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Donald Trump
45th and 47th U.S. President, US Executive Branch & The Trump Organization

President Trump speaks at G7 Summit in France

🎥 Jun 17, 2026 📺 FOX 29 Philadelphia ⏱ 189m 👁 3305 views
President Donald Trump is holding a press conference on Wednesday following the G7 Summit in France this week.
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About Donald Trump

President Trump attended the G7 summit in France in June 2026, where he held press conferences and bilateral meetings with world leaders including French President Emmanuel Macron and UAE President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan. Trump stated that on June 14 the U.S. reached a memorandum of understanding with Iran that he said would end the current conflict, reopen the Strait of Hormuz, and prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon. He described the agreement as a "wall against a nuclear weapon" and contrasted it with the previous JCPOA, which he called a "road to a nuclear weapon." Trump said the Strait of Hormuz was partially open and would be fully open by June 19, and he claimed oil prices were dropping and the stock market was rising as a result of the deal. He also said he had spoken with leaders of Qatar, UAE, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Kuwait, and Turkey about the agreement. During the summit, Trump also addressed other topics. He said he had conversations with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Russian President Vladimir Putin regarding the war in Ukraine, describing it as more difficult than expected. Trump discussed U.S. investment figures, stating that over $19 trillion was being invested in the United States. He commented on domestic issues including voter ID requirements, crime reduction in several U.S. cities, and the "Save America Act." Trump also referenced a UFC event held at the White House and joked with reporters about taking credit for the Iran deal or blaming Vice President JD Vance if it did not work out.

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Transcript (101 segments)
✨ AI-enhanced transcript with speaker attribution
D
Donald Trump17:20
It's with exceptions like for the military, sick, traveling, disabled. Very open and generous. We also want no men playing in women's sports. So we want no transgender mutilation of our children. None. Those are five things that are 99% — that's all we want. It's not a lot. The Save America Act can be passed any way they want to pass it. But I'm not going to sign FISA unless it's — and this was a rush act by the Democrats. All of a sudden they want to get, and why are they afraid of this guy? They're so afraid of him they'll do anything not to have him go in there. He's a very capable guy and they're worried about that.
R
Reporter18:07
Mr. President, Mr. President, Mr. President, the second — Yes, ma'am. Please, you said the deal, the Iran deal, the text is still being finalized. How confident are you that this Friday signing will happen?
D
Donald Trump18:18
You're talking about this one on the deal. Deals are amazing. I've done them all my life. I've gone into deals that were 100% and they don't happen. I've gone into deals where there is no chance of getting them done and they happen easily. So you never know with deals, do you? But you're going to find out pretty soon. I think it'll be done. They want to sign. They want to get back to a normal life. We hit them very hard. Don't forget, people talk about when this started — this didn't start three, four months ago. This started years ago when I took out Soleimani. That was a big event. There are those that say it was the biggest event in the Middle East in 50 years. So we took him out and they became a much different country. And then I terminated the JCPOA. That's Barack Hussein Obama's horrible deal that gave them a nuclear weapon. And I terminated it and stopped it. And I stopped it a second time with the B2 bombers. These are all major events in the history of the world in my opinion, because it prevented them from having a nuclear weapon. Now we're going to do it again and see how it works out. This is a memorandum of understanding, but it's a very strong one. It's not just a two-paragraph — this is a long, pretty detailed memorandum that goes into a regular contract. I would think they would do it. If they don't, that's okay. We'll have to start the process again and we don't lose. We have the greatest military in the world. We had the greatest blockade — the naval blockade was 100% effective. Again, they have no navy, no air force. All bombed out. I don't want to say the leaders, but first-level leaders gone, second-level leaders gone, some of the third-level leaders gone. They want to make a deal. They are so ready to make a deal.
R
Reporter20:31
President Trump, defense relationship between India and the United States. Sir, sorry, I'm speeding. I won't.
D
Donald Trump20:38
That's okay.
R
Reporter20:38
Can you speak to the defense relationship between India and the United States?
D
Donald Trump20:43
I think it's a great relationship. I can tell you this without having a contract — we don't have a contract — but if they were attacked, we would be there to help them. If anybody attacks that man, we're going to be there. If there's a new leader, I'm not sure about it. If they're attacked and he's the leader, we're going to be there to help. And I will say this, everybody says it: I had a great meeting three weeks ago with President Xi of China. We have the strongest military in the world by far, and I built it in my first term. We're using it in my second term. They gave some of it away stupidly in Afghanistan and spent a lot on Ukraine — $350 billion. But we have the most powerful military in the world. You saw that with Venezuela, which was 48 — think of it, 48 minutes. Now our relationship with Venezuela is great. We paid for the cost of the war 40 times taking millions of barrels out. Venezuela is benefiting. We're benefiting. And then we go to Iran, and in the first week militarily we defeated Iran. Nobody thought that could be done.
