Iran must fully dismantle nuclear program, Trump advisor Waltz clarifies amid Iranian boasts of ‘combat readiness’

The Trump administration seeks the full dismantlement of the Iranian regime’s nuclear program, White House National Security Advisor Mike Waltz confirmed on Sunday, after U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff had apparently signaled the dispute could be solved diplomatically.

In an interview with CBS News, Waltz clarified that the United States seeks “full dismantlement. Iran has to give up its program in a way that the entire world can see.”

The conflict over the regime’s nuclear program, which is estimated to be approaching a critical threshold, is now “coming to a head,” Waltz said, citing U.S. President Donald Trump.

“All options are on the table, and it is time for Iran to walk away completely from its desire to have a nuclear weapon. They will not, and cannot be allowed to have a nuclear weapons program,” Waltz stressed.

When asked whether he saw any chance for diplomacy, the national security advisor said Trump would keep “all options on the table,” while reiterating that the entire program would have to go, including weaponization efforts and the strategic missile program.

“This isn't some kind of tit-for-tat that we had under the Obama administration, or Biden. This is the full program. Give it up, or there will be consequences,” Waltz emphasized.

Steve Witkoff is adopting the Iran regime’s language of “verification” instead of President Trump’s language of “dismantlement.” That’s a MASSIVE difference. This would be even worse than the Obama deal of 2015. https://t.co/JPVBRcDmeX

— Mark Dubowitz (@mdubowitz) March 22, 2025

President Trump wrote a letter to Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei earlier this month, offering to discuss a new nuclear deal. However, Khamenei and Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian publicly rejected the offer.

In the letter, Trump wrote, “We should create a verification program so that nobody worries about weaponization of your nuclear material, and I’d like to get us to that place because the alternative is not a very good alternative,” Witkoff, who is spearheading negotiations with the regime, said in a recent interview with Tucker Carlson.

In addition, the letter reportedly included a two-month ultimatum for a new deal while threatening military force.

Against the backdrop of the escalating rhetoric between Iran and the U.S., as well as the airstrikes against the Iran-backed Houthis in Yemen, U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth ordered a second aircraft carrier, the USS Carl Vinson, to join the USS Harry S. Truman in the Middle East region, several news outlets reported over the weekend.

If the enemy commits a foolish act, they will witness how Iranian forces will send them to the depths of hell, IRGC Navy Commander Tangsiri warned Saturday, as he visited naval forces and underground missile bases in Persian Gulf.
He said the IRGC's combat and offensive units in… pic.twitter.com/xkWGVF1XuX

— Iran International English (@IranIntl_En) March 22, 2025

In response to the increased U.S. military power in the region, Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) Navy commander, Alireza Tangsiri, boasted about the regime’s readiness for war.

“Combat readiness and combat capability are our priority because it is the order of the Supreme Leader,” Tangsiri told the ILNA news agency on Sunday.

During a visit to the regime’s naval forces and underground missile bases in the Persian Gulf region on Saturday, Tangsiri warned that “if the enemy commits a foolish act,” it would witness Iran’s military sending it “to the depths of hell.”

“If a battle breaks out, rest assured the enemy will be struck from a place they never anticipated,” he added.

Next week, a senior Israeli delegation is expected to visit the White House to conduct strategic consultations about the Iranian nuclear issue, two Israeli officials and a U.S. official told the Axios news outlet.

The meeting will be held by the “U.S.-Israel Strategic Consultative Group (SCG),” the highest U.S.-Israeli forum for discussions about the nuclear program, for the first time since Trump’s return to office.

On the Israeli side, Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer and National Security Advisor Tzachi Hanegbi will head the delegation, Axios reported.