For the first time in decades, the world’s two largest nuclear superpowers are no longer bound by any treaty limiting their arsenals.

The last remaining nuclear arms control agreement between the U.S. and Russia, known as New START, expired Thursday.

The lapse removed limits on how many nuclear weapons Washington and Moscow could deploy on missiles, bombers and submarines, and ended the requirement that both sides notify one another whenever nuclear weapons were moved.

The scale of what’s now unconstrained is vast. 

Globally, there are more than 12,200 nuclear weapons spread across nine nuclear-armed nations, according to a recent analysis. The United States and Russia alone account for roughly 10,636 of those weapons.

While the exact size of each country’s arsenal is closely guarded, below is a breakdown of estimated nuclear stockpiles, based on data from the Federation of American Scientists. 

Ahead of the New START agreement’s expiration, President Donald Trump wrote on Truth Social, ‘Rather than extend ‘NEW START’ (a badly negotiated deal by the United States that, aside from everything else, is being grossly violated), we should have our Nuclear Experts work on a new, improved and modernized Treaty that can last long into the future.’

He has previously argued that China should be included in any new agreement with Russia, pointing to Beijing’s growing nuclear arsenal, the world’s third largest after the U.S. and Russia.

Iran is prepared to pursue diplomacy while remaining ready to defend itself if challenged, Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said Sunday, arguing that Tehran’s strength lies in its ability to stand firm against pressure.

‘We are a man of diplomacy, we are also a man of war; not in the sense that we seek war, but … we are ready to fight so that no one dares to fight us,’ he said, according to Press TV, Iran’s state-run English-language broadcaster.

Araghchi made the remarks in Tehran at the National Congress on the Islamic Republic’s Foreign Policy, two days after Iran and the United States held nuclear talks in Oman.

Fox News previously reported that negotiations between Iranian and U.S. officials in Muscat, the capital, were held face-to-face, marking the first such meetings since U.S. strikes on Iran’s nuclear sites in June.

Iran’s Foreign Ministry described the talks as ‘intensive and lengthy’ in a post on X, saying the meetings allowed both sides to present their positions and concerns.

‘It was a good start, but its continuation depends on consultations in our respective capitals and deciding on how to proceed,’ the government account said.

It added there was broad agreement on continuing the negotiations, though decisions on timing, format and the next round will be made following consultations in the two capitals, with Oman continuing to serve as the intermediary.

Araghchi said Sunday that Iran views its nuclear program as a legitimate right and is seeking recognition of that position through negotiations.

‘I believe the secret of the Islamic Republic of Iran’s power lies in its ability to stand against bullying, domination and pressures from others,’ he said, according to Press TV.

‘They fear our atomic bomb, while we are not pursuing an atomic bomb. Our atomic bomb is the power to say no to the great powers,’ the top diplomat added. ‘The secret of the Islamic Republic’s power is to say no to the powers.’

President Donald Trump has expanded the U.S. military presence in the Middle East, deploying the USS Abraham Lincoln carrier strike group and the USS Michael Murphy, a guided-missile destroyer.

Other U.S. naval assets, including the USS Bulkeley, USS Roosevelt, USS Delbert D. Black, USS McFaul, USS Mitscher, USS Spruance and USS Frank E. Petersen Jr., are positioned across key waterways surrounding Iran, from the eastern Mediterranean and Red Sea to the Persian Gulf, Gulf of Oman and Arabian Sea.

LEXINGTON, Va. – President Donald Trump’s poll numbers are a bit all over the place these days. The averages have him about seven points underwater, while some surveys show him down as much as 19. And then, one poll, the most accurate of 2024, has him up one point at 50%.

Likewise, large majorities of Americans say in polls that they want all illegal immigrants deported, but large majorities also say that the Trump administration is going too far in executing this policy. 

So, what do the American people actually want?

I traveled to Lexington, Va., to get a feel for what the reality is on the ground, below these shaky and inconsistent poll numbers, and what I found was good news and bad news for both parties and a midterm that is still wide open.

Brian, from nearby Lynchburg, was visiting town with his wife Erin. A chef in his early 50s and a former Republican, he finds Trump’s coarseness, and what he would call his racism, such as the recent social media post featuring the Obamas as monkeys, to be a dealbreaker.

