Good Sunday morning. Today marks 100 days since the United States launched the first strikes against Iran. Midterm pressures are growing with no clear end to the war in sight. On Friday, President Trump took his case to rural voters in Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin. At the invitation of the White House, we joined him at Kuster Farms and had a wide-ranging interview that was unfortunately interrupted multiple times by the stormy weather overhead.
President Trump, welcome back to Meet the Press.
Thank you so much for being here. We are going to talk about your visit, why you're here in Wisconsin. But I'd like to start off by talking about the major issue that you are focused on every day, which is Iran. Sunday will mark 100 days since the first strikes. Your Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, said that the war had concluded, and yet just this week, Iran attacked US allies in the region, calling it retaliation for a set of US air strikes. Is the United States at war with Iran?
Well, they've been largely decapitated and I call it a military exercise because people would rather have it called that. It's not a big war for us. It's not. We have the most powerful military in the world. I built it. Frankly, I built it in my first four years and I'm using it a little bit in my second four years. Their navy is gone, their air force is gone, their anti-aircraft is gone. They might have built it up a little bit over the last four weeks of doing this little ceasefire that we did at the request of some very good people, very very fine people from actually from numerous places as you know. There are a lot of people involved, but from Pakistan in particular, the field marshal and the prime minister. We're very close to having a deal and if we don't have a deal we'll do it one way or the other. Either way we win.
I do want to talk about the terms of any potential deal in just a moment, but let me just follow up with you. You did post on social media just this week, 'My final negotiations to end the war with the Islamic Republic of Iran.' There is a naval blockade in place, which technically is an act of war under international law. So, is this a war as long as there's a naval blockade in place?
Well, we have a blockade. It's been extremely effective and the reason we have it is they tried to blockade and now we blockaded them. As you know, they're losing 4 to 500 million dollars a day. It's not sustainable for them. They have an economy that's shot in addition to everything else. Their leaders are gone. Their generals are gone. Their first tier and second tier are gone. Much of their third tier is gone. But they put up a blockade and so we blockaded them and we have the ultimate blockade. I don't consider that a war, but if you want to define it as such, I guess you can.
Well, how do you define it?
I don't define it at all. I don't think about it. I just do what I have to do.
But if you're not specifically calling it a war, would you consider sending some of the troops who are stationed there who were sent because of Operation Epic Fury home? Would you consider sending them home if it's not technically a war?
We don't need as many troops. I think you just like to err on the side of caution. We have a lot of people there. They're very safe. You know, if you think we beat Venezuela, we lost nobody. We took over the whole country. We lost nobody. We have a great relationship, by the way, with Venezuela. Venezuela is doing very well, but we lost nobody. We've lost 13 people here, and that's a lot. 13 people, too many. But if you look at Vietnam, where hundreds of thousands of people were killed. If you look at any one of the last seven or eight wars where many many people were killed, we lost 13. And again, 13 is too many. I don't want to lose any, but 13 is less than anybody's ever even envisioned. I think we're doing a great job.
But so are you saying you would consider sending some of the troops home, sir? Some of the 50,000 troops who were sent there as a part of Operation Epic Fury?
It cost us very little to keep them there. I don't consider them in danger. We have the best defense anyone's ever seen. We have the best offense anyone's ever seen. So, I don't consider danger. I would say it would be foolhardy to do that because maybe we may use them. It's unlikely, but I think we'll keep them there until such time as we have a completion. And when we have a completion, you will see things like you've never seen. The oil will go down. The stock market already, as you know, it's hit an all-time high. Even in the midst of it, it hit all-time highs. We had 73 all-time highs in a short period of time that I've been in office, which is a record, by the way. And we're doing very well. But the main thing is we cannot let Iran have a nuclear weapon. Can't do it. And we won't do it.
Yeah. You just referenced the 13 Americans who were killed. And I want to know what your red line is. What would trigger you to restart military action? Would it be Iran killing more American citizens?
Well, certainly that would be something that I would think about very seriously, but my red line would be if I think I wasn't going to make a deal or if I wasn't going to make a deal fast enough. So, we're having very good negotiations with the people that are leading the country now. It's the third group that we've been dealing with and they are different and you could say it's regime change actually because these are very different people. I find them to be more rational, very smart.
Who is that? Who's leading?
Well, I don't want to go into names but you know who they are. I mean they're leaders. They're respected, respected by the people that have to respect them. They are calling the shots. We know that because we see it through various tests that we've given. It's a little bit strange because you have leaders that have been there for a long time and they get wiped out. Then you have leaders that you also know the second tier and they get wiped out. All of a sudden we're dealing with different people. But no, I think that we'll either have something done fairly quickly or we'll finish it out militarily.
Are you talking about the son of the supreme leader? He has not been seen in public. What is his status? Have you talked to him directly?
Well, he's a part of it. I do believe they have great respect for him. I see it. I mean, they want to get his concurrence. They've said to me, they've said to others that they're looking for approval and he is part of the approval process. Absolutely.
