U.S. ambassador to the United Nations Mike Waltz said he believes President Donald Trump's new Gaza peace plan could represent a "once-in-a-generation opportunity for Middle East peace."
On Monday, Trump released his Gaza peace plan, which Israel agreed to. Despite U.S. criticism of the U.N.'s actions in Gaza, the plan relies on the international body's assistance. When asked how this would work, Waltz said that the U.S., while working with the U.N. in Gaza, will "continue to call it out" and will "demand reforms."
In an interview with Fox News Digital, Waltz highlighted a key issue with the U.N.: aid delivery in Gaza. The U.N.'s numbers show that nearly 90% of its aid trucks were intercepted by armed groups or crowds of hungry people between May 19 and Aug. 5. The U.S. has pointed to Hamas as the main culprit, saying operatives of the terrorist organization steal the aid to make money by selling it.
"We can't have a situation where U.N. agencies - the U.S. pays for about a quarter of their costs - are actually delivering aid in a way that Hamas takes it over. Hamas uses it to make money reselling it on the black market," Waltz told Fox News Digital.
The U.S.- and Israel-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, which has been heavily criticized by the U.N., said on Friday that it had delivered more than 178 million meals since starting its operation in May.
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Waltz hit the ground running after his appointment to the role on Sept. 19, just days before the international body held its "High-level Week." During that week, leaders from around the world, including Trump, addressed fellow member states in New York City.
Trump has made it clear that his goal is to be a peacemaker, something Waltz emphasized during his sit-down with Fox News Digital. However, that doesn't mean he isn't bringing his own experience to the role.
"Green Berets are called 'warrior diplomats.' We often have a big stick behind us," Waltz, who was the first Green Beret elected to Congress, told Fox News Digital.
He compared this ethos to Trump's handling of Iran over the summer.
"He gave them opportunity after opportunity to walk away from a weaponized nuclear program, to handover their enriched materials, to engage in diplomacy and when they didn't, our amazing B-2s went and took it out," he said.
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Waltz said he was looking to follow Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio's visions to carry out America First policies and "make the U.N. great again." He said the institution had moved away from its roots and was not acting as a place where everyone from around the world could work out issues, but the U.S. is looking to bring that back.
The other major priority for the U.S. at the U.N., according to Waltz, is to get rid of "the bloat."
"Like any bureaucracy over 80 years, it has gotten too big, too bureaucratic, and therefore less effective. So I'm not going to say that we're going to pull the DOGE up here, but we definitely need to make some cuts," he told Fox News Digital.
Waltz pointed to a recent vote on Haiti as an example of the U.S. working to achieve results at the U.N. As a former congressman from Florida, he noted that the lawlessness in Haiti has spilled onto U.S. shores. However, Waltz believes the U.N.-backed gang-suppression force will restore law and order, without making the U.S. foot the bill.
"In line with what the president has demanded, we're going to share the burden," Waltz said. "Other countries are involved. Kenya has taken the lead, El Salvador is taking a key role. Other countries are paying for it. It's not just all on the United States' shoulders."
Waltz acknowledged Americans' skepticism about the U.N., but he argued that it's essential for the world's leaders to meet on U.S. soil, and for Washington to remain at the table. He also pointed to the growing influence of international bodies on the American economy through regulation.
"There's all these international bodies that can directly affect our economy and our way of life that touch aviation and how we fly around the world, space, telecommunications, radio, data," he said. "And just as we fight for deregulation in our own federal government, we certainly don't want global overregulation on many of our industries."
Waltz stressed that staying engaged globally is critical to protecting U.S. interests and preventing bad actors from filling the void.
"We have to say engaged, I think, to fight for the values that we hold dear. And if anything, this president is a fighter. We're going to keep fighting for our way of life," Waltz said.
