Transcript: Michael Leiter, Israel’s ambassador to the US, on “Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan,” March 8, 2026

The following is a transcript of an interview with Michael Leiter, Israel’s ambassador to the US, that aired on “Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan” on March 8, 2026.

MARGARET BRENNAN: And now we’re joined by Israel’s ambassador to the United States, Dr. Michael Leiter. Welcome to ‘Face the Nation.’

AMBASSADOR TO ISRAEL MICHAEL LEITER: Good to have you. Hello.

MARGARET BRENNAN: So your prime minister and – the president of the United States speaks every day, according to President Trump. Did they agree to start and end the war at the same time?

AMB. LEITER: We have been cooperating for months now, I would say, even before Rising Lion and Midnight Hammer in June, and that cooperation includes daily discussions where there is an assessment of how the war is going, and I think we will reach a complete understanding at the end of this war.

MARGARET BRENNAN: So you believe and hope that America will stay with Israel through this, even if there are problems in the American economy, like gas prices?

AMB. LEITER: We have reached a level of cooperation that we have never seen before between our two countries and between our two militaries. This is a very important task that does not depend on the timeline. You know, when you’re doing something very important you won’t look at the stopwatch. This must be done away with. This is a terrorist financing situation that needs to be reduced and that is our focus.

MARGARET BRENNAN: But do you agree with the US assessment from the secretary of state that this is just a matter of weeks?

AMB. LEITER: We believe so. We see cracks in the structure of this terrorist military security regime. They began to have great difficulty in passing orders through the system. There are disputes within the system regarding the appointment of a successor to the supreme leader. They are facing great difficulties. The fact that they are mindlessly attacking all their neighbors and shooting these missiles at all their neighbors, about 12 countries, in Europe for crying out loud, shows the fact that they have serious problems. We are succeeding in this attack on their command centers.

MARGARET BRENNAN: So President Trump was asked specifically yesterday about sending troops to secure Iran’s supply of enriched uranium. He said he doesn’t waste it. Does Iran currently have access to documented enriched uranium inside the country, and what is Israel’s plan to protect it?

AMB. LEITER: Israel’s strategy is to defend it, that’s for sure.

MARGARET BRENNAN: How?

AMB. LEITER: What exactly is the practical issue, I don’t think, Margaret, that you want me to talk about here on Sunday morning ‘Look at the Nation.’ We have to do that. It’s a goal that we have to achieve, but the first thing that we have to do is to create a situation where we can get to that advanced object and take it off, and that has to get to a place where there’s less kinetic activity on the ground. It’s obviously on our radar screen and we’ll take care of it. The whole purpose of this operation is to prevent the terrorist regime from acquiring nuclear weapons. So it’s on our radar screen and that’s what we’re going to accomplish.

MARGARET BRENNAN: So to put a fine point on it is to worry that that stuff might end up in the wrong hands if the empire falls and it’s chaos, right? So, how do you secure it without the low power somehow? Is Israel withdrawing ground troops?

AMB. LEITER: We reject that this regime can remain in a position where it can endanger us and their neighbors. If that includes putting boots on the ground – we prefer the boots on the ground to be Iranians. These are people who have lived under the hand of this government for 47 years. They want freedom. This is a generation that all knows there is freedom but has never tasted it. They need to put their boots on the ground and secure their future and the future of the region.

MARGARET BRENNAN: You mean the Iranian army, the IRGC?

AMB. LEITER: Iranian- Iranian includes- no, I mean Iranian people. 80% of Iranians are against this regime they just couldn’t express themselves.

MARGARET BRENNAN: Well, CENTCOM is telling Iranian citizens to stay home right now. Is there an organized or armed opposition within Iran that Israel supports?

AMB. LEITER: We have been talking to young people for many years.

MARGARET BRENNAN: A minority meaning Kurds and Azeris?

AMB. LEITER: The Kurds, the Baloch, the Azeris, but the Iranian people themselves, the Persians, we saw what they did two months ago. There is a burning point where people will wake up and say enough is enough. We want freedom. Therefore, once we have set the stage, there will no longer be a state with a million armed people who are willing to shoot their own citizens in the back, these people will rise up and say that we want our country back.

MARGARET BRENNAN: Because President Trump said yesterday that he doesn’t want the Kurds who make up about 10% of the population of Iran, he doesn’t want the Kurds from neighboring countries to get involved in this conflict. We don’t want to make the war more difficult than it already is. The Turkish foreign minister came and said – he said he talked to Rubio about it, but he said this, ‘Israel’s intentions in this matter are not a secret.’ Turkey seems to think that your country is trying to get the Kurds to intervene here. Is that accurate?

