'This Week' Transcript 3-8-26: U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Mike Waltz, Admiral Mike Mullen & former Israeli Ambassador to the U.S. Michael Oren

A rush transcript of "This Week with George Stephanopoulos" airing on Sunday, March 8, 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)

MARTHA RADDATZ, ABC “THIS WEEK” CO-ANCHOR: The U.S. and Israel’s war with Iran is spiraling across the Middle East with no end in sight. We’re on the ground in Jerusalem. A special edition of “THIS WEEK” starts right now.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RADDATZ: Middle East chaos. Punishing U.S.-Israeli attacks expand as President Trump demands unconditional surrender.

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: It’s where they cry uncle or when they can’t fight any longer and there’s nobody around to cry uncle.

RADDATZ: A defiant Iran striking back across the region. Thousands of Americans still trapped abroad.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: How do you expect us to leave a country that airspaces are closed.

RADDATZ: This morning, what comes next?

EFFIE DEFRIN, IDF SPOKESPERSON: They still have hundreds of missile -- ballistic missile launchers. They still have UAVs.

RADDATZ: Hundreds of missile launchers still?

DEFRIN: Hundreds. Yes. Yes.

RADDATZ: We have team coverage from the region and speak with U.S. ambassador to the U.N., Mike Waltz, former Joint Chiefs of Staff, Chairman Michael Mullen, and former Israeli ambassador to the U.S., Michael Oren. Plus, analysis from our expert panel.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ANNOUNCER: From ABC News, a special edition of “THIS WEEK.” Reporting live from Jerusalem, Martha Raddatz.

RADDATZ: Good morning, and welcome to “THIS WEEK.”

As we come on the air, American and Israeli jets are pummeling Iran in this second week of war that has set fire to the Middle East. Video, including some posted on X, capturing the aftermath of several attacks as waves of strikes target the regime’s military, defenses and, increasingly, the oil facilities. More than 50,000 U.S. troops are now taking part in Operation Epic Fury, with even more on the way. Thousands of Americans have been caught in the conflict, trying to flee some of the many countries targeted by Iranian drones and missiles.

The war’s fallout is only growing, and so are the unanswered questions about America’s goals. Senior administration officials have said the war is about eliminating the threat of Iran’s nuclear program and ballistic missiles. But President Trump keeps raising regime change. When he announced the operation, he called on Iranians to overthrow their government. Now, as he threatens to escalate the war, Trump says he should have a say in replacing Iran’s supreme leader, who was killed in the brazen Israeli strike that ignited the conflict.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RADDATZ (voice over): It began with astonishing speed and surprise, taking out Iran’s supreme leader and more than 40 other senior leaders in an unprecedented attack in broad daylight.

EFFIE DEFRIN, IDF SPOKESPERSON: So, it was a big operation by itself to deceive the Iranians and to make them feel everything is fine. Like every day.

RADDATZ (voice over): Israeli Brigadier General Effie Defrin telling me thousands of Israelis involved in the attack went home the night before the planned assault as part of a deception plan, leaving their cars at home and secretly returning to work in the dead of night.

DEFRIN: If you had a satellite last Friday and you watch Israeli bases and headquarters, you wouldn’t notice anything. The parking lots were empty. Everything was quiet. The phone calls were as they were supposed to be. And then it happened on Saturday morning.

RADDATZ (voice over): Iran’s response was swift, launching missiles and drones at U.S. bases and at least a dozen countries in the region. Israel’s air defense system intercepting Iranian attacks, but some still getting through, like here in the city of Beit Shemesh, west of Jerusalem.

RADDATZ: The majority of targets hit here in Israel have been military targets of some kind. But in the opening salvo of these missile strikes, this synagogue was hit.

RADDATZ (voice over): The strike killing nine people, including three children from one family and injuring nearly fifty others. Shmuel Hager was in his nearby home when the missile struck.

SHMUEL HAGER, BEIT SHEMESH RESIDENT: When the explosion hit, like everything else, it was big, big boom.

RADDATZ (voice over): Our interview interrupted by air raid sirens, now a common occurrence, not only in Israel, but across the region. The State Department had to scramble to evacuate American tourists, residents and professionals in 14 countries.

KAREN TRAVERS, ABC NEWS WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Why wasn’t there an evacuation plan?

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Well, because it happened all very quickly.

RADDATZ (voice over): At least 28,000 Americans eventually returning to the U.S. on charter flights. But U.S. service members remain at risk. Six U.S. soldiers were killed in a drone strike in Kuwait on the second day of this war and 10 other U.S. troops across the region, severely wounded. The death toll in Iran now more than 1,200 according to the Red Crescent Society. Israel says they have knocked out Iran’s air defenses.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (Speaking in Foreign Language).

RADDATZ (voice over): This Israeli fighter pilot was able to record his mission over the skies of Iran, where they have targeted nuclear facilities and Iranian missile bases buried deep underground.

