Mike Waltz acknowledges U.S isn't negotiating with 'good guys'

U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Mike Waltz acknowledged Sunday that Iranian officials aren’t “good guys,” but negotiations must take place because the Trump administration is “laser focused” on trying to reach a nuclear deal.

“None of these senior members of this genocidal regime are good guys by any means. They certainly wouldn’t pass an FBI background check. No one expects that, but at the end of the day the administration … is taking a pragmatic approach,” he said on CBS News’ “Face the Nation.”

Mr. Waltz said the Trump administration knows “the type of people that we’re dealing with,” citing the regime’s deadly crackdown on protesters and its incarceration of Americans. But he emphasized that any agreement would not be reliant on trusting Iran, but rather “all about verification” and would carry threats of military force.

Mr. Waltz’s comments come as Vice President J.D. Vance began talks with Iran’s parliamentary speaker, Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf, and Foreign Minister Abbas Aragchi at a Swiss mountainside resort near Lake Lucerne. Mediators from Pakistan and Qatar were also in the room, helping with negotiations.