U.S. ambassador to the U.N. on ongoing war in Iran

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

According to a CBS News poll, Americans support the following goals: Opening the Strait of Hormuz, ending a nuclear program and stopping Iran's ability to threaten other countries.

However, they don't think the U.S. is achieving its goals, with 67% of Americans saying they want to end the conflict now.

This prompted Brennan to ask Ambassador Waltz what happens if the U.S. decides to cut its losses, to which he said:

"Well, I don't think it should surprise anyone that we want the conflict to end. We wanted this conflict to end since 1979...But I can tell you, as a Veteran, you know, Afghanistan, Iraq...these endless wars, where the policy goals, what were we doing there, drifted so badly. The president has been consistently clear on what our goals are. I think your poll showed that the American people support those goals. Yes, it's been difficult, but I, for one, am quite thankful that he is taking the difficult right to do the thing that I think historians will look back on and say was the absolute right thing to do to prevent Iran from ever having a nuclear weapon. And sometimes that's going to be harder than you know, harder than initially planned for. But the president's laser focused on getting this done and achieving those goals that 78...70, what 80% of Americans support. And by the way, also important in there, I don't think anyone else sees a better plan."

During the interview, Brennan and Waltz talked about Russia's involvement in the war with Iran, leading her to ask the ambassador how deep the level of their involvement is in helping Iran target and kill Americans, and Waltz said:

"I think you've seen this symbiotic relationship with Russia-Iran, particularly with the Iranian drones. Now that manufacturing capability has been devastated in Iran itself. But Iran has been providing drones and drone technology to Russia...that they are then using on Kyiv. In terms of the active help, look, I'll just let the president's statement this week stand on its own that he has spoken to both Putin and Xi about this and has put both on notice, frankly, that they should not be assisting, and that bad things will happen if they are."

Later in the interview, Brennan and Waltz talked about the deal between the U.S. and Saudi Arabian governments to build out a civilian nuclear government, but Brennan said there was plenty blowback regarding the deal.

When asked if he was surprised at the level of blowback, Waltz said:

" I think that I think there's a misunderstanding about what's in the deal. This is civil nuclear power, just like we have with the United Arab Emirates, the 123 agreement that we've had for- for over a decade. There is no enrichment technology being provided to the Saudis. That will be done here in the United States. It's some of our most sensitive technology, and people, I think, need to understand that countries around the world have been buying from Russia, have been buying from China. President Trump has initiated a nuclear renaissance here at home when it comes to nuclear power. We want our partners buying from us. They will be buying civil nuclear reactors from the United States with full inspections in place and no enrichment happening on Saudi soil."

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