Mike Waltz, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, said President Donald Trump has “every intent” to get the peace deal with Iran signed on Sunday, and revealed significant changes from what he called the “horrible” deal that Barack Obama made with the Islamic Republic.
“There are two fundamental changes from the horrible Obama deal,” Waltz told Maria Bartiromo on “Sunday Morning Futures” on the Fox News Channel. “One is the verification.”
“Under Obama’s deal, there was not anytime-anywhere verification. They could determine or even delay the inspectors, or most importantly, they could just call a site a military site. And then it was off-limits. There is no trust. There is all about verify, number one.
“And then number two, you’re not gonna see these pallets of cash moving up front. It is going to be pay be performance. And, oh by the way, you have to come to a U.N. Security Council resolution that we snapped back to in terms of lifting sanctions on the Iranian economy.
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Mike Waltz: The proposed deal with Iran is all about verification. No one in the administration is taking the Iranians at their word. pic.twitter.com/hvg4fwSSgF
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“And then finally, the blockade. This is a huge difference from the past. President Trump’s blockade has been enormously effective. This is why you see the regime practically begging for access to any type of economic lifeline. But again, they’re not going to get it till they live up to their end of the bargain.
“So President Trump knowns how to drive a deal, and unlike his predecessors, he’s got the great United States military and very effective actions by [Treasury] Secretary Scott Bessent to keep a foot on the neck of the regime’s economy. So all of these things have me incredibly confident that we’re going to continue to bargain and negotiate from a position of strength.”
Waltz praised U.S. allies in the region, including Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates, indicating, “They are standing shoulder to shoulder with us. They are repairing the damage that Iran inflicted, and I think it was a fundamental and fantastic strategic mistake on the regime’s part to lash out on the Gulf Arabs like they have.”
“They have seen Iran’s true colors and they are standing with us in a way that I have never seen in my lifetime. And, oh by the way, now because of the Abraham Accords, we’re seeing a security architecture move in place with Israel, a line against this regime, and this is a huge step forward.”
When asked if China and Russia were still strongly supporting Iran, Waltz said: “The Chinese have expressed immense frustration at Iran’s illegal attempt to toll shipping, including their shipping. It came up in the president’s summit with Xi.”
.@USAmbUN: “This diplomatic isolation… I think has been an incredibly important piece” of getting Iran to the negotiating table. pic.twitter.com/bfSVXfPoUB
— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) June 14, 2026
“The Gulf Arabs have told the Russians, you better choose wisely here and so far they have not been.”
Waltz said the diplomatic isolation of Iran by a record 143 countries in the U.N. is taking its toll on Tehran’s leaders, as the nations of the world tell Iran: “You need to live up to your commitments in the nuclear non-proliferation treaty and elsewhere to never have a nuke.”
“Not only have they threatened to use it,” Waltz said, “they could hand it to their terrorist proxies … and the entire region would explode in a nuclear arms race.”
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