Haley: No Political Solution Until Assad Is Out

A Syrian regime will happen because "all of the parties are going to see that [Bashar al-]Assad is not the leader" the war-torn nation needs – but his ouster isn't the only U.S. priority, says Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley.

In an interview to air Sunday on CNN's "State of the Union," Haley said until Assad is out, "there's not any sort of option where a political solution is going to happen."

"It just – if you look at his actions, if you look at the situation, it's going to be hard to see a government that's peaceful and stable with Assad," she said in remarks that were released ahead of the broadcast. 

"If he needs to do more, he will do more," Haley said when asked if President Donald Trump would order more strikes. "So, really, now what happens depends on how everyone responds to what happened in Syria, and make sure that we start moving towards a political solution, and we start finding peace in that area."

Though confident there will be a regime change, Haley said the United States has "multiple priorities."

Haley also said that as the state that agreed to take responsibility for overseeing chemical weapons in Syria, Russia has some explaining to do.

"Russia needs provide answers... Russia has got to tell us which one it is: Either they knew that there were chemical weapons and they knew there was going to be chemical weapons used and they just hid it from the international community, or they are being played for fools by Assad by him having chemical weapons and they are just in the dark and they don't know anything about it." 

Haley continued by saying "Russia was the one that took the charge and said they were going to make sure there were no chemical weapons. And that no chemical weapons would be used. So they now have to answer for this....There's a lot of answers that need to come from Russia. It's good that Secretary of State [Rex] Tillerson is going to Russia this next week. There will be a lot of answers coming out of that meeting."

The Trump administration's focus is clear. "So what we're trying to do is obviously defeat ISIS," she said. "Secondly, we don't see a peaceful Syria with Assad in there. Thirdly, get the Iranian influence out, and then, finally, move towards a political solution, because at the end of the day, this is a complicated situation."

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