AMB. LEITER: I will not take President Erdogan’s words seriously. He talks about his bravery spreading across the Middle East.

MARGARET BRENNAN: He was the foreign minister.

AMB. LEITER: You’re talking about taking over – well that’s what comes down to the president – you’re talking about taking over Saudi Arabia and Israel at the same time. Look, we want a united Iran, there is no question about it, but we want to empower the minorities to have their say in the process, in the political process. They are denied their freedom, so it is not a matter of supporting this minority group or the other, it is supporting all minorities. What motivates them is unity, unity, unity. If Iran’s opposition had been united 47 years ago, this regime would have fallen long ago. So we can help them unite, help them unite, help them unite and wake up and say we are taking our country back. That is ultimately the end game.

MARGARET BRENNAN: So your prime minister gave a speech on Saturday and said to the IRGC, to those who lay down their arms no harm will come. For those who do not, their blood is on their own heads. If there is no Israeli ground forces to whom do you want the IRGC to surrender? How does that work?

AMB. LEITER: There are many examples in history where people themselves – like Romania, turned their guns against Ceaușescu. When people are deprived of their freedom, there comes a point where they say enough is enough. And all they have to do is lay down their weapons and not participate- look at the participants when people wake up to shoot their citizens, their neighbors, their families in many cases. So look at the goal here is to achieve a situation where Iran no longer sends terrorism, no longer launches missiles at its neighbors and no longer pursues nuclear weapons. That is achievable and with the joint effort of cooperation between Roaring Lion and Epic Rury we will achieve that.

MARGARET BRENNAN: Ambassador, we should leave it there for now, but we’ll have more questions shortly. We need to take a quick commercial break. Stay with us.

MARGARET BRENNAN: Welcome back to ‘Face the Nation.’ We return to our conversation with the Ambassador of Israel to the United States, Dr. Michael Leiter. Just picking this up, if we’re talking about what’s next in Iran, it has a huge potential impact on the entire region and American interests there. The president said that when it comes to the next leaders of Iran, most of the people we were thinking about are already dead. The New York Times reports that the Israeli strike that killed the supreme leader also brought out the Iranian pragmatists, that’s how they said, who were in that area, but the White House hoped that those people could help lead the new Iran. Were they targeting Israel on purpose or was this unintentional?

AMB. LEITER: No. Pragmatists are very limited in their influence in Iran. There have been pragmatists throughout the 47 years of this terrorist regime, who have had no impact at all. The people who influence, decide Iran are these ayatollahs who have a negative view of the future and don’t care how many people they kill or other people. So look, what we’re hoping for is that we’ve entered a period of temporary government where the minority comes together, where the majority comes together. All the different opposition groups came together to have an interim government where he could lead the country for a year or more, and with instructions from the United States, as well as Israel and other regional allies, he would no longer live in fear of being hit by missiles and enter the democratic process. Let the people choose. Let’s not forget that Iranians are the most pro-western people after Israel.

MARGARET BRENNAN: Well, but when I hear that this is going to take weeks and not months, referring to the fighting, what you’re talking about takes a long time – that kind of transition. So we are not just talking about limited military service. US Pressure, Israeli pressure will have to be there for a long time.

AMB. LEITER: Well, this is not Iraq or Afghanistan because in this case 80% of the people are against the regime. They just need the ability to express themselves. That is what we are emphasizing here. This is not a repeat of the eternal wars. They have to put their boots on the ground and start to feel motivated and feel that they can achieve it. They are starting to move forward, it will only take a little while. There is no long-term benefit except for less pain. Look, I know what war is. I hate war. I lost my son in the war. I don’t want to see a war. None of us in Israel want to see war, but we cannot have a situation where our existence is threatened every day by a regime that claims to destroy us.

MARGARET BRENNAN: But to put a fine point on it, did Israel deliberately target those other Iranian leaders that the president referred to as some of the people he intended to lead?

AMB. LEITER: You know Margaret, we’re good at accuracy, I think we’ve proven that, but the level of accuracy where in this same room there are these people sitting and those people sitting, we’re not that good.

MARGARET BRENNAN: Ambassador, thank you for your time this morning.

AMB. LEITER: Nice to hang out with you.

MARGARET BRENNAN: We’ll be right back