Brian was very interesting because, while he knew he could not tolerate Trump, he was also quite forthright about the negative tradeoffs in voting for Democrats. When I asked him, as a business owner, about Virginia’s new governor, Abigail Spanberger, his response was telling.

‘I voted for her,’ Brian told me. ‘Part of me wishes I hadn’t had to, but I did, given the alternative.’

The alternative here seemed to be Trump, not Spanberger’s actual opponent and former Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears, something that any Republican thinking of running by distancing themselves from Trump should consider. It probably won’t work anyway.

I pressed a bit on Spanberger, asking Brian if the wave of new taxes she supports worries him.

‘Absolutely it worries me,’ he said. ‘I’m a fiscal conservative. I have to balance my budget, and the government should too. But if the alternative is racism, then I have to reject that.’

Never mind that Sears is African-American. Brian was the perfect example of why Democrats focus so much on race and racial issues. For some voters, alleged racism on the president’s part will trump even their own policy beliefs and preferences and taint the party he rules.

This phenomenon can also look like fools gold to pollsters who see a voter with some conservative leanings who should be obtainable, but some, like Brian, just flat-out will never support Trump or the GOP so long as Trump leads it.

As Brian bluntly put it, ‘If it’s men in women’s sports or racism, I have to go with men in women’s sports.’

But it wasn’t all bad news for Trump in rural Virginia. Alice, who is in her 40s and works in real estate, thinks the Trump’s economic measures are starting to pay off.

‘I can just feel it,’ she told me. ‘Gas prices are low, more stuff is on sale at the grocery. That’s what we voted for.’

When I asked about Trump’s gruff manner, the one that bothered Brian so much, she just said, ‘If you aren’t used to it by now, you’re not getting used to it.’

Others, like Peter, in his 70s and retired, are feeling a real political fatigue. Apathy is the wrong word, but perhaps frustration fits.

‘Today, it’s like who you vote for is your whole identity,’ he said. ‘But I can’t fall out of a tree every time Donald Trump opens his mouth.

On Friday afternoon, a small protest of mostly older White people was gathered on a street corner in pretty-as-a-picture Lexington. Annette, the leader and spokesperson, was handing out cookies. Unlike their peers in Minneapolis, they were happy to talk with the press.

‘This is what we feared all along,’ one man holding the Virginia state flag with its motto, ‘Sic Semper Tyrannis,’ told me of the Trump administration’s handling of Minneapolis. ‘It’s why we have been out here protesting for a year.’

Generally speaking, the huge shifts that pollsters are so ardently looking for appear to exist more in the world of numbers than that of flesh and blood, where it continues to be very rare to meet anyone who has changed their mind politically in the age of Trump.

No, the fear for Republicans today is not that Trump or the party are bleeding support. It’s that the Democrats on the ground seem far more motivated to stop Trump than the Republican voters are to reward slow and steady progress.

Importantly, there does not appear to be anything that Trump could do, any position he could soften, be it on immigration enforcement, tariffs or his own rhetoric, that will sway the third of voters who just detest the man. But both Trump and the party have proven they can win without them.

From now until the midterm, we will be in the field with our ear on the ground, listening to the things that voters never tell the pollsters. And if Lexington is any indication, this is still anybody’s ballgame.

North Korean authorities executed teenagers for watching the South Korean television series ‘Squid Game’ and listening to K-pop, human rights researchers announced in early February.

Amnesty International cited testimony from an escapee with family ties in Yanggang Province who said people, including schoolchildren, were executed for specifically watching the popular survival drama series.

It also separately documented accounts of forced labor sentences and public humiliation for consuming South Korean media elsewhere in the country, particularly for those without money or political connections.

‘Usually when high school students are caught, if their family has money, they just get warnings,’ said Kim Joonsik, 28, who was caught watching South Korean dramas three times before leaving the country in 2019.

‘I didn’t receive legal punishment because we had connections,’ he told Amnesty International in an interview.

Joonsik said three of his sisters’ high school friends were given multi-year labor camp sentences in the late 2010s after being caught watching South Korean dramas, a punishment he said reflected their families’ inability to pay bribes.

‘The authorities criminalize access to information in violation of international law, then allow officials to profit off those fearing punishment. This is repression layered with corruption, and it most devastates those without wealth or connections,’ said Sarah Brooks, Amnesty International’s deputy regional director.

