It's not surprising that Hamas and other terrorist organizations came out against President Donald Trump's two-state solution to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, but the reaction from elsewhere has been "astounding," National Security Adviser Robert O'Brien said Wednesday.
"Yesterday was a very important day in the history of American diplomacy, especially diplomacy in the Middle East," O'Brien told Fox Business' Maria Bartiromo. "The president achieved something no other president has achieved. He got the Israelis to come together, and that is no mean feat."
The reception worldwide has been supportive, he continued, including among the United States' European allies, and statements from others in the Middle East, including Saudi Arabia.
"This is a tough process and there is a lot to go, but I know tough negotiations," said O'Brien. "We think we got off to a really great start."
Meanwhile, the Iranians always have threatened Israel, said O'Brien, but Israelis are able to defend themselves.
"As far as our campaign against Iran, the president has made it very clear after Baghdad, Iran will not get a nuclear weapon," said O'Brien. "We will do everything it takes to make sure that doesn't happen."
In addition, the Trump administration's maximum pressure campaign remains in place, said O'Brien, including with the sales of oil to China dropping from 3 million barrels a day down to 300,000 barrels daily, marking a "massive decrease."
"The Chinese enterprises, for the most part, are not buying oil from Iran," said O'Brien. "We made our displeasure known to Chinese authorities. We will take action to further squeeze off oil sales. Whether to China or any other (country), they are in violation of U.S. sanctions, and we will take the appropriate action."
He also spoke out about the UK's decision to allow Chinese telecom Huawei to have a small role in Britain's 5G systems.
"All the data on the cloud, if that comes down through Huawei, you are giving access of all data to China, whether your tax returns, your financial records, your medical records, your social media e-mail, all of that, the Chinese Communist Party has access to through Huawei," said O'Brien. "We think this is a very bad idea...to allow Huawei is to allow the fox in the chicken coop."
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
© 2023 Newsmax. All rights reserved.