R
Reporter22:09
Mr. President, do you want Israel to halt its military campaign?
D
Donald Trump22:13
No. I want Israel to be able to protect itself, but I do want them to use good judgment.
R
Reporter22:23
Highly skilled Indian professionals to be getting more opportunities in the United States under your presidency.
D
Donald Trump22:29
What does that mean?
R
Reporter22:30
Highly skilled professionals to get more opportunities here in the US?
D
Donald Trump22:34
Oh yeah, sure. I mean always. We've always had tremendous relationships in terms of employment with India. Very talented people. You've seen European leaders interact very warmly with you at this summit. Do you think that they're coming around to your worldview? Well, I think they think I was right. I'm sort of always right. I think they think I was right. They feel good. Now all of a sudden they all want to be involved. But there's no reason to have them because it's pretty much over. They all want to be involved, but we don't want to waste his time or his people. No, the European leaders — the meeting we had today was with the leaders. I don't even say European — the leaders that we met with, in addition to the seven, quite a few came in. They all were willing to get involved. Thank you.
We had a great meeting on AI. We had all the top people here. It was a great meeting. As you know, we're building tremendous numbers of plants for AI. We're building the biggest in the world. We're number one in AI by a lot. It was very productive.
R
Reporter23:58
How do you see energy cooperation? India is diversifying, buying more energy from across the world, including the United States. How do you see India buying energy from you?
D
Donald Trump24:08
India can do anything they want with us. We have the best relationship. I don't think we can be any closer. Both him and I and our nations start with the two of us. We cannot be closer. Thank you very much.
U
Unknown24:43
I don't
I guess we just ask away. How do you know whether it is when we're going to get the documents? When will we get the end? Walk in the plan, just a basic thing for our viewers. What just happened? Are you able to just like — have a good day. All right. Take care.
Two, two, one, two. Press. One, two. Press. One, two. Five, four, three, two, one. Green. We're good.
For Sharali. Trying again.
Just make sure no one turns it off upstairs.
We got to keep you in one piece.
You don't want to witness that.
Hey, chief.
How you been?
Good. How are you?
You didn't think I could do that, huh? One move. Amen.
O
Operator1:10:36
Ladies and gentlemen, can you please fall in your cell phones? Families, can you please be seated? We kindly ask you all to silence your cell phones.
U
Unknown1:10:52
You're right next to me.
Good morning. How you doing? We're going to lay it out like a red.
Oh, good morning.
Let me just wing it.
After you, I'll try.
Chief, don't be offended.
Carly, you're good. I'll turn to Patri. Thank you.
O
Operator1:12:37
Will everyone please rise for the singing of the national anthem by firefighter Olawal Lal. Hand salute is in place behind you.
Thank you. Firefighter, please remain standing while FDNY Chaplain Father Peter Pora is invited to the podium to deliver the invocation.
C
Chaplain1:14:57
Let us pray. Father of mercies and God of all consolation, as we gather on this 25th anniversary for sure.
O
Operator1:16:07
President Trump.
President Donald Trump.
Whether Belle or anyone that has the headset for interpretation. Let's make sure that we finish up any last-minute checks. Make sure the headset is good. Javon, if you have not, make sure that is good right now. We got to get going here. We only got a couple minutes left probably. Let's just make sure everything is good.
Last minute checks again. Just making sure earbud is good. Everything is placed out.
Wait, can we get a lighting check? If I get a light meter check, thank you. I have our lighting guy right here. It should be about 52 for our color temp, and then we'll see how bright it is. Make sure everything is good. We're at 52 and about 88 foot candles for you, Mike. 52, 88 foot candles. Looking really nice up here. If you take a look, I feel pretty good scanning the room. Feels pretty good. It's looking good. Micah, we're 88 foot candles, 5200 Kelvin. How does it look on camera? Is it orange? Check our pool. Brett, how does it look? We got to go cooler. Can we go cooler on the lights? Like 56. It's too warm. We got to cool it. We need somebody with blonde hair. We got tape. We're good.
Hey, Faith. I need you to stand up here. We need to use your hair.
U
Unknown1:47:21
What's that?
O
Operator1:47:22
Nothing. Just final lights.
All right, Kate. We should bring the press in. He's moving. 54. We go a little bit more. Faith, stand on there. We need your hair.
I don't see one. Sorry. Is there earpiece? I don't know what it looks like. We can change it. I don't have it. It's still on, but we can change it. Wait, which one is it? English. Yeah, sure. Hey, Mike, we're at 112 now and 57. 112. Too hot. 90. Yes. Do you receive me? Yes. Do you receive me? Yes.