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We’re destroying more of Iran’s missiles and drone capability every single hour, knocking them out like nobody thought was possible.

RADDATZ (voice over): Israel says they have now destroyed the majority of Iran’s ballistic missile launchers. But General Defrin telling me there are many targets remaining.

DEFRIN: So, we hit very hard those launchers, more than 60 percent in less than five days. It’s growing by the day. Every day it’s growing, the number. So, they still have them. We are hitting the -- we are hunting those launchers, and we will do it until they will --

RADDATZ: When you say hunting, do you know where they all are?

DEFRIN: Well --

RADDATZ: Or you’re just looking for them?

DEFRIN: So, predominantly, what we knew, we hit already, right? Now they have many more. Some of it we know. Some of it we hunt. Some of them we assess. And we have many methods, together with our allies, to detect those launchers. And we are doing so.

RADDATZ: What is the goal here? I mean when -- you have these phases in this, in this operation. What is the end here?

DEFRIN: The meaning is, their nuclear capabilities. We are talking about the missile capabilities. You know, those two elements. The first one we hit back in June, the nuclear project. Now --

RADDATZ: Did you -- did you obliterate it?

DEFRIN: Well, President Trump said we obliterated it. Therefore, we did. So, this is --

RADDATZ: Wait, wait, wait, wait, did you obliterate it?

DEFRIN: It is damaged severely.

RADDATZ (voice over): President Trump demanding unconditional surrender from the Iranians. But it is far from certain those who have been fighting for a new regime, those courageous protesters who were slaughtered by Iranian forces, can now overcome those who supported the regime.

In January 2020, days after President Trump directed a drone strike that killed Iran’s military leader, General Soleimani, we were reporting from the streets of Tehran, where women are required to wear headscarves.

RADDATZ: The crowds are massive and emotional. There are many tears here, many signs with Soleimani’s picture on them. But the message is also very clear, these people want revenge.

RADDATZ (voice over): As we made our way through the streets of Tehran, people surrounding us chanting “death to America.”

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We will have very hard revenge of Mr. Trump.

RADDATZ (voice over): Days later, Iran’s striking al-Assad air base in Iraq, injuring dozens of U.S. military.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

RADDATZ (on camera): This war is sending shockwaves around the region, especially in neighboring Iraq, where reports are circulating that Israel and the U.S. have encouraged Iranian opposition groups to revolt. James Longman met a unit of the Peshmerga, Iraqi Kurdish fighters and longtime U.S. allies, trying to keep the peace on the tense border with Iran.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Let’s stop. Let’s stop.

JAMES LONGMAN, ABC NEWS CHIEF INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice over): We were on our way back from the Iraqi border with Iran, and we came across this group of Kurdish fighters.

LONGMAN: There is nervousness here. They’ve heard this report that there could be groups preparing to launch a ground attack into Iran. And their job would be to stop it.

The reports say that the United States would be helping with this ground attack into Iran. But the United States is a friend of yours. So, what side are you on?

LONGMAN (voice over): This commander was careful to say only that he enjoyed American support. He wouldn’t be drawn (ph) on any other group.

LONGMAN: Wow, look at this.

The Peshmerga have had close ties with the United States for years. They’ve been a recipient of military equipment for a long time too. But now they’re worried at the possibility of the United States helping to fund and arm another Kurdish group in this region to launch an attack on Iran. That will disturb the peace.

LONGMAN (voice over): But overnight, Trump, speaking aboard Air Force One, saying he has ruled out working with the Kurds

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: They’re willing to go in, but we really -- I’ve told them, I don’t want them to go in.

LONGMAN (voice over): Iran is taking that threat seriously. This was the warning the U.S. embassy in Iraq issued to the Kurdistan region. Hours later, there was an alert issued for our hotel.

LONGMAN: We’ve just heard about a threat that might be coming into this hotel from one of Iran’s proxy groups in northern Iraq. So, we are getting down to the basement right now.

LONGMAN (voice over): And that night, another hotel was targeted. U.S. oil companies in

the south are also now being targeted.

The Iranian regime issued this warning those drone strikes could be just the beginning.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

RADDATZ: Our thanks to James.

I’m joined here in Jerusalem by ABC News chief foreign correspondent Ian Pannell, who’s been on the ground since the beginning of this war.

And, Ian, we are getting reports today that it is spreading, that the UAE has now fired shots into Iran.

IAN PANNELL, ABC NEWS CHIEF FOREIGN CORRESPONDENT: Yes. And that would be the first time another country has joined the U.S.-Israeli coalition.

How do you measure success? That’s a key question here.

I think on a tactical level, the military operation has been hugely successful. You have the regime effectively decapitated, military, key military leaders have gone, their missile -- missile capability, their nuclear program, both degraded.

But on a strategic level, I think that’s much harder to evaluate. I think for Israel, the strategic imperative is very clear because Iran represented this threat for Israel, maybe not imminent, but at some point. But I think for the U.S. on a strategic level, it’s very much an open question.