‘This government’s fear of information has effectively placed the entire population in an ideological cage, suffocating their access to the views and thoughts of other human beings,’ she added. ‘People who strive to learn more about the world outside North Korea, or seek simple entertainment from overseas, face the harshest of punishments.’

Several defectors told the human rights organization that they were required to witness public executions while still in school, describing the practice as a form of state-mandated indoctrination designed to deter exposure to foreign culture.

‘When we were 16, 17, in middle school, they took us to executions and showed us everything,’ said Kim Eunju, 40. ‘People were executed for watching or distributing South Korean media. It’s ideological education: if you watch, this happens to you too.’

Secretary of War Pete Hegseth has his ‘Arsenal of Freedom Tour’ in full swing, visiting the nuclear submarine production floor at Newport News, Virginia and Blue Origin’s space launch at Cape Canaveral Florida. His goal: restore American industrial prowess and secure freedom for generations to come.

You’ll never guess which program is moving fastest of all: it’s the Army’s new M1E3 Abrams tank.

Get this: the M1E3 Abrams is five years ahead of schedule. Yes, five years. And it’s a hybrid.

While Golden Dome missile defense, the battleship design and other programs are on the drawing board, the Army has accelerated the M1E3 Abrams to wartime pace.

Credit Army Chief of Staff General Randy George and Secretary of the Army Dan Driscoll. It’s part of their push to accelerate top programs like the MV-75 air assault tilt-rotor plane. In the case of the tank, the Army had been studying upgrades and watching the Ukraine war. George and his science adviser Dr. Alex Miller were told they would not see the tank until 2032. ‘We said no,’ Miller recalled.

The result: the M1E3 prototype rolled out at the Detroit Auto Show in January. The first platoon of the M1E3 will be ready for testing by soldiers in 2028.

As seen in Detroit, the new M1E3 is a sleek change from earlier Abrams models. Gone is the top turret position. Now the three-man crew side by side in the hull where armor is strongest. External cameras, sensors, heat-detecting thermal sights, and laser-range finders feed into gaming-inspired cockpit displays. Their remote? It’s not for changing channels. An M1E3 tank crew can remotely fire Javelin anti-tank missile with a 2.5-mile range and a range of other weapons, including loitering munitions.

Here are five killer attributes of the M1E3 Abrams.

• Formula One Cockpit. The M1E3 tank has a driver interface that ‘looks like an Xbox controller,’ said George. Just as important, the tank uses a modular, ‘plug-and-play’ open systems software backbone. Soldiers can plug in new apps and upgrade it in at a point in the vehicle software where all the things that make the vehicle run are protected.
• Quiet mode. It’s a hybrid. No, the Army isn’t going eco-friendly. The M1E3 will have a Caterpillar diesel engine and a SAPA transmission that allows it to switch into electric mode. The hybrid electric drive is all about silent stalking. Iraqis facing the Abrams in 1991 called it Whispering Death, but the new Abrams takes the silent mode into a new realm when the tank is running on electric. Add in heat signature reduction and electronic jammers. This is not eco-mode. It’s whispering death. Iraqi soldiers reportedly feared the quiet killing power of the Abrams in 1991 Gulf War; the new Abrams takes silent lethality to a new level.

• Active Protection. Shoot at an Abrams and ‘active protection’ will detect, target and obliterate you. This is the Army’s term for a system that can sort out a whole range of incoming threats, from recoilless rifles to anti-tank guided missiles, rockets, tank rounds and rocket-propelled grenades.  And of course, drones. The best part is the detection system nails the location of the enemy shooter. So, the Abrams crew can destroy it.
• Reactive Armor. Already an Abrams standard, tiles fitted on the tank hull prevent penetration by RPGs and deflect blast downward or outwards, depending on the tactical situation. The Army really doesn’t like to talk about this secretive system, but guarantee you, the M1E3 will improve on it.

• Great Guns.  With lessons drawn from the Ukraine battlefield, a .30-mm chain gun replaces both the .50-caliber and the loader’s gun. The .30-mm can hit light-armor vehicles like the Russian BMP. It can also chew up drones. Remember remote control permits the crew to fire without popping the hatch.

By the way, this is a tank on a diet. Older Abrams models weigh close to 80 tons. Expect the M1E3 to weigh in at about 60 tons, after shedding top turret armor. Lighter weight yields about 40% greater fuel efficiency. It also allows the M1E3 tank to access 30% more bridge crossings in Poland and other NATO Eastern front-line countries facing Russia.