Right here. You checked it. Yeah. If I could get English through. We need a white strip of paper. Can I get a quick English through three really quick instead of tone? Is it working? Yeah, it's working. I just want to send. Can I get some English? Thanks. Perfect. Number three is getting English. Thank you so much. Copy. Let's hold him in OSA. English is good. Test in English for the level. Test test test. The translation for the level. Test test test.
We were at 92 and 57. Cool. Yeah, cool. That's about the best you can get.
What is it? Please call. G serious. In France. Do you receive me for the translation? Test test. Check check check for the translation English. Test test test. Check check check. One, two, one, two. From the translation English. Check check. Do you see me? One, two. We're about 93 candles. 92. Right in about that range. I'll just let you guys know. But again, just verifying our audio checks are good one last time. Verifying everything is settled in. If anyone is having problems, we'll do our best to help you out. This is our last audio check and camera check to verify everything. I am on my tippy toes. This is pretty close, about an inch or two shorter, but pretty close to where he will be for any shots you're trying to set up for. Take a look. We all good? Awesome. Thank you so much. Again, if you guys need anything, this was our last audio check. Thank you.
Come on. Do another one. Heat. Heat. Heat.
Yummy.
U
Unknown1:57:15
How do you do?
Never.
O
Operator1:58:19
One last audio check just to make sure everything is good. One last audio check to make sure everything is good. So, final audio check. Yeah, he's got Neutral check. Test test test. Can we test test microphone test?
Coffee.
Test.
U
Unknown1:59:57
Test test test.
D
Donald Trump2:00:12
Thank you very much. Thank you. It's a lot of press. That's good. We had a great event. This was something very special. I want to thank President Macron and Brigitte, his really lovely wife, fantastic person, for welcoming us to France for an extremely successful G7 summit. I would say it's one of the most successful. This meeting could not have come at a better time. On Sunday, we reached an agreement with Iran that achieves everything we set out to accomplish. Everything and much more: conflict, reopening the Strait of Hormuz, and preventing Iran from ever obtaining a nuclear weapon. That's what it was all about. Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon. They can't develop it, buy it; they can never have a nuclear weapon. At the same time, with this announcement, people started — thousands of points over the last short period of time — and oil is dropping like it has never dropped before, by $7, $8. They've never seen anything like that. But if we didn't do this deal, we could have dropped more bombs for another three weeks, two weeks, four weeks, two years; you would never have the Strait open. You would never have success. Your market would have, instead of going up at levels that nobody's ever seen before, would go down at levels that nobody ever saw before, maybe except for 1929 or whatever. The tough guys don't realize this wasn't a three-month deal. This was years in the making. You know why? Because I was the one that killed General Soleimani. And if I didn't kill General Soleimani, we probably wouldn't be talking right now about this deal. He was a mad genius. They never were able to replace him. But a lot of people forget that the tough guys would drive the country right down the tubes. The past two days have provided a chance to discuss the details of this historic agreement with many of our closest friends and allies, including the G7 nations and many presidents and prime ministers. As you saw, Prime Minister Modi was here. We had a long talk. He's a great guy. They are thrilled that we made a deal. Every one of them. There is not one nation that came to us and said, "Please, sir, keep dropping bombs on them." The stupid people say that. But I'm thrilled to report. And by the way, those last two days were brutal — $200 million worth of bombs. It is expensive too, aside from everything else. They knew I was coming for a third night. We informed them we're coming for a third night. They didn't have their navy; it's sunk. They didn't have their air force; it's gone. Not one plane. They didn't have anti-aircraft equipment. We got free rein. They didn't have their leaders. But they have a new group of leaders that I think are actually smarter. I think they're very smart. I think they're far less radicalized. And I think they love their country. You talk about regime change; nobody will say that. But I guess that's — look, their one set of leaders is all gone. Their second set of leaders is all gone. Their third set of leaders, a little bit gone. For the most part, I think that's regime change. I think they're going to behave much differently. They see a different way of life that they were never exposed to. So the one thing I didn't want to see was economic catastrophe. If you kept this going, that could have happened. But all I know is every time we talked about the possibility of peace, the stock market shot up like a rocket ship. It never went down. The people — the stock market is more brilliant than anybody there is, including the people on this stage, other than me, of course. Let's see. What do you think, Scott? Is the stock market more brilliant than you?
S
Scott2:04:57
No, sir.
