Transcript: Face to Face with Ben Rhodes

Norah O'Donnell: Welcome to FACE to FACE, something we bring you on the Internet, put together by the people who put together Face the Nation. I'm Norah O'Donnell and we are joined by Ben Rhodes who is the Deputy National Security Adviser. Ben, thanks so much for joining us. Lot of hotspots to talk about, certainly, let's start with Syria. Is the U.S. running out of options there? What can we do next?

Ben Rhodes: Well I think Assad is running out of options. It's our assessment that he's lost control of his country, he has to go. So we're going to work with every country that will join us in pressuring him, increasing sanctions and supporting the Syrian people as they get rid of Assad and work to a better future where they have a democratic Syria that can be responsive to them.

Norah O'Donnell: Sanctions were not successful at the U.N. Now there's discussion of a Friends of Syria group. What does that group mean? What's it going to do?

Ben Rhodes: Well, what you would have is essentially the European countries who stood with us, the United States, the Arab League, Turkey and a group of countries would coordinate our actions to put sanctions on Assad to deny him the resources he needs to pressure Assad so that ultimately the balance tips in favor of the Syrian people.

Norah O'Donnell: Could that mean something similar like what we did in Libya?

Ben Rhodes: We had a military intervention in Libya with NATO but we also had a contact group, a group of countries that coordinated actions to isolate Qaddafi, to support the Libyan people, to help prepare for a transition to a post- Qaddafi Libya. Similarly in Syria, we could have a group of countries again - European countries who are with us, the Turks, the Arab League. Many countries around the world who have called for Assad to go who can come together and can work on coordinating sanctions, pressure mechanisms, denying Assad resources he needs to crack down on his people while also planning for a transition. What is a transition that allows Assad to step down, stop the violence, but plan for a democracy where the Syrian people can determine their future, the Syrian National Council, the opposition is organized, can consult with the international community to prepare for what we all want which is a post-Assad Syria.

Norah O'Donnell: But does that mean financial assistance and military assistance to this Syrian national group?

Ben Rhodes: I think what we would look at in the initial stages of this are: how can we deny Assad resources? Already we've seen him, again, had sanctions hit him really hard, cut off his ability to fund a crackdown. I think what we want to look at is, how can we coordinate a broader set of sanctions? So that many countries are choking off the Assad regime, denying him the re-supply he needs. At the same time, what type of potential humanitarian assistance could reach the Syrian people who need food, medicine, supplies like that. We have refugees going out of the country; we have a very dire situation in the country. I think when it comes to military support right now we don't think further militarizing the situation makes sense. So we're not talking about providing arms to groups within Syria. We're talking about providing political support, isolation of the Assad regime, potentially humanitarian assistance to Syrian people and all in the support of the international community saying Assad must go-- the Syrian people must determine their own future.

Norah O'Donnell: I want to turn to the issue of Iran. Iran's ambassador to Russia was in Moscow and he was quoted as saying Iran is capable of carrying out military strikes on U.S. interests all around the world if Iran is attacked. Do they have that kind of capability?

Ben Rhodes: I think the Iranians often bluster, often overstate their own capabilities. What we know is they're under more pressure than they've ever been under before. They're having sanctions that are really biting on the Iranian economy. We've now sanctioned their central bank. You have a coalition of countries around the world who have said they're in violation of their obligations on their nuclear program. And when Iran is pressured like that often you see statements asserting their own capabilities. What we're confident in is Iran is getting weaker, they're getting more isolated, their economy's getting pressured like never before because of sanctions and ultimately we want to see that pressure bring them back to the table and bring them back in line with their obligations of not pursuing nuclear weapons.

Norah O'Donnell: The president did an interview this week and he talked a little bit about Iran and so I want to ask you to just try and explain a little bit further what the president was talking about. He said that the United States has a very good estimate of when Iran could potentially achieve breakout capacity. Does he mean this year?

Ben Rhodes: What he was referring to is Iran has accumulated an amount of nuclear material that we're able to monitor. The International organization responsible for monitoring nuclear activity, the IAEA, is inside of Iran. They're able to go into the sites, so they're able to watch what Iran is doing with regards to their nuclear program. If Iran were to try to breakout and take their nuclear materials and build a weapon, we would see that. We would see them, again, engaging in activity to weaponize their nuclear capability. We haven't seen them do that yet, so the clock hasn't begun in some respect, in terms of them trying to weaponize the nuclear materials that they have. We are confident that we would see it if it took place. It would take a period of time, so we think there's time and space right now for there to be diplomacy that is rooted in the strong pressure that we put on the Iranian government.

Norah O'Donnell: The president had one of his Af-Pak meetings on Afghanistan and Pakistan. What happened in that meeting and did the president make any decisions?

Ben Rhodes: Well the president gets regular updates on Afghanistan and Pakistan. I think today's meeting focused on our relationship with Pakistan, how we're cooperating with them to root out militants along the border, to have a closer coordination with them along that border. Also our relationship with Afghanistan, what is the long-term partnership that we're building with the Afghan government and their security forces? What is the U.S. support for an Afghan-led reconciliation process so there could be a political settlement in line with our military pressure that we're putting on the Taliban? But also I think you're going to see increased activity by the president as we prepare for the NATO summit in Chicago this May. And at that summit leaders are going to come together and they're going to define the next phase of the transition whereby our troops are coming home and we're turning over responsibility for security to the Afghans.

Norah O'Donnell: Alright, Ben Rhodes. Who of course is the president's deputy national security adviser. Thank you and thanks to all for watching Face to Face and make sure you watch Face the Nation Sunday with Bob Schieffer.

Ben Rhodes is the brother of CBS News President David Rhodes.