Former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg on Friday leisurely dismantled claims from CNBC host Joe Kernen, who argued President Donald Trump had to launch his war on Iran to prevent the country from developing a nuclear weapon.
The “Squawk Box” co-host argued the disastrous war, which was temporarily halted Tuesday for a two-week U.S.-Iran ceasefire but led Iran to close the Strait of Hormuz, “is not over yet” — and could eventually see Trump succeed in reopening the vital strait.
“So the best-case scenario is the strait being open?” Buttigieg asked Kernen. “The strait was open before they started this.”
About one-fifth of the world’s oil passes through the Strait of Hormuz, which Iran effectively closed to U.S. ships after the war began, resulting in soaring gas prices for Americans and threatening to trigger a global energy crisis. The U.S. and Iran are currently negotiating.
Kernen conceded Friday that the strait was open before Trump launched his war in February, but claimed Iran was “close to having nuclear weapons” before he did. The war has cost at least 13 U.S. military service members and more than 2,000 Iranians their lives.
Former President Barack Obama famously opted for diplomatic measures to deal with the matter during his time in office, sending then-Secretary of State John Kerry to negotiate the Iran nuclear deal — in which they vowed not to develop a nuclear weapon — in 2015.
“We had other ways of dealing with that,” Buttigieg told Kernen about Trump’s war, only for the pro-Trump pundit to reply: “Like what, Obama’s way?”
“Well, that worked!” Buttigieg countered.
Kernen, who noted earlier in the show that Iran had lied about their levels of nuclear proliferation at the time, rejected Buttigieg’s point. He stated simply, “That did not work.” Buttigieg ultimately debunked that claim with one simple question, however.
He asked, “Did they get a nuclear weapon under Obama?”
Kernen argued that Iran was “close enough, within months,” seemingly echoing a decades-long claim from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who has alleged as much on such a frequent basis that “The Daily Show” compiled a lengthy montage of his warnings.
Netanyahu’s claims in the video span from 1995 to 2025.
Buttigieg argued earlier in the show that Trump’s messaging has been disastrous, as the MAGA leader infamously claimed last year that U.S. strikes had “obliterated” Iran’s nuclear weapons program — only to launch a now-regional war in February.
“But the point is, they have been stopped from getting anywhere near a nuclear weapon [under Obama],” he said. “And last year, the president assured us that he ended their nuclear ambitions. If he wants to come clean with the American people that he failed to do that, he has to say that.”
