Editor’s Note: President Trump and President Zelensky met during the NATO Summit in Ankara, Turkey, July 8, 2026, to discuss the ongoing conflict in Ukraine and the development of a stronger bilateral relationship. The leaders emphasized a shared commitment to reaching a peaceful settlement, with President Trump highlighting the progress made in recent weeks and the potential for Ukraine’s future prosperity. Additionally, they touched upon critical issues such as air defense priorities, potential drone production deals, and security guarantees to ensure long-term stability. The following is the full transcript of the meeting:
INTRODUCTION
TRUMP: Well, thank you very much. It’s a great honor to be with President Zelensky. We’ve talked a little while, and we speak on occasion by phone. We had a great talk the other day, I think, very positive. And I think we have some very good stories to tell, what’s going on. He wants to see a settlement, and I think President Putin wants to see a settlement. And usually that means a settlement, but who knows, this is a tough one.
Trump Reflects on the NATO Meeting
But I just, you know, we just had our NATO meeting, and it was a great meeting. You probably heard it was a great meeting. There was a lot of love in that room, a lot of unity. And I don’t think it could have been, Marco, what do you think, it couldn’t have gone much better. Do you have a feeling as to what you just saw?
MARCO RUBIO: Very positive. A lot of unity, strength in that room. It was really good.
TRUMP: Scott, what do you think?
SCOTT BESSENT: Yes, sir. All the Europeans, they attributed you to saving NATO, and they want to do what they’re supposed to do and do the right thing.
TRUMP: Yeah. It was something very special.
Trump Praises Turkey and President Erdogan
And I will say that what they’ve done with Turkey and President Erdogan has been a friend of mine. He’s been a friend of mine for a long time, strong man, good man, and he’s done a fantastic job. Every road, if so, everything’s perfect. From the airport to the destination, everything’s been perfect.
Trump on His Relationship with Zelensky
So we had a really good meeting, and we thought this would be a good time for President Zelensky and I to meet, and we’ll see what we can do. But we’ve actually developed a good relationship, it’s hard to believe, right, from the Oval Office to now. I think we’ve developed a very good relationship. And this is not the end. No, this is going to be the beginning, maybe. Just the beginning.
Trump on Ukraine’s Future and Its People
And you know, the country has a lot of future. It has such great land, such great assets, such great people. And you have a lot of people. I was with a group in Poland, and you have a lot of people in Poland, which is a terrific country with a really great president, and I happened to endorse him, and he’s doing a very good job.
And they were saying they love Poland, but they really want to go back, you know? You’re going to get a lot of people back when this is over. They left some, and they’re all, I think they’re going to come back. A big percentage are going to come back. So have a good talk, and we’re going to see how it all goes, and Mr. President, would you like to say something?
President Zelensky’s Remarks
ZELENSKY: Thanks so much. Mr. President, thank you very much for this meeting, and we’re very thankful, as always, to your support, American support, bipartisan support, and thanks for the invitation to this summit. And I think that we really, I agree with you, we have a lot to discuss, a lot to speak about, and of course, we are thankful for the Pearl Program, and we want to share with you some details, what we want to raise during our meeting.
The second point, or maybe the first, about negotiations, I think, yes, we understand what to do, it’s our estimation, what to do, how to bring peace, and I hope that we will do, I’m sure that we will do everything to solve this war, and I’m very happy that our side began to work on a drone deal, and it’s a very good beginning, and I hope that today I will have the opportunity to also discuss with you some worrying parts and details. Thanks so much.
Trump on Putin, Zelensky, and Progress Toward Peace
PRESIDENT TRUMP: Well, we’ve settled a lot of wars, and this one is the one that I thought maybe would be the easiest, but Putin’s a difficult character, and this guy’s a difficult character, it’s not the easiest thing, and there’s a lot of commitment, and there’s a lot of love of the countries and everything else, but I think we’ve made a lot of progress in the last couple of weeks, and we’ll see how it all goes, so do you have any questions?