Why a new tank? To deter Russia. The Ukraine war could stop tomorrow, and Putin’s Russia would still be a long-term threat. Russia has lost over 3,000 tanks in Ukraine but can still produce 1,500 tanks per year, according to former NATO Supreme Allied Commander General Christopher Cavoli.

In the end, it is the tank that deters the taking of territory. Just ask the soldiers of the 3rd Battalion, 66th Armored Regiment, 1st Armored Brigade Combat Team, who wrapped up an armored live-fire exercise in Poland during Operation Winter Falcon last month. Polish and U.S. forces fired their M1A2 Abrams tanks side by side. ‘We train to be ready for anything that might happen in the future … you’ve [got to] do that in the place you may have to defend,’ said U.S. Army Col. Matthew Kelley, Commander, 1st Armored Brigade Combat Team.

Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard denied any wrongdoing on Saturday as Democrats question why a whistleblower complaint filed against her last May took nearly a year before it was referred to Congress.

‘[Virginia Democrat] Senator Mark Warner and his friends in the Propaganda Media have repeatedly lied to the American people that I or the ODNI ‘hid’ a whistleblower complaint in a safe for eight months,’ Gabbard wrote in a lengthy X post on Saturday. ‘This is a blatant lie.’

She continued, ‘I am not now, nor have I ever been, in possession or control of the Whistleblower’s complaint, so I obviously could not have ‘hidden’ it in a safe. Biden-era IC Inspector General Tamara Johnson was in possession of and responsible for securing the complaint for months.’

The highly classified complaint by a U.S. intelligence official alleging wrongdoing on the part of Gabbard was filed eight months ago with the intelligence community’s watchdog office and was first reported on by the Wall Street Journal.

The complaint has been locked in a safe since its filing, according to the Journal, with one U.S. official telling the newspaper that the disclosure of its contents could cause ‘grave damage to national security.’

The whistleblower’s lawyer has accused Gabbard’s office of slow-walking the complaint, which her office has denied, calling it ‘baseless and politically motivated.’ 

Meanwhile, Democrats are also questioning why it took her office so long to hand the complaint over to Congress.

‘The law is clear,’ Warner, the senior Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, said Thursday, according to NPR, adding that the complaint was required to be sent to Congress within 21 days of its filing. ‘I think it was an effort to try to bury this whistleblower complaint.’

Neither the contents of the complaint nor the allegations against Gabbard have been revealed.

Gabbard wrote on Saturday that the first time she saw the complaint was ‘when I had to review it to provide guidance on how it should be securely shared with Congress.’

‘As Vice Chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee, Senator Warner knows very well that whistleblower complaints that contain highly classified and compartmented intelligence—even if they contain baseless allegations like this one—must be secured in a safe, which the Biden-era Inspector General Tamara Johnson did and her successor, Inspector General Chris Fox, continued to do,’ she continued. ‘After IC Inspector General Fox hand-delivered the complaint to the Gang of 8, the complaint was returned to a safe where it remains, consistent with any information of such sensitivity.’

She claimed that either ‘Warner knows these facts and is intentionally lying to the American people, or he doesn’t have a clue how these things work and is therefore not qualified to be in the U.S. Senate.’

Gabbard further wrote that ‘When a complaint is not found to be credible, there is no timeline under the law for the provision of security guidance. The ‘21 day’ requirement that Senator Warner alleges I did not comply with, only applies when a complaint is determined by the Inspector General to be both urgent AND apparently credible. That was NOT the case here.’

An inspector general representative said that it had determined some of the allegations in the complaint against Gabbard weren’t credible, while it hasn’t made a determination on others, according to the Journal.

Gabbard said she was made aware that she needed to provide security guidance on the complaint by IC Inspector General Chris Fox on Dec. 4, ‘which he detailed in his letter to Congress.’

Afterward, she said she ‘took immediate action to provide the security guidance to the Intelligence Community Inspector General, who then shared the complaint and referenced intelligence with relevant members of Congress last week.’

In closing her post, Gabbard once again accused Warner of spreading ‘lies and baseless accusations over the months for political gain,’ which she said ‘undermines our national security and is a disservice to the American people and the Intelligence Community.’

Warner’s office told Fox News Digital Gabbard’s post was an ‘inaccurate attack that’s entirely on brand for someone who has already and repeatedly proven she’s unqualified to serve as DNI.’ 

