Name: Audience questions Amb. Waltz on Iran war | CNN Town Hall
Uploaded: 2026-03-21T16:36:02.000Z
Duration: 8 min 9 s
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How does US Involvement in Iran correspond with stated commitments to prioritize national interest under the idea of America first and avoid entering new military conflicts?

And one of the things that we should be very clear on is how consistent President Trump has been in terms of Iran never having a nuclear weapon.

He, he said it in his 2016 campaign, his 2020 campaign, his 2024 campaign.

I could tell you, having been in the Oval Office with him, he always seeks to give diplomacy a chance.

He is seeking to end wars all over the world.

In this case, this is the ultimate for endless war in the sense that it's been going on for 47 years, since Jimmy Carter, where they attacked us and killed our Marines in Beirut.

They killed over 600American soldiers, where my wife served in Iraq, maimed and destroyed and killed so many lives, held Americans hostage until just recently, are actually holding Americans hostage right now as we speak.

So he said, finally said enough is enough.

After giving diplomacy a chance both last year and this year, and

when it became very clear that the Ayatollahs were not negotiating in good faith, had no intention of giving up their aspirations for a nuclear weapon, I'm thankful he finally took bold action.

By the way, not only was he trying to end this forever war, he's trying to end the war between Ukraine and Russia.

He ended a 30 year conflict between Azerbaijan and Armenia, plus eight other conflicts.

And now to represent us at the UN where it's completely within America, first principles to give diplomacy a chance to try to resolve things peacefully, but

also to back up that diplomacy with real strength.

Thank God he rebuilt our military in the first term.

What do you think that it would take for President Trump to agree to not put any boots on the ground in Iran?

Well, look, you know, we have the Marines that are out there.

The Pentagon's job, Secretary Hegseth is doing a fantastic job along with Chairman Kaine.

Dan Kaine is to provide all options to the President.

I don't think anybody should expect this to look anything like we saw back in 2003, two decades ago with a massive invasion.

I think that's a lot of misinformation that's out there, but

he could always retain a very limited capability.

They have the capability to go and take WMD in a very targeted way.

There are other options on the table, but

I think if President Trump could avoid that, he absolutely would.

If we can do this and degrade those capabilities from the air and from the sea.

I would never be in a position to rule that out for the president.

But as the commander in chief, he should always have all options on the table.

And I think, frankly, one of the flaws of the Biden administration is he told the world and told our allies, told our adversaries what he wasn't going to do.

The mission in Iraq versus what is happening now.

Isn't it possible to have boots on the ground in a way that is not as aggressive as what happened with the Iraq war, but

Look, I think the president could always retain the option to take very limited, very targeted actions.

If you look at how he has applied military force, whether it is Operation Midnight Hammer last year or bringing Maduro to justice, it has been in and out lightning fast and achieved immediate results.

I mean, that's been the way he has approached this since day one.

I understand, but you know better than I, this is not the Bush administration by any means.

And you know better than I, this is also not Venezuela.

So, look, there are a lot of people probably in this room and watching around the country who are concerned that this is going to escalate, and

boots on the ground is a big thing for them.

Not only is that how President Trump has operated, this isn't just rhetoric from me.

This is the results he's achieved in multiple different operations, but

you also have a cabinet that is full of veterans of the wars of my generation, of our generation, the endless wars that my wife and I served in.

Lee Zeldin at epa, Pete Hegseth at Defense, General Kane and others that understand you have to have very clear objectives that you can't have policy drift.

And I have zero doubt that this will be something that is targeted, focused, and

achieves the results that what we have to have and what he has been clear about is Iran will not have a nuclear weapon.

I just want to just push you on this because I want the Americans out there listening to you to really get a clear message about what the expectation should be about booths on the ground.

I think the message is and has to be that the president has all options as commander in chief.

He has laid out very clear military goals and.

And I would never be one to get ahead of him or get ahead of his options as commander.

However, he has a very clear record of achieving decisive results with decisive action.

And in the case of all the rhetoric out there about endless wars, this is a war that has gone on.

The Iranian regime has been at war with the United states for nearly 50 years.

And I'm thankful that he is no longer going to kick the can.

He is not going to leave this for our children or grandchildren, that he's going to take care of this issue once and for all.

And we have to keep in mind, Dana, that this is the same regime that tried to assassinate him, that had terror cells right here in the United States.

One of them was just convicted in Brooklyn, a Pakistani by the name of Asif Merchant that were recruiting operatives to assassinate the President of the United States.

And he was arrested the day before the Butler shooting.

So this is a diabolical regime that we have to take care of.

How will energy markets and crude oil prices be impacted?

Well, look, we've seen those prices increase.

It's the Iranian strategy to sow chaos in all directions, to attack its neighbors, to attack energy markets, to attack infrastructure and try to hold the world hostage so that it can survive.

What we have in a commander in chief is someone who weighed those risks.

And we've seen our Secretary of Treasury announce a number of measures to bring those prices down and to keep that under control.

But to weigh that risk versus the risk of Iran having a nuke, that it could literally hold the entire world hostage.

And one thing that I think isn't getting fully appreciated, if Iran ever tests a nuclear weapon, then you're going to have potentially Saudi Arabia, the uae, Turkey.

You know, in terms of how does this impact the security of everyday Americans?

If we have a Middle east awash now in nuclear weapons and a nuclear arms race, that's something that should scare every one of us.

It can never happen, and President Trump's not going to let it happen.