Have you spoken to him directly? You said you want to meet with him.
No, I have not. I would if he'd like to, but I have not spoken to him directly.
Yeah, they do pay homage to him. I would tell you if they didn't. They seem to, based on what I see, they seem to respect him a great deal.
Do you know where he is? Do you know how he is doing physically?
I don't want to say whether or not I know where he is, but there's a good probability that I do.
Okay. He is the son of the last Supreme Leader who was obviously a hardliner. Is this younger Khamenei any better for the United States than his father was?
Younger. I think more rational. Injured, he's pretty badly injured. So there's a certain bravery there. A lot of people if they were injured that badly they wouldn't be talking about how we're doing with the United States. They'd have other things on their mind. So there's a certain bravery there but he is very seriously injured. Yeah.
What is the status of talks exactly in this moment? How close are you to making a deal? Are we talking about days, weeks, months, Mr. President?
I think we're very close. We have a couple of points. They don't even seem like big points. They've conceded the fact that they will not have nuclear weapons. We had a clause in there that we will not develop nuclear weapons. And everybody was very happy with it except me. And I said, 'Well, what happens if they not develop, but they go out and purchase, they acquire?' I want to put the word if they buy or purchase or acquire. You know, you've got to have that in there, too, because that's not developing. So, they don't have the right to develop or purchase, acquire, or buy.
Have they pushed back against that? Is that one of the sticking points?
A little bit and then they didn't.
You have been saying for months, Mr. President, that Iran is begging to make a deal. They are so desperate to make a deal. Why haven't they made a deal with you yet?
Because it's a very hard thing for them. They've had great independence. They've dealt with very weak and ineffective leadership on behalf of the United States and other countries frankly that allowed them to get away with murder. And I think they can't believe they're in the situation where they've been virtually decapitated.
But if they're so desperate, Mr. President, why haven't they said yes to the terms you're proposing?
They're proud. There are things they never thought they'd be doing that they're going to have to do. They've got no choice. And it takes a little while. You know, you're talking about 47 years of getting away with whatever they wanted. I mean, this should have been done long ago. This should have been done by other presidents or other countries. Doesn't have to be us, other countries. But they were very close to having a nuclear weapon twice. That was when I terminated the Iran nuclear deal, which was a path. That deal, the JCPOA, that deal was tantamount to giving them a nuclear weapon. And it was a horrible deal given by Barack Obama and really penned by him. It was a horrible deal. It expired long ago. Had I not terminated it, it expired long ago. It was a short-term deal. It was a road to a nuclear weapon. They would have had a nuclear weapon 5 years ago.
But Mr. President, I'm curious because when you were campaigning, you said you would rip up the Iran nuclear deal, but negotiate a better deal. Why didn't you negotiate a better deal at the time? Because after it was ripped up, there weren't guardrails and they escalated their production of enriched uranium.
Excuse me. It takes years to do these things. These people have been fighting for 47 years. They've been killing Americans. They've been taken off their legs and their arm and their faces have been hurt so badly and so horribly. I'm moving very fast. I'm into three months. You know, Vietnam lasted 19 years. I'm into my third month. And all I do is say, 'Whoa, when are you going to win?' If I were a Democrat, nobody would be talking that way. But it doesn't matter to me. I've gotten so used to it. Look, we have totally destroyed their military. They have some missiles left. They have some drones left. They do. You know how many missiles?
They burn. Yes, exactly. How many?
I don't want to tell you.
Can you give me a ballpark?
They have some left. No, but I know almost to the number. And we know where they are, too. And we know where their drones are. And we know where their drone factories are. Most of the drone factories have been knocked out. Most of the launching pads have been knocked out. And most of the missile manufacturing areas have been knocked out. But they still have capacity. They have some missiles. They have some drones. I would say percentage-wise maybe 21, 22% of their missiles. It's a lot of missiles, but it's not what it was when we first attacked.
So you're saying they have 21, 22% of their missiles left?
Okay. Let's talk about what specifically you are demanding as a part of this short-term deal. Will the United States agree to a deal with Iran that doesn't explicitly and immediately give up its nuclear enrichment program on the front end?
Well, you know, depending on when you say immediately, look, it is buried under mountains because our B2s were incredible. The pilots of our B2s were unbelievable. And it's buried. They can't get it. The only two countries that could take it that have the equipment to take it. You have to understand three mountains have fallen in on them. Right? So you understand that because the fake news was going around saying, 'Oh, maybe they didn't hit their target.' 1:00 in the morning, pitch black, no moon, no nothing. And every one of those bombs went right down those chutes and blew up. They can't get it no matter what. I mean, they can get it, I guess, with years of work. But the only two countries that can get it are us and China because we're the only two with the equipment that's capable of doing that kind of work. And it would take weeks, weeks of digging. So the answer is yeah, we're going to do it immediately. We're going to start looking very quickly and we'll do it with them. If we make a deal, we'll do it with them.
No, no, we're going to do it with the Iranians.
