UN Ambassador Waltz says Iran did not negotiate ‘in good faith’ to end war | Trump administration

The Trump administration’s ambassador to the United Nations said the United States rejected Iran’s proposal to end the ongoing war there because Iranian negotiators were “asking for everything up front.”

Echoing Donald Trump’s comments on Saturday, the president’s U.N. ambassador, Mike Waltz, told CNN’s State of the Union on Sunday that Iran had requested relief from “the billions and billions of sanctions that are going to be put in place” as part of an economic blockade against Iran. The blockade aims to pressure Iran to stop attacks on shipping in the Strait of Hormuz.

“They were asking for everything up front with the promise that then they would talk,” Waltz said of the State of the Union. “The president is simply not sure that the Iranians are coming in good faith and that we will truly negotiate an end to their nuclear program. »

Trump said Saturday that he rejected the Iranian peace plan proposed at the recent U.N. general assembly in New York, arguing that desperation was motivating the Iranians’ push for a deal on the key waterway. “They want to make a deal to immediately open the Strait of Hormuz because they are losing a lot,” Trump said.

Trump said the United States was “winning hugely” and had “complete control of the Strait of Hormuz.”

Waltz highlighted the failure of the U.S.-Iran memorandum of understanding, signed in Pakistan in June, which outlined a 14-point framework agreement for a negotiated peace.

Iran, he said, “immediately violated it by attacking international shipping, in violation of international law, and 146 countries joined us in condemning Iran for these attacks.”

Iran insisted on Sunday that only diplomacy could resolve its conflict with the United States and Israel.

“Our conditions are clear, and any steps to reopen the Strait of Hormuz depend on meeting these conditions,” Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said on social media. “Only a negotiated solution can get them out of this impasse. »

Araghchi also appeared on NBC’s Meet the Press on Sunday, saying his country was ready to resume fighting with the United States, but had not yet given up on diplomacy after Trump rejected Iran’s peace proposal.

“We are fully prepared for the resumption of the war,” Araghchi said. “We remain firm in the face of any further aggression, even if it is an apocalyptic war.

“At the same time, we are prepared to be diplomatic. It’s up to President Trump to choose.”

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, in an interview with CBS’ Face the Nation, said his country is ready for talks on its nuclear program and other issues – but that he would not accept “intimidation or coercion.”

“Iran is not seeking war, but it will defend itself against pressure, threats and attacks,” Pezeshkian said, adding that he had already agreed that “we are not supposed to develop nuclear weapons.”

On CNN, Waltz also addressed recent reports that China helped Iran target ships in the Strait of Hormuz and at U.S. military bases in the region.

Waltz did not confirm the leaked information, but said Trump raised the issue with Chinese Prime Minister Xi Jinping during the latter’s recent state visit to the US capital, Washington DC. Trump had also done so “several times” before, including during his visit to China in May, according to Waltz.

“I think we’ve seen movement in a positive direction,” Waltz said. “President Trump has made it clear that this is unacceptable.”

Waltz pointed to reports from the high-level meeting that the United States and China had “agreed that Iran can never have a nuclear weapon.”

“They cannot and should not disrupt, much less attack, international shipping on an international waterway,” Waltz said. “So I think it was extremely important to hear from President Xi coming out of the summit.”

Waltz also dismissed Wall Street Journal reports that the United States would resume its bombing of Iran after the November midterm federal elections. He pointed to Trump’s comments that Iran had miscalculated.

“The president is seeking to make not only this generation – but the next – safer by not authorizing what is essentially a terrorist organization (Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps) that controls the levers of government and wants to march toward nuclear weapons,” Waltz said. “We are not going to let the IRGC have a nuclear weapon, let alone hold the world hostage with such a weapon. »