'This Week' Transcript 3-1-26: Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, Sen. Adam Schiff & Sen. James Lankford
This is a rush transcript of "This Week" airing Sunday, March 1.
A rush transcript of "This Week with George Stephanopoulos" airing on Sunday, March 1, 2026 on ABC News is below. This copy may not be in its final form, may be updated and may contain minor transcription errors. For previous show transcripts, visit the "This Week" transcript archive.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ANNOUNCER: “THIS WEEK” with George Stephanopoulos starts right now.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS, ABC “THIS WEEK” ANCHOR: War with Iran. The U.S. and Israel launched massive strikes.
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Our objective is to defend the American people by eliminating imminent threats from the Iranian regime.
STEPHANOPOULOS: Iran’s supreme leader killed, sparking celebrations in the streets, as the U.S. and Israel continue strikes throughout the night. Iran vows retaliation and President Trump demands regime change.
TRUMP: When we are finished, take over your government.
STEPHANOPOULOS: This morning, shockwaves across the region and around the world.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANNOUNCER: From ABC News, this is a special edition of “THIS WEEK.”
Here now, George Stephanopoulos.
STEPHANOPOULOS: Good morning and welcome to “THIS WEEK.”
In the second month of his second term, President Trump has taken his biggest gamble yet, launching a war of choice to eradicate Iran’s regime and eliminate its military threat. The first strike yielded a significant victory with the death of Ayatollah Khamenei and several of his top deputies. The question now, what comes next? How will Iran retaliate? Can the war be contained? Will the Iranian people rise to replace the regime? Who will take their place? And what will this all mean for the future of the Middle East and the security of the United States?
We’re going to address it all this morning with our ABC News team across the globe. Chief foreign correspondent Ian Pannell starts us off from Tel Aviv.
Good morning. Ian.
IAN PANNELL, ABC NEWS CHIEF FOREIGN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, good morning, George.
After killing Iran’s supreme leader yesterday, Israel and the U.S. have continued to hammer Iran with growing deaths both inside Iran and elsewhere in this region. And astonishing, new details now emerging of the first moments of that operation.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
PANNELL (voice over): This morning, day two of war with Iran, with the U.S. and Israel again striking across the country. Iran’s Revolutionary Guard promising the most intense offensive operation ever, targeting Israel and U.S. bases in the Middle East after the killing of Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
Overnight, President Trump responding, saying, “They better not do that. However, because if they do, we’ll hit them with a force that’s never been seen before.”
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian vowing revenge for the ayatollah’s killing, confirmed by Iranian state TV Saturday night, saying the supreme leader was carrying out his assigned duties in his workplace when he was killed.
Across Iran on Sunday, mourners seen gathering to honor Khamenei, as other videos circulating online show people celebrating his death. The 86-year-old cleric had served as Iran’s supreme leader since 1989, targeted in that joint American-Israeli military operation early Saturday, with President Trump announcing Khamenei’s death on social media. Posting, “Khamenei, one of the most evil people in history, is dead.”
Satellite imagery showing substantial damage to the ayatollah’s compound. Smoke rising from the scene. Israel and the U.S. say many of Iran’s other top leaders have also been killed. Despite achieving one of the key goals of the operation, the president’s insisting American military action in Iran won’t stop now, saying, “the heavy and pinpoint bombing, however, will continue, uninterrupted throughout the week or, as long as necessary to achieve our objective of peace throughout the Middle East and indeed, the world.”
President Trump released this video early Saturday morning announcing the beginning of the attack on Iran.
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Our objective is to defend the American people by eliminating imminent threats from the Iranian regime, a vicious group of very hard, terrible people.
PANNELL (voice over): The mission, dubbed “Operation Epic Fury,” launched in broad daylight, targeting at least nine Iranian cities and rocking the nation of over 90 million people. Screams of terror as cars and buildings engulfed in flames. One strike hitting an elementary school and killing over 100 people, according to Iranian state media.
The U.S. now investigating and working to verify that report, saying it would never deliberately attack civilians. Iran responding quickly Saturday, sending hundreds of missiles and drones towards various targets across the Middle East, including at least four U.S. military bases in the region.
President Trump, in that early morning video, warning American troops would be at risk.
TRUMP: The lives of courageous American heroes may be lost, and we may have casualties. That often happens in war.
PANNELL (voice over): As well as saying he wants to protect America, the president revealing maximalist goals, addressing what comes next for the people of Iran, saying, “this is the single greatest chance for the Iranian people to take back their country.”
(END VIDEOTAPE)
PANNELL (on camera): George, we have new reporting from Israeli military officials who say that 40 of Iran’s key leaders, including the head of the IRGC and Ayatollah Khamenei, were killed in the first minutes of the operation. An Israeli official telling me the U.S.-Israeli operation will now expand, taking out more regime targets, state security, military, industrial locations, as well as nuclear and ballistic sites.
I asked the official whether it was more realistic now to think of this as a week’s long operation. The official admitting they are prepared for weeks, but they also hope it will be days, and that the death of the ayatollah could radically alter that timeline.
George.
STEPHANOPOULOS: And, Ian, some Iranian retaliatory strikes have landed in Israel?
