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|---|---|---|
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unidentified
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15 minutes. | |
| Today in the House, lawmakers are considering a resolution condemning the June 14th shootings in Minnesota, which killed Democratic State Representative Melissa Hortman and her husband. | ||
| In addition, Democratic State Senator John Hoffman and his wife were shot and wounded. | ||
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| C-SPAN, Democracy Unfiltered. | ||
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| Joining us now to discuss this week's NATO summit and the latest on the Israel-Iran and Russia and Ukraine conflicts is Kurt Volcker. | ||
| He is a former U.S. ambassador to NATO. | ||
| Mr. Volcker, welcome to the program. | ||
|
unidentified
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Thank you very much. | |
| Great to be with you. | ||
| We'll start with the meeting that will be happening a little bit later today. | ||
| President Trump has departed. | ||
| How is what we are seeing happening in Iran and the ceasefire agreement? | ||
| How much is that going to impact the summit this year? | ||
|
unidentified
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Well, in terms of the discussions among the leaders, I think it'll be the number one topic. | |
| I think that that's what people are going to be focused on in the immediate moment. | ||
| They start with a dinner this evening. | ||
| It is billed as a social dinner. | ||
| It's hosted by the King and Queen of the Netherlands. | ||
| But I think discussion topics there, it's going to be all about what's going on in the Middle East. | ||
| Tomorrow they have the formal meeting of the North Atlantic Council. | ||
| It should be about three hours. | ||
| There they will cover some of the usual NATO topics, but any spontaneous moments, I think, will again be talking about the Middle East. | ||
| And we are showing our audience a live look at the summit. | ||
| Some leaders have already arrived there. | ||
| We've seen Ukraine President Vladimir Zelensky, Vladimir Zelensky there on the stage. | ||
| How have European leaders responded to the U.S.'s military actions there in Iran? | ||
|
unidentified
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Well, so far, they've been rather quiet and I would say also rather supportive. | |
| Of course, they were not briefed in advance. | ||
| They didn't have an opportunity to take part or to contribute in any way. | ||
| But nobody wanted to have a nuclear weapon in Iran. | ||
| Nobody wanted Iran to develop that capability. | ||
| They didn't necessarily want Israel to launch attacks on Iran. | ||
| But once that happened and the risk of Iran then rushing to actually develop a nuclear weapon increased, I think they were probably happy that the U.S. took out the facilities that could do that. | ||
| And now probably also happy that President Trump is pushing very hard for an end to the fighting so this stops. | ||
| Something else that has been mentioned is the potential for a regime change. | ||
| Your reaction to that and possible support from European leaders. | ||
|
unidentified
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Well, the Iranian people have wanted a regime change for a very long time, but they have a very repressive regime and it's very difficult for them to do. | |
| The United States under President Trump has been very clear. | ||
| He is not going to go into Iran. | ||
| He's not going to use ground troops. | ||
| The U.S. is not going to take part in trying to change the regime. | ||
| At least that is what President Trump has indicated so far. | ||
| But if the Iranian people were to do it, they would have better lives and it would also be better for the region and the United States. | ||
| So I think there's a positive attitude toward that, but no effort to try to bring it about. | ||
| Our guest for the next 35 minutes or so is Kirk Volcker, former U.S. Ambassador to NATO. | ||
| Our topic is this week's NATO summit, as well as the latest on the Israel and Iran and Russia and Ukraine conflicts. | ||
| If you have a question or comment for Mr. Volcker, you can start calling in now the lines. | ||
| Republicans 202-748-8001. | ||
| Democrats 202-748-8000. | ||
| And Independents 202-748-8002. | ||
| And Kirk wanted to ask you, President Trump will be arriving there. | ||
| Do you believe that he will have an ask for European leaders when it comes to Iran? | ||
|
unidentified
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Regarding Iran, I think it is just going to be to support a ceasefire between Israel and Iran, get the fighting over, and then to support the idea that Iran should not have any nuclear program, any nuclear weapons program at all, no domestic capacity for enrichment or storage of enriched uranium, and then to be able to go into Iran and inspect that through the IAEA, | |
| and that will rely on a lot of European countries to provide inspectors and support within that organization. | ||
| So I think it's going to be in tying down a settlement, if indeed we get to that point, that we end up with an Iran that does not possess the capability to produce a nuclear weapon. | ||
| I think that's where the next step will be and what the ask could be. | ||
| And beyond Iran, what else is going to be on NATO's agenda this year? | ||
| What are they going to be talking about? | ||
|
unidentified
