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Scott Bessent: “The president's been very clear from the beginning that the…”

Featuring: Scott Bessent, Republican | Secretary of the Treasury | National

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Scott Bessent defends U.S. military actions in Iran: 'Sometimes you have to escalate to de-escalate'

Published | Video Starts at 00:57

But this seems to be an escalation, a threat of escalation, and it seems to run counter to his statement that he, in fact, wants to wind down the war again. Kristen, The president's been very clear from the beginning that the goals are destroy the Iranian Air force and the navy to the completely demolish their missile capabilities, demolish their ability to replenish those capabilities, make sure the Iranians cannot have a nuclear weapon and stop their ability to project power internationally. And the president will take whatever steps it takes to achieve those goals. Well, you know, I was on the phone with President Trump a week ago. (00:57–01:20)

CLAIM

Asserts that the U.S. goals include destroying Iran's military capabilities and preventing nuclear weapon development.

This is an excerpt from a raw transcript. The assertions have not been audited or verified. Tap the video to view the source footage and understand the context.


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PolitiQuote is a civic library index to statements made by politicians in publicly available video records. The index is created automatically from transcripts, with no editorial oversight or analysis. Highlighted quotes are selected by AI. Words may be added in parentheses to offer context for the quote. There may be errors in the transcription and display, so listen to the video to ensure accuracy.

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