PANNELL: Yes, that’s right, devastating strike today that landed just outside of Jerusalem in the Beit Shemesh area. Emergency responders are on the scene. They’ve been trying to reach people who were trapped in the debris. They’re saying that eight people have been killed, and that something in the region of around thirty people have been injured.
And I think those numbers are likely to rise. And the death toll from that U.S. Israeli strike on a girls’ school in Iran, now at least 148. I think a key reminder for all of us, that this war has very real, very deadly consequences, and often for innocent people.
George.
STEPHANOPOULOS: Ian Pannell, thanks very much.
I want to go to Marcus Moore in Doha, Qatar.
Marcus, the Gulf states have also been targeted.
MARCUS MOORE, ABC NEWS FOREIGN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, that’s right, George. And when you step back and look at the enormity of what’s happening, it’s truly remarkable. Iran’s retaliation impacting the entire region.
Here in Qatar, missile and drone intercepts shaking the building where we are. And there have been hits in Kuwait, Oman, Bahrain and the UAE. Falling debris causing fires and casualties. And officials say three people were killed and 58 injured there in the UAE. And in the Emirates alone, Iran’s retaliation has involved 165 ballistic missiles, two cruise missiles and more than 500 drones.
And so, as you can imagine, much of the airspace in the region is closed. Airports are shut down. In travel hubs like Dubai and Doha, travelers are stranded.
And at the same time, there’s strong condemnation coming from the Gulf nations, including Qatar. The foreign ministry calling the missile launches towards a U.S. base in the country a violation of their sovereignty. Qatar, of course, home to Al Udeid, the largest U.S. base in the Middle East. And Doha, George, as you know, has been a key player in a -- as a mediator. And now they are calling for continued dialogue in this region that’s on edge.
George.
STEPHANOPOULOS: Marcus Moore, thanks.
I want to bring in our chief global affairs anchor, Martha Raddatz.
And, Martha, you were in Iran when the United States took out the head of the Revolutionary Guard, Soleimani, back in 2020. Talk about the significance of the fact that Ayatollah Khamenei has been taken out.
MARTHA RADDATZ, ABC NEWS CHIEF GLOBAL AFFAIRS ANCHOR: It is a remarkable strike for the United States, taking him out, it was stunning. And those forty leaders, certainly they have a plan in place for succession. He was 86 years old. But the shock of that to the IRGC, especially, and those who followed him is enormous.
I was there in 2020 when Iran responded to the death of Soleimani. They’d launched air strikes into Al-Asad Airbase in Iraq. I know President Trump came out and said there were no casualties. It ended up that there were about a hundred concussive injuries and traumatic brain injuries.
But we also remember that Iran accidentally shot down a commercial aircraft that night, which was stunning there to be on the ground. It was a Ukrainian aircraft. I think Iran would have responded even more heavily had they not been humiliated by the fact they shot down that commercial aircraft.
George.
STEPHANOPOULOS: Martha, you also spent years on the ground in Iraq and Afghanistan during those wars. One of the big lessons of those wars, they’re much easier to start than to finish.
RADDATZ: They absolutely are. And you look particularly at Afghanistan, how long that war lasted. And in the end, that it really made no difference to the people there in Afghanistan and to those young girls. The Taliban has taken over once again. It is hard to get out of a war when you start it, and it is still unclear exactly what can be accomplished.
George.
STEPHANOPOULOS: OK, Martha, thanks.
Let’s bring in our chief White House correspondent, Mary Bruce, on that.
Mary, how is the president and his team talking about the goals of this war right now?
MARY BRUCE, ABC CHIEF WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Yes, well, George, the president does claim that he has several off ramps and a, quote, “beautiful plan,” but it’s still not clear what that plan is. He says he could end this in a couple of weeks or end it in just a few days, saying, quote, “And tell the Iranians, see you again in a few years if you start rebuilding your nuclear program."
What is clear, his goal here is regime change. But he still hasn't articulated exactly what that looks like.
There are still big, very fundamental questions left unanswered. Who does the president think should lead Iran? What role is the Trump administration and the U.S. military going to play going forward?
Trump promised no new wars. He vowed not to drag the U.S. into more foreign conflicts. And yet that is now exactly what he is doing.
And he still has not fully explained to the American people, why this is necessary now? What was the imminent threat? Why did he change his thinking now?
Now the administration is going to brief members of Congress later this week. But the president, now after the fact, has to make the case for this war to the American people, as he now warns that American lives may be lost, George.
STEPHANOPOULOS: You put out that video overnight Friday. Any plans to address the nation over the weekend or early in the week?
BRUCE: Yeah, George, it certainly seems hard to imagine that the president won't come out and speak more about this.
But right now, this morning, he remains down in Mar-a-Lago, at his resort in Florida with members of his national security team, where he has been monitoring all of this unfold and play out. He will be back here at the White House later this evening, but I'm sure that we will certainly be hearing from him again soon, George.
STEPHANOPOULOS: Mary Bruce, thanks.
Let's bring in our chief justice correspondent, Pierre Thomas.
Pierre, officials on edge over possible threats to the homeland?
