Waltz: "never take anything off the table" on U.S. hitting Iran plants

Face The Nation Mike Waltz says "I would never take anything off the table for the president" on bombing Iran nuclear plants By Kaia Hubbard Kaia Hubbard Politics Reporter Kaia Hubbard is a politics reporter for CBS News Digital, based in Washington, D.C. Read Full Bio Kaia Hubbard March 22, 2026 / 2:55 PM EDT / CBS News Add CBS News on Google Washington — Ambassador to the United Nations Mike Waltz said Sunday that "all options should be on the table and the president's made that very clear" after President Trump threatened to destroy Iran 's power plants if the Strait of Hormuz is not reopened. "I would never take anything off the table for the president," Waltz said on "Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan ." Mr. Trump posted on Truth Social late Saturday that if Iran doesn't open the Strait of Hormuz within 48 hours, the U.S. will "hit and obliterate their various POWER PLANTS, STARTING WITH THE BIGGEST ONE FIRST!" The post came as the key waterway responsible for transporting around 20% of the world's oil has been effectively closed to most ship traffic by Iran's military forces since the war began three weeks ago. Asked whether the president is planning to bomb a nuclear power plant, Waltz argued that "the important point here is to understand the IRGC, a declared terrorist organization, not only by us but a number of European countries, controls a huge swath of Iran's critical infrastructure, their economy, and certainly many of their governing institutions." "And so to the extent we're degrading their military capability and their defense industrial base, all options should be on the table, and the president's made that very clear," he said. UN Secretary-General António Guterres told Politico last week that an attack on energy infrastructure from either side could constitute a war crime. Waltz responded on Sunday, saying "when you have a regime that has its grips in so much critical infrastructure that's using it to further, not only the repression of its o...