On Iran: Strikes, Denuclearization, and the Threat of Nuclear Weapons
REPORTER: With the Iran ceasefire possibly over, can we expect a resumption of hostilities?
PRESIDENT TRUMP: They are behaving very badly, as they have for 47 years, and we hit them hard last night after they launched — they launched a couple of — you don’t have to know about this, you’ve got stuff on your mind — but they launched a couple of drones, and one rocket, one missile, at ships, because they were in the Strait, which they have every right to be, and so we hit them very hard last night, very, very hard, probably hit them hard again tonight. I’ll give them a little warning — we’re going to hit them hard tonight — but we’ll see how it all works out.
No, I’m not happy with them.
It’s about — we don’t want them to have nuclear weapons, and it’s denuking or denuclearization. And I think we’ve made a lot of progress, and they’ll get out of the room — we’ll talk about it, like we’re here — they’ll agree on everything, and then they’ll go have a news conference and say we never even talked about it. They’re cuckoo. There’s something wrong with these people, and for 47 years, they’ve been the bully of the Middle East, and they’re not the bully anymore. They’re not the bully anymore.
And all we want — it’s very simple — they can’t have a nuclear weapon. That’s what I’m there for. They’d use it, and we’re not going to let that happen.
Reporter Asks About a Pragmatic Pathway to Long-Term Peace
REPORTER: You’ve made a career making deals in very challenging situations, speaking to President Zelensky, speaking to President Putin — in your view, sir, what is the most pragmatic pathway forward to finding a long-term peace deal?
TRUMP: I just think you’re going to make a deal. Look, it’s been — this deal has been in the works for a long time. It’s got the pluses, the minuses. They know what it is. He knows what it is better than anybody. And I just think, sometimes — you know, I used an analogy, and it sounds simple, but it’s sort of true. You have two kids in a park, and they don’t like each other, and they start fighting. Sometimes you have to let them fight, let them see that it’s tough. You know, it’s tough. Fighting is tough.
And he’s done an amazing job. Look, he’s been very effective, and he’s had the best equipment, because he’s had our equipment. And he’s had great — but somebody has to use that equipment, and you have a lot of brave people that are using that equipment. And Russia, you know, it’s a big country, but it’s a big force. Russia’s always been a big fighting force.
But I really believe it’s ready. It’s very interesting, because you’re almost saying it’s worse than ever, and maybe it isn’t. Sometimes with war — and you study war, and I’ve studied it so long, for years, long before I did this — sometimes it’s when it gets the worst. And I don’t know that it’s the worst right now. It’s consistently bad. There was 25,000 people were lost — kids, young people — last month. And we had a month, 35, two months ago. And I would say more Russians. But it’s just — they’re people, they’re people. And there’s actually very little difference between the people. I mean, you know, the Russians and Ukrainian people — they can get along.
But it’s a nasty war. Thousands and thousands — mostly soldiers — are being killed. The battlefields, I see pictures, and it’s horrible. He thinks it’s horrible. We all think it’s horrible. And the President wants to get it done. And I believe that President Putin wants to get it done. And that should be a good combination. Thank you.
Reporter Questions Ukraine’s Strikes on Russian Targets
REPORTER: Mr. President, what is your assessment on Ukraine’s strike on Russian oil refineries and military factories?
TRUMP: Where are you from?
REPORTER: Ukraine. Ukraine delivered long strikes on Russian military factories, and on oil refineries, and they ran out of gas.
TRUMP: Marco, why don’t you answer that, because you’re right in the middle of it.
RUBIO: Yeah, no. I think what you’re discussing is the ability of Ukraine to reach deep inside of Russia and conduct strikes. And I think that’s one of the dynamics that’s changed in this war over the last few months — that is that Russians are finding it more difficult to defend their own airspace. And what we hope that means is that it’s going to create the space now to negotiate the end of this war. It’s an escalation, but it’s also an escalation that can help lead to an end.
Trump on Talks with Putin and Zelensky
REPORTER: Mr. President, Mr. President, you may be speaking, but Mr. Putin may be speaking for the settlement. So where are you from?