PIERRE THOMAS, ABC NEWS CHIEF JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: George, the U.S. military campaign adds to perhaps the most dangerous threat environment since 9/11. History suggests there's reason for concern. U.S. officials in recent years have identified a number of Iran-inspired plots, including an alleged plan to kill President Trump, as well as others that have targeted journalists and dissidents living here who oppose the regime.
This morning, there's evidence that U.S. law enforcement is taking this threat seriously of operatives from Iran and sympathizers as well. The FBI has put all counterterrorism and counterintelligence teams on high alert. Sources tell me the FBI is planning to step up surveillance of suspected Iranian operatives.
And the Secret Service is increasing security of President Trump, Vice President Vance, and all the living former presidents.
In addition, Homeland Security officials yesterday issued a bulletin, warning police that Iran and his proxies may target U.S. infrastructure with denial of service cyber attacks. George, it's a very dangerous moment.
STEPHANOPOULOS: Okay. Pierre Thomas, thanks.
Let's bring in our panel right now. We're joined by lieutenant -- retired General Dan Karbler, retired General Douglas Lute, and Vali Nasr, who's the professor of Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies.
And General Karbler, let me begin with you. Talk about the impact of the U.S. and Israeli strike so far.
LT. GEN. DAN KARBLER (RET.), FORMER COMMANDER, U.S. ARMY AND SPACE MISSILE DEFENSE COMMAND: Yeah. So, right now, I think what we're seeing, George, is just kind of the elements of classic deterrence, right? We've imposed cost onto the adversary. We've denied the adversary benefit from their attacks, and then we're seeing the president go out with the messaging right now.
But that's not to say that the Iranians didn't get a vote in this. We've seen, you heard Ian talk about the different strikes that have come back now into Israel, as well the other Gulf neighbors. So, we've got to continue to target Iran.
You know, right now, I'm sure last night, we did a lot of battle damage assessment about how well we did on those targets, re-prosecute those targets. You heard CENTCOM declare air supremacy right now. So, now, our pilots can go in and strike those targets further.
But we also on our side have to do our own assessments. Let's not be naive. We've expended a lot of interceptors. Iranian missiles have impacted in and around the Gulf region.
So, we've got to take a look at how our equipment has performed. We've got to go ahead and do missile reloads, all those kind of things that help prepare us for however long this conflict may continue on.
STEPHANOPOULOS: President Trump told CBS News last night that he was surprised that the Iran's retaliation wasn't more significant. Are you?
KARBLER: I think it's a pretty significant response to, you know, hundreds and hundreds of missiles that have come through. Now, we'll see how it goes on here in the days coming now that we've established air supremacy.
STEPHANOPOULOS: Professor Nasr, let's talk about the situation inside Iran right now. Who's in charge?
VALI NASR, JOHN HOPKINS UNIVERSITY PROFESSOR & AUTHOR, “IRAN’S GRAND STRATEGY: A POLITICAL HISTORY”: Well, Iran had been preparing for this moment for some time. It has a system that is based on distribution of authority along the way. We saw that in -- even in the June war, that Israel took out 30 top commanders of the Revolutionary Guards and within 24 hours, they started hitting back and they weren't impacted, including taking out the top two commanders of the -- of the missile division.
So, the system is built for resilience, and it takes a lot more to make it fall apart. So, I think in Iran, you have a deep state that that sort of crisscrosses various nodes of power and is able to function even without the supreme leader, even without the top commanders. And so, that's what we are seeing.
STEPHANOPOULOS: But you are seeing these celebrations in the streets of Iran. Is that a real threat to the regime?
NASR: It is a threat but celebrations by themselves and people by themselves don't change regimes, and obviously, people in the first 24 hours are very happy that the people who suppressed them just a month ago are gone, and that this is some kind of a poetic justice for them with the supreme leader being killed. But very quickly people begin to become concerned about what war means for them.
What they are right now watching on television with internet shutdown is images of that school that was hit in southern Iran with 148 dead. And people very quickly begin to think about cutting off electricity, cutting off water, damage to their cities. They’re hearing massive booms go off when missiles are hitting. And so, their mood in the short run is going to be decided by war, not by the political agenda that President Trump would like them to follow.
STEPHANOPOULOS: The former shah’s son, Reza Pahlavi, is putting himself forward as a transition figure to move towards a new constitution, free elections. Is he a viable alternative?
NASR: I think if we are like Afghanistan 2001, that U.S. troops are in Kabul, then they -- then there’s a possibility to bring a leader from outside the country and install it. But right now, he does not have a ground game in Iran, if you were to say. There’s no political organization, alliances. He has not built a relationship with bureaucrats, with politicians, et cetera, that actually would allow him to play a critical role at this moment in time and to have a plan for the day after, essentially being able to take over the government.
I think there are two scenarios before Iran. Either at some point the regime will pass a tipping point and it will collapse, in which case Iran will look like Libya, or Syria, or that some faction of this regime ultimately, at some point in time, when there is a ceasefire, may come forward and basically assert control and become the de facto leader of the country.
STEPHANOPOULOS: Is that the administration’s best hope right now for an end game? Because we know from history that it’s difficult to get regime change without boots on the ground.
