Top Trump official Waltz: Iran must fully dismantle nuke program, not only curb enrichment

After US special envoy to the Mideast Steve Witkoff said Friday that President Donald Trump, in his letter to Iran’s supreme leader, proposed creating a program to verify that Tehran does not weaponize its nuclear material, US National Security Adviser Mike Waltz clarifies that Washington wants Iran’s nuclear program dismantled completely.

“Full dismantlement,” Waltz tells CBS’s “Face the Nation,” after being asked to clarify the Trump administration’s position. “Iran has to give up its program in a way that the entire world can see.”

“All options are on the table, and it is time for Iran to walk away completely from its desire to have a nuclear weapon,” he adds.

Asked about the recent US strikes against the Houthis, Waltz says they have killed key members of the Yemen rebel group’s leadership.

“We’ve hit their headquarters, we’ve hit communications nodes, weapons factories, and even some of their over-the-water drone production facilities just in the last couple of days,” he says, knocking the previous administration for not responding forcefully enough against the Iran-backed group.

Waltz says the Houthis continue to threaten key shipping lanes through the Red Sea. “The last time one of our destroyers went through the straits there, it was attacked 23 times. Seventy-five percent of our US-flagged shipping now has to go around the southern coast of Africa, rather than going through the Suez Canal.”

“Keeping trade and commerce open is a fundamental aspect of our national security,” he adds.