Transcript: Karim Sadjadpour and Ret. Gen. Frank McKenzie on "Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan," March 1, 2026

Face The Nation Transcripts Transcript: Karim Sadjadpour and Ret. Gen. Frank McKenzie on "Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan," March 1, 2026 March 1, 2026 / 12:42 PM EST / CBS News Add CBS News on Google The following is the transcript of the interview with Karim Sadjadpour from the Carnegie Endownment for international peace and former CENTCOM commander and CBS News contributor Ret. Gen. Frank McKenzie that aired on "Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan" on March 1, 2026. MARGARET BRENNAN: We're joined now by Iran policy analyst Karim Sadjadpour, who is with the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, as well as former CENTCOM commander and CBS News contributor retired General Frank McKenzie, who joins us from Tampa this morning. It's good to have the both of you here. This is such a dynamic situation right now. Karim, I want to start with you. Apparently, President Trump has told the Atlantic that he's willing to talk to the new leadership of Iran. Who is the new leadership of Iran? KARIM SADJADPOUR: I don't think that's even clear inside Tehran, who is the new leadership? You know, this is one of the most unpopular regimes in the world, and I'm skeptical that there's going to be anyone who is palatable for both the senior clergy, the Revolutionary Guards, and 90 million Iranians. There's probably no government in the world with a greater gap between its government and its people than Iran so I'm skeptical there's going to be any single figure who can immediately fill the enormous void of Ayatollah Khamenei. MARGARET BRENNAN: General McKenzie, what Karim is sketching out here sounds like chaos, sounds like the potential setting for civil war. Is that how you would assess what we might be seeing come next? GENERAL FRANK MCKENZIE (RET.): I think we're still in the early stages of this campaign. There are several days of continued strikes ahead of us from Central Command and from Israel to reduce the Iranian ability to volley fire rockets at us. We'll see how...