REPORTER: Radio Free Europe’s Ukrainian service. I am from Ukraine.
TRUMP: OK, good. Because I talked to him, I talked to President Zelensky. And I think that’s all I’ve done — my whole life I made deals. That’s, I guess, becoming president with making a deal. It’s like a lot of little individual things. In the end, it’s making a deal. And that’s what I do, and I do it well. And I know when people want to make a deal. I think he wants to make a deal.
And I do feel that President Zelensky would like to get back to rebuilding this country, as opposed to having all of this death and destruction. Ukraine has tremendous potential. He understands that. He understands that. We talk about that. He talks about that more than he talks about the war. You know, to me, I think you might find that more exciting than the war. This is brutal.
Trump on Ukraine’s Mineral Wealth and America’s Stake
The others, the beauty of it, you know. I think he’ll build a great country. I think he’s going to build it. We have a little stake in that country now because we have some land in that country, but we have minerals. It’s among the wealthiest, it’s among the best land anywhere in the world for rare earths. We have some rare earths. I look forward to taking advantage of it at the right time.
Mr. President. He’s one of my favorite soldiers. I see him. He’s central casting. You doing okay? Yes. We see him at meetings. He’s done a great job. Great hero, actually.
Reporter Asks About Patriot Interceptor Licensing for Europe
REPORTER: Mr. President, will you allow Europe to make Patriot interceptors in Europe? Are you comfortable with licensing that technology? Patriot interceptors to be made in Europe. And you’re talking with respect to Ukraine.
TRUMP: Well, we’re going to talk about that. Look, it’s a defensive weapon, which I like. Better than an offensive weapon. It’s the best.
Trump on the Power of Patriot Missiles: The Abraham Lincoln Story
So I was saying, we have an aircraft carrier, which is one of the most beautiful in the world. It’s one of the biggest. The Abraham Lincoln. And a few months ago, we had 100 — I told this story yesterday — we had 111 missiles shot by the Islamic Republic of Iran. They were shot at the aircraft carrier over a period of about one hour. 111 missiles going to a very expensive ship. And every one of those missiles was knocked down. Pretty much most by Patriots, but by other means also, as you know. Other less expensive means. It’s even better when you do that.
But out of the 111 missiles, every one of them was shot down. It didn’t hit the ship, and bad things happened, right, when that happened. So think of that. Over a period of one hour, these missiles are coming at you. And every one of them shot down.
Trump Signals Plan to License Patriot Technology to Europe
So I think one of the things we’re going to be talking about is, as you know, the companies who have great power over the companies — those companies that make the Patriot and make all of the great stuff, the Tomahawks, all of the great stuff. We have the best stuff. Many things, a Patriot script, but we have many, many great things. You see that with Venezuela. You see it with Iran. Look, Iran has been wiped out. Iran, their Navy’s gone, their Air Force is gone. Everything’s gone.
But one of the things I think we’re going to be talking about today — just a little bit of this — a little birdie told me this about the fact that we’ll give them the right to make Patriots. We’ll show them how to do it. It’s very complex, actually. But you’ll figure out the complexity quickly. And we’re talking about that.
And the company that makes them, which is building now four plants — you know, all of our companies will be able to do this — in two to three months if you order a Patriot, now you have to wait a long time for them. Same thing with Tomahawks. We have a lot of certain equipment, but with — they call it the elite equipment. And you don’t need elite equipment necessarily for a war.
But so one of the things we’re going to be talking about is we’re going to give a license to you to make Patriots. That’s pretty cool, right? This way you can’t complain that we’re not giving them enough. It’s a make them yourself. We haven’t informed the company of that yet, but that’ll work out all right. Sure, they’ll be thrilled.
But you know, they’ll be able to do it. You’ll be able to figure that out. Most countries couldn’t do that. If I said that to most countries, they wouldn’t know what I’m talking about. But this is a very ingenious group. And what I like about that, it’s a defensive situation as opposed to an offensive. But I think one of the things you might want to be talking about is that. That’s what I heard. Little birdie told me that.
