This morning the President's National Security Advisor,
Jake Sullivan. Jake, thank you for joining us this morning.
Just start out what have our strikes achieved over the
last couple of days?
Is the retaliation done?
Well, George, part of the purpose of the strikes,
the central purpose of the strikes has been to take
away capabilities from the Iranian backed militias in Iraq and
Syria that are attacking our forces and from the Houthis
that continue to threaten Red Sea shipping.
And we believe they had good effect in reducing degrading
the capabilities of the militias and of the Houthis
and as necessary we will continue to take action.
So, So do you expect more retaliation for the strike
against U.S.
forces in Jordan earlier this week?
Well, the first thing that I would say and you
noted it at the top of your program is that
this was the beginning of our of our response.
There will be more steps.
Some of those steps will be seen,
some may not be seen,
but there will be more action taken to respond to
the death of the tragic death of the three brave
US service members.
And we cannot rule out that there will be further
attacks from Iranian backed militias in Iraq and Syria or
from the Houthis.
We have to be clear eyed about that.
And the president in being clear eyed about that,
has told his military commanders that they need to be
positioned to respond to further attacks as well.
Are you concerned about direct escalation from the Iranians themselves?
Well, again, this is something that we have to look
at as a threat.
We have to prepare for every contingency,
and we are prepared for that contingency.
And I would just say from the perspective of Tehran,
if they chose to respond directly to the United States,
they would be met with
a swift and forceful response from us.
How? How much direct
contact has there been with Iran to try to contain
this conflict?
Over the course of the past few months,
we've had the opportunity to engage in
the passage of messages back and forth between the US
and Iran.
But in the last few days,
the message that we have sent to Iran has been
through our action,
not through our words.
Yeah, tell it. Tell us about where things stand now
on the new negotiations over a possible ceasefire and release
of hostages and the Gaza war.
Well, George, we regard A hostage deal,
the release of hostages, as both being obviously critical for
getting people home to their loved ones,
but also being critical to generate a sustained pause and
hostilities
that can support the flow of humanitarian assistance
and that can alleviate the suffering in Gaza.
So the president has put his shoulder to the wheel
on this.
He has spoken to the leaders of both Qatar and
Egypt,
two countries that are centrally involved in trying to broker
this deal.
We are in constant contact with our Israeli counterparts on
it,
and the goal is in fact to get a hostage
deal in place as soon as possible.
Ultimately, that comes down to Hamas.
And Hamas will have to be willing
to say yes to an arrangement that brings hostages home.
And we're going to continue pressing from every direction to
try to make that happen.
Is it imminent?
I can't say it's imminent.
But ultimately, these kinds of negotiations
unfold somewhat slowly until they unfold very quickly.
And so it's difficult to put a precise timetable on
when something might come together or frankly,
if something might come together.
But sitting here today, I cannot tell you.
It's right around the corner.
What is the end game here?
Do you see any prospect at all?
He seems we've been ruling it out,
Prime Minister Netanyahu, of some kind of a long term
deal that leads to a Palestinian state.
Well, the US position on this is very straightforward.
The only long term answer to peace in the region,
to Israel's security in the region,
is A2 State solution with Israel's security guaranteed,
A Palestinian state that also has
security guarantees for Israel. That's what we're going to keep
working for.
We were doing that before October 7th.
I think since October 7th the need to work on
that
has only increased and we would like to deliver an
outcome over time that has eluded administrations of both parties
for decades.
That is in the best interest,
we believe, of everyone in the region and in the
wider world.
Will it require a new Israeli government?
Well, I'm not going to get into Israeli politics.
the US can only advance our vision for what we
think makes sense.
And President Biden has been been very clear about that.
He's been clear publicly on the two state solution.
He's been clear privately and speaking with Prime Minister Netanyahu.
And we have to let the Israelis speak for themselves.
Meantime, the president has been pushing hard for more aid
to Israel,
more aid to Ukraine. He's tied it to those negotiations
over possible border deal in the Senate as well.
But last night we heard from the Speaker of the
House,
Mike Johnson, that he's going to put a provision on
the floor this week is simply is aid to Israel.
Your reaction?
Well, the timing is interesting.
The senators have been working on a bipartisan basis for
weeks,
if not months at this point on a comprehensive package
that involves Israel,
Ukraine, the Indo Pacific and the border.
They are getting close to having that done.
And at that moment the House comes forward with an
Israel only bill.
We regard that not as actually trying to address the
security of Israel,
but rather trying to address politics in the United States.
And from our perspective, the security of Israel should be
sacred.
It should not be a political game.
And so everyone should get behind a comprehensive package of
the kind that bipartisan Senate,
bipartisan group of senators are negotiating as we speak.
No indication that the House is going to do that.
So if they pass it and it gets to the
Senate,
would the president veto it if it came to his
desk?
The president is going to support a comprehensive package.
He doesn't think doing these things piece meal makes sense.
And we think we will get
an opportunity for the Senate to move forward with the
package.
And then the real question should be put to the
House,
not to the President, about how to move forward with
that bipartisan deal.
If that deal came to his desk,
he would absolutely sign it without hesitation.
Jake Sullivan, thanks for your time this morning.
Thank you.