I just laid that out for you. We're entering into a number of joint agreements with this new Venezuelan government. We're taking - you know, we have our eyes wide open. But we are moving towards, as Secretary Rubio has laid out, an economic recovery phase, a stability phase and, at the appropriate point, towards elections. And so as we enter into a series of agreements with them, you know, that's how we're going to move forward...
INSKEEP: Let...
WALTZ: ...In this...
INSKEEP: Let me...
WALTZ: ...Relationship.
INSKEEP: Let me stop you for the moment, Ambassador Waltz. I hope you can stay with us for a couple of more minutes. We're going to take a brief break and then come right back, and we've got a few more questions for you.
WALTZ: OK.
INSKEEP: This is a great start. Really appreciate it.
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