Incoming U.S. National Security Advisor Mike Waltz reiterated in an interview aired on Sunday President-elect Donald Trump’s threat of severe consequences for Hamas if the terrorist group fails to release the hostages it is holding by the time he takes office.
Waltz also said in the interview with The Daily Wire that Iran’s current vulnerability following the collapse of its proxies and Syria’s Assad regime may drive it to make a rush toward nuclear weapons.
Asked by Daily Wire co-founder Ben Shapiro about his transition process as he prepares to assume office, Waltz, a Republican congressman from Florida, said his focus was on ensuring that “our adversaries should not see this as a moment of opportunity.”
Waltz, a member of Congress’ Armed Services Committee, cited Trump’s Dec. 2 warning to Hamas as an example of this. “Enough is enough. By the time Jan. 20 comes around, these poor people, those that are still alive, will have been held longer than the Iranians held our hostages in 1979,” he said, adding: “That’s totally unacceptable.”
Waltz then referenced the fact that some of the 100-odd hostages held by Hamas are U.S. citizens, which he said should carry a prohibitive penalty.
“There have never been enough consequences and that’s what we need to be talking about with these people: You take an American, you illegally detain them if you’re a nation-state or if you’re a terrorist you hold them hostage, there is going to be all hell to pay, there are going to be nothing but consequences for you, financially and maybe even a bullet in your damn forehead if you take an American, period,” he said.
Thousands of Hamas terrorists invaded Israel’s northwest Negev region on Oct. 7, 2023, murdering some 1,200 people and abducting 251, of whom about 100 are still being held in Gaza. Dozens of the remaining hostages are believed to have died.
The invasion triggered an Israeli campaign to “remove” Hamas from the Gaza Strip, as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu phrased it in an interview he gave on Friday. Beginning on Oct. 8, 2023, Lebanese terrorist group Hezbollah began near-daily rocket and drone attacks on Israel in solidarity with Hamas.
On Nov. 26, 2024, Hezbollah agreed to a ceasefire, the terms of which require it to retreat north of Lebanon’s Litani River. Iran fired twice at Israel directly in 2024. Israel’s retaliation for the second of these attacks is believed to have wiped out Iran’s air defense systems, leaving it exposed to attack amid growing internal resentment with the regime and a spiraling economic crisis.
On Dec. 8, the regime of Tehran’s ally Bashar Assad collapsed in Syria.
This vulnerability could slow down Iran’s advance toward nuclear weapons, but could also expedite it, Waltz told the Daily Wire.
“After Oct. 7, [2023,] this a moment where the ayatollah, who is not in good health and is looking at his own succession—is this a moment where they say: ‘We are completely exposed, therefore we rush towards a nuke,’ or is this a moment they say: ‘We are completely exposed, don’t provoke the Israelis by rushing towards a nuke.’ And we’ll see which way they go,” Waltz said, adding: “We’re watching.”
Waltz approvingly described Netanyahu’s handling of the war as the reason for the collapse of the Assad regime and Iran’s vulnerability.
“It’s been unleashed because of what Israel and its leadership under Bibi Netanyahu did to Hezbollah the pager and walkie-talkie op. There’s going to be some amazing movie about that one day, I think one of the most, the gutsiest, most effective covert-action ops in modern history. Because of that taking down [of] Hezbollah, that everybody said couldn’t be done and would be too provocative. Exposing Iran’s air defenses so that they literally are naked right now and on their back foot,” Waltz said.