Republicans on the House and Senate intelligence committees have backed up Gabbard, with Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., writing on X on Thursday: ‘I have reviewed this ‘whistleblower’ complaint and the inspector general handling of it. I agree with both inspectors general who have evaluated the matter: the complaint is not credible and the inspectors general and the DNI took the necessary steps to ensure the material has handled and transmitted appropriately in accordance with law.’

He addded, ‘To be frank, it seems like just another effort by the president’s critics in and out of government to undermine policies that they don’t like; it’s definitely not credible allegations of waste, fraud, or abuse.’

Gabbard’s office did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.

Russia said it plans to ‘interrogate’ two suspects in the attempted assassination of a top military intelligence official who was ambushed in Moscow on Friday, according to a Russian newspaper.

The Russian newspaper Kommersant reported that two suspects in the shooting of Lt. Gen. Vladimir Alekseyev ‘will soon be interrogated,’ citing a source close to the investigation.

After questioning, the suspects are expected to be charged, the report said, according to Reuters. 

Alekseyev, the deputy head of Russia’s GRU military intelligence agency, was shot three times in his Moscow apartment building on Friday and rushed to a hospital.

The Associated Press reported that the business daily Kommersant said the shooter posed as a delivery person and shot Alekseyev twice in the stairway of his apartment building, injuring him in the foot and arm. Alekseyev allegedly attempted to wrest the weapon away and was shot again in the chest before the attacker fled, the report said.

Kommersant reported that Alekseyev underwent successful surgery and regained consciousness Saturday but remained under medical supervision.

Russian news outlet TASS reported that the surgery was successful and that Alekseyev’s injuries were not life-threatening.

The outlet reported that the Investigative Committee launched a criminal investigation on charges of attempted murder and illicit trafficking in firearms.

Russian foreign minister Sergey Lavrov accused Ukraine of being behind the assassination attempt, alleging — without providing evidence — that it was intended to sabotage peace talks. Ukraine denied any involvement.

Alekseyev, 64, has been under U.S. sanctions over alleged Russian cyber interference in the 2016 U.S. presidential election. The European Union also sanctioned him over the 2018 poisoning of former Russian intelligence officer Sergei Skripal and his daughter in Salisbury, England.

The assassination attempt came as President Donald Trump’s administration has been seeking to help broker peace between Russia and Ukraine.

The warring nations agreed to a prisoner swap this week, according to readouts posted on X by U.S. special presidential envoy for peace missions Steve Witkoff and Ukraine’s national security and defense council minister Rustem Umerov.

Fox News’ Alex Nitzberg and Reuters contributed to this report.

The indirect nuclear talks between the U.S. and Iran mediated by Oman were ‘very good,’ according to President Donald Trump.

‘Iran looks like it wants to make a deal very badly. We’ll have to see what that deal is. But I think Iran looks like they want to make a deal very badly, as they should. Last time they decided maybe not to do it, but I think they probably feel differently,’ Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One on Friday.

The president added that the U.S. had a ‘big Armada’ heading towards Iran, something he has spoken about in the past.

When he was pressed on how long the U.S. would be willing to wait to make a deal with Iran, the president indicated some flexibility, saying that he believes the two nations can reach an agreement.

‘It can be reached. Well, we have to get in position. We have plenty of time. If you remember Venezuela, we waited around for a while, and we’re in no rush. We have very good [talks] with Iran,’ Trump said.

‘They know the consequences if they don’t make a deal. The consequences are very steep. So we’ll see what happens. But they had a very good meeting with a very high representative of Iran,’ the president added.

American and Iranian representatives held separate meetings with Omani officials on Friday amid flaring tensions between Washington and Tehran. Oman’s Foreign Ministry said that the meetings were ‘focused on preparing the appropriate conditions for resuming diplomatic and technical negotiations.’

On Friday, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said that indirect nuclear talks were ‘a good start’ and that there was a ‘consensus’ that the negotiations would continue.

‘After a long period without dialogue, our viewpoints were conveyed, and our concerns were expressed. Our interests, the rights of the Iranian people, and all matters that needed to be stated were presented in a very positive atmosphere, and the other side’s views were also heard,’ Araghchi said.

‘It was a good start, but its continuation depends on consultations in our respective capitals and deciding on how to proceed,’ he added.

