Former State Department Official Puts Right-Wing Blowhard In His Place On CNN

By Heather — July 19, 2026

Former Obama Senior Director for Cabinet Affairs and State Department official Nayyera Haq finally had enough of right-wing yakker Noah Rothman's interruptions during a panel discussion on CNN's Newsnight this Friday.

I would love for someone to explain to me why Rothman, who has pretty much been nothing but a talking head and right-wing pundit for his entire adult life is qualified to debate the likes of Haq and someone with her resume in the first place, but here we are.

Rothman was asked by guest host Sara Sidner what he though about this quagmire we're in with Iran, and after lots of bluster from Rothman repeating Trump's talking points about their nuclear program supposedly being obliterated, Haq attempted to inject some reality into the conversation, only to be constantly interrupted and talked over by Rothman.

She finally put him in his place and shut him up.

SIDNER: Are you worried that when you're looking at what's happening since we are back at it again, and this is always going to be complicated, and I think everyone, you look at history, knew that that would be the case.

When you look at this, are we in a quagmire? Are you worried about a very long, drawn-out war? Or do you think there is some chance that there's going to be a peace negotiation that starts again because of all of these strikes?

ROTHMAN: Oh, I think there will be a peace negotiation that starts again. I don't know what drawn-out means. I don't know what the time scale is on this. I'm pleased to see the president resume high-tempo combat operations. Tonight is the seventh night of hundreds of sorties that were flying on a daily basis.

And the Iranian regime's saying, well, you just do this one more time, and we're going to execute this regional attack strategy. What you waiting on? If they had the capability, they'd execute it.

One of the things that we've been doing is interdicting these missile sites' drone capabilities, what have you, interfering with their capacity to execute offensive operations.

One of the fears, I think, was that Iran, with the resumption of hostilities, would execute big strikes on desalinization plants, energy infrastructure, oil infrastructure around the Gulf, bring everything back to zero, enforce this, make the market negotiate on Iran's behalf.

If it could do that, it would do that. It's lost a lot of that capability. We're gradually taking it away in the strait, which is the final linchpin. We're not talking about the nuclear program anymore.

You want to talk about how much damage we've absorbed. A $500 billion nuclear program is no more. That's a generational investment that can't just be recouped tomorrow. We lost a couple of drones..

HAQ: There is...

ROTHMAN: ... but there is no comparison between the damage...

HAQ: Three F-15s, and there is is nothing, no evidence to indicate that the nuclear program has been demolished. The Fordo attack, there was actually no evidence it that it resulted in eliminating Iran's capability to come back with a nuclear weapon.

ROTHMAN: There's an absurd amount of evidence.

HAQ: And in fact, there is...

ROTHMAN: If you knew anything about cascading centrifuges, you don't just reassemble.

HAQ: My friend, I worked in the United Nations under this, in the US government as a diplomat ...

ROTHMAN: Which is why I know you know what I'm talking about.

HAQ:... on the Iran nuclear deal. And so I understand the intricacies and I also understand intimately what happened when Trump unilaterally pulled out of that. The deal collapsed.

And then come around this time in this round of negotiation, it's not even a deal. He signed a memorandum of understanding that gave away the farm to Iran in terms of assets and money, and there was not a single thing...

ROTHMAN: So you're happy that that collapsed?

HAQ: ...and there's not a single thing...

ROTHMAN: I am.

HAQ: ... in there that said anything about Iran's nuclear program. So I agree with you. The Iran nuclear program is not even a talking point...

ROTHMAN: Because it's in ruins.

HAQ: ... anymore.

ROTHMAN: There's very little to negotiate over... (CROSSTALK)

HAQ: Their highly enriched Iranian was likely moved out to Russia because the United States did not actually have eyes on the ground and any follow through plan.

ROTHMAN: Wait a minute.

HAQ: Here's a challenge that we've had.

ROTHMAN: No, no, no, wait a minute. You said the HGU was moved to Russia and you just praised the JCPOA. That's what the JCPOA did.

HAQ: Are you going to allow me to finish the sentence tonight?

ROTHMAN: I'm just clarifying your point.

HAQ: Are you going to allow me to finish the sentence? Thank you.

So we do not have evidence that Iran's nuclear program has been destroyed or eliminated. They're thinking the research and the capabilities are still intact.

Trump has actually not been following that line of thinking either in all of the targeted attacks in any of the discussions, nuclear is not on the table right now, right?

So what is the end game for the Trump administration? What we heard it was not to do forever wars, and that the closer that we got to the midterm elections, all sorts of Republicans and Trump administration officials said, oh no, this will be done in two days. This will be done in a week.

It is not only not done, it has resumed, so the high-tempo combat operations have serious implications, not only for the American economy, but for our men and women who are operating now in the Middle East on war footing with a war that has not actively been approved by the American public or Congress.