Nikki Haley Talks War in the Middle East

**SPEAKER_1** (0:02)
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**Joe Mathieu** (0:07)
Oil prices higher, stocks being dragged down as we look to what seems to be an escalating situation in the Middle East after the US already conducted strikes against Iran yesterday in retaliation for the downed Apache helicopter over the Strait of Hormuz. President Trump saying that more attacks are on their way. This was the president in the Oval Office earlier today.

**SPEAKER_3** (0:27)
We hit them hard yesterday and we're gonna hit them again hard today in case you miss it, in case you don't turn on your television set and we'll see what happens with the deal. We were really close to a deal, but they keep tapping us along, they keep playing us the suckers because you know what? They dealt with some very stupid presidents.

**Kailey Leinz** (0:48)
Tapping us along, as the president made clear on Truth Social, that the regime is simply taking too much time in negotiations. And this is where we start our conversation with an important voice in foreign policy and in domestic politics. That would be Nikki Haley, the former ambassador to the United Nations, former governor of South Carolina, chair at Hudson Institute, founder of Stand for America, the advocacy group. It's wonderful to have you with us, Ambassador. Thanks for joining us today on Bloomberg. What are your thoughts, then, about this active conversation right now? Is this the only recourse at the moment to gain more leverage, to hasten an agreement with more strikes?

**Nikki Haley** (1:23)
First of all, I think you have to look at, you always have to look at what your adversary is thinking.
For them, they're not looking to win, they're looking to survive. So there's a difference. What they think is if they can put enough political pressure on this administration, if they can put enough economic pressure on this administration, They think the US will cave to a weak deal. Iran has, this is the same playbook Iran has always done. They stall, they start talking, they make you think you're gonna get a deal, they throw cold water on it, and all the while, they're strategizing, they're re-arming, they're getting ready for the next conflict. Iran was never going to do a deal. They are never gonna get rid of their nuclear ambitions. That's their number one priority. Now they've actually found more leverage with the Strait of Hormuz. And so they don't wanna go back to what it was pre-war. They now wanna have sovereignty over the Strait. They wanna make sure that they have the threat of nuclear ambition, and they're gonna continue to do that. So I think Trump was right to strike yesterday, but the idea of a deal, that's just not in their cards.
One of the surprising things that's not talked about, they have excavated 50 of the 69 tunnels that hold missiles. They're re-arming. Now, that's not enough. We've weakened Iran tremendously, but it shows you how they think.

**Joe Mathieu** (2:49)
Well, so if Iran is never going to make a deal, and the US is now obviously bogged down in the Middle East for some time in the absence of one, are we coming out on the losing side of this ambassador?

**Nikki Haley** (3:00)
No, the only option is to win. Trump has to finish what he started, and the key is, stop waiting for a deal, finish it. They're very weak, but what you have to do is go after their finances. What has not, and what the administration should do, is go after Russia and China.
Russia right now is providing them drones. China says they want this hostility to end, yet they are providing them man pads for air defense systems. They provided satellite imagery so that you can hit our military bases. If you go after those two, they're providing money. If you go after those two, that's going to take away Iran's ability to help. The second thing is, you do have to acknowledge Karg Island is where they get their revenues from. And at some point, that's going to have to be addressed. But what they're doing is they're creating a distraction. What they've said is, well, Israel is hitting Lebanon.
No, Israel is hitting Hezbollah, the terrorist regime in Lebanon. The Lebanese people don't like Hezbollah. And so the key is, Iran's going to keep making excuses. They're going to keep creating distractions. At the end of the day, they just want to survive. They just want to make it another day.

**Kailey Leinz** (4:11)
Well, you just said a lot and we need to unpack that. So the United States seizes Karg Island. That would involve troops, as we understand, in an operation that could bring some risk, but would have the point you're making, a very direct impact on the economy in Iran. When you say go after China and Russia, is that sanctions? Because we find repeatedly that sanctions don't change behavior with these two.