RADDATZ: And Iran is not a place that gives up easily, as you know, covering so many wars.

PANNELL: Yes. And you’ve been there plenty of times, Martha. You know there is a lot of support for the regime. We’ve seen tens of thousands of people out on the streets. We’re not seeing any kind of cracks in the regime at the moment.

And I think the hardest thing for all of us and for the American people is how are you going to assess success and when will you know its mission accomplished? We’ve heard a whole range of reasons for this war -- its nuclear program, its ballistic missiles, regime change. Marco Rubio saying it was because Israel was going to act preemptively.

Well, which one is it? What are your clear objectives? The president tells us we’re winning. How do we know that you’re winning? And if we don’t know that, how do we know when it ends?

RADDATZ: All great questions, Ian, and always great to see you. Thanks.

PANNELL: Thanks.

RADDATZ: And for the latest from the Trump administration, let’s turn to United States ambassador to the United Nations, Michael Waltz.

Good morning to you, Ambassador.

President Trump, last night, wrote on social media to U.K.’s Prime Minister Keir Starmer, concerning rumors that the U.K. might provide some warships to help the U.S. But he wrote, President Trump, “That’s OK, Prime Minister. We don’t need them any longer. We don’t need people that join wars after we have already won.”

Do you believe we’ve already won this war?

MIKE WALTZ, U.S. AMBASSADOR TO THE UNITED NATIONS: Well, Martha, thank you.

And, in many ways, we are seeing tremendous success in our military objectives on this war. Iran’s navy is largely sitting at the bottom of the ocean with over 40 ships now sunk. Major degradation to their ability to produce the ballistic missiles that have been striking so many of their Gulf neighbors, Israel and elsewhere. Major degradation to their ability to produce these missiles. We already took down the nuclear enrichment program back during Operation Midnight Hammer last year.

Air force, largely destroyed. Air defenses, large destroyed. Major leadership figures, decapitated.

So, in terms of our military objectives, the president is right, we are not only ahead of schedule, we are winning.

RADDATZ: You are winning, but he said, “We have already won”. What else do you have to do, and how long will it take?

WALTZ: Well, look, we’ll just like the statistics from our Central Command commander, Admiral Brad Cooper, speak for themselves. We’ve seen ballistic missile launches from Iran largely degraded, where -- the figures that they’re putting out, around 90 percent reduction from the first days of the war a week ago. Drone launches down 70 to 80 percent.

Those are still significant. We’re still seeing Iran lash out in all directions at its neighbors, at our allies, Kuwait, Bahrain, UAE, Jordan, Saudi Arabia and others.

So, at the end of the day, what the president is focused on is an Iran that can no longer pose a threat to Americans, in an “American first” foreign policy, but also no longer pose a threat to our allies in the region.

And I know a lot of folks are, you know, focused on how this war initiated. But I can tell you, as a veteran, I can’t -- you know, I just can’t put my mind around how many Americans have been attacked and killed from Beirut to the Iraq War and to the hostages. And, you know, God forbid that we ever have an Iranian regime, this radical, cleric-led regime that is ideological and fanatical, to have their hands on the nuclear button. That is something that, you know, God bless President Trump for taking the action now and not waiting until we have a situation where not only Iran has a nuclear program, but is hiding behind tens of thousands of ballistic missiles and drones so that no one can ever get at it. He took that action now. And this is ending --

RADDATZ: I want to ask you, Mr. Ambassador --

WALTZ: But this is -- this is an important point. This is ending a 47-year war that Iran began in 1979, that they began under Jimmy Carter. President Trump is taking bold, decisive action to end it. And thank God for it.

RADDATZ: Let’s talk about regime change. The Iranians are apparently very close to naming a new leader. The Israelis say they will take out any new leader they choose, any new supreme leader. President Trump has talked about regime change, said he wants a say in the next leader. Where does that stand, and how do you see that working?

WALTZ: Well, as President Trump just said last night that, you know, he wants to see a leadership in Iran -- and this is just a -- you know, kind of a commonsense approach here. He wants to see leadership in Iran that no longer threatens the United States or our allies in the region. That isn’t attacking civilian airports, ports, shipping terminals, hotels and, you know, and lashing out in the way that it is, that can’t hold energy supplies hostage in terms of the rest of the world, that -- and certainly isn’t going to continue to do everything he can -- everything that they can to build a nuclear weapon. So, it has to be someone that we can deal with. It has to be someone that doesn’t threaten Americans, attack Americans and try to attack us and our allies at any given chance.

So, the president laid out his goals, no nuclear weapons, no long-range ballistic missiles, no ongoing support for its terrorist proxies, like Hamas, Hezbollah, the Houthis, and others, and it -- that has to be a regime that we can deal with and stops attacking us in the world.

RADDATZ: I want to ask you about the Strait of Hormuz. It’s effectively closed. And the price of gas at home has already risen 14 percent. What are you going to do to keep the Strait open?

