Meet the Press – September 27, 2026

KRISTEN WELKER: This Sunday, end game. With just 37 days until the midterms, pressure grows to end the war in Iran as Americans face rising prices at the pump. PRES. DONALD TRUMP: Will a deal be made with Iran or do I annihilate the Islamic Republic? KRISTEN WELKER: Is there a way out? I’ll talk exclusively to the Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Mike Waltz and Democratic Congressman Ro Khanna of California. Plus: Beyond human. Bill Gates on the rapid rise of artificial intelligence — and whether humans can keep it under control. BILL GATES: This is truly an evolutionary event. You know, we have created an intelligent species that in many respects is already smarter than we are. KRISTEN WELKER: And: Breaking ranks. As Election Day nears Republicans distance themselves from President Trump. MIKE ROGERS: The war with Iran needs to end and end quickly. KRISTEN WELKER: Joining me for insight and analysis are: NBC News Chief Capitol Hill Correspondent Ryan Nobles, Marc Short, former Director of Legislative Affairs for President Trump, And Adrienne Elrod, former Senior Adviser to the Harris campaign. Welcome to Sunday, It’s Meet the Press. ANNOUNCER: From NBC News in Washington, the longest-running show in television history, this is Meet the Press, with Kristen Welker. KRISTEN WELKER: Good Sunday morning. With just five weeks until the midterms, the war with Iran is looming over the elections, unpopular with voters, as rising energy prices hit Americans at home. Now, a new turn in the war: President Trump has rejected Iran’s proposal for a seven-day ceasefire, a plan that would have reopened the Strait of Hormuz and resumed nuclear talks in exchange for the U.S. lifting its naval blockade. The Wall Street Journal is reporting the president has told aides he expects the U.S. to resume bombing Iran after the midterms. In a moment, I’ll speak exclusively with Iran’s Foreign Minister, Abbas Araghchi, who proposed that plan. But first, joining me now is the U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, Mike Waltz. Ambassador Waltz, welcome back to Meet The Press. AMB. MIKE WALTZ: Yeah, thank you. Good to be with you. KRISTEN WELKER: Thank you so much for being here. Let’s start right there with Iran’s proposed seven-day cease fire that would have opened the Strait of Hormuz and restarted broader talks. Why did the U.S. turn down this deal, Mr. Ambassador? AMB. MIKE WALTZ: Well, Kristen, look, there’s — there’s a number of reasons. But with this offer came a request to have access to billions in frozen funds, came a request for the lifting of sanctions. These aren’t just the United States’ sanctions. These are global sanctions. Kristen, it’s worth reminding people this isn’t just the U.S. position. This is the world’s position. There has been not one, not two, but seven UN Security Council resolutions over the last 20 years saying Iran cannot, should not, and will not have a nuclear weapons program, cannot enrich illegally, does not have an appropriate inspections regime like other countries, for example, the United Arab Emirates just across the Gulf that allows fulsome inspections. And then even further, you have the IAEA, the nuclear watchdog for the UN. Their board of governors just referred Iran to the UN Security Council just last week for violations, not allowing inspectors, not allowing appropriate oversight of their enrichment. So I would love to hear you ask the foreign minister: Why does Iran need to enrich to 60%, which is a pathway to a bomb? Why did they need to bury a program under not one, but four different sites? Why, you know, are they attacking international shipping? And finally it’s worth noting, because again he’s going to frame this as the U.S. versus Iran or Iran versus Israel. 146 countries have joined us, a UN record, in condemning Iran’s attack on civilian shipping. You can’t start shooting at civilian shipping any more than you can shoot down KRISTEN WELKER: Well — AMB. MIKE WALTZ: — civilian airliners because you’re a party to a conflict. So Iran is, just, is being condemned by the entire world. And they’re in violation of international law across the board. KRISTEN WELKER: Well, Mr. Ambassador, I do have a range of questions for the foreign minister. But I just want to get back to this deal. In June the U.S. and Iran signed a memorandum of understanding that was similar to this deal. It traded easing sanctions and lifting the naval blockade in exchange for opening the Strait of Hormuz and nuclear talks. If the president doesn’t want this deal, if he thinks this deal isn’t good enough, what deal does he want? What would he accept? AMB. MIKE WALTZ: Well, I’m not going to negotiate in public for the president. But we have to know, number one, that people coming to the table can actually speak for the ayatollah. And that has been a consistent issue that have frustrated our negotiators. Who’s calling the shots in Iran right now? Is it the IRGC? Is it the president? Is it the foreign minister? Ultimately we know it’s the ayatollah. But when we finally had an MOU, and of course the president wants a deal and authorized us to enter into that memorandum of agreement, Iran immediately began shooting at international shipping because illegally and in violation of international law. It’s demanding to try to control the Straits of Hormuz through violence and has taken a position of publish — punishing the entire world’s economy because of its pursuit for a nuclear weapon— KRISTEN WELKER: Understood but, but — AMB. MIKE WALTZ: President Trump’s not going to stand for it. KRISTEN WELKER: But the U.S. was negotiating with the same group of people in June. So why not move forward with this deal and give a ceasefire a chance, Mr. Ambassador? AMB. MIKE WALTZ: Well, look, Kristen, as