LT. GEN. DOUG LUTE (RET.), FORMER U.S. AMBASSADOR TO NATO & ABC NEWS CONTRIBUTOR: I think that’s right. I think it’s unlikely that the popular uprising that was suppressed so effectively and brutally over the last several months will recover and actually take to the streets and gain power. I think more likely is some fraction, some remnants of the Republican Guard leadership, perhaps will name a new ayatollah and, as Vali has described, the deep state will resume power.
STEPHANOPOULOS: And in -- so is a negotiated settlement still possible?
LUTE: Look, I always think that there’s a prospect of diplomacy being coupled, being complemented with military force. So, I hope so because I think that’s the most viable path forward. Some combination of diplomacy and military force in combination.
STEPHANOPOULOS: Let me bring you the question that I brought to Martha. You served both Republican and Democratic presidents during the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, turned out to be long and costly wars. How can this be different?
LUTE: Well, history teaches us that it may not be different. That, in fact, once you cross the threshold and you begin armed combat, everything that follows, every single day that follows is unpredictable. And we discussed some of those unpredictabilities here.
The one that concerns me the most right now is stability in the region. Think about it, George. In a short period of months, we’ve had a change of leadership in Hamas, in Hezbollah, in Syria and now Iran. And that really augurs the potential for severe and prolonged enduring instability in this region. So, that’s the first, I think, aftershock that we have to take account of.
STEPHANOPOULOS: Finally, does Iran have the capability to strike here in the United States? We heard from Pierre Thomas that Homeland Security officials are worried about that.
LT. GEN. DAN KARBLER (RET.), FORMER COMMANDER, U.S. ARMY AND SPACE MISSILE DEFENSE COMMAND: Yes, George. So, I -- you know, you hear about sleeper cells. You hear the potential for opportunities there. I think that’s probably not as significant as their potential to strike through Europe. I mean if they retain some of these ballistic missiles, long range ballistic missiles that they have, that can range our European allies, that’s real cause for concern, which I believe, as we look at the different attack options that are going to take place here in the next days and weeks potentially will be some of the assets that we’re looking at to target.
STEPHANOPOULOS: Thank you all very much.
We’ll be right back.
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STEPHANOPOULOS: And we are back now with a view from Congress. I want to start with Democratic Senator Adam Schiff of California.
Senator Schiff, thank you for joining us this morning. Ayatollah Khamenei led a regime that brutalized its own people, launched attacks around the world for almost 40 years. So was the president right to take him out?
SEN. ADAM SCHIFF (D-CA): No. You're right about the ayatollah. He was a brutal dictator. This is a murderous regime. But at the same time, it posed no imminent threat of attack to the United States. They had not reconstituted their nuclear program, which the president just months ago said had been obliterated. They do not have ballistic missiles capable of hitting the United States.
There was simply no basis to go in with this massive military campaign, with the goal of regime change. And the concern here is that we have unleashed factors in the region now that we cannot control. If the Iranian people do rise up, as the president has called upon them to do, maybe they're successful. Maybe they get slaughtered in reliance on the president's implicit promise that we will be there to help them.
Maybe the regime just takes a new form, an equally depraved regime. And then what have we accomplished? Maybe our service members are killed, as the president pointed out that risk. And I hope and pray they remain safe. Both those that are carrying out the mission and those that are in bases in the region.
But the president has made no case to the American people. He sought no authorization from Congress. We need to return ASAP and take up a vote on the war powers resolution Tim Kaine, Rand Paul, Senator Schumer and I have introduced. But this case has not been made, and we just can't predict the consequences of this action.
One thing is certainly true, though. The president broke his promise to the American people of no more regime change wars, broke his promise to focus on bringing down the cost for American families. There's nothing in this action that's going to improve the lives of Americans.
STEPHANOPOULOS: So what do you say to those Iranians celebrating in the streets today?
SCHIFF: Well, look, I would say, I'm glad the regime is gone. At least the leader of that terrible regime is gone, and we are supportive of them. But I would also say that we cannot fight this war for you, that you should not expect American boots on the ground, that we hope you're successful. But I would not want to raise expectations among the Iranian people that if they rise up, that American troops will be there on the ground to support them.
Now, maybe they have the wherewithal to topple this regime. I hope and pray that's the case. But maybe they don't, and if they don't and make that attempt and it ends in a bloody massacre, then the president will bear responsibility for that loss of life. So it's a very difficult situation, I think, for the Iranian people. They will have to determine their own destiny. And I certainly hope that they're successful. There would be nothing better than an end to this terrible, you know, century or decades-long dictatorship. But there is no imminent threat to the United States that would justify exposing U.S. troops to that kind of risk.
STEPHANOPOULOS: Senator, thanks for your time.
We want to go to Tehran right now because we're being joined by the Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi.
Mr. Foreign Minister, thank you for joining us this morning. Who's in charge of Iran right now?
ABBAS ARAGHCHI, IRANIAN FOREIGN MINISTER: Well, first of all, thank you for having me in your program. Well, I think now we -- there is a procedure set in our constitution that when we lose the supreme leader there would be a new one elected by the assembly of experts. And now, we have, you know, started the procedure.
There is a transitional council of the president, the head of judiciary and one jurist of the Guardian Council. These three would decide -- are in charge right now and they will actually arrange the election of the new leader by the assembly of experts. And the members of the assembly of experts are elected themselves by the people, you know, every four years, or every six years (ph) --
(CROSSTALK)
STEPHANOPOULOS: We just reported that 40 senior commanders were killed in the first minutes of the strike. How much damage has this done to your military infrastructure?