WALTZ: Well, the president has laid out a number of measures, along with our energy secretary, Chris Wright, our secretary of state, Marco Rubio, and our defense -- or, excuse me, our secretary of war, Pete Hegseth. The Development Finance Corporation, led by Ben Black, has laid out a multi-billion-dollar insurance program for these ships. Our Navy is prepared to start escorting, if necessary. Pipelines, new pipelines are coming online that will move some of the oil and gas around the Strait of Hormuz.

But this is precisely the problem. Iran has been threatening to do this, holding the regime hostage for many, many decades and we are now eliminating their ability to do so. Whether that is shore to ship missiles, where they can attack them, their fast boats, their mine layers, all of that infrastructure, all of those military threats are now being taken down and destroyed. And again, we need to see an Iran that doesn’t attack its neighbors and doesn’t hold energy supplies hostage for its radical aims.

And I can tell you, Martha, I'm here at the U.N. and the gulf Arabs, who were not so united in recent months around issues like Yemen or Sudan or others, they are absolutely united now. They are incensed. And I expect that you’ll see additional diplomatic and possibly military action from them in the coming days and weeks.

RADDATZ: And just a final question here, Mr. Ambassador, I want to talk about the girls’ school in Iran that was bombed, especially you as a veteran.

Iranians say 175 people were killed, mostly young girls. The president, last night, said, in his opinion, based on what he’s seen, it was done by Iran. Pete Hegseth said they’re still investigating. “The New York Times” did a meticulous look at that. Satellite photos. They’re

not saying the U.S. would do that on purpose, but they said it appears that the U.S. is responsible for that bombing. Why did the president say he believes it is Iran?

MIKE WALTZ, U.S. AMBASSADOR TO THE UNITED NATIONS: Well, I'll leave that to the investigators to determine. We saw -- we’ve seen instances, like we saw in Gaza, for example, where Hamas immediately blamed the Israelis, the international community jumped on it, and it turned out it was an errant rocket from Hamas. So, we’ve seen those kind of incidences in the past. As Secretary Hegseth said, it’s under investigation. I can tell you, as a veteran, in no uncertain terms, the United States does everything it can to avoid civilian casualties. Sometimes, of course, tragic mistakes occur.

Unlike what we see from the likes of Hamas, Hezbollah, the Houthis, the Iranian regime, who just massacred 30,000 to 40,000 of its own people, uniformly, universally condemned by the countries here at the United Nations. And it -- yes, it’s a little rich hearing accusations from the Iranian regime after they literally just machine-gunned their own people in the streets after they killed a young lady, Mahsa Amini, an Iranian woman, for daring to wear a hijab, and their gross and just disgusting human rights abuses over the decades. All of that is on -- in the verge of change we hope. And that’s why you’re seeing Iranian Americans and Iranians around the world celebrating in the streets that Ayatollah Khamenei is dead and can no longer massacre his own people.

RADDATZ: OK, thanks for joining us this morning, Mr. Ambassador. We appreciate it.

WALTZ: All right. Thank you.

RADDATZ: And joining me now is former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Admiral Mike Mullen, who served under Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama.

Good morning to you, Admiral.

From what you have seen, do you believe this war is justified and the objectives clear?

ADM. MIKE MULLEN (RET.), FORMER JOINT CHIEFS OF STAFF CHAIRMAN: Well, Martha, I think the debate about how we got in, when we got in, why we got in will continue. And I'm much more focused now on the fact that we're in and how can we make it come out well.

I think the objectives, which have initially been somewhat all over the place, have been reduced down to make sure they can never develop a nuclear weapon, make sure we take out their entire missile capability in a way that it can't be rebuilt for a number of years.

I thought the -- Chairman Caine said the other day -- made a good statement the other day about making sure they can't operate outside their borders. We've eliminated their navy. We've basically eliminated their air force. And then, is there a possible way now to limit further objective to be able to end this thing on positive terms? And I think that's the open question. Certainly, the discussion of regime change is very much alive at this point in time.

RADDATZ: And about regime change, one of the things the administration said, the president said is he said, “rise up and take over.” This opposition isn't particularly organized. What do they do? And do you see the IRGC laying down their arms?

MULLEN: One of the -- one of the data points for me is, that often gets overlooked, is the -- basically the military, IRGC, Basij, run about 40 percent of the GDP of that country. And so, displacing them from that, I think, is an extraordinarily difficult and challenging and time-consuming objective, specifically.

And yes, the supreme leader is dead, but I don't think the regime change that we're talking about is represented just by that, because I think the regime is embedded, deep, dedicated, and sees this war as a war of survival for Iran.

And survival itself is something that sometimes we don't quite get right. They're going to sacrifice everything they've got in order to make sure that they can survive. And I think they'll draw the war out very specifically.

So, the regime change that needs to happen is deep and it's also, you know, at a time in the country that's -- it's very vulnerable, but there's a real question as to whether we can generate that.