Trump on Iran: “They Lie, They Cheat, They Kill People”
TRUMP: They violate the agreement every day. They lie. They cheat. They kill people. They’ve been killing people for 47 years. They knocked out the SS co. We lost, what, 200 people more. That was a long time ago. For 47 years, no president did anything about that.
Well, Obama actually gave them vast amounts of money. You’d like this. He gave them a plane load of money, $1.7 billion in green cash. They loaded up a Boeing 757. Remember the old 757? It was a beautiful plane loaded up with cash. They took all the seats out, and they took all of the cash from Virginia, Maryland, and D.C. banks. They had no money. They took every ounce of cash, put it in, flew it to Iran, and gave them the money.
I wonder what these guys thought of when the door opened and cash fell out of this big plane, beautiful plane. And then on top of that, they gave them billions and billions of dollars. And by the way, they gave it to the wrong country, frankly, one or another.
Trump Calls the Obama Nuclear Deal a “Road to a Nuclear Weapon”
And it began. That was pretty much the Obama nuclear, the Obama deal. That was one of the worst tragedies that happened. That’s what happened in the Middle East. That deal set back that whole situation. Frankly, they picked the wrong country. They picked the wrong country. JCPOA, what a terrible, what a terrible deal. I call it the Obama nuclear waste deal, because what he did with that deal is he caused tremendous hardship in the Middle East. It was a terrible, terrible thing to do.
And we’ve been just the opposite. Our deal is a wall to a nuclear weapon. His deal was a road to a nuclear weapon. They’ll never build a nuclear weapon under our deal, but I don’t know if we’re going to have a deal. We may just do it without a deal, because you know what? It’s easier because these people, they lie and they cheat and you have an agreement and they’ll go outside.
For instance, they agreed we’ll never have a nuclear weapon. They agreed. Then they go outside. They have a news conference where they leak that we never discussed the subject. Now, who would believe we never discussed the subject? Because for me, that’s ninety-nine point nine percent of what we’re doing. It’s denuclearization of Iran.
OK, so when you ask our guys can continue, you know, Steve is great. And Jared, all the guys, they know him very well. Yeah, actually, they’re working on your stuff, too. I wonder which — I pick two beauties. You know what? We settled eight wars. I got a couple of beauties here. But Steve’s great. And Jared’s great. You know, they’re the right guys. We’ll see what happens.
Trump on Iran’s Roadside Bombs and American Casualties
But I will say this. Iran, they’ve misbehaved for forty-seven years. They’ve killed our soldiers. They’ve killed our people. And they’ve killed a lot of people all over the Middle East and elsewhere. And the roadside bomb was their preferred — you know, the preferred weapon was by Soleimani. The roadside bomb where it would explode under a truck. We actually built trucks with floors of steel this thick. And then all they did was they made bigger bombs.
So we have young guys around, not walking around because they have no legs, but their legs were blown off, their arms were blown off, their face was blown off. And they live because of modern medicine. You can do anything. But they’re living. They’re living like in hell. Their whole life changed because of Iran. And that was ninety-six percent of the people that used that. They were made in Iraq. And so we have a score to settle, too.
Reporter Presses Trump: What If Putin Doesn’t Finish the War?
REPORTER: Mr. President, you say that President Putin is ready to finish this war. What if he doesn’t? Are you ready to put pressure on Russia?
TRUMP: Well, we have a lot of pressure. We have a lot of pressure on President Putin. You know, I don’t think he likes what’s going on.
Trump on Putin’s Desire to End the War
TRUMP: I don’t think he’s thrilled with what’s happening. There’s a lot of pressure on President Putin to get it done. I think it’s pressure on everybody to get that one done. A lot of pressure.
REPORTER: What’s your security guarantee for Ukraine?