While both sides expressed optimism about a possible deal, the U.S. moved to impose fresh sanctions on Iran after the talks. The State Department announced that the U.S. was sanctioning ’15 entities, two individuals and 14 shadow fleet vessels connected to the illicit trade in Iranian petroleum, petroleum products, and petrochemical products.’

‘Instead of investing in the welfare of its own people and crumbling infrastructure, the Iranian regime continues to fund destabilizing activities around the world and step up its repression inside Iran,’ the statement read.

‘So long as the Iranian regime attempts to evade sanctions and generate oil and petrochemical revenues to fund such oppressive behavior and support terrorist activities and proxies, the United States will act to hold both the Iranian regime and its partners accountable.’

The Iranian Foreign Ministry did not immediately respond to a Fox News Digital request for comment on the sanctions.

Ambassador Mike Waltz, the U.S. permanent representative to the United Nations, outlined the Trump administration’s ‘America First’-centered policies that he is adopting in a wide-ranging, exclusive interview with Fox News Digital, as the former national security advisor asserts himself in the role.

Waltz rejected claims that the present U.N. cash crisis was primarily a result of unpaid U.S. dues. ‘The United States pays to the U.N. system, more than 180 countries combined,’ noting, ‘We have historically been the largest supporter of the U.N., but under President Trump, we’re demanding reform.’

Waltz argued the organization has drifted from its founding mission. ‘There are times where the U.N. has been incredibly helpful to U.S. foreign policy and objectives, but there are also times where it’s working against us,’ he said. ‘It has become bloated, it has become duplicative, it has lost its way from its original founding.’

Waltz framed the approach as part of an ‘America First’ doctrine focused on accountability for taxpayer dollars and burden-sharing among member states, saying that Washington’s financial leverage is intended to force change. ‘When we give the U.N. some tough love … these are the American taxpayers’ hard-earned dollars,’ he said. ‘At the end of the day, we will get the American taxpayers’ money’s worth, so to speak, out of this organization.’

At the U.N. earlier this week, the secretary-general framed the crisis as a matter of unpaid obligations by member states. When asked what gives him confidence the United States will pay, he said, ‘The question is not one of confidence. Obligations are obligations. So in relation to obligations, it’s not a matter of having confidence. It’s a matter of obligations being met.’

The secretary-general’s spokesperson, in response to a Fox News Digital question, rejected the idea that the organization’s financial crisis stems from internal management and echoed that position, saying the funding situation is ‘very clear,’ pointing to the fact that some of the largest contributors have not paid, while arguing the secretary-general has been a ‘responsible steward’ of U.N. finances and has pursued management reform since the start of his tenure.

‘They just agreed to cut nearly 3,000 headquarters bureaucratic positions,’ Waltz said in their defense. ‘They agreed to the first-ever budget cut in U.N. history in 80 years, a 15% budget cut, and they’re cutting global peacekeeping forces by 25%.’

‘What’s interesting is, behind the scenes, a lot of people are saying thank you. This place needs to be better. President Trump is right. It’s not living up to its potential. We should ask ourselves, why isn’t the U.N. resolving things like border disputes with Cambodia and Thailand? Why aren’t they really driving the humanitarian catastrophe in Sudan to a resolution? That’s what the U.N. was built for. Thank God President Trump is, but he’s asking the question of why is he having to do all of this. Where’s the United Nations? So we’re determined here to help them live up to their reforms, live up to their mandate, live up to their mission.’

‘You have to have one place in the world where everyone can talk,’ he said. ‘The president is a president of peace. He puts diplomacy first.’

Asked whether U.N. leadership is doing enough to reform the world body, Waltz said Secretary-General António Guterres has begun moving in the right direction but should have acted sooner.

‘The secretary general has taken steps in the right direction. Frankly, I wish he had done it much sooner in a much more aggressive way,’ Waltz said.

He cited structural changes and consolidation efforts while arguing that measurable results must follow.

‘The U.N.’s budget has quadrupled in the last 25 years,’ Waltz said. ‘We haven’t seen a quadrupling of peace around the world. In fact, it’s gone the opposite direction.’

When asked if the administration’s Gaza peace framework and a mechanism known as the Board of Peace are alternatives to the U.N., Waltz said they are intended to complement the institution rather than replace it.

‘The president doesn’t intend the Board of Peace to replace the U.N., but he intends to drive a lot of these conflicts to conclusion,’ he said.