D
Donald Trump2:04:58
That's a terrible statement. All right. The stock market is quite brilliant. Every time we said something amazing like we're going to settle, it would go up. Every time we said something negative like we're not going to be able to settle, it would go down very big. Tells you something. I've studied presidents, some good, some bad, some great. Not too many are great, and some really bad — we had one just recently. The one president I did not want to be was the late great Herbert Hoover. I didn't want that. Bad things happen. The past few days have provided a chance to discuss the details of the deal with the closest friends and allies. They were all here, far more than the seven. They put out a statement. President Macron did a great job, really fantastic. They all put out statements saying they love this deal because they want to see it over and they love the fact that the Strait of Hormuz is open. Don't forget, if we were going to drop bombs for another month, two, three months, weeks — what do you have left? You don't have the Strait open because people who own billion-dollar ships don't like sailing through when rockets are flying overhead. You wouldn't have oil for maybe years. These are stupid people. But nobody was tougher than me. Nobody hit Soleimani. When I hit Soleimani, people thought that was the biggest thing to happen in the Middle East for 50 years. That was the biggest event. He was the boss of Iran, respected, but a mad genius. He was a genius, the father of the roadside bomb. When you see young men and women walking around without legs, without arms, with faces blown to smithereens — that's Soleimani. 95% — it came from Iran. And I blew him up. I blew him up in a valley. He got off his plane and we followed him. In all fairness, Israel had been wonderful to me, but they didn't want to do that attack. They were all set, but the night before the attack, they informed me they didn't want to do it. I had to make a decision. I made the decision to do it. It was a joint venture between Israel and us. We studied it for a month. We knew what plane he was going to be on almost a month before. He traveled on commercial airliners, big ones with lots of people, because he knew we wouldn't shoot him down. Very smart. We followed him, and Israel informed me they wouldn't do it. I had to make a decision. I had some very good generals — not the ones you see on television — and I want to thank Pete Hegseth and General Razen Kaine, who are phenomenal. I said to them, "If Israel's not going to do it, we're all prepared. Do we do it?" He said, "Sure. If you want to do it, we can do it just as well or better. We don't need anybody." So we took out Soleimani, one of the biggest events in the Middle East maybe ever. The prime minister of Pakistan said it's maybe the biggest event that has ever taken place. Nobody could believe it. That's when it started. It didn't start three, four, or five weeks ago. Obama wouldn't do it. What Obama did was he did the JCPOA. He loaded up a plane with $1.7 billion in green cash from banks all over Washington, Maryland, and Virginia. They were stripped of all their cash; they had no cash to do payrolls. It all went into a Boeing 757 and they flew it to Iran and gave it out to people. They bribed people, thought they were going to get it done. Then they gave billions and billions of dollars after that and got a deal that was a road to a nuclear weapon. I get so angry. I guess I'm allowed to get angry when I watch the Democrats. They talk about it all the time. "We had this deal done." You had a deal that was going to give them legally a nuclear weapon. If that happened, Israel would have been blown away. In all fairness to Bibi Netanyahu, he's a good man, gets a little excited sometimes, but a very good man. We've had an amazing partnership. He's been an amazing prime minister. We have a little dispute over Lebanon. I say you can do a little softer touch, Bibi. You don't have to knock down a building every time somebody walks into it that's from Hezbollah. But it's been an amazing partnership. He came to the country and begged Barack Hussein Obama not to do the JCPOA. He said it could be the end of Israel, and it would have been if I didn't come along. Obama didn't listen to him. Bibi went to Congress and pleaded with them and got nowhere. They had this horrible deal for Israel. And then I came along and terminated that deal. It had very little time left — it was a short-term deal. With countries, you need hundreds of years, not 8 years. This was a short-term lease. It expired long ago. Had I let it run, you wouldn't have been around; a lot of people wouldn't have been around. Israel would have been terminated. I think the whole Middle East would have been terminated. You saw that when everybody was shocked that missiles were aimed at different places — Qatar, Saudi Arabia, UAE, Bahrain, Kuwait. They got hit. Nobody thought that was going to happen. They were going to take out the entire Middle East, including Israel. If they had a nuclear weapon, they would have used it within moments. So I made it very tough for them when I terminated the Barack Hussein Obama catastrophe. The JCPOA is one of the worst deals. NAFTA might have been worse economically, but this deal was really dangerous. He gave them everything including a lot of money, which we won't give them, by the way. We'll be giving this out so you can read it. It's a memorandum of understanding. If it doesn't get done in 60 days, that's all right. We go back to bombing. I don't want to do that because it's so good, but we might have to because we're never going to let them have a nuclear weapon. They've agreed not to, and you'll see that clearly in the agreement. The second phase was that they were enriching material — I call it nuclear dust — under granite mountains. Granite is a very strong stone. The B2s came along and hit those air shafts in the dark at 1:00 in the morning with no moon. They had a beam going right up. Those guys did a job. They were criticized by some members of the press like CNN for possibly