TRUMP: The guarantee? Security guarantee? I mean, not that we want to do it. We’ll do it to save lives. Ukraine is very far away. We have an ocean separating us. What I’m doing is I’m trying to save lives. A lot of lives are being lost. I also think that it’s a country with great potential. I think if this kind of brainpower can go toward rebuilding the country instead of fighting a war, I think it’s going to do — I think that country is going to do fantastically well. And likewise, Russia, you know, they’re devoting a lot of energy, a lot of energy.
REPORTER: Do you have a question for President Putin?
TRUMP: Not so much.
REPORTER: What would you like to ask him? Because I’m going to ask him that question.
REPORTER: I’m from Telegraph, Ukrainian media. Give us a question, not for Zelensky. Give us a question for Putin. Why is he attacking Ukraine’s peace? When will he end this war?
TRUMP: That’s a good question. I don’t think I’ve ever asked him that question. I’ve been asked that question.
Trump on His Conversations with Putin
REPORTER: Mr. President, what’s the status of Ukraine’s deal with Ukraine?
TRUMP: By the way, I will tell you, though, he’s going to tell you that he wants it ended as soon as he can end it. He wants it ended. He wants to end it soon. And I ask him and we talk. I talk to him a lot. I talk to him a little bit less, but the relationship is very good. But I talk to President Putin a lot. He wants to end the war. A lot of people don’t believe that.
REPORTER: What are President Putin’s conditions for ending the war?
TRUMP: There were certain conditions that were a little bit different. I think they’re changing. I think they’re probably getting a little bit better toward some of the things that you like. It’s been tougher in Russia. It’s been a lot tougher than it was supposed to be. I mean, in all fairness, this is a war that would have never happened if I were President. Would have never happened. You’d have a full country. I mean, it’s just a shame that it happened. But, no, this is something that I think Zelensky wants to do and Putin wants to do. They want to get it done.
REPORTER: Ask the President that question. Ask him. Mr. President, do you know under what circumstances Putin is ready to start a war in Ukraine?
Zelensky on Russia Losing Initiative on the Battlefield
ZELENSKY: I don’t know what conditions Putin now wants for this peace. I think that they are changing in any way because at the very beginning of the full-scale war, he was stronger. And now I think he is losing initiative on the battlefield. I think his army — that’s why I think that because of technologies. Because it’s not the question now of number of people. People and our heroic people are very important. But now it’s not the question of only number of people. First of all, people and technologies. People with technologies.
I think that we have better steps, technological steps, further than Russia. Maybe quicker. Because they also, you know, they produce a lot of different things which are tough, strong against us. But we are quicker. And that’s why I think that now initiative moved to our side. Not totally, but moved.
We are trying to move this war to the sky from the battlefield. That’s why we now began to control the battlefield. This is very important. It’s difficult when you have less people to move them back. But we found another way how to do it, to cut their logistics for their army. It’s about weapon, petrol, diesel, without basic human losses.
TRUMP: That is the difference between us, by the way. Russia is… He’s got a lot of support. I just left a room, you know, where they have… I mean, mostly European, Canada, but mostly European countries. And they have a great support for Ukraine. And really great support.
One of the things, you talk about questions for Putin. But one of the things that I talked to him about was, where would you want to meet? And he said, ideally in Moscow. I said, you’re not going to meet in Moscow. It just doesn’t work. You can’t do that. But he’ll meet. And Zelensky is going to meet. And something’s going to happen that’s going to be positive. And I think, I hope it’s going to happen soon. Because they have, number one, lives. But number two, building your country. Because it’s got a tremendous future, in my opinion.
On a Potential Meeting Between Trump, Putin, and Zelensky
REPORTER: Where would you be held and when would that happen?
TRUMP: I don’t know. President Putin said, “I would love to meet in Moscow.” And I said, I don’t think… You know, I have to put myself in his position. I don’t know that he’d go to Moscow. Maybe he would.
REPORTER: Would you go to Moscow?
ZELENSKY: It’s difficult. There are a lot of Ukrainian drones there.
TRUMP: It’s not dangerous.
REPORTER: Europe?
ZELENSKY: No, it’s hard to go to Europe. I don’t want to answer that question. I don’t want to answer that question. I don’t want to answer that question.