So if we make a deal, that means we'll be friendly. We'll do it with the Iranians. If we don't make a deal, we may do it or we may just watch it. You know, we have cameras on it all over it. If anybody walked there, if you walked over there, I would be able to read your first name on your lapel. And these are cameras up in space. It's pretty amazing technology. Space Force, we have cameras all over the site. We know if anybody goes there, if anybody went there, any digging mechanism, any truck, any tractors, anything, anybody went there, we will take care of it.
Is that wind or what is that?
This would be the first of multiple interruptions due to the weather. Rain hitting the metal roof, making it difficult for both of us to hear each other. So, as we're having this conversation, we can hear a little bit of rain.
A lot of rain. Let me try to get a clear understanding of how the United States would get the nuclear material out. You've called it nuclear dust.
Will you and would you be open to sending in US forces to retrieve the nuclear stuff?
So, the official name is highly enriched uranium and I call it nuclear dust because it seems to be nice and everyone understands it better and it's sort of cute and people picked it up. But the way you do it is if we make a deal, if we make a deal that now we're friendly, we'll all go together. It'll be our equipment. We'll take it out and destroy it whether it's on site or whether we take it off site.
So, that would require US forces.
Well, that will require we will have a deal. We'll be friendly. In other words, we will have made a deal and we will be at peace and we will go with them or without them, but we won't have people shooting at us. Okay? Now, if we don't make a deal, then we're going to take them out militarily very harshly, and we'll wait till we do that before we go, in which case we'll have safety either way.
Mr. President, I wonder how long are you willing to give Iran to make a deal? How much longer? You've been talking for some time.
Well, you really haven't. You again, you were in Vietnam for 19 years. You were in Iraq for many years. You were in Korea for many, many years. You were in all the I won't even talk about World War II because that was the big one and we don't want to ever have that. But, you were in all these different wars for many years with thousands and thousands of people killed. We've had 13 people killed, which I hate. We've had 13 people killed and that includes two wars. That's Venezuela and that's Iran.
But do you have a cut off point?
But you keep talking about speed. Kristen, you were in Vietnam for 19 years. And you're telling me about three months? And in three months, I've demolished the Navy, the Air Force, anti-aircraft. They have no radar. They have no nothing. I demolished their leaders. Their leaders are gone. Do you know where all of Iran's nuclear material is?
Would you unfreeze any Iranian assets or lift any sanctions upfront as a part of any deal?
So that would come after?
Comes after. Yeah. If they behave over time. Yeah. Unlike Obama. Obama flew a Boeing 757, a plane I know very well. They took the seats out and they loaded it up with $1.7 billion dollars in cash from the banks in Maryland and Virginia and DC. They emptied out the banks and they gave them 1.7 in green and they gave them tens of billions of dollars. Just kept giving them money and it didn't work.
Would any again, Mr. President, you promised that you were going to negotiate a better deal. Do you wish you'd done it in your first term when you ripped it up before you ripped up?
No, they weren't ready. No, this is much better. This is much better. If I would have done it in my first term, Israel wouldn't have been ready. Hear that sound? That sound of thunder, lightning.
Is that going to interrupt, guys?
People will understand. We're in a farm.
That's true. Will any deal you make include the release of Americans who are being held by Iran?
Well, we talk about it and we'll see. Nobody really has an accurate list of who they are, what they are, or if they're being held, but if they're we've been talking about it. Nobody really has a list. You know that, right? You know, you're asking me about Nobody has a list.
But are you demanding a list? Are you demanding to know and saying they've got to give you a list?
You're supposed to give me the list. I mean, do you know people that we're talking about? If you give me the names, I'll do my best to get them out.
Well, I don't think that's been reported.
I don't think it's all of the people who've been held.
All I'm saying is this. If you have a list of names, give them to me and I will get them out.
But is it something you talk to them about?
We talk about people if they have them, but nobody knows who they are, just like you don't know who they are.
You have openly said you've been frustrated by Israel's continued bombing of Lebanon. Are you and Prime Minister Netanyahu on the same page?
Yeah, we are. We get along very well. We've been great comrades. We did a very big number on a certain country that was nothing but trouble for 47 years. I disagree with him on a couple of things. I'd like to see Lebanon have a better life. I'd like to see a more surgical attack on Hezbollah. I think it should be more surgical and we can help them with that or we can recommend Syria. Syria is doing a very good job of cleaning up their area. They have a very good leader. They have a leader that's really done a good job in a short period of time and he would love to help.
Are you demanding that Lebanon be a part of the short-term deal that you're negotiating?
I think they'd like to see it, but I'm not demanding.
Okay. I wonder if we should Let me just get a gut check here. Should we pause for five minutes and let this pass? I just want to be able to hear everything he said.
The rain did not stop, but neither did our interview. When we come back, President Trump on his promise to never start a new war.
I'd like to talk big picture now, Mr. President. One of your consistent campaign promises was no new wars going all the way back to 2015. Did you break that promise to the American people?
