U.S. ambassador to United Nations on ongoing war in Iran

WASHINGTON (CBS, KYMA) - Mike Waltz, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, spoke with Margaret Brennan on Face the Nation Sunday about the ongoing war in Iran.

President Donald Trump posted to social media Friday saying in part, "The Hormuz Strait will have to be guarded and policed, as necessary, by other Nations who use it — The United States does not!"

President Trump followed up with another social media post Saturday saying if Iran doesn't fully open the Strait of Hormuz within 48 hours, the US will "hit and obliterate" their power plants, starting with the "biggest one first."

This prompted Brennan to ask Ambassador Waltz if the U.S. is opening Hormuz by force, or if they are having others do it, to which the ambassador said:

"I think it can be both. It's not necessarily mutually exclusive...I think at his urging and his leadership, we have now seen Italy, Germany, France and a number of others commit to help with this effort...particularly since so much energy is going to Europe out of the strait. We just had the Japanese Prime Minister commit to portions of her navy and the Japanese navy, 80% of what is coming out of the Gulf is going to Asia. So we are seeing our allies come around as they should, but at the same time, the president is not going to stand for this regime, as it has threatened and tried for five decades to hold the world's energy supplies hostage under its, its genocidal intent."

During the interview, Brennan and Waltz talked about a CBS News poll saying 66% of Americans believe the conflict with Iran is a war of choice, with 57% of Americans saying the conflict is going very or somewhat badly.

This led Brennan to ask Waltz if he thinks the president needs to persuade the majority of Americans, and not just his base, if he's going to commit to sending troops to Iran, and Waltz said:

"I think the president will keep all options on the table to secure these objectives. And as a Veteran, as a parent, I thank God he is not kicking the can like so many administrations have for fifty years, until this is a catastrophic problem where we have very limited options to deal with, much less an entire Middle East potentially awash in nukes."

To watch more of Brennan's interview with Waltz, click here.