On Security Guarantees for Ukraine
REPORTER: Mr. President, how will you ensure that Ukraine will not be attacked again by Russia?
TRUMP: What about?
REPORTER: How to make sure that Ukraine will not be attacked by Russia again?
TRUMP: You mean in the future? You mean after there’s an agreement? Well, we’re going to work on a security guarantee that… And Russia respects us a lot. And we’re going to work on some kind of a security… If we can make the right deal, we’ll help Europe. I mean, Europe is going to be watching it. But we’re going to be helping them. And we’ll work on some kind of a security package that we’ll make sure.
I don’t think that’s going to happen. I think that if we make a deal, Russia is going to be very happy. And they’re going to get on with other things. They have… By the way, there’s a country, too. They have tremendous potential. Tremendous land. Valuable land that they can do things with. And they have tremendous potential.
But I don’t think it’s going to happen. I don’t see… That question is, oh, they’re going to attack again. I don’t see it at all. I think they’ve had it. They’ve had… This has been going on for almost five years, right? Yeah. Who would have thought? I mean, it’s a tribute because it’s a bigger country, strong country. And it’s an amazing tribute.
On Patriot Missiles for Ukraine
REPORTER: Anything else? With the Patriot missiles… President Zelensky has said that Ukraine needs Patriot missiles now. Over 50 Ukrainians have died in recent airstrikes just in the last few days. So in addition to these production licenses, which will take time, would you consider providing…
TRUMP: Not that much time, Ed.
REPORTER: Would you consider providing any to Ukraine immediately?
TRUMP: We have Patriots, but we don’t have that many. We need them for ourselves, too. Some, yeah. I mean, some. I think they can produce them pretty quickly. Once we explain it, we’ll bring the company here to work with the government. They have a great ability to produce weapons, pretty complex weapons.
On Visiting Ukraine and Setting a Deadline
REPORTER: Will you go to Ukraine, Mr. President? Do you have any deadline? Will you go to Ukraine?
TRUMP: I would, yeah.
REPORTER: Do you have any deadline that you want to reach?
TRUMP: I’d rather have the war be over.
REPORTER: Do you have any deadline?
TRUMP: I’m not sure Secret Service would be thrilled. And, I mean, like Kyiv. It would be nice to get it before any more damage is done, to be honest. It’s such a beautiful city, right? And, yeah, I would go to Ukraine at the right time.
REPORTER: Will you have any deadline when you want to reach a deal between Ukraine and Russia?
Trump on Peace Deals and Security Guarantees
REPORTER: Do you have any deadline in that regard?
TRUMP: No, I don’t have a deadline. I can’t have a deadline. You know, there’s too much going on. But I think you’re going to have a deal. I think, you know, I’ve been very good. You know, we had certain deals like Azerbaijan and some of the deals that we made. And they’ve been going on for 32 years. And they said it’s an impossible thing to get them solved. Eight different deals.
Even in the Congo, it was, think of it, you have the Congo and Rwanda. That was 14 million people dead. A lot of them with machetes. We got that one solved. It flares up every once in a while, I must say. But we got deals done that weren’t doable. But if you look at, well, India and Pakistan, they were at it. We get them done. And when we get them done, I find that people are not anxious to go back into it.
I think we’ll have — you once mentioned the word security guarantee in the Oval Office. And, you know, I think they’re going to need some kind of a security guarantee. But we’re going to work with them. It’s important. I think he thinks that’s a very important thing. Security guarantees are very important. And they’ll live by it.
Zelensky on Patriot Systems and Air Defense
ZELENSKY: Partially, the President said about Patriots and licenses. The Patriot system is the best, you know, in the world for today. The best anti-ballistic system. So we used a lot of it. That’s the best. Yeah, they’re the best one. And we checked everything during the war. So this is true. So with all respect to other partners, we are thankful for all the systems.
