For perspective on the current state of affairs, we turn now to Ernest Moniz.

He was Secretary of Energy during the Obama administration and a key negotiator and architect

of the Iran nuclear agreement that was signed in 2015.

President Trump pulled the U.S. out of that agreement in 2018, saying he could negotiate

a better one.

Mr. Secretary, thanks for being with us.

So Washington right now is

focused on whether the president should order a strike on Iran's fordo facility. This is that

heavily fortified facility and that it's buried deep inside a mountain. What's your view? Would you advise

military action or urge restraint? Well, I think it's a complex situation, although I will come to a conclusion.

First of all, I think the Israeli strike really has put the United States in a difficult

position in the sense that the United States has the only capacity to at least potentially

eliminate Fordoo the underground enrichment

site. And without doing that, frankly, the campaign to eliminate Iran's nuclear program even

temporarily, obviously, would not be at all complete. On the other hand, if the United States were to carry through

with that threat to bomb Fordo, A, we would be involved in the war quite clearly, and B, we cannot bomb the

program out of existence.

It will just revive in some period of time.

It might be years, but it would revive unless the political regime in Tehran were to totally change in a favorable direction.

That's a big gamble. In the end, weighing all of that,

I would argue against the United States bombing Fordo. So is Fordo really the linchpin of Iran's

nuclear program? Well, I wouldn't say it's the linchpin in the sense that if other facilities continue to operate,

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