Landau made the remarks on the 9th (local time) during a panel hosted by the Atlantic Council, saying, “We are working toward a durable and effective ceasefire.”
His comments were widely understood to refer to Israel’s strikes against Hezbollah, the Lebanese proxy of Iran.
On the 7th, the U.S. and Iran agreed to a two-week ceasefire and to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, but they remain at odds over who the truce should include.
The U.S. and Israel maintain that Lebanon is not covered by the ceasefire, while Iran has warned it will not allow the Strait of Hormuz to reopen if attacks on Lebanon continue.
“We are negotiating with Iran even now to finalize the scope of the ceasefire,” Landau said.
He added that the U.S. believes it has effectively achieved the military objectives it set at the start of the campaign.
Landau warned that Iran has targeted many U.S. commercial interests in the region, citing data centers — including those operated by Amazon — as examples.
He said Iran understands that private-sector activity helps stabilize many Gulf states, and that is why it treats those facilities as military targets.
On the panel titled “commercial diplomacy,” Landau said the effort rests on three pillars: expanding export markets for U.S. firms, increasing U.S. outbound investment, and attracting foreign direct investment into the United States.
He noted that foreign direct investment into the U.S. does not apply uniformly to all countries, but it clearly includes major partners with substantial capital — for example, Japan, South Korea and some European states.
Analysts say his remarks likely referenced commitments or ongoing large-scale investments into the U.S. by South Korea, Japan and the European Union tied to tariff negotiations.
Landau criticized U.S. foreign policy for having focused too heavily on Europe and Asia and urged a shift to prioritize countering China’s growing influence in the Western Hemisphere and the Global South.
“U.S. diplomacy used to insist on looking good in London, Berlin and Paris,” he said. “That era is over.”
He added that since taking office he has visited Latin America three or four times and Pacific island nations twice, while traveling to Europe only once, and argued that Europe should no longer be the top priority for U.S. diplomacy.
