United States Ambassador to the United Nations Mike Waltz pushed back Sunday during an interview on NBC’s “Meet the Press” when host Kristen Welker questioned whether the United States was at war with Iran following recent military strikes against the Iranian regime.
The exchange came after President Donald Trump announced that the United States military and the Israel Defense Forces carried out coordinated strikes targeting the Islamic Republic of Iran’s regime. Trump revealed the operation in a video posted to Truth Social early on Feb. 28.
During the interview, Welker asked Waltz whether the Trump administration considered the military action to be the start of a war.
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“As you know, words matter, does the Trump administration — do you — describe this as a war against Iran?” Welker asked.
Waltz responded by arguing that Iran has long been engaged in hostilities against the United States.
“Well, I describe it as Iran has been at war with us, as I just said,” Waltz said.
Welker pressed further, asking for clarification about whether the administration considered the situation a formal war.
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“So, it is a war?” Welker asked.
Waltz rejected that characterization and said the current administration’s actions were intended to end a long-running conflict.
“President Trump is ending it. I will leave it to the lawyers and those who deal with Congress in terms of the War Powers Act, which every administration has viewed as unconstitutional. That said, Secretary [of State Marco] Rubio has been there day after day and week after week in the recent months to appropriately brief congressional leaders,” Waltz said.
The interview came as lawmakers in Washington debated U.S. military operations targeting Iran’s government and its affiliated groups.
Efforts by Democrats in Congress to halt American military operations against the Iranian regime were defeated in both the House of Representatives and the Senate.
Waltz also pointed to previous attacks on American forces carried out by Iran and its regional proxies. He referenced the deaths of U.S. service members killed in attacks attributed to groups backed by Tehran.
“I’ll tell you, you know who does believe, that they are being attacked? It is the soldiers that have been buried for many, many years as a result of Iranian attacks and the proxy attacks. Hezbollah, Hamas, and the Houthis [killed] over 600 American soldiers, so, I need— we need to take a look and look at how many billions, how much time, how much treasure that administration after administration has spent dealing with this,” Waltz said.
WATCH:
Military tensions increased further after a deadly Iranian strike on March 1. Six American service members were killed when an Iranian attack struck a technical operations center in Kuwait.
The deaths marked one of the deadliest incidents involving U.S. personnel during the current escalation.
Iran’s military and its proxy organizations have been involved in numerous confrontations with U.S. forces over the past two decades, particularly during conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan.
During President Trump’s first administration, the United States carried out a high-profile military strike targeting Qasem Soleimani, a senior commander in Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.
Soleimani was killed in January 2020 in a U.S. drone strike. U.S. officials described him at the time as a key architect of Iranian military operations throughout the Middle East.
American officials said Soleimani played a major role in supplying advanced components for improvised explosive devices that were used in attacks against U.S. troops during the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Those devices were responsible for significant casualties among American forces during the conflicts.
The issue of Iran’s activities in the region continues to be a central focus of U.S. foreign policy and national security discussions as the Trump administration responds to the latest escalation involving the Iranian regime.
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