ARAGHCHI: Well, we have lost some commanders. That is a fact. And the names are already announced.
But another fact is that nothing has changed in our, you know, military capability. This is exactly what happened last time. You remember in June when Israel attacked us. They killed some of our top commanders at the beginning of the strikes, but they were replaced very soon, and in less than 12 hours, we were able to start retaliation.
This time, it was even, you know, faster. In less than two hours, we started to, you know, retaliate by attacking, you know, Israeli targets and, you know, American bases in the region and we have continued to do so.
So, our military is in place. They are capable enough to defend our country. Even more, they are more prepared and capable than previous war, before 12 years -- 12-Day War. Quality-wise, quantity-wise, they are in a better position. And I’ve seen -- you have been -- you have seen how they, you know, acted so far.
STEPHANOPOULOS: President Trump issued a warning overnight, warning the Iranians not to retaliate. And he said, “they better not do that. If they do, we will hit them with a force that has never been seen before.”
How do you respond?
ARAGHCHI: Well, I don't see any -- I don't think any leader of a country has the right to say so. You know, we are defending ourselves and we have every right, every legitimate right to defend ourselves.
What the United States is doing is an act of aggression. What we are doing is the act of self-defense. There are huge differences between these two.
So, one should tell, you know, the president of the United States, do not attack, do not -- you know, make any aggression against another country.
But nobody can tell us that you don't have any right to defend yourselves. We are defending ourselves whatever it takes, and we see no limit for ourselves to defend our people, to protect our people.
Just look, yesterday, they hit -- they striked against a school. So far, 148 girls, students have been killed and this is a big massacre. This is a war crime, and you say we don't have any right to defend ourselves? There are --
(CROSSTALK)
STEPHANOPOULOS: You say you want to protect your people --
ARAGHCHI: They attacked a hospital.
STEPHANOPOULOS: You say you want to protect your people, but your own regime, according to the estimates we've seen over the last several months, is responsible for the killing of up to 30,000 of Iranian -- Iranian citizens.
ARAGHCHI: Well, I have -- I have already -- we have already answered this accusation. You know, let me to explain.
We were faced with a terrorist operation. It was first protesters, demonstrations -- demonstrations which was legal. According to our constitutions, our people have the right to protest and to go for gatherings and demonstrations.
They did it from 28 December to 7 January. We had legal protests. Everything was fine, and nobody was killed.
And then on 8 January to 10, we faced with a terrorist operation. Armed elements were added to the -- to this -- you know, question, and they started to shoot at our police forces, our security forces and then they started to shoot at ordinary people, even to protesters. Why? Because they wanted to increase the number of deaths.
Since the president of the United States has -- had already said that if there are killings, he will come to -- he would come to rescue. So, they wanted to actually drag him to this question. So, they started to kill people.
So that was a terrorist operation for three days and the number of killings were exactly 3,117. And the names of those victims, all of those victims have been already published by us, together with their identification number.
If anybody claims that the number is more, as you said, 30,000 -- 50,000, whatever, please show one evidence. Please add one more name to the list we have already published.
So, please be fair. Out of those 300,100 people, we have announced 2,500 as martyrs because they were killed by terrorist elements. Two hundred of our police forces have been killed by those terrorist elements.
If somebody shoot at a police department officer in the United States, what do you -- how do you react? Do you just, you know, give him permission to do whatever he wants because he is a protester? No. So, please make distinguish between two different stories.
(CROSSTALK)
STEPHANOPOULOS: We have seen evidence of newborns killed, of children killed, and the numbers are certainly higher than what you have claimed.
ARAGHCHI: Yes, because --
(CROSSTALK)
STEPHANOPOULOS: Are those who are celebrating in the streets right now subject to the same kind of discipline?
ARAGHCHI: Because there were blind shootings at the ordinary people, at ordinary cars who were passing -- passed through the streets.
And so many people were killed, you know, blindly by these terrorist elements. Because they were ordered by Israel, at that time, they were instructed to kill people and give a big number of killings to the president of the United States.
We have their voices, their instructions, which coming from Mossad, from outside, to these terrorist elements, who are ordering them to kill police officers, if not police, kill the boy and girl in front of you, because they wanted killings.
STEPHANOPOULOS: Is a negotiated settlement with the United States still possible?
ARAGHCHI: Well, you answer this question. We negotiated with the United States twice in the past 12 months. And in both cases, they attacked us in the middle of negotiation. And that has become a very bitter experience for us.
In last June, we were negotiating. We had five rounds of negotiations, and we had already fixed the sixth round for 15 June when the Israelis attacked us, and then the U.S. joined the attack.
And this time, we had three rounds. Last Thursday, we had a very good discussion, very good talks in Geneva. Both Iranian and the U.S. delegation were happy at the end of seven hours of negotiations. And I can go into the details of what we agreed and how a deal was at our reach.
And when we concluded, the Omani foreign minister, who was the impartial intermediator between us, he concluded by saying in his post that we made significant progress this time. We were able to come to a good understanding on some of our differences.