And our track record in Iraq, where we actually chose the leader, in Afghanistan where we

chose the leader, was -- was pretty bad. So, it's a very, very difficult undertaking, and you know, and I question whether we can really impact that.

RADDATZ:  And you brought up Iraq and Afghanistan. What lessons did you take with you from those conflicts that apply today?

MULLEN:  Well, and I think it's typical almost in any war. Wars expand, objectives change, circumstances come up that you didn't expect.

And I worry this has already become a wide, regional war. And I worry that without some kind of thoughtful limits on where we're going and how we're going to get there that it will continue to expand. I mean, it's gone from very local to now involving discussions about Russia's involvement.

The president's got a visit with China at the end of this month, which is a huge issue and China's watching this. So, there's an awful lot at play in this war in addition to just the tragedy associated with those that are -- those that are dying.

Believe me, this is a bad regime. We all wish it had gone away a long time ago. I think that's going to be a challenge in the future. How -- but we need to contain them.

We've got friends and allies out there. We've got the economy of the world in great part depending on the open waters at the Straits of Hormuz and how markets react to this. You've got a tourism, economic -- livelihood in the region that's actually completely stopped right now.

So, there's an awful lot in play that we can't anticipate. And certainly, that was the case in Iraq and Afghanistan.

And I worry about this getting drawn out. These wars just don't end quickly. At least they certainly haven't in the last several decades.

RADDATZ:  So, your biggest concern at this point is not necessarily tactical, it's strategic.

MULLEN:  You know, I'm struck, Martha, with -- I look at that 12-Day War and how much of their missile inventory was left. I look at the number of targets that I hear publicly, which is over 4,000 targets hit so far, which is an extraordinary number of targets. And yet Iran is still responding.

So, I don't know how deep their inventory is. I think they want to look as strong as they can. They want to destabilize the region as much as possible. And we will continue, I'm sure, from a military standpoint to be able to take them out.

The objective of keeping them operative only inside their borders is a huge objective, but we're a long way down the line of being able to make that happen.

It's not the military aspect of this that I'm concerned about. It's the military objectives in support of a acceptable political outcome that is obvious -- very much in play and somewhat uncertain right now.

RADDATZ:  It seems uncertain indeed.

Thanks very much for joining us this morning, Admiral.

MULLEN:  Thanks.

RADDATZ:  Coming up, ABC's Matt Rivers reports from Lebanon and a new front in this regional war. We're back in two minutes.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

RADDATZ:  We're back now in the old city of Jerusalem. Just a few hours north of us, Israeli troops are back in Lebanon, again launching a campaign against Hezbollah. The Iran-aligned militia in this war reshaping the Middle East. ABC's Matt Rivers has been right in the thick of it in Beirut.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MATT RIVERS, ABC NEWS CORRESPONDENT (voice-over):  The war in Iran expanding into Lebanon this week. Massive Israeli airstrikes targeting Beirut suburbs, bombarding strongholds for Iranian-backed proxy group, Hezbollah.

RIVERS:  So you can see there the explosion, right there. You can see the explosion and there is the sound. It takes a little bit for the sound to travel. Obviously, you see the explosion first, then the sound reaches us. That is the latest strike in what has been strike after strike after strike all day long.

RIVERS (voice-over):  Lebanese state-run media saying 44 people killed overnight as the IDF striking more than a dozen times across the country. Israeli forces issuing evacuation warnings for hundreds of thousands of people in southern Beirut.

But humanitarian groups insist there is nowhere safe for people to go, many who have yet to recover after Israel's invasion of Lebanon in 2024. Israeli operations targeting Hezbollah positions across the country from the east down to the Israeli border. Hezbollah responding, firing missiles of its own into Israel late Saturday.

Across Lebanon, more than 300 dead and more than a thousand injured in just a matter of days, according to the Lebanese Ministry of Public Health.

RIVERS:  Martha, as the human toll of this conflict continues to go up, so many people here in Lebanon are worried that that violence could spiral even further. In fact, many people have asked us when we think this conflict is going to end and of course, we don't have a great answer for them and neither does it seem does the U.S. government. Martha?

(END VIDEOTAPE)

RADDATZ:  Our thanks to Matt. With us now in Jerusalem is Michael Oren, the former Israeli Ambassador to the United States. It's good to see you, Mr. Ambassador. You said welcome to another war. This is one you clearly support. But do you have concerns at this point?

MICHAEL OREN, FORMER ISRAELI AMBASSADOR TO THE UNITED STATES:  First of all, always good to be with you, Martha. And yes, it's the latest war. It's actually the continuation of the war that began on October 7th, 2023.

And there's direct connection between Hamas' attack on the southern Israel and what's going on now. And yes, I have concerns because in many ways, Iran, the Iranian regime is a lot like Hamas. In order to win, they have only not to lose.