not doing that much damage. It turned out the damage was far greater. Those mountains collapsed right on top of everything. Nobody's going to get that for a long time unless we want to get it. We're the only ones that can. China has the equipment to get it too, but it's not valuable. Nobody's touching it. We also have cameras. That's what Space Force is. We have the greatest military in the world. I'm proud of Space Force because I started it. We have Space Force cameras on every single door — well, there are no doors, they've been shattered — every area. If somebody walks in with a badge, we can see things you wouldn't believe. That's why we've been so successful. Our blockade will go down in the annals of history as unbelievable. Nobody's ever seen a blockade like that. It's like a steel wall. So we terminated that and the nuclear dust. If we didn't hit that with the B2 bombers, they would have had a nuclear weapon at a very high level. We have much bigger, but we hope we never have to use it. Russia has second most nukes, China is far behind but catching up. We have the most powerful, but Russia's not far behind. We ought to make a denuclearization deal. We don't need to blow up the whole world 300 times over. If we could do a denuke deal, I'd love it. The deal we reached with Iran on Sunday will be signed shortly, tomorrow maybe the next day. Deals are my whole life. I've gone into deals that were a guarantee not to happen and they go like nothing. Most likely we'll sign a deal. They want to sign and they've been acting appropriately. They took two big hits last week. Importantly, Iran has agreed that they will neither produce nor procure a nuclear weapon. Originally they said they would not develop one. I said, "What happens if they buy one?" It's very dangerous for somebody to sell them a nuclear weapon — they would get nuked themselves. So I wanted it in there: develop, procure, buy, anything. You'll see that in the agreement. We sent a copy to Israel. They've been a good partner. Again, I think they could do better with respect to Hezbollah. I'm not saying they shouldn't protect themselves. But when two drones are shot into the desert harmlessly, you don't have to knock down buildings in Beirut. They could behave better and do a better job. I love them as a partner, but they could do much better with Hezbollah. I feel very bad for Lebanon — it was a great culture, the doctors, lawyers, incredible for centuries. For the last 50, 60 years, they've been living in hell. They'll work closely with us to turn over the enriched material deep in the earth. Nobody can get it. In the meantime, we have cameras on every inch. If they do anything, we'll hit them with Patriots. Technical discussions on removing all stockpiles will begin immediately. Unlike Obama who sent pallets of cash, any relief they receive under this deal will be based on merit. It won't be from us. We don't have to give them anything. Some people may want to invest — well, they need investment because we did a trillion and a half, maybe $2 trillion worth of damage. Somebody's going to have to help them out. It could be their neighbors. But we're not investing any money. There was a fake news story that JD made a statement — it was a perfect statement, reported in a strange way because it's fake news. We don't give them money. With time, if they behave, become a reasonable citizen of the world, and I think this new group is regime change — the first group is dead, the second group all gone, the third group we've been dealing with. They're tough but smart. Maritime traffic through the Strait of Hormuz has already increased substantially. The normal flow of energy will resume. Trillions will be made by the world, and the stock market will continue to rise. Rather than going into a depression or having Herbert Hoover as your favorite president, we'll work on a parallel effort with the Gulf nations on conventional ballistic missiles. They have to have some because other people have some. Somebody said you shouldn't let them have any missiles. I said, "Well, what am I going to do? Let Saudi Arabia have missiles but they can't?" It doesn't work that way. Gulf nations will address non-nuclear issues. I want to thank our partners in Pakistan and Qatar. They worked so hard. Qatar was great because they had right next door — I flew from there to Saudi Arabia and UAE. Two great leaders. Saudi Arabia's father is still alive and fantastic. The son is going to be great. The crown prince of UAE, Mohamed, is an incredible warrior. Every administration for decades has sought to get Iran to relinquish its nuclear ambitions, but the threat only got bigger. Iran got stronger. If we didn't blow them up and blow out those weapons, they would have been unstoppable. This should have been done years ago. I want to thank all those countries and Israel and Bibi Netanyahu. The breakthrough would not have been possible without the unprecedented pressure the United States put on the regime over the past year and a half. But it started with the death of Soleimani. No president in history has ever been tougher on Iran than I have. If they don't honor the agreement, we'll probably go back to bombing them. The Obama deal was a road to a nuclear weapon. The Trump deal is a wall for a nuclear weapon that the weapon could not get through. It says the most important clause: the Strait opens, but more importantly, they will never have a nuclear weapon. Not in 5, 10, or 20 years. This provides Iran a historic opportunity. With 91 million people, if they follow the path of cooperation, their country will survive. We bombed their biggest bridge, the equivalent of the George Washington Bridge, with an F-22. The most beautiful fighter jet ever made. We're ordering more. We have the greatest military. The B2 bombers are unbelievable. They flew into Iran totally undetected. I hope the peace agreement will be the beginning of a much larger deal across the Middle East. Look at Gaza, Hamas has been very silent. We're trying to get them unarmed. They grew up with a machine gun in their hand. This