I, you know, this was I think a pretty cynical attempt to put something on the table that they knew was unacceptable. That to ask for the release of the blockade, the sanctions, international sanctions and access to billions in assets just to talk when we entered into a memorandum of agreement just a few months ago and it was immediately violated by attacking international shipping. I think it’s kind of common sense that the president doesn’t have a lot of confidence this time— KRISTEN WELKER: Right. AMB. MIKE WALTZ: —after we just tried a few months ago. But at the end of the day, KRISTEN WELKER: Yeah. AMB. MIKE WALTZ: —of course, the pres — this has to end in some type of arrangement. But he’s going to leave all options on the table to get there. KRISTEN WELKER: The Wall Street Journal, to that point, is reporting that President Trump is preparing to resume military strikes against Iran after the midterms. Is that true? Can you confirm that? AMB. MIKE WALTZ: Well, that’s anonymous reporting. What I can tell you is the president will leave all options on the table to ensure the world is safe from Iran holding the world hostage with a nuclear weapon, number one. And number two, he was quite clear in his speech before the UN that politics have nothing to do with this. This is about keeping the next generation safe from Iran threatening the world with a nuclear weapon or building such a mountain of, a conventional shield of drones and missiles that they can achieve breakout in these underground facilities behind that shield. KRISTEN WELKER: So, so to that point-- AMB. MIKE WALTZ: —This is a regime that has attacked its neighbors on all sides including civilian infrastructure, resorts, ports, hotels. And it’s just completely unacceptable. KRISTEN WELKER: Ambassador Waltz, to that point, President Trump and his advisors have said the objective in the war is that Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon, as you’re repeating here. I want to play what we’ve heard from the president since the war has started. Take a look. [BEGIN TAPE] PRES. DONALD TRUMP: We blew up their nuclear potential. It was obliterated. We attacked. Ten months ago, we attacked their nuclear sites and they were obliterated. It’s not a quagmire. I just wiped out the military of a very dangerous country. And I wiped out the nuclear threat – [END TAPE] KRISTEN WELKER: So the president has said multiple times that Iran’s nuclear potential is destroyed. If that’s the case, what is left to accomplish in this war? AMB. MIKE WALTZ: Well, we know that we obliterated their ability to enrich in a number of these facilities. But we also know they moved and dispersed highly enriched uranium. Again, Kristen, there is no reason. No country on Earth with a peaceful civilian program has a need to enrich to weapons-grade or just short of weapons-grade. So they still have that hidden and dispersed — KRISTEN WELKER: But what’s left to do on the nuclear side — AMB. MIKE WALTZ: And again, the UN has said they’re not — KRISTEN WELKER: And is regime change necessary to achieve it AMB. MIKE WALTZ: —But the UN has said they’re not being accountable for it. KRISTEN WELKER: So is regime change — AMB. MIKE WALTZ: I’m sorry. KRISTEN WELKER: — what’s necessary to accomplish what you’re going for? What is there left to accomplish? And is regime change necessary to do it? AMB. MIKE WALTZ: I, well, look, I mean, the regime can come to the table and in accordance with international law, in accordance with their obligations in the non-proliferation treaty and either hand over. I mean, there’s a number of ways that we can get there. And President Trump is open to that and deal with the highly enriched, deal with their ability to reconstitute their enrichment. Heck, our negotiators even offered to sell them uranium. And again the United Arab Emirates have a peaceful program right there in their neighborhood. And they abide by international law and inspection regimes. The Iranians refuse to as stated by the UN just a week ago. So this is, I think the facts are obvious here. KRISTEN WELKER: All right. AMB. MIKE WALTZ: And by the way, Kristen, I hope that you also ask the foreign minister about the 40,000 of their own people that were machine gunned — KRISTEN WELKER: All right — AMB. MIKE WALTZ: — in the streets and the people that are being hung right now as we speak, again, condemned by the world for massacring their own people. KRISTEN WELKER: Okay, I do want to turn to the state visit with President Xi Jinping. There are reports that China is actively supporting Iran through oil sales, satellite imagery, and more. Yes or no? Does the United States believe that China is helping Iran in this war? AMB. MIKE WALTZ: President Trump, I won’t get into the details of the conversation. President Trump has raised this issue repeatedly both in Beijing, here in the United States. And we are seeing movement in a positive direction. It’s also notable that even President Xi stated in our joint read-out from the summit Iran cannot and should not have a nuclear weapon and cannot toll international waterways in violation of the UN Law of the Sea, and certainly cannot fire upon innocent civilian shipping. KRISTEN WELKER: So did President Xi — AMB. MIKE WALTZ: That’s from President Xi — AMB. MIKE WALTZ: Not President Trump. KRISTEN WELKER: Okay, so let me follow-up with you. Did President Xi actually commit to stop China’s support of Iran with this war? AMB. MIKE WALTZ: They’ve had uh, they’ve had good, strong and I think fulsome conversations about that support. But I’ll leave that to the president to detail any conversations he’s had. KRISTEN WELKER: All right. And Ambassador Waltz, thank you so very much. Appreciate it. And joining me now is the Foreign Minister of Iran, Abbas Araghchi. Mr. Foreign Minister, welcome