‘As part of the president’s 20-point peace plan was also the Board of Peace to actually implement it,’ he said.

He said the Board of Peace involves regional governments and is designed to create a stabilization structure on the ground. ‘The Egyptians are involved, Turkey’s involved, the Gulf Arabs, Jordan and importantly, the Israelis,’ he said. ‘We’re going to have a stabilization force, we’re going to have a funding mechanism for rebuilding humanitarian aid … and this Palestinian technocratic committee that can restore government services.’

Looking ahead, Waltz said the administration wants a narrower, more mission-driven U.N. focused on security, conflict resolution and economic development.

‘I see … a much more focused U.N. that we have taken back to the basics of promoting peace and security around the world,’ he said.

He also called for greater private sector involvement and less reliance on traditional aid structures. ‘This old model of NGOs and agencies going to governments and just saying, ‘More, more, more’ — it isn’t sustainable,’ he said. ‘If we’re driving environments in developing countries that welcome American businesses … we break that dependence on development aid and everyone benefits.’

Ultimately, Waltz framed his role as executing foreign policy vision. ‘I’m a vessel for the president’s vision,’ he said. ‘From my perspective, at the end of his administration, he looks at a U.N. that is leading in driving countries toward peaceful conclusions to conflicts around the world and asking for his help. That’s a much better dynamic than the president having to do it all and saying, ‘Where is the U.N. in these conflicts?’ And so we’re looking to very much flip that on its head, and we have a plan to do it.’

President Donald Trump on Thursday signed an executive order requiring the government to assess foreign weapons sales based on their impact on U.S. production capacity for key systems and to favor allies whose defense investments and strategic importance align with U.S. national security priorities.

Under the order, obtained first by Fox News Digital, the Departments of War, State and Commerce are instructed to ensure that U.S. arms transfers support weapons systems deemed most operationally relevant to the National Security Strategy, reinforce critical supply chains, and prioritize partners that have invested in their own defense and occupy strategically important regions.

The administration argues that past arms transfer policy allowed foreign demand to shape U.S. production decisions, contributing to backlogs, cost overruns and delivery delays that left both the U.S. military and its allies waiting years for critical equipment.

‘The America First Arms Transfer Strategy will now leverage over $300 billion in annual defense sales to strategically reindustrialize the United States and rapidly deliver American-manufactured weapons to help our partners and allies establish deterrence and defend themselves,’ according to a White House fact sheet.

A central goal of the order is to speed up a foreign military sales process that defense officials and industry leaders have long criticized as slow and overly bureaucratic. The order directs federal agencies to identify ways to streamline enhanced end-use monitoring requirements, third-party transfer approvals and the congressional notification process — steps the administration says have contributed to years-long delays in delivering U.S. weapons overseas.

The order also creates a new Promoting American Military Sales Task Force charged with overseeing implementation of the strategy and tracking major defense sales across the government. In a move aimed at increasing accountability, the administration says agencies will be required to publish aggregate quarterly performance metrics showing how quickly defense sales cases are being executed.

 The strategy also signals a shift in how the United States prioritizes its partners. The order directs the government to favor countries that have invested in their own defense and occupy strategically important regions, effectively tying arms sales decisions more closely to U.S. military planning and geographic priorities.

Other partners could face longer timelines or lower priority if their requests do not align with U.S. strategic or industrial objectives. While the order does not name specific countries, it reflects an effort to focus limited U.S. production capacity on allies viewed as most critical to executing the National Security Strategy.

The order also instructs the War, State and Commerce departments to ‘find efficiencies in the Enhanced End Use Monitoring criteria, the Third-Party Transfer process, and the Congressional Notification process.’

Congress will likely be watching how the administration implements the order, especially provisions aimed at speeding both oversight of U.S. weapons once they are sold abroad and the process for notifying lawmakers about major arms deals. Lawmakers have argued those steps help prevent misuse of U.S. weapons, even as they have criticized delays that slow deliveries to allies.

The order follows a series of recent defense-related executive actions taken by Trump. In January 2026, he signed an order directing defense contractors to prioritize production capacity, innovation and on-time delivery over stock buybacks and other corporate distributions.

That built on an April 2025 order aimed at improving speed and accountability in the foreign military sales system, as well as a January 2025 order focused on modernizing defense acquisitions and reducing red tape across the defense industrial base.