GLOBAL FLASHPOINTS: America's military, rivals and diplomacy in focus

Okay, let's bring in Nathan sales former. ambassador at large and coordinator for. counterterrorism. Nathan, great to have. you. You know, I was looking at some of. the numbers that. was were just reported by Jen and it. looks like. when it comes to those bads and the. Patriot missiles. We're not going to get. back to pre-war levels until about 2030. at the earliest. So does that change the. strategy moving forward for President. Trump and his cabinet as they are. convening right now. Do we have to get away from this. tit-for-tat with Iran?

>> Well, I should it's certainly a wake-up. call. We we don't have four years to. rebuild our capabilities. Like we we. should never be in a position. The. United States should never be in a. position where our ability to achieve. our strategic objectives is held hostage. by a defense industrial base that is too. slow and too unresponsive. So this is a. wake-up call. We've got to fix it and we. also have to fix the math. Patriot interceptor about $4 million a. pop. You don't want to blow $4 million. every time you're taking out a $30,000.

Iranian Shahed drone. You have to get those numbers to work. and this is actually something that. American innovators and the tech sector. are incredibly good at. We need to break. the mold, bring the American capacity. for innovation to the front lines and. that's how you fix this problem. But. unfortunately, Russia is looking at us. and China is looking at us. They're. taking our measure and what they're. seeing is the Americans can't rearm fast. enough. We've got to be able to rearm. fast enough to maintain deterrence.

against those adversaries. >> But what do we do right now because the. Wall Street Journal had this report out. that the CENTCOM commander had developed. this option for the president to go into. a very intensive 10 to 14-day air. campaign to the defense the. missile capabilities. for the IRGC. They're all together right. now at Camp David, I believe. Do you. think that What the best option for the. president? >> Well, it certainly has one advantage in.

terms of playing defense. It lets us. play offense in order to bolster our. defense. Because if we're taking out. Iranian ballistic missile sites and. launchers, that reduces the strain on. the back end on our own missile defense. interceptors. So if we take them out on. the ground in Iran, we don't have to. shoot them down from the sky over Jordan. or Kuwait or someplace else in the. Middle East. I don't know what the. president's going to decide. There were. reasons to go hard against Iran right. now. There's reasons to give diplomacy a. chance. But one benefit is if we go hard. against them, maybe that reduces the.

strain on our missile defenses. >> Well, he says they lie all the time. They they tell him one thing behind the. scenes and then they go in public and. say, "Well, we never talked about that.". I want to get to Hamas very quickly. here. A very historic agreement. Uh. here's the president um during his. cabinet meeting today. >> It's a great breakthrough. Nobody's ever. thought that would Nobody thought that. would be possible to disarm Hamas. Uh that shows you how much uh success. we're having with Iran. Because if you. go 4 months ago or 5 months ago, a deal. like that would have.

been impossible. So it's a big step for. the Middle East and people are really. impressed by it. And they surprised me. >> I never thought I'd be saying the words. disarming Hamas. I mean, how confident. are you in that this group, a terrorist. organization, is finally going to go. through with this? >> Well, first of all, credit to the. administration for keeping their eye on. the ball um amid a number of other. geopolitical crises and developments to. get this to a better place than it had. been in recent months. Now, let's be.

clear. We're talking about Hamas. Signing a piece of paper is easy, but. what really matters is implementation. And we need to make sure that whatever. Hamas commits to doing actually is going. to result in concrete action on the. ground. And the key to that is that. >> time though, Nathan? Could they just be. buying time just like the Iranians? >> Maybe. Maybe. Uh and it it's a play. they've done before, and that's why the. sequencing is so key. Before Israel. withdraws from the Gaza Strip, Hamas has. to disarm because that's the leverage.