Some other differences were left for the next meeting, and we decided to go for Vienna, to send our technical teams to Vienna on Monday, which means tomorrow, to go to the IAEA, and with the help of the International Atomic Energy Organization, try to find technical solutions for the political problems.
And we both believed, I mean, both delegations believed that this is possible. So, a deal was at our reach, and we left Geneva happily with the understanding that we can reach a deal next time we meet.
And it was very unfortunate that those who are against peace, against diplomacy, against negotiation, when they understood that diplomacy is going on well, they decided to spoil it, and they created a buildup in the media, you know, against the Islamic Republic of Iran, against the desires of us, against Iran (ph). And they made lots of accusations against us.
They made -- they created false information and disinformation, and they finally get, today, to what they wanted. They dragged (ph) President Trump, they convinced President Trump to attack us unprovoked and unwarranted.
STEPHANOPOULOS: Mr. Minister, thank you for your time this morning.
ARAGHCHI: Thank you.
STEPHANOPOULOS: We'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
STEPHANOPOULOS: And we are back now with Republican Senator James Lankford of Oklahoma.
Senator, thank you for joining us this morning.
You just heard the Iranian foreign minister. He said this attack was unprovoked. How do you respond?
SEN. JAMES LANKFORD, (R) OKLAHOMA: Yes, I would hope that Iranian TV is carrying Marco Rubio today, the same as y’all just carried the Iranian foreign minister today. We certainly have been provoked on this. Just a year ago, we had over 180 attacks from Iran on Americans, either through their proxies or directly from Iran. They continue to be able to fund the attack of ships off the coast of Yemen. Obviously, there are -- they’re funding Hezbollah, the Shiite militants.
They have continued to be able to attack us now for decades. And that has accelerated. So, just because we have blocked their attacks doesn’t mean they’re not attacking us. So, this becomes the situation where you’re shooting at a police officer and telling him you can’t fire back unless they hit you. We’ve continued to be able to block them, find ways to be able to prevent their attacks, but they have certainly been attacking us.
We ended their nuclear program and they said, we’re going to start all over again because they are determined to have a nuclear weapon. And so, this is the moment to be able to say, you’re going to stop attacking American citizens, and you’re not going to have a nuclear weapon.
STEPHANOPOULOS: But how do you respond to the point that Senator Schiff was making, that there was no imminent threat? As you pointed out, the president already said that their nuclear program had been eliminated. Our own intelligence agency said they don’t have a significant ballistic missile threat that can attack the United States either.
LANKFORD: Yes, we have about three-quarters of a million Americans that actually live in that area. As you know, Iran is right now throwing missiles at hotels in the UAE and Qatar, in Saudi Arabia and in Israel. There are a lot of American citizens that also live and work in those regions. So, just because you can’t reach American soil, doesn’t mean you’re not reaching Americans.
We have Americans that are living in Erbil, literally just a few miles from Iran. So, protecting Americans means America stands with Americans no matter where they are in the world.
STEPHANOPOULOS: What’s your view on regime change at this point? As you know, history does show that it is difficult without boots on the ground. Not impossible, but it is difficult without boots on the ground. If it comes to that, would you support putting American troops on the ground in Iran?
LANKFORD: Right now, the Iranian people need to be able to rise up and choose their own leaders. As the foreign minister just said there, they get a chance to have elections. Well, the elections are actually -- the people that they can actually choose are actually chosen by the supreme leader. They don’t have wide open elections like we do here in America by any means. But the Iranian people need to have the opportunity to be able to actually choose their leaders, to actually be able to live in freedom.
Our beef is not with the Iranian people. We have great connection with Iranian people. Our problem is with an Iranian regime that continues to be able to attack their neighbors.
Every military base we have in the region is because of the threat of Iran. The constant issues that we have in destabilizing the Middle East is because of Iran.
This has been a decades-long issue that we can't just ignore, and to say it's going to one day get better. And Neville Chamberlain can say, "We'll have peace in our time if we just ignore it. And one day it'll get better." It's not getting better. And day after day, this continues to get worse as they march towards their next weapon system.
STEPHANOPOULOS: Is the -- is the son of the former shah the right figure to lead this transition?
LANKFORD: Oh, that -- that's not up to me to choose. That's up to the Iranian people to be able to choose. So, they need to be the ones to be able to speak out for their own future.
STEPHANOPOULOS: Senator Lankford, thanks for your time this morning.
LANKFORD: You bet. Glad to be able to do it. Let's get DHS funded again. By the way, we -- we need to make sure we're defending the homeland by also funding what's happening here at home.
STEPHANOPOULOS: Thanks for your time.
We'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
STEPHANOPOULOS: Roundtable's coming up. We'll be right back.
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(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, (R) PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: We are going to stop the reckless and costly policy of regime change.
For decades, our politicians spent trillions and trillions of dollars rebuilding foreign nations, fighting foreign wars, and defending foreign borders. But now, we are finally protecting our nation.
I'm not going to start a war. I'm going to stop wars.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
STEPHANOPOULOS: President Trump and his three campaigns right there. Let's talk about this on our Roundtable of political fallout. Former DNC Chair, Donna Brazile joins us; Bernie Sanders 2020 Campaign Chair, Faiz Shakir; SCOTUSBlog Editor, Sarah Isgur; served in the first Trump administration and Republican Strategist, Doug Heye.