And at the end of the day, they really don't care how many casualties line up, what kind of destruction is caused. If they can emerge from the rubble at the end and do a "v" sign, then they've won. And so, it's very difficult.

And in order to win this war, the United States and Israel and other allies are going to have to press this campaign, perhaps for a long time, unless there is a popular uprising in Iran that results in a regime change.

RADDATZ:  And when you say press it for a long time, are we talking months? I mean how does this go in the long road? They have decimated missile sites, missile launchers, they have decimated, so they say, these nuclear facilities. But in the long run, what happens? Because you've seen things occur over and over again.

OREN:  I think that the pressure has to continue on Iran. It may not continue with this intensity. For example, if the missile launchers can be eliminated, if the nuclear threat can truly, truly be neutralized, and that includes not just the facilities but that 400 kilograms, almost 800 pounds of highly-enriched uranium, which the Iranians have buried underground.

RADDATZ:  And how do you get your hands on that?

OREN:  Oh, somebody can --

(LAUGH)

OREN:  But I don't think the -- I don't think the Iranians are going to get their hands on them. I think that the United States and Israel are going to have to figure out, perhaps with Special Forces, ways of getting that out.

RADDATZ:  That's -- that would, I would think, require Special Forces or somebody going in on the ground.

OREN:  Wouldn't rule it out because they're -- the idea was originally that this material would be shipped out to a third country. But, apparently, the Iranian negotiators refused to do that. Now, keep in mind, as long as you have that 400 kilograms of highly-enriched uranium, it only takes a few days to enrich that to missile grade, to military grade. And that can be put into a warhead or it can even be put into a suitcase.

RADDATZ:  You know, we talk a lot about forever wars in the U.S.

OREN:  Yes.

RADDATZ:  President Trump has said he will not get involved in a forever war. Is this war different or could this also be a forever war?

OREN:  I think it depends how you begin. I'm going to sound very (inaudible) here, but it sounds like how you define 'forever' and how you define 'war.' I mean the Cold War was a forever war too. It doesn't mean you're actually engaged in daily combat intensely as you are now.

Again, if you can reduce Iran's ability to shoot at us, to shoot at our neighbors, to shoot at our allies in the region, to conduct terrorist attacks around the world, but you haven't really effected a regime change, you haven't -- the regime remains in power, then you just maintain the pressure on that. It's not so dissimilar to what's going on in Gaza right now.

RADDATZ:  Well, let's talk about regime change. The Israelis are saying, we’re going to shoot anybody that the Iranians put in. We’re going to kill them. Already killed the supreme leader. So, how does that work? And how do you expect the opposition to rise up?

OREN: So, I'm not a spokesman for this government or of the United States for certainly that matter, but it seems to me that any leader who comes up and says, I'm going to continue the campaign to destroy this country, then Israel is duty-bound to try to eliminate them. If there’s a different leader who comes out and says, listen, I'm going to change the way Iran interacts with its -- with its neighbors, and the way -- the way it looks at the world, the way we see Iran’s role in the region and globally, then Israel would have no problem with it.

RADDATZ: Do you think that leader exists in Iran right now?

OREN: Potentially. It’s very different with this regime. The regime, the DNA of this regime is Jihad. That’s what they’re about. They’re about regional domination and expanding that domination across the globe. That’s who they are. And to say that they’re going to give up terror, to say they’re going to give up their ballistic missile system is all -- is virtually impossible for this regime. It’s basically talking about identity suicide for them. So, it has to be someone come -- different. It has to come from a different segment of Iranian society, a different segment perhaps of the military. And, you know, the IRG was -- the IRGC was, in many ways, created as a watchdog for the Iranian military. They didn’t -- they didn’t trust their own army. So, perhaps somebody from within the armed services could rise up and take over control, or somebody from the opposition.

RADDATZ: And the opposition itself, it’s not organized in ways, it doesn’t seem, that they could really take over and go up against the IRGC. So, how do you see the opposition organizing at this point? The U.S. says we’ve laid the groundwork. The Israelis say we’ve laid the groundwork. How does that happen?

OREN: Well, you know, I -- before I was ambassador, I was a military historian. And I'll tell you, the -- you know, revolutions are always impossible to occur, until they do, in which case they become inevitable. We don’t know. We don’t know what the tipping point is. We don’t know if there are defections.

Now, the Iranian opposition outside of Iran report -- is now reporting massive defections within the IRGC and within the military. We don’t know. And there’s going to be -- there could be a tipping point at some stage in this campaign where the opposition, which seems disorganized, in fact can make that type of move. And we’ve seen it happen repeatedly in history. We’re now about to celebrate, I think, the 250th anniversary of a time when it actually did happen, because the Revolution, when it started against Great Britain, was very unpopular. And it was a small group that was able to rise up and gather a type of international support and domestic support to declare America's independence.

So, there are many examples. Not just the American example. That doesn’t mean it’s going to happen here, but it also doesn’t mean it’s not going to happen.