That's the leverage you use in order to. make sure that Hamas honors its. commitments. And if they choose not to, then Israel doesn't have to comply with. its end of the bargain, either. So, hopefully, the incentives built into. this deal and the and the sequencing. will result in progress here. >> Okay, Nathan Sales, we very much. appreciate you. Have a great weekend. And breaking today, President Trump. suggesting that ongoing strikes against. Iran are unlikely to end anytime soon as. he sheds some light on his MIDI strategy. while huddling with his cabinet at Camp.

David today. >> Iran is doing very poorly, just in case. you read incorrect stories. They're. doing very, very poorly. They're having. a hard time. And they've been very dishonest, they've. been very dishonorable to deal with. But, uh that makes no difference. They're doing very, very poorly. Four. weeks? Well, I say, you know, we'll be hitting. them We'll be hitting them very hard. And you know, at some point they're. going to say, "We just can't take it. anymore.". >> This is a brand new hour of America. Reports. I'm Aisha Hasnie in for Sandra. Smith, and hello to you, Bill.

>> Hello to you as well, Aisha. Happy. Friday as we roll into hour number two. here. I'm Bill Melugin in for John. Roberts today. The president's remarks. coming after Iran targeted US bases in. Kuwait, damaging both vital and military. facilities. >> Meanwhile, the Pentagon is confronting a. drained weapons supply as they weigh. their next steps in this campaign. against Iran. >> Chief national security correspondent. Jennifer Griffin joining us live from. Washington with more on this. Hi, Jen. >> Hi, Bill. Well, the Pentagon is. confronting a growing reality after. months of fighting in Iran. America's.

stockpile of missile defense. interceptors is shrinking so much that. military planners are weighing whether. they can continue the current cycle of. limited retaliatory strikes. The Center. for Strategic and International Studies, using open-source budget numbers. estimates US Patriot interceptor. inventories have fallen from roughly. 2,300 pre-war to fewer than 827, while THAAD interceptors have dropped. from 452.

to fewer than 278. CSIS warns rebuilding. those stockpiles could take 3 years or. more. >> If you look at what we've expended for. Patriots, for example, it's over half. the global inventory now has been. consumed in the Middle East. Uh similar for the THAAD interceptors as. well. These are things that we have to. intercept ballistic missiles. So, that. really leaves us with very little excess. uh to be able to use in other theaters,

whether it's defend US forces in Europe. or the Indo-Pacific. >> The Pentagon recently summoned leading. Silicon Valley defense firms like Shield. AI, Anduril, and others to discuss. urgently replenishing depleted US. weapons inventories. >> The concerns are that, you know, these. companies are, you know, that they have. not produced at scale, you know, that in. um you know, they have commercial kind. of technologies. They've done. prototyping, but now kind of do they uh.

are they able to um. have production lines that it can um. that can work with the government to. produce um those munitions at scales? >> Since 2024, 10,000 new defense tech. companies have entered the market. This. former Navy SEAL started Shield AI over. a decade ago and recently returned from. Ukraine, where his AI-driven targeting. systems are being used. >> Defense tech was not a word in 2015. Venture capitalists thought we were. crazy when we said we wanted to work on.

this mission of protecting service. members and civilians. They just didn't. believe you could build a business. behind it. >> Iran's strategy appears to be to target. US bases, forcing the US to spend down. these exquisite defensive missile. interceptors like the Patriots and. THAADs, forcing the Pentagon to take. greater risks in defending US troops the. longer the conflict drags on. Iran. believes that it that is its best hope. at outlasting the US military bill. >> Jennifer Griffin live in Washington for.

us this afternoon. Jen, thank you. >> Any conflict between the US and China, be it economic or be it military, God. forbid, would be catastrophic for both. countries and for the world. So, we have. to manage that, but we can't walk away. or forfeit our national interests. So, this is the hard work of foreign policy. and it requires every administration to. sort of balance these these two. competing tugs against us. >> Very reluctant to make concessions, President Putin. >> Well, nobody wants to make concessions, but they're both going to have to make. some concessions. I mean, you got to. make a deal. 25,000 young, beautiful.

people, soldiers, mostly soldiers are dying a month. It's uh. I ended eight wars. That was the war I thought would maybe. go first. And it really hasn't. It's gotten less. I mean, I ended wars that were in theory. much more difficult to end. We had. a couple that were. into the 30-year category. Well, the Congo, look at the Congo and. Rwanda. That was a nasty war. And uh.

that peace, I don't know how long that. was going to stay, but we uh ended. India-Pakistan. 11 planes we shot down. That was raging. That was going to I used tariffs. I said, "If you're going to go to war, 250%. to each of them.". And they screamed and yelled and were. very angry. They were very angry about. it. A day later they called and they said uh. "We will not go to war." I mean, I ended. up and the Prime Minister of Pakistan. said I saved 50 million lives.

Cuz it's two nuclear powers, serious. nuclear powers. Thank you very much. >> Back out of one of our top stories, President Trump saying today he is. losing faith in negotiations with Iran. and giving new insight on the trajectory. of the conflict. >> So, we're in there for 5 months and if. you look at Vietnam, they were in there. for 20 years. You look at Afghanistan, they were in there for many years. You. look at any one of the wars, Korea, any. one of them, they were in there for many. years. We're in for 5 months and we have.

obliterated their military capacity. Again, they've got some left, but soon. they won't have some left. >> In a moment, retired four-star Air Force. General Charles Wald on what this could. mean for US policy and stability in the. region. First, to the chief. international correspondent Steve. Harrigan. He's live for us in Tel Aviv. Steve. >> Trace, President Trump also touting some. real success in another part of this. region. That is the deal, the framework. agreement for Hamas to disarm. President.

Trump saying such a move would be. absolutely impossible without the. current US success in the war with Iran. Here's President Trump. >> It's a great breakthrough. Nobody's ever. thought that would be possible to disarm. Hamas. That shows you how much. success we're having with Iran because. if you go 4 months ago, 5 months ago, a. deal like that would have. been impossible. So, it's a big step for. the Middle East and people are really. impressed by it.

>> Each night now we are seeing back and. forth strikes between the two sides. Kuwait saying it was attacked by drones. from Iran. Those drones causing no. casualties targeted at US military. installations inside of Kuwait. Also, Iran's state media reporting that Iran. was able to attack two oil tankers in. the Strait of Hormuz. This unverified as. of yet. No reports as to the damage to. those two tankers. Trace, back to you. >> Steve Harrigan live for us in Tel Aviv. Steve, thank you. Let's bring in retired.

four-star Air Force General Charles. Wald, former deputy commander of US. European Command. He flew combat. missions over the Middle East. He is a. distinguished fellow at the Jewish. Institute for National Security of. America. General, great to have you on. the show. The president was asked if he. still thinks a deal with Iran can be. reached, and he said the following. Watch. >> I'm losing faith in them. because they do lie. and do they do misrepresent. Well, the.

other day the five missiles were shot, we knocked them down, but we were in the. midst of a negotiation. I mean, I'm. waiting for Steve to call me. I was in a. negotiation going. and instead I got a call from Pete that. they just shot five missiles at one of. our bases in Jordan. >> General, what do you think? Should the. president scrap the deal? >> Uh I think I think he Well, first of. all, I think he ought to continue to try. to get a diplomatic result, but I don't. think he ought to do it at the expense.

of us stopping attacking the Iranian. military. So, uh we all want to see an end to this. We. all want to see a peaceful solution, but. uh the likelihood of that is uh. maybe not very high. I still think, and I've said this for. months, I said it last time we when we. initially attacked during Midnight. Hammer, uh that we need to take away the. Iranians' ability, the the IRGC in this. case, ability to uh. export their their military capacity to.

the GCC countries in the Middle East as. well, primarily Israel, but also all our. GCC allies. And I just I just don't believe the. Iranians are going to want to sit down. and have some kind of diplomatic deal. that they're going to agree on. They. They'd like to extend talks and have. this bombing stop, but. but I believe we need to go after your. every missile that we can ever find, every capability to build a missile, every ability to command and control a. missile, every ability to refuel a. missile.

Same thing with any air defense. capability they have and I think we have. to start escorting militarily. ships through the Straits of Hormuz. I. think we've had enough of it and I think. the Iranians are pretty close to the. end, but they're not going to give up. >> When you talk about General their their. military capabilities, Iran. specifically, do you have specifics? Do. you think there are specific ways that. we should go after him? Specific areas. and targets that we should go after? >> Well, I've got a lot of faith in our. military planners and Brad Cooper and.

CENTCOM and I know they've they've. thought through this. We've got I think. exquisite intelligence. I think we know. where things are. Uh so I think we. Again, I don't I think we should. continue to bomb. I don't think we. should stop and have some time for. negotiation. I think we had to continue. If they want to talk during bombing, that's fine. Let's listen up, but uh we. know where their military capability is, not all of it, but a lot of it. And I think we had to continue to. degrade it and. the word obliterate comes up a lot, but.

fact of the matter is is degrade it to. the point where they can't threaten. anything and I think I have high. confidence that we know where those. things are. We should continue to do it. I'm not as uh. worried about munitions as a lot of. people are. I think you never want to. have run out. We're not going to. It's. not going to be close. We have NATO. allies that we could get munitions from. that are really built in America, so. I think we need to stick to it, get it. done and and [clears throat] get out of. the region from the standpoint of a a. large military force, but we're not.

going to leave there in any significant. way over the years. >> Yeah, I'm I'm curious Steve Harrigan's. reporting there about the possibility of. more ships being targeted in the Strait. of Hormuz. Would you anticipate that the. United States would would. have more strikes against Iran in the. coming hours? >> Absolutely, yes. I think. >> [clears throat]. >> uh you you heard uh Brad Cooper, the. CENTCOM commander, say he had a 14-day. plan for really getting into this uh.

process here to really eliminate any. threats that uh we know or see. And. I think that should be implemented, and. I think we're going to continue. I I I. really if the president were to ask me, he hasn't, but if he were to ask me, I'd. say, "We're not going to stop bombing uh. while the Iranians want to negotiate.". That's just a ploy for them to stop and. and regroup. So, yes, I think we'll continue, and I think. it uh eventually will be successful. I. think the IRGC is probably in a tougher. uh situation than than First of all, they would admit publicly, but maybe.

even publicly as reported. So, yes, I think we ought to continue. >> Continue with a a response, or continue. with the big response, to go in with a. much larger hit? >> Uh it's easy to say yes, larger hit, but. but frankly, Tracy, yes, I think we. should uh I'm not sure it's larger per. se. I think it's continuous. It's uh. persistent. I think it's uh it's uh. directed at their air defense if there's.

any left. We talked We've heard now that. the uh. Chinese are going to potentially send a. handheld SAMs to uh the Iranians. That's. not a significant threat, but it is for. low-altitude uh aircraft. But but I think uh I don't think I know. We know where many of their military. targets are. We should go after every. one of them. We should uh defeat not. defeat, but uh degrade and uh. and put the IRGC in a position where. they can't uh They They right now are.

acting like they're tough and and uh. have capability to respond, but they. don't have as much as it it appears, and. I think it's for us to put them away. >> Um uh General Charles Wald, uh great to. have you on, sir. Thank you for the. insight. Well, here we go. President Trump taking. questions before heading to Bedminster. [snorts] for the weekend. Let's listen. in. Uh. >> Hey everyone, I'm Emily Compagno. Catch. me and my co-host Harris Faulkner and. Kayleigh McEnany on Outnumbered every. weekday at 12:00 p.m. Eastern or set. your DVR. Also, don't forget to.

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