attention to achieving cease-fire agreements between the regime and opposition forces. and it is through that political process that we believe the syrian people will ultimate matly be able to decide the fate of assad. both secretary tillerson and ambassador haley are right about that. when we really need to do and what everyone in this conflict needs to do is everything they can to resolve this civil war. let s bring in our panel. political analyst, kirsten powers. former assistant secretary of state for political and military affairs and robin wright, a fellow at the woodrow international center. general mcmaster, the nsational security adviser says they are both right even though they re stressing different parts. the trump administration s big flip flop on any policy was
against isis, conclude that and it is going quite well, then we hope to turn our attention to achieving cease-fire agreements between the regime and opposition forces. regime change is something that we think is going to happen because all of the parties are going to see that assad s not the leader that needs to be taking place for syria. h.r. mcmaster will tell you what secretary tillerson said and what ambassador haley said are the same thing. it doesn t sound that way you l listen to them. you ve seen tillerson and mcmaster take a more cautious approach to assad and nikki haley has gone further. the president himself has been asked this question and has not said specifically assad must go, so they re leaving themselves some room for negotiation on a political resolution. we ve also even seen some differences in terms of whether
now, though, top administration officials seeming to disagree on whether that position has changed. in no way do we see peace in that area with russia covering up for assad. in no way do we see peace in that area with assad as the head of the syrian government. once we can eliminate the battle against isis, conclude that, and it is going quite well, then we hope to turn our attention to achieving cease-fire agreements. it is through that political process that we believe the syrian people will ultimately be able to decide the fate of bashar al assad. and now u.s. ambassador to the united nations nikki haley saying no two ways about it, assad has to go. secretary of state rex tillerson seeming to stick to the old line, let s leave it up to the syrians. today, white house press secretary sean spicer being asked, where does the president stand on all of this? i don t think those are mutually exclusive statements because i don t think i think that you can one of them
that nato is fundamental to countering russian aggression. he gave a very strong message stressing that the united states is together with ukraine in fighting the russian aggression. reporter: ukraine s foreign minister also said tillerson promised the united states would maintain sanctions against russia until it honors cease-fire agreements in ukraine. nato leaders also discussed counter terrorism and fighting isis. there are still questions over formulating strategy like whether the trump administration will look to work with russia on trying to fight isis and what the future of syria may be and whether syrian president ba shower al assad will be a part of it. chris? chris: rich edson reporting live from brussels. rich, thank you. iran is still the top threat to stability in the middle east. that s the word from president trump s defense secretary. pentagon producer lucas tomlinson tells us what else jim mattis is saying. despite the ongoing battle against isis and al
that nato is fundamental to countering russian aggression. he gave a very strong message stressing that the united states is together with ukraine in fighting the russian aggression. reporter: ukraine s foreign minister also said tillerson promised the united states would maintain sanctions against russia until it honors cease-fire agreements in ukraine. nato leaders also discussed counter terrorism and fighting isis. there are still questions over formulating strategy like whether the trump administration will look to work with russia on trying to fight isis and what the future of syria may be and whether syrian president ba shower al assad will be a part of it. chris? chris: rich edson reporting live from brussels. rich, thank you. iran is still the top threat to stability in the middle east. that s the word from president trump s defense secretary. pentagon producer lucas tomlinson tells us what else jim mattis is saying. despite the ongoing battle against isis and al