Sarah, let me begin with you. Boy, what a difference a term makes.
(LAUGH)
SARAH ISGUR, EDITOR AT SCOTUSBLOG & ABC NEWS CONTRIBUTOR: Exactly. I mean, we are seeing a very different Donald Trump in terms of foreign policy and in terms of what he thinks he needs to do within the Republican base and the Republican establishment.
Talking to Republican leaders on the Hill, they were quite persuaded by the intelligence on weapons development that the White House presented them earlier in the last few days. But nevertheless, you're seeing a lot of sit back and wait from Republicans on the Hill. They're not jumping in to defend the president right now.
STEPHANOPOULOS: How do you explain the change in the president? Has he been influenced by the successes? By the success of taking out Soleimani, the success last year of the Iranian strike, the quick strike in Venezuela.
ISGUR: I think he is worried thinking about his legacy, and frankly, is much more confident in his power as commander-in-chief. You do not have a Congress checking him. There is no legal power within the courts to prevent a president from doing this. And I think you see President Trump in this first year, whether it's foreign policy or domestic policy, feeling his oats, so to speak.
STEPHANOPOULOS: Donna, does this put Democrats in a box? You're seeing some divisions of Democrats. You have some, like Adam Schiff saying, no, it was a mistake. You have others like John Fetterman supporting what the president did.
DONNA BRAZILE, FORMER DNC CHAIR & ABC NEWS CONTRIBUTOR: I think the Democrats would like Congress to return so that the constitutional powers that Congress have, they can actually discuss that. Look, this is a president who has now bombed eight countries.
He deserved to tell the American people, like he did the other night, what is going on. Why did he do this? Why did we go into Iran now? Why was the first bomb that was, whatever, decimated, hit Ayatollah?
I think the president had an opportunity on Tuesday night to really tell the American people to level with him. But instead, he just used that time to bluster.
STEPHANOPOULOS: Doug, we just heard Sarah say that not all the Republicans are coming forward. We certainly saw James Lankford. He's supporting the president right there. The president is getting some blowback from his MAGA base.
DOUG HEYE, REPUBLICAN STRATEGIST & FORMER RNC COMMUNICATIONS DIRECTOR: He is. And look, that MAGA base was pretty clear throughout his first term as well. They used terms like forever wars and so forth. Donald Trump is trying to make it clear that this is a short-term thing.
But when I woke up and saw this news, the first thing I did was reach out to my old boss, Senator Richard Burr, who is Senate Intel Chair, and said, what should I look at? What should I be focused on?
And he said, just wait, take your time, and let's see. And that's what a lot of Republicans are doing. Because we're in that sugar candy high right now of we took out the Ayatollah. That's a great thing for the Iranian people. But we still need to know what's next. That's not a week-long process. That's a month-long process, if not longer.
STEPHANOPOULOS: That's going to be a question for the Democrats as well.
FAIZ SHAKIR, BERNIE SANDERS 2020 CAMPAIGN MANAGER & ABC NEWS CONTRIBUTOR: It's a massive opportunity, George, for political realignment in America right now. I mean, we have a bunch of Republicans, independents, who are saying, I don't trust this leadership. I don't have a lot of integrity about the decisions that they're making.
And if Democrats can come together with a sense of not only speaking to the needs domestically, that we're forsaking because we want to spend money on a foreign war, if we can go to them and talk about the corruption of our politics, the lack of judgment, and Sarah was mentioning, accountability check on Trump.
Right now, the fuel has been added to a fire of the Democrats regaining the House and the Senate because I think people are looking for who's going to be a check on this guy. And if Democrats just say, hey, we are prepared to hold him accountable, that alone delivers the House and the Senate. But I think you can do even more. You can realign America.
STEPHANOPOULOS: But is there a risk there that the Democrats appear to be defending an Iranian regime which has attacked its own people, which has attacked the United States.
SHAKIR: Of course, as a progressive, I mean, no weeping for somebody who was, you know, clamping down on gay rights, on believing that women didn't have a right to control their own bodies. Now, in my view, the world acting -- I mean, as the world's policeman for America is wasting dollars and not doing the job of persuasion.
If you think you're at the end of a missile, you're going to convince Iranians to change their views, I think you're wrong. We have much more pressing needs here at home. Obviously, the cost of oil is now going to go up. There are a whole host of living issues. Health care is being decimated right now. That right now should be the concern of most Americans.
STEPHANOPOULOS: Does this pose a threat to the Republicans in the midterms? Does the president care?
ISGUR: It depends what happens in a week, in a month, you know, at the -- if the Iraq war had lasted one week, it wouldn't have posed any threat to the Bush administration or Republicans. It was the length of it. It was the cost where real people started to know, folks that we're over there. So we don't know yet what this will do for the midterms.
HEYE: Look, you know, none of this happens in a vacuum. And Senator Lankford, you know, pointed out at the very end, we need a funded DHS. That's true. We also really could use a funded Voice of America right now. The Iranian people could use that as well.
