Washington, D.C. — U.S. Senator John Curtis (R-UT) last night appeared on The Source with Kaitlan Collins on CNN to discuss the Trump Administration’s announcement of a cease-fire agreement between Israel and Iran, as well as the broader implications for peace in the Middle East. During the exchange, Curtis praised the President’s actions in Iran, calling them a “case study” and the “first chapter” of “Peace Through Strength.”
The full transcript of the interview can be found below, and video can be found here.
Kaitlan Collins: My Republican source tonight sits on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. Senator John Curtis of Utah joins me. And Senator, thank you for being here. I just want to get your reaction to this breaking news and whether or not you believe the cease fire that the President has announced will hold.
Senator Curtis: I think everybody’s reaction needs to be incredibly positive. You know, we started this day with a lot of turmoil, a lot of uncertainty. Not sure if Iran was going to strike and how they would strike. And not only do we have the cease-fire, but we have a very unusual strike from Iran where they notified us it was going to happen. Very symbolic, but not a real serious one. And now tonight, the hope that we’re actually tying a bow around this and can move forward with peace in the region is just great news.
Collins: And that’s the question of what this looks like going forward in terms of especially the result of Saturday night’s strikes by the U.S. and Iran. You’re a member of the Foreign Relations Committee, as I mentioned. What is your latest understanding of the impact of those strikes and the damage they did to the nuclear program?
Curtis: Well, first of all, I would say the first chapter in the book, “Peace Through Strength,” should be the case study of what’s happened here. I, like my colleagues, will have a classified briefing tomorrow. I think we’ll know a whole lot more. I think, like many people, we’re trying to understand ourselves, but it appears from all indications to be very positive.
Collins: And do you have questions tomorrow in that briefing about the enriched uranium and where it is and whether it was still in those facilities that got hit on Saturday?
Curtis: Absolutely. And to the extent we know or don’t know, we need to take this all the way to the end and find out exactly what it is and where it is, and I think that needs to be our biggest priority moving forward is resolving that very question.
Collins: The Vice President said earlier he believes that it is buried. He said that was their goal. Is that your hope as well, that it would be buried, or do you have concerns that Iran would be able to continue to use that potentially?
Curtis: If it’s buried, I think it’s going to be a little bit like the lost treasure, where people forever are looking for it and personally I would like closure. So I’d like to know and we may not get that, but it would be nice to have that closure and know exactly what happened to it.
Collins: And in terms of what this looks like going forward, you know, the President announcing the cease-fire tonight, yesterday he was floating this idea of regime change in Iran, something that your colleague Lindsey Graham is outright calling for. Is that something that you would like to see personally in Iran?
Curtis: Well, for me, it’s very clear. What I would like to see is a region where countries are prospering, they’re working together. I think we’ve seen that with the Abraham Accords. And I think that’s possible here. That, to me, is the real goal, is that we bring peace to the region, we bring prosperity to the region and totally change the landscape of what’s happening over there. And I think it sounds like we might be on the verge of that. And that is big news and very exciting news.
Collins: And does that mean an end to the fighting in Gaza as well as you’re looking at peace in the region?
Curtis: I think so. You can’t talk about Gaza without talking about Iran and their proxies. And if you think about so much of the conflict, not just there, but in many places around the world, it all stems from Iran and their proxies. And so, to the extent that we’ve got Iran in a good place, that’s very, very good news, not just for Iran and Israel, but many places around the globe.
Collins: And how would you like to see President Trump handle that? I mean, he was obviously working with the Israeli Prime Minister today, was coordinating with them on the attacks on Saturday night. Do you want to see the President, you know, talk to the Israeli Prime Minister about ending that fighting in Gaza?
Curtis: Listen, the Abraham Accords are a great model. And I think if you take that model and really even going back to President Jimmy Carter in 1979, who signed the peace accords. That’s our model. That’s what we’re looking for. We’ve seen great success with that model, and I think we ought to be pushing for that in all areas.
Collins: Senator John Curtis, thank you for your time tonight. Great to have you here.
Curtis: Thanks. Thanks, Kaitlan.