Transcript: Kevin Hassett on "Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan," May 3, 2026

Face The Nation Transcripts Transcript: Kevin Hassett on "Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan," May 3, 2026 .chip { background-image: url('/fly/bundles/cbsnewscore/images/chip-bgd/chip-bgd-face-the-nation.jpg'); } May 3, 2026 / 12:11 PM EDT / CBS News Add CBS News on Google The following is the transcript of the interview with White House National Economic Council Director Kevin Hassett that aired on "Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan" on May 3, 2026.MARGARET BRENNAN: We begin this morning with the director of the White House Economic Council. Kevin Hassett joins us from Los Angeles. Good early morning to you.KEVIN HASSETT: Oh yeah, good morning.MARGARET BRENNAN: Well Director, President Trump sent a letter to Congress on Friday saying a few things. One that the conflict with Iran, the ceasefire has been extended. He also said the hostilities have been terminated. He also said the threat posed by Iran remains significant, and the force posture will continue to be updated. Then overnight, we saw the President said Iran has not yet paid a big enough price for what they've done to humanity. What exactly is the message to the market? KEVIN HASSETT: Right. Well, I think the market has been pretty consistent. The fact is that what the President is seeing is that the blockade is working. It's putting an enormous amount of pressure on Iran, and Iran's threats to put mines in the straits have even made it so that humanitarian aid that, of course, we would let through to Iran, that there are a lot of those ship captains that are wary of going to Iranian ports because they're worried about where the Iranians have put the mines. And so, you know, I go down to the sit room many times a week and get briefed on what's going on in Iran, and they're an economy that's really on the precipice of extreme calamity. They are having a hyper inflation. They're starting to have hunger. The bottom line is that the pressure on the great American people, because of these people who...