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Well, the number one topic for this NATO summit is increasing European defense spending as a percentage of GDP. | |
| Back in 2014, during the Obama administration, NATO agreed to a target of 2% of GDP to be spent on defense. | ||
| Very few countries met that for many years. | ||
| Indeed, when President Trump took office in 2017, only three NATO countries were spending 2% or more. | ||
| When he took office again in 2025, we were already up to 28 countries meeting that target, thanks largely to the pressure of Russia's war against Ukraine and President Trump in the offing pushing and pushing to get countries to do more. | ||
| Of course, the Biden administration pushing them as well. | ||
| Now, with this war still going on and the prospect that Russia is preparing for an even larger war in Europe, NATO is being asked to increase defense spending to 5% of GDP. | ||
| And that 5% would be in two categories, 3.5% in defense budgets of what was traditionally seen as defense spending, equipment, personnel, ammunition, logistics, so forth. | ||
| And then 1.5% on supportive measures that can support the ability to field and deploy forces, such as infrastructure, bridges, roads, and also things like cyber defense. | ||
| So that full package of 5% is supposed to be agreed at the NATO summit this week. | ||
| And last week, President Trump was asked about that 5%. | ||
| He suggested that maybe the U.S. doesn't need to meet that minimum. | ||
| Your response? | ||
|
unidentified
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Well, first off, I think all NATO countries should act together, and I think we should all adopt the same rules and the same standards. | |
| He's right when he says that the U.S. has been doing that, and a lot of our NATO allies have not. | ||
| They have not spent 2% of GDP despite their agreements. | ||
| So he is reflecting that sense that it has been unfair for a long time. | ||
| Now, that being said, he was probably not deeply briefed about this 3.5% and 1.5% hard defense spending and supportive spending, because that is actually what the U.S. is already doing. | ||
| So we are already there. | ||
| And this will also be the first NATO summit for Secretary General Mark Rudy. | ||
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unidentified
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What is his approach? | |
| Well, I think the most important thing for Secretary General Ruta is to show unity among the allies. | ||
| The strength of NATO is that it deters attacks against NATO members because any potential adversary realizes that NATO has the capability and the will to defeat any attacker. | ||
| So showing that we have the resolve, the unity of purpose, and the capabilities to back that up, that's the job of the Secretary General, and that's what he's really striving for. | ||
| As a result, he has tried to minimize areas where there might be disagreement among NATO allies or work still to do or differences in nuance and show through this summit that those are secondary compared to the basics of the alliance, which is collective defense, having the military means to carry out collective defense, and having the will and the unity to do so so that we deter any attackers. | ||
| And that's what this is all about and what this should convey. | ||
| Mr. Volcker, we have callers waiting to talk with you. | ||
| We'll start with Andrew in New Jersey, Line 4 Independence. | ||
| Good morning. | ||
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unidentified
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Good morning. | |
| Thank you, Spaceman, for taking my call. | ||
| First of all, these countries in the Middle East were around long before we were. | ||
| Now, Iran, where did they get the money to buy this nuclear stuff? | ||
| And why do we have to constantly use our military and put them in harm's way? | ||
| And what do the NATO countries, how much do they participate? | ||
| Because from what I understand, when Obama was president, he gave $400 billion to Iran not to develop nuclear programs. | ||
| So this is a forever war. | ||
| And what is the solution? | ||
| I would like to know. | ||
| Thank you. | ||
| Okay, thank you so much, Andrew. | ||
| And there are several things that were part of your question there. | ||
| I'll try to remember and address them all. | ||
| But first off, as you say, Iran is a historic civilization. | ||
| Ancient Persia fighting the ancient Greeks back thousands of years before Christ. | ||
| So this civilization has been there. | ||
| As far as its wealth, Iran is a major producer of oil and gas, and they have been selling that on global markets, and that's the principal source of revenue. | ||
| You are right that during the Obama administration, there was an agreement on limiting Iran's, temporarily limiting Iran's nuclear program. | ||
| And as part of that, Iran's central bank reserves that had been held by the United States frozen were returned. | ||
| That was hundreds of billions of dollars. | ||
| You're absolutely right about that. | ||
| And that is something that Iran did indeed use to develop its nuclear program. | ||
| Now, as for this being a forever war, Iran was a very friendly country. | ||
| Watch the rest of this on our free C-SPAN Now video app as we take you now to the U.S. Capitol where the House is gambling in. | ||
| This is live coverage on C-SPAN. | ||
| Mr. Speaker, I rise to a question of the privileges of the House and offer the resolution that was previously noticed. |