US President Donald Trump is reaching out to the Supreme Leader of Iran with plans for a new nuclear deal to avoid a possible war between the two nations.
National Security Advisor Michael Waltz told CBS' "Face the Nation" that President Trump has a no-nonsense, get-serious policy toward Iran and has called for Iranian leaders to give up their program to build nuclear warheads, calling for a "full disarmament."
But he also said the Trump administration wants to "sit down and see if we can, through dialogue, through diplomacy, get to the right place."
He ADDED that it now means there's a chance for Iran's leaders to prove their willingness to at least discuss a plan for de-escalation of the tensions that Iran has helped create in the Middle East, as that nation foments violence by training and funding terrorist groups such as Hamas.
The offer of an agreement with Iran is not speculative, though: President Trump last week gave Iran two months to reach a new agreement with the US and the West, or the US might be forced to use other means to separate Iran from its nuclear goals.
It's not known what Mr. Trump might have in mind as "other means," but it's recognized that military force is one consideration.
Earlier this month, he reminded Iran in a letter that "I said, ‘I hope you’re going to negotiate, because it’s going to be a lot better for Iran,’ and I think they want to get that letter – the alternative is we have to do something, because you can’t let them have a nuclear weapon,”
And Trump also said he holds Iran responsible for attacks that continue by the Houthis, another group considered by some to be terrorists, though Trump holds that the Houthis are in actuality a proxy group supported by Iran.
In response, Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said Friday that the US has decided to "make a big mistake and call regional resistance centers Iranian proxies. What does proxy mean?" and then the leader threatened the US with "severe slaps" should there be any action against the Houthis or Iran.
Meanwhile, the United States continued a weeks-long bombing campaign against the Houthis in their home state of Yemen, where Houthis have been lobbing missiles toward Israel during the past week.
And in another warning to Iran this past week, President Trump said the Houthis will be "annihilated."