wasn't the lifestyle they were taught, but they've behaved pretty well. The Lebanon piece is something we'll work on. The big deal is the Iran deal. That's where the money and power was. They have Hezbollah, and we'll get that done. I think Israel can do a much better job. Syria would love to help. I was responsible for the gentleman at Syria who is now president. He's done a tremendous job putting the country together. The expansion of the Abraham Accords is another hope. Saudi Arabia leading the way would benefit everyone. UAE went in from the beginning. Nobody got out. During the war, everybody was afraid of Iran. When the election was rigged, the country went to hell. Allowing 25 million people into the country unvetted — many murderers. That was the least of it. The past two days provided an opportunity to discuss other issues with G7 members. Yesterday morning we had a productive conversation on Ukraine. I spoke with President Putin and President Zelenskyy. Something's going to happen. They both want to do something but don't know how. In our session on international partnerships, I offered an update on leading the world in responding to the Ebola outbreak in Africa — sending $375 million in aid. The rest of the world gave nothing. Today we had excellent meetings on the economy and AI. AI is going to be the biggest thing ever. We have to be careful with it. We're leading China and the world. We're allowing them to build their own electric plants because the grid is old. They'll sell extra electricity into the grid. We found a great deal of unity at the G7. We signed a declaration on illegal immigration — first ever for a G7. We signed agreements to coordinate on drug trafficking. Drugs coming through the border are down 61%. Through the sea, down 97.2%. We agreed to accelerate efforts to secure critical minerals and rare earth supply chains. The G7 agreed that our new approach to international development based on private sector investment is working. I held positive bilateral meetings with President Macron, the Amir of Qatar, President of the UAE, President El-Sisi of Egypt, Prime Minister Modi of India, and the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia. They're all so happy. Every country is happy. Think of what Israel is getting — they're not going to be nuked. I told Bibi, "Your biggest risk was that they drop a nuclear weapon into Israel. One would be enough." We stopped nuclear holocaust. America is back, bigger and better and stronger. We were a laughingstock two years ago — a man who couldn't find the stairs. We can never let that happen again. The worst inflation ever — it's coming down because oil is bringing it down. This evening, I look forward to a dinner with President Macron and his wife at the Palace of Versailles. I want to check it out — it has a lot of gold. They asked me to stay a bit longer. So I'll get home a little later. We're celebrating the 250th anniversary of America's founding and our oldest alliance. Europe is having hard times with energy and immigration. We'll talk about that tonight. If you want to ask questions, feel free.
P
Peter2:41:40
Bonjour. You've been clear, President Trump, that the United States is not going to directly pay Iran. But the US is going to let the Iranians start making billions of dollars selling oil, accessing this reconstruction fund.
D
Donald Trump2:41:59
Only if they're doing things right. Only if, Peter. We're not putting up money. If people want to invest, they can invest. They had this $300 billion fund. It's only if they're doing things right. Remember, they've had more than a trillion dollars worth of damage done. They have a long way to go — 15 to 20 years to rebuild. They have to behave. If they don't, they get hit again. We can do it very easily. I want to thank China's President Xi. He stayed neutral. I want to thank Vladimir Putin. He was very neutral. They could have made it much more difficult. I had a long talk with Xi. They have shoulder weapons to knock down planes. I asked him not to give or sell any of that to Iran. For the most part, he didn't.
P
Peter2:43:40
Explain what the difference is between giving Iran US dollars and unfreezing US dollars for them.
D
Donald Trump2:43:47
The unfreezing is easy to answer. We have taken a lot of their money. We froze it. At a certain point, we're going to have to give it back. If we didn't, nobody would ever invest in the dollar again. I thought about it — why do we give it back? But people from many nations have their money in dollars. If you take their money, you don't have a system.
P
Peter2:44:40
A wise man once said in January 2020, 'Iran never won a war but never lost a negotiation.' That wise man who said that?
D
Donald Trump2:44:53
Donald Trump.
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Peter2:44:56
That's what I thought you were going to say. So how do you go back to the United States and convince a skeptical American public that this deal is a win?
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Donald Trump2:45:05
Here, they lost militarily. It's very tough. If I'd go another three or four weeks, those same people that are critical would say he went too long. No matter what. If they raised the white flag of surrender and said, 'Donald Trump is the greatest president ever,' the New York Times and CNN would say Iran had a great victory. When we knocked out their last ship, the Times refused to do a story. We need a fair press. That's why they're all doing so badly. They lost credibility. When I won in a landslide and had 93% bad press, they take good stories and make them bad. The media has so little credibility that the people voted for me. ABC is horrible, NBC is terrible, CBS is terrible, CNN obviously. No matter what I do, I'll get bad press. But what this deal does is allow ships to go through. If we kept bombing, those ships wouldn't go — 500, 600, 700 million a day. The world is liquid. We run out of reserves in about 4 weeks. For all those geniuses who want to show me how smart they are, ask them why they didn't blow up General Soleimani. Go ahead.