TRUMP: Well, they had different systems in Venezuela. So Venezuela had systems that didn’t work. We didn’t have one plane shot down. We didn’t have one. We had one helicopter operator who was incredible. He landed perfectly, and his leg was almost blown off. The Congressional Medal of Honor, because very few people could have landed that. You know, you land them with your feet, really. Anything else and he landed and he was really in bad shape and at the State of the Union we gave him — he was a handsome guy, big handsome guy — but we gave him the Congressional Medal of Honor at the State of the Union.
So look, he wants to get it done and we’re going to get it done.
Drone Deal Between Ukraine and the U.S.
REPORTER: What’s the status on a drone deal between Ukraine and the U.S.?
TRUMP: What’s that?
REPORTER: What’s the status of a drone deal between Ukraine and the U.S.?
TRUMP: Well, we would buy their drones and we make drones, we make great drones, but they have an ability to make a lot of them, which is remarkably amazing that in a war situation they make them. They make them in basements, they make them wherever the hell you have a little shelter, even if you don’t have shelter, I think I suspect, right? It’s an amazing ability. Very few — well, that’s why I say with the Patriots, they would be able to do it. Most countries would not be able — they don’t have the talent. You have very talented people.
So, yeah, I think we’re going to make that deal. Believe it or not, we made that deal, we’d have great protection. I love the protection. Think if you had a lot of Patriots, you’d never be hit, as an example, in Kyiv, where they get hit with missiles — those missiles, like what I said about the Abraham Lincoln, the missiles would be shot down, yeah? And I think you’d start making them pretty quickly, right?
TRUMP: Do you like the idea?
ZELENSKY: No, no, it’s a great idea. I think everybody likes that one. I mean, it’s…
Security Guarantees and Closing the Skies Over Ukraine
REPORTER: As part of security guarantees, are you ready to close the skies in case Russia attacks again?
TRUMP: To close what?
REPORTER: To close the skies over Ukraine, in case Russia… It’s been… As a part of security guarantees, are you ready to close the…
Trump on Security Guarantees and the Iran Situation
PRESIDENT TRUMP: If it’s necessary, yeah, I mean, look, I tell you, when we have a deal, we’re going to have a deal, security guarantee or no security guarantee. If we have a deal, we’re going to have a deal, we’re not going to have to worry about what you’re saying, we’re going to have a deal. I think if we come to a solution, which I think we will, we’re going to have a deal.
Now, we want to make sure the deal sticks, some people don’t think it will, I think it will, I think if… I’m sure it will. I’m not sure it will with Iran. If we make a deal with Iran, I’m not sure that will stick. Because I found them to be very dishonorable people.
I don’t find that with him, and I mean, I don’t want to upset him, but everything I’ve done with President Putin has been okay, it’s been good. He’s going to say all that, but I would expect you to say that, but that’s good. I don’t think anything’s going to be broken, and we’re going to do a security guarantee in case it is, but with Iran, 47 years, this should have been done by another president a long time ago, or somebody else, another country, but they got stronger and stronger, and now they’re weak.
Trump on the Naval Blockade and Military Strikes Against Iran
REPORTER: Are you going to reimpose the naval blockade on Iran?
PRESIDENT TRUMP: We knocked out 159 ships in one week, that’s good even for you, right? 159, their entire Navy is at the bottom of the sea, and now they have little boats, little tiny boats that go around, and we knocked about 28 of them out last night with the same weapon we use for the drug people.
You know, drugs are down, by the way, drugs by sea are down 97%, meaning nobody wants to get into those boats and take drugs into it. They’re down 97%, and we’re using the same thing for the mine boats, you know, they like to drop mines in, and we hit a lot of them last night, like 28, we knocked out 28 boats last night, little ones, that’s all they have is little ones.
REPORTER: Are you going to try to take out more tonight? Will we go tonight?
PRESIDENT TRUMP: You know, normally I wouldn’t tell you, I wouldn’t tell you, but you know what? There’s not a thing they can do about it, so the answer’s probably.
Trump on the Effectiveness of the Overnight Strikes
REPORTER: President Trump, President Trump, