00:00And the president was very clear last night that he always prefers diplomacy.
00:04But I want you to understand and everyone should know that Iran poses a very great threat
00:08to the United States and has for a very long time.
00:10They are in possession, first and foremost, after their nuclear program was obliterated.
00:15They were told not to try to restart it and here they are, you can see them always trying
00:19to rebuild elements of it.
00:20They're not enriching right now, but they're trying to get to the point where they ultimately
00:23can.
00:24The other thing I would point you to, however, is that Iran possesses a very large number
00:29of ballistic missiles, particularly short-range ballistic missiles that threaten the United
00:35States and our bases in the region and our partners in the region and all of our bases
00:40in the UAE and Qatar and Bahrain.
00:43And they also possess naval assets that threaten shipping and try to threaten the U.S. Navy.
00:49So I want everyone to understand that beyond just a nuclear program, they possess these
00:54conventional weapons that are solely designed to attack America and attack Americans if
00:59they so choose to do so.
01:01These things have to be addressed.
01:03The negotiations tomorrow and the talks tomorrow will be largely focused on the nuclear program.
01:08And we hope progress can be made, because that's the President's preference, to make
01:12progress on the diplomatic front.
01:13But it's also important to remember that Iran refuses, refuses to talk about ballistic missiles
01:20to us or to anyone.
01:21And that's a big problem ever off the table.
01:23The President wants diplomatic solutions.
01:25He prefers them.
01:25He prefers them greatly.
01:27He wants that more than anything else.
01:29So I wouldn't characterize tomorrow as anything other than the latest in a set of conversations.
01:33And hopefully, they're productive.
01:34But eventually, we'll have to have conversations about more than just the nuclear program.
01:39But if you can't even make progress on the nuclear program, it's going to be hard to
01:43make progress on the ballistic missiles as well.
01:45So I wouldn't characterize tomorrow as anything other than the next opportunity to talk.
01:50Could you just clarify?
01:51So is there any way to walk away from Thursday's meetings with something that is meaningful
01:55enough to stop U.S. military action?
01:57Well, that's where the President has made no decision on that.
02:00So I don't know if Thursday is the key date for that.
02:03I think progress needs to be made.
02:04It would be good if progress was made on Thursday.
02:06And I would say that the Iranian insistence on not discussing ballistic missiles is a big,
02:11big problem.
02:11So I'll leave it at that.
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