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Peter2:47:41
How about you? Thank you, Peter. I give you more, but people will say I like you too much.
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Donald Trump2:47:47
He told me the first day in office, he asked me like seven questions. I answered all of them. Is this true? He said he just answered more questions in one meeting than Joe Biden did in four years. I'm not going to get you in trouble, but that's what you said. Go ahead.
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Reporter2:48:05
Mr. President, in 'The Art of the Deal,' you write about the importance of leverage. Obviously, you have a lot of leverage when it comes to Iran, militarily or economically. What leverage do you have when it comes to Israel and Hezbollah to ensure they abide by the ceasefire?
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Donald Trump2:48:22
I think we have leverage by the fact that Iran has to be good now. They have to behave. That's a much smaller conflict. It should be over with. I'm surprised it's taken so long. We have leverage — the greatest military anywhere. Look at the blockade. It was more impactful than all the bombing raids. The naval blockade was incredible. Not one ship got through. They had no money. Inflation is 250 or 300%. We have tremendous leverage. We'll get that done. It's a small one. We'll work with Israel. I'd like to do it. People are living there, buildings are being dropped on top of them. It's so unfair, especially Beirut.
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Reporter2:49:53
Two questions. One of the goals of Epic Fury going into it, you said, was to destroy Iran's ballistic missiles and capabilities to build more. Why is it acceptable to you now that they keep some of that capability?
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Donald Trump2:50:08
What are they keeping? We knocked out probably 84-85% of their missiles. The rest are underground. They can't even get them out. On the first night, we knocked out hundreds by mistake. But what are you going to do? Spend another two weeks to give them none? They're going to have a hard time rebuilding. Are you going to let 91 million people starve? I could have knocked out their water desalination plants in five minutes, but I didn't want to do that. It would have caused an international depression. Iran has always said their nuclear program was for civilian purposes. If they come back after signing and say they want to continue with a civilian program, I've said to them, 'You have the third largest oil reserves. What the hell do you need nuclear for?' We've been pretty tough on that. But it's hard when other adjoining states have it and you're not letting them have it for electricity. You have to use common sense.
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New York Times Reporter2:52:28
Thank you, Mr. President. Now that you're approaching a new phase in this conflict with Iran, can you say whether you will hold anyone in your administration accountable for the strike on a school that killed more than 100 children on the first day of the war?
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Donald Trump2:52:46
No. If it was at fault, it's under investigation. It's a strange question to be asked at this state — you're talking about a long time ago. Nobody did that on purpose. What about the thousands of soldiers they blew up when they opened their car door? Mistakes are made. War is nasty. It's under investigation. I could ask Pete Hegseth that question because they have it under investigation. Please.
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Reporter2:53:27
Mr. President, you've been saying all week that this deal permanently prevents Iran from getting a nuclear weapon, but the drafts of the deal barely mention Iran's nuclear program. How exactly does the deal achieve that goal?
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Donald Trump2:53:43
When I say permanently, it should be permanent. But if it's not, we will bomb them. I bombed them on Wednesday and Tuesday night, and I was going to bomb them on Thursday night at a level three times greater. They knew that. That's with me as president. If you have a weak, pathetic president, maybe that doesn't happen. I can only do the job I have to do. I have almost three years to go. Our country is the most respected in the world. Those leaders today said they used to laugh at us. Now they say we're the most respected militarily. Look at Afghanistan — that horrible retreat leaving equipment behind. They weren't under any pressure. I was going to get out with dignity and pride, taking 100% of the equipment. They just left everything. We may get it all back. Afghanistan is kissing our ass.
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Reporter2:55:12
So you're threatening to bomb Iran if they don't comply, but there's nothing enforceable in the deal itself. Is that correct?
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Donald Trump2:55:18
Doesn't have to be. I let them know: if you don't adhere, I don't want to do that, but we're going to bomb the hell out of you. I don't think they're going to veer. What else am I going to do? Take them to court? No. I want them to honor it. War is nasty. Bad things happen in war. I see it better than maybe anybody has ever seen it. Go ahead, please.
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Reporter2:56:06
Thank you, President Trump. Oil prices are plummeting. How do you see this agreement further affecting energy prices in the US and the economy? And how do you think Vice President JD Vance did on 'The View' yesterday?