RADDATZ: Well, we will be keeping our eye on it and on you. Thank you so much for joining us this morning, Mr. Ambassador.

OREN: Thank you, Martha. Yes.

RADDATZ: Coming up, how war with Iran is shaking the world economy and President Trump’s standing back home.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES:  I tell you what, I have never had more compliments on something I did. People felt it’s something that had to be done. So if we have a little high oil prices for a little while, but as soon as this ends, those prices are going to drop I believe lower than even before.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

RADDATZ:  President Trump brushing off concerns about oil prices rising because of the war with Iran. Oil prices are up by more than 35 percent the biggest weekly increase on record.

Gas prices in the U.S. have already risen 47 cents on average since the war began, according to AAA.

Our panel discusses the economic fallout and more when we come back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

RADDATZ:  And I’m joined now by our panel in Washington. “New Yorker” staff writer Susan Glasser, “Atlantic” staff writer Anne Applebaum, and ABC News chief White House correspondent Mary Bruce.

Mary, I want to start with you.

You’ve heard the explanation from the president and his cabinet about why they started this war, why it will end, and how. But is anything clearer now?

MARY BRUCE, ABC NEWS CHIEF WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT:  Martha, the explanations from this administration and the president have been absolutely head-spinning this week. I mean, I think the clearest explanation from the president is probably the broadest at this point, which is him saying that this was an evil regime and that something had to be done. He said, quote, “Somebody had to do it”.

But we have heard vastly different explanations and contradictions about why now, was -- what was the imminent threat? The president said it was his opinion -- quote, “his opinion” -- that Iran was going to strike first. But we have seen no evidence of that and they’ve offered wildly different explanations for what comes next.

Of course, initially, the president said that the change had to come from within. He was encouraging the Iranians to overthrow their government. But now, the president says that he has to have a say in who the next leader of Iran is, though it is not clear who that should be. And he is now calling for that "unconditional surrender," Martha.

RADDATZ:  To Mary's point, Susan, you said in your column that the urgent question is, can we win a war without a clear 'why we got into it'?

SUSAN GLASSER, NEW YORKER STAFF WRITER:  Yeah, Martha. I think the history of war suggests the answer to that is, it's very, very hard to do objective shift as Admiral Mullen pointed out.

I think that in this particular case, the president seems to want to leave his options open as a way of being able to declare victory because he's outlined so many different possibilities. But Martha, one thing that really stands out here that's different from previous conflicts of recent years is that the American people start out the conflict not really supporting President Trump, according to the polls.

That is a really tough position for a commander-in-chief to be in, especially with oil prices growing by the day and other consequences. That may change the timeline for President Trump as well.

RADDATZ:  And let's talk about choosing the supreme leader, that he wants a voice in that, as Mary pointed out. How would that really work?

ANNE APPLEBAUM, THE ATLANTIC STAFF WRITER:  I don't see that it can really work. Iran is a country of 90 million people. It's had -- there have been multiple democracy protests. There have been multiple eras when leaders have emerged. Most of them have been jailed or exiled or arrested or even killed.

But if Iran is to be at peace, if it's to be part of a peaceful future Middle East, then the Iranians need to have their own say over who leads them. There needs to be self-determination and there needs to be a pluralistic government that includes a lot of different kinds of Iranians.

And if we don't have that, there is a terrible risk of civil war, which could have consequences for us and for all of our partners in the Middle East.

RADDATZ:  Mary, the president doesn't seem concerned about that. He said last night, we've already won the war. But back to Susan's point about the polling, are they not concerned about that?

BRUCE:  Well, Martha, I think no surprise here. Officials I talked to are quick to dismiss the polling, but they certainly are well aware of the pushback. I mean, as Susan noted, he is taking a country to war without their backing. And that is a huge risk, especially for a president who promised to stop wars and to not start them.

There was no big campaign to message this and to rally support ahead of this military operation. And certainly, the mixed messagings that we have been receiving all week aren't helping the situation. I think what does seem to be causing some concern, certainly, though not publicly from the White House, are the cracks that we are seeing from the president's longtime supporters.

I mean, some real leaders in the MAGA movement are now raising serious questions about this operation. And, of course, Martha, we know that what voters want is for the president to be focused on the economy and domestic issues, especially as we barrel toward the midterms.

RADDATZ:  Susan, as we look at this, there are comparisons being made to the invasion of Iraq.

GLASSER:  You know, Martha, let's hope the answer is no to that, because we all covered that conflict. And we know that what started out as a short, victorious war and George W. Bush's mission-accomplished moment, just a short period into the conflict, was actually only a beginning of a years-long disaster, really, not only for the United States and the region, but, of course, for the people of Iraq. And I'm struck by the fact that they've already changed the timeframe here.

And there's been a clip that's been going around this week of Secretary Donald Rumsfeld at the beginning, before the Iraq war, saying, "Well, maybe it will last for six days, maybe it will be six weeks, but it definitely won't be six months." And you know, I think history is something to look to here as a guide for how this war might go on in ways we don't expect at the moment.

