Transcript: Israeli Ambassador Michael Leiter on "Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan"

Face The Nation Transcripts Transcript: Israeli Ambassador Michael Leiter on "Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan," April 12, 2026 .chip { background-image: url('/fly/bundles/cbsnewscore/images/chip-bgd/chip-bgd-face-the-nation.jpg'); } April 12, 2026 / 1:10 PM EDT / CBS News Add CBS News on Google The following is the transcript of the interview with Israeli Ambassador to the U.S. Michael Leiter that aired on "Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan" on April 12, 2026.MARGARET BRENNAN: We are joined now by Israel's ambassador to the United States, Dr. Michael Leiter. Good morning and welcome back to the program.DR. MICHAEL LEITER: Good morning, Margaret, good to be with you. MARGARET BRENNAN: Israel and the US have been lockstep in this war to date. You heard the vice president sort of leave the door open to diplomacy, but President Trump also said this morning, the US is locked and loaded for an appropriate moment. Is it your understanding that Israel and the US will hold fire until the end of this two week ceasefire?MICHAEL LEITER: We have to remember that the President has been relentless in pursuing an end to this crisis through talks. That's the talks preceded the June war, talks preceded epic fury, the talks are going on now, and I think that if we can conclude this crisis with Iran, with this regime, this tyrannical regime, that's pursuing nuclear weapons without going back into kinetic activity, it would probably be best for everyone. The president continues to pursue that. But right now they saw face to face, the vice president sat opposite this fellow, Qalibaf, who is directly responsible for the murder of his own people just in January, this past January, and just saw how obdurate and obstinate they are in pursuit of nuclear weapons.MARGARET BRENNAN: When you said the talks are still going on, are there - is there any level of US-Iran contact at this point? MICHAEL LEITER: Well, you know, the President gave the issue two weeks, and we're just i...