DECIDING MODE”: Trump Weighs Crucial Next Steps on Iran

I'm Harris Faulkner. You are in the Faulkner Focus. President Trump says he is in decision mode on what comes next in the U.S.-Iran conflict. And Iranian members and teams are here at the U.N. General Assembly. The president described to Fox News over the weekend his choices are wiping out Iran, letting them rot economically, or making a deal. One thing is certain, Iran is feeling the effects of America's efforts to shred its already tattered economy. U.S. Central Command has redirected more than 100 ships trying to get around, evade our blockade of Iranian ports in the Strait of Hormuz. And here's more from U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Mike Walsh. He's always open to diplomacy. He's always open to crafting some kind of peace deal. But the Iranians have to come to the table with good faith, and we have to know that they're actually speaking for the Ayatollah. Our foot is on the neck of the Iranian economy. President Trump is not going to let up, but he's made his goal clear. They cannot have a nuke. And by the way, that's not just the U.S. position. That is the U.N. Security Council's position that Iran can never have a nuclear weapon. Ambassador Tammy Bruce for the U.S. mission to the United Nations is standing by to join me first. I want to go to Lucas Tomlinson in New York City. Lucas. Well, good morning, Harris. Just ahead of that big state visit with President Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping, President Trump is going to arrive here in New York to address the U.N. General Assembly tomorrow morning. First, he meets with Mayor Zoran Mandami this afternoon. Officials from China, Russia and Iran will also be here, too. Here's the Republican chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee about the state of play in the world right now. It's China that's arming Iran. It's the United States of America that's working to defeat Russia on behalf of Europe and NATO and Ukraine. It's China that's working to arm Russia. That is the juxtaposition. And here in New York, Treasury Secretary Scott Besson has already met with Chinese Vice Premier over the weekend, laying the groundwork for the state visit and continuing to discuss trade and AI. President Trump's trade representative, Jameson Greer, also attended that meeting. Now, President Trump is also expected to meet with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, where this morning Trump appeared to put more pressure on Russia to end the war in a social media post after a massive Ukrainian drone attack on Russia yesterday. And Trump will also meet with Persian Gulf allies in an attempt to bring the war with Iran to an end, too. Trump will also meet for the first time with Britain's new prime minister, as well as the new leader of Venezuela, Delsi Rodriguez. Iran's president is also due to arrive here in New York and speak at the U.N. on Wednesday, the day after President Trump's address. The Iran war is loomed over the upcoming midterm elections. Here's Vermont Democratic Senator Peter Welch. The Iranian regime is an ideological regime. They'll punish their people and they'll let their people suffer indefinitely. But what's happening in the real world in Vermont and around the country, gas prices are up. I recall, Harris, this time last year, there were 20 Israeli hostages still being held inside Gaza. A month later, they were freed. The Trump administration hopes conversations here at the United Nations will lead to some more good news. Harris? Well, we love that. Very optimistic. Lucas, thank you. Always. The New York Post boiling it down to this headline, Iran will be top of mind at the United Nations and Trump has a chance to strike a deal. That's the headline. Ambassador Tammy Bruce is the deputy representative for the U.S. mission to the United Nations. So glad to have her on set today. So let's talk about the tone and tenor. You were saying moments ago with me that it always matters when President Trump shows up at the U.N. Why? Well, it's obvious that people are looking because of President Trump. He speaks bluntly. He knows what he wants. He is a man of action. He takes action. He gets results. That's what this is about. Now, the U.N. is also about diplomacy. So he wants diplomacy to work first. It's clear. He leads the strongest and most powerful country in human history. And he still believes in the conversation between people, even as we argue about A.I. and everything else in the modern age. So it matters because he is the person who delivers what the world needs, that he knows how to do it. He's got the backup. If diplomacy does not work, he will do whatever is possible, whatever is necessary to protect this country. So when you heard him say this weekend and the whole world heard it, right, he's in decision mode. He's in decision mode. What does that mean to you in terms of of Iran? I saw that there were between 50 and 60 people who were here from Iran, the Iranian delegation. Of course. Now, look, I'm not I don't know what the president is thinking. I'm not going to get ahead of him and the nature of how he makes his decisions. He's the president because because we trust him. He has all the information in the world. What it tells you, and this is the first thing it tells you, is he tells us what he's doing. Right. He is. He's transparent. We know what he's going through. We see what those decisions eventually are. That's what a president does. That's what a leadership leader does. In the midst, though, of entities like multilateral organizations, the U.N., he's here because he wants that to survive. It matters in the international scene. The success of his ideas that will help the world thrive as well. So when it comes to decision making, clearly he is. He wants diplomacy to work. We have used kinetic energy. We have the best military in human history. So he has all of that at his disposal, but he wants conversations to work. He wants to end this for the sake of the Iranian people, but first for the American people. All right. We haven't talked yet about the other war that's going on right now. It's Russia and Ukraine, and that will also no doubt be a big topic at the General Assembly this week. And the president will be meeting with the Ukrainian President Zelensky. Over the weekend, Ukraine launched a successful attack, launching more than 1,000 drones into Russia. And those drones hit targets, hundreds of them, including a Moscow oil refinery. Moscow's mayor called it the largest drone attack on the capital since the start of the four-and-a-half-year war. And officials say Russia retaliated with its own drone attack in southern Ukraine yesterday. Here's the president last week on Zelensky. He has to stop knocking out diesel fuel in Russia. Let him go after targets, but not diesel fuel, because he's causing a shortage of diesel fuel. This isn't done by the Middle East. This is done by what's happening with Russia and Ukraine. So we spoke to Mr. Zelensky about it. There are plenty of other targets. Don't hit diesel fuel, because that's hurting—that's hurting the world. So that message is for whom? Well, you know, I think it's for both. But clearly, Ukraine is doing much better than certainly Russia ever thought. They probably thought it was going to be a few weeks. It's now been years. But I think this is where the president having communications with everyone in the world, all leaders, makes a difference, of being able to tell these individuals, whether it's Ukraine or Russia, what the damage is to the rest of the world, how it is unacceptable and how it has to stop. This clearly is a war that never should have happened and would not have happened if the president had been in charge when this emerged. But now he has a chance. But we had Biden. We did. And so now we're still dealing with the aftermath of that. That's when the American people saw really firsthand that the individual person in the White House matters when it comes to what other world leaders are willing to do. So President Trump, here now at UNGA, the one place in the world where everyone comes together, has a chance to tell, whether it is President Zelensky or Putin, about what is acceptable, how this has to end. And we know the president is determined. And without fail, he has succeeded. He will succeed here. And the American people will feel the difference. Ambassador Bruce, I have to ask you this question. There is so much going on. I know you can't take me inside of everything, but you've got all of this happening simultaneously. The president meets with New York City's socialist mayor, Zoran Mamdani, who's taking some heat now for his tax policy, so on and so forth. There's a lot going on in the city that the president loves. And then later this week, you have the president of China, Xi Jinping, coming to the White House. Yes. Well, first of all, there's another thing added into that. The president and the first lady are a team. She has an event also in New York tomorrow for about fostering the future. Her project regarding, of course, the children, involving the first ladies of other delegations. So this is a team that will do everything, that is interested in the quality of life for everyone. It is a policy that, of course, the American people deserve. We've always deserved it. But it's President Trump who sees all of these dynamics. As a New Yorker, he loves the city. He loves the U.N. as a diplomat and just as an American man who cares about his family as well. And everyone else's. All of these pieces come together. Of course, we've seen how socialism, it's not like a new idea and has been untried. It's been tried and it destroys lives and countries. And he cares too much about New York City, a great American city, to just abandon it to a man who perhaps is misguided about what works and what doesn't. So we're in good shape in that regard. And of course, with everyone else around the world, they are here for President Trump. Americans should be proud and excited. And by the way, the things that are happening now are things that others have been too afraid to address or approach because they are difficult. If being president was easy, well, then whatever. But it's not. It requires someone like Trump. And that's what we're getting. Thank goodness we are a generation that can see past these decades-old problems. Because we deserve better. When America deserves, when America does well, as the president has said, the world does well. And that's what we're working on here. Real quickly, artificial intelligence with Xi. It is kind of the headline now, even though, I mean, Iran and any sort of help that China may or may be giving or has been giving Iran in that war, also part of that conversation. But just the AI component of it. Yes. Well, this isn't even our own transportation secretary, Sean Duffy, discussed as noted that AI will be playing a role in how to make our own airlines and flights safer. The fact is, it has to be managed. The president is aware of that. He's got a great team. The president will obviously talk with China, as he does with everyone else, about everything on the plate. At the same time, he's discussed that we need to be looking at this and making sure that, well, with his AI force, that we're not just abandoning this. China is moving in a certain direction. They always do. We must keep up. We can't make decisions based on pretending China doesn't exist. The president understands that. And these are the big issues that we want the president to deal with, and he's doing so. Wow. At the UN this week, Ambassador Tammy Bruce, with everything, you've got your arms around it all, too. You have to. Appreciate your service, always. Well, thank you. And to be here with you and your audience, this is what it's about, it's for the American people. So thank you. Thank you. Absolutely.