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Donald Trump2:56:21
Thank you for the word 'plummeting.' Oil prices are coming down. Everything follows the cost of energy. Gasoline is hitting the threes now and will come down a lot lower. I was in Iowa before this started and passed two gas stations — $1.85 and $1.91. California has crazy taxes. We took a journey to Iran and bombed the hell out of them. Now they can never have a nuclear weapon. The oil never went to $350 a barrel; it went to 115, 120. The stock market is higher than when we started. We have the strongest economy we've ever had. The word 'affordability' is a fake word made up by the Democrats. They created the affordability crisis. I inherited these prices. I got it down. Our Secretary of Agriculture did a great job with eggs. Now oil is coming down. Everything follows. We'll end up with the lowest energy in the world. Please.
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Reporter2:59:42
You're from ABC. You're fake news. Go ahead.
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Donald Trump2:59:47
To follow up on oil — can you confirm Iran will be able to immediately sell their oil to market? Will US sanctions snap back immediately if there's a delay or collapse in talks? Is there any safeguard in this deal to prevent Iran from charging what they say could be fees after the 60-day extension?
No. The thing that will stop them is common sense. They don't want to get bombed. As for sanctions, we have sanctions that will never let them rebuild. 91 million people would starve. When they behave, we'll let that go. I've put sanctions on a lot of people and then let them go. Please.
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Reporter3:00:40
Thank you, Mr. President. My name is Shinja from a Japanese newspaper. My question is about the threat of Hormuz. Did you ask other G7 nations to send military force, and what specifically are you asking of Japan?
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Donald Trump3:00:59
Where are you from? Japan. I just left your prime minister. Japan's doing very well. She's my biggest fan. She thinks I did a great job. Call her and ask her. Military support is no longer necessary. Other countries all want to be a part of it now — not while the war was going on. I was a little disappointed. The UK — I said it would be nice if they sent some ships. The prime minister said they'll be there as soon as the war is over. I couldn't believe it. Japan offered to get involved now, but during the war, I asked and they said no. We did it ourselves with Israel and the Arab states that got hit.
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Reporter3:02:45
Thanks, Mr. President. Question on Brazil. How was your interaction with Brazilian President Lula at the G7? Did you talk about new US tariffs on Brazil and the US designation of criminal gangs as terrorists?
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Donald Trump3:03:07
I spent a lot of time with him. Brazil has become a rough country politically. They arrested Bolsonaro Jr. today — he was doing well in the polls, and they arrested him for making a statement in Texas. They play pretty tough. But nobody plays tougher than the United States. Our elections are totally rigged. Yes, in the back. Go ahead.
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Reporter3:04:01
Thank you, President. For the G7, the concept of the rule of law has long been considered a core principle. During this summit, did any leaders express concerns about possible violations of international law in the attack on Iran?
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Donald Trump3:04:26
No. The opposite. They felt Iran was very dangerous. They were relieved because they could get hit too. We never discussed that. Iran broke the law, killed thousands of people. Please go ahead.
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Reporter3:04:56
Mr. President. Yesterday, Pakistan thanked the Chinese government for helping make peace talks between Iran and the US. What do you think about China's work to get the US and Iran sitting down to make the deal?
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Donald Trump3:05:14
I think China has been terrific. They could have been bad, sent ships to break the blockade. They didn't. President Xi helped me. He probably helped get it solved. They get 50% of their oil from that location. Xi was fantastic, didn't give any big weaponry. I couldn't ask for much more. Okay, one more question right here. Go ahead.
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Reporter3:06:14
The latest YouGov/Economist poll shows that Democrats have lost a five-point edge on the generic congressional ballot, now just a two-point lead. Do you think they're losing momentum?
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Donald Trump3:06:26
Well, generics are very important. I don't know how accurate polls are — many are dishonest. Like these people over here — CNN, ABC — they're dishonest. They have to straighten themselves out or they won't be successful. People don't believe them. But the Republicans are coming up strong even before this. People are seeing lunatics like the guy in Maine with the swastika sticker. They've been calling me a Nazi for 10 years, and now they have a Nazi running. They can't call it to me anymore. One more. Go ahead, Peter. Let me finish with Peter because he's been better to me than he's been to Biden.
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Peter3:07:29
Thank you, President Trump. Why not stick around for the signing ceremony with this Iran peace deal?
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Donald Trump3:07:38
I might. This is a memorandum of understanding. It's very important, but it might not be the kind of document I should be signing.
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Peter3:07:50
There's some element where you send the vice president. If it works out, you look like a genius. If not, it's the vice president.
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Donald Trump3:08:02
I like that idea. If it works out, I'm going to take the credit. If it doesn't, I'm blaming JD. He better be careful — he might turn his plane around. I like that idea. Thank you very much, everybody. Thank you.