Iran must give up nuclear program or face ‘consequences,’ Waltz says

The Trump administration is calling on Iran to give up its entire nuclear program or face the consequences, National Security Advisor Mike Waltz said Sunday.

Waltz said it was time for Iran to “walk away completely” from its pursuit of nuclear weapons, pushing for a “full dismantlement” during an appearance on CBS’ “Face the Nation.”

“This isn’t some kind of, you know, kind of tit-for-tat that we had under the Obama administration or Biden,” Waltz said. “This is the full program. Give it up or there will be consequences.”

Waltz did not specify what kind of consequences Iran could face, though he said President Donald Trump is keeping “all options on the table,” including diplomacy.

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Waltz said the Trump administration wants Iran to give up its nuclear program “in a way that the entire world can see.”

“If [Iran] had nuclear weapons, the entire Middle East would explode in an arms race,” he said. “That is completely unacceptable to our national security. I won’t get into what the back-and-forth has been, but Iran is in the worst place it has been from its own national security since 1979.”

Tensions between Tehran and Washington have been high since Iran’s proxies, Hamas and Hezbollah, launched attacks on Israel in the past few years. Iran directly traded fire with Israel twice last year.

Trump has threatened U.S. military action if Iran doesn’t negotiate a new agreement on its nuclear program.

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Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has said he isn’t interested in talks with a “bullying government,” though Iranian diplomats, including Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, previously suggested that talks could be possible. Araghchi later toughened his stance, following Khamenei’s lead.

The original 2015 nuclear deal negotiated under former President Barack Obama allowed Iran to enrich uranium up to only 3.67% purity and to maintain a uranium stockpile of 661 pounds. The International Atomic Energy Agency’s last report on Iran’s program put its stockpile at 18,286 pounds as it enriches a fraction of it to 60% purity.

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U.S. intelligence agencies assess that Iran has yet to begin a weapons program, but has “undertaken activities that better position it to produce a nuclear device, if it chooses to do so.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report.