RADDATZ:  And what are your thoughts about that and these comparisons and these forever wars? I read a column the other day, Marc Thiessen saying, we are not starting a forever war, we're ending a forever war. Does he have a point?

APPLEBAUM:  I think the trouble is that when you start a conflict, you don't know what the longer-term implications are. For example, today, we see that the Americans and the Israelis have been bombing the Iranian oil industry. That will raise oil prices. There will be echoes of that all over the world. That could also create other kinds of conflicts, economic crises in our country or in other countries.

And so you set off a chain of events that you can't control. And I would also say, you know, whatever happens at the end of this week or at the end of next month or at the end of six months from now, that doesn't mean that the war is over or the, you know, the -- that we've concluded some kind of action and then we'll move on to the next phase.

What we've done in these days will continue to echo over many months in Iran, in the Middle East, and in the rest of the world.

RADDATZ:  Mary, we just have about a minute left here But before we go, I want to touch on President Trump firing Kristi Noem and the reverberations from that.

GLASSER:  Yeah, the first big shakeup of his cabinet, Martha. It is a notable change from his first term. In the second term so far, we haven't seen this constant revolving door. The president had stood by her for months despite a string of controversies. He was often citing, you know, her work at the border, fulfilling his promises there.

But it seemed that she was garnering too much negative attention for the administration and especially its immigration crackdown of that glitzy $220 million ad campaign that she featured in heavily seems to be the last straw. Sources telling us that that she was fired because of her many unfortunate leadership failures though, of course, in classic Trump fashion, she's not been completely fired from the administration. She's just been reassigned to this newly created position, Martha.

And Markwayne Mullin, at the end of the month, will now take over as the DHS Secretary. A longtime loyal supporter of the president, he is someone who has shown on the Hill that he is willing to do what the president wants and needs.

RADDATZ:  And of course, Tom Homan will remain as well. I want to thank all of you this morning for your excellent commentary. Thanks to our panel. We'll be right back to remember those six service members who lost their lives in the very early parts of this war. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

RADDATZ:  President Trump at Dover Air Force Base Saturday for the dignified transfer of the remains of the six American soldiers killed in this war. All six served in the Army Reserve Command tasked with supplying and supporting troops deployed for Operation Epic Fury.

They were also mothers, fathers, husbands and brothers. We take a look at the lives and legacies they leave behind.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RADDATZ (voice-over):  The six soldiers were together at a Tactical Operations Center in Kuwait with little protection from an aerial assault. When an Iranian drone struck them, the youngest, Sergeant Declan Coady, a 20-year-old college student studying computer science at Drake University in Iowa. His older sister, Keira, remembering his kindness.

KEIRA COADY, SISTER OF DECLAN COADY:  I just wish he could have known one more time that we all loved him because he was so amazing and kind. He was just like a small brother you could have.

RADDATZ (voice-over):  Sergeant 1st Class Nicole Amore was days away from the end of her deployment, set to return to her 18-year-old son and nine-year-old daughter in Minnesota. Her brother Derek, telling "The New York Times" she was preparing to leave the military. She had a yearning for her family. She just missed them, he said.

From a young age, Captain Cody Khork felt a calling to serve his country. The 35-year-old lived with purpose, loved deeply, and served honorably.

CHASE SMITH, FRIEND OF CODY KHORK:  He was very, very smart at computer technology.

RADDATZ (voice-over):  Childhood friend, Chase Smith, remembering Cody.

SMITH:  He was more than a friend. He was a brother.

RADDATZ (voice-over):  42-year-old, Sergeant 1st Class Noah Tietjens, a husband and father, had only three months left on his third deployment to Kuwait.

STAFF SGT. JONN COLEMAN, U.S. ARMY:  He took me under his wing.

RADDATZ (voice-over):  Jonn Coleman was one of many soldiers he had mentored.

COLEMAN:  You could call him day or night. He always took the time. He made you feel important.

RADDATZ (voice-over):  Those qualities on full display back home in Nebraska, where Tietjens was honored at the studio where he taught martial arts.

Also killed, 45-year-old, Major Jeffrey O'Brien of Iowa, serving since 2012 as a Reservist and Signal Corps Officer. Stateside, he worked in cybersecurity. In the office, he was admired not only for his skill and leadership, but also for his compassion toward new team members, his uplifting humor during challenging times, and his calm guidance in high-pressure situations.

And 54-year-old Chief Warrant Officer 3, Robert Marzan, of California, whose sister posted a touching tribute to her younger brother, calling him a strong leader who lived by example, and her hero.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

RADDATZ:  We send our condolences to all of those families and to those of the 10 others in this war who have been severely injured.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

RADDATZ:  That's all for us today from Jerusalem. Thanks for sharing part of your Sunday with us. And be sure to check out "World News Tonight" and have a great day.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)