BRAZILE: That's the point, because if this is about regime change, and the president said the other day that the Iranian people can step up, how? The infrastructure -- this is a theocracy. It is top down. The ayatollah rules everybody. He rules the military, he rules culture, he rules politics. They are chosen. So I think if the -- if the purpose was regime change, the Iranian people are not in a position, given the fact that there are probably going to have replacements of all of these leaders within 12 to 15 hours.
STEPHANOPOULOS: Do you expect that this is still going to be an issue by November?
SHAKIR: Oh, for sure. Yes. No, absolutely, and you know, I think if you get into campaign spending, George, you have seen the pro AIPAC, pro-Israel lobby spend lots of money in Democratic primaries and general election contests. I suspect, you know, that there's going to be a lot of conversation around the influence of campaign dollars and people who are willing to stand up to money and power. I think in general, we saw this issue with Gaza play out in primaries. There's a lot of anger out there in America around bad decisions being made by America, driven by campaign dollars. And I suspect that's going to be a big thing. Candidates --
(CROSSTALK)
ISGUR: If this is Venezuela, it doesn't matter. If it's Iraq, it does.
HEYE: But also, there's a difference between an issue and the issue. Let's not forget, Americans are going to go to grocery stores today, and they're going to be upset at what they spent. And that's going to continue for months and months.
STEPHANOPOULOS: And one of the things we've seen, though, is that one of the bright spots for the president has been the price of gas. If the Straits of Hormuz are closed and gas prices go up, big threat.
HEYE: It is a big threat. That's why we don't know what the answers are and so often, you know, we see people do the instant analysis of what does this mean. I got an e-mail from a Politico reporter yesterday morning at about 10:00 a.m., asking, what are the impacts on the midterms? The reality is we don't know yet. We need to know what's going to happen to oil prices. Is this going to be successful or not? And again, that's not days or weeks, that's months.
BRAZILE: The reason why this is going to impact the midterm, George, is the affordability issue is real. People see it. They feel it when they go to grocery store. They -- we're still experiencing the sticker shock. The president promised to end wars. Another broken promise. He promised to lower prices. This is going to raise prices, create more uncertainty and more chaos.
STEPHANOPOULOS: How serious do you take the threat of this dissension within the MAGA ranks, and people maybe just sitting out the midterms?
ISGUR: Right. We're seeing folks like Tucker Carlson. I think we will see a complete break of Tucker Carlson from the Republican Party probably this week. How many people does he take with him? How many people are actually part of that MAGA base versus those who will sign up for whatever Donald Trump represents?
Donald Trump currently defines the Republican Party. We have gutted the actual two-party system. It is defined by whoever the president or the presidential nominee is. A lot of people are just going to go with that.
STEPHANOPOULOS: Do you really see a possibility of attracting some of those voices to the Democratic Party?
SHAKIR: Depends on the candidates. And I think, absolutely, if I look at people like James Talarico in Texas, who's campaigning now in a primary, competitive primary. Look at Graham Platner in Maine. You take Dan Osborne, an independent candidate in Nebraska. You got Mary Peltola in Alaska.
I look at these candidates on the Democratic side or independent side saying, these are people who can reach out to conservatives, independents, if they are to be the general election nominee, because a lot of -- to Sarah's point, people are just hungry for both a change and integrity. A lot of these candidates are coming from working class backgrounds able to appeal to people who are making $100,000, trying to hold a job and saying, does anybody care about me?
STEPHANOPOULOS: Faiz talked about Talarico in Texas, running against Jasmine Crockett. That's a big primary on Tuesday. What's going to happen?
BRAZILE: Well, it's close. And let me just tell you something. Democrats are overperforming right now in the early vote tab. But I think this is going to be a very close election.
To your point, we have a generational fight within the Democratic Party. For the first time probably in decades, we see a younger generation with more energy and enthusiasm that's challenging the establishment.
But at the end of the day, I do believe that we're going to come out of this primary season with a headwind, something we did not have in 2020.
STEPHANOPOULOS: Big primary on the Republican side. President has not endorsed incumbent Senator John Cornyn.
ISGUR: That's right. It looks like Paxton and Cornyn will go to a runoff. This actually allows Talarico, if he does get out of this primary without a runoff, to hoard some money, spend some money against both of these guys.
For the first time, since I've been working in Texas politics, this is the first time I actually think Democrats do have a chance of turning Texas blue.
STEPHANOPOULOS: Wow. On that note --
(CROSSTALK)
BRAZILE: We'll take it.
HEYE: But also, it's not just about Texas, because if Paxton wins, Republicans think that that could cost them $200 million that could be spent in North Carolina or Maine or a lot of other states.
ISGUR: The Senate hangs on this primary in Texas.
STEPHANOPOULOS: We'll be watching. Thanks for your time. We'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
STEPHANOPOULOS: We are learning now from U.S. Central Command that three U.S. service members have been killed in action. Five are seriously wounded as part of Operation Epic Fury.
Several others sustained minor shrapnel injuries and concussions and are in the process of being returned to duty. Major combat operations continue, and our response effort is ongoing.
That is all for us today. Thanks for sharing part of your Sunday with us. Stay tuned to ABC News Live and to "World News Tonight" for the latest on the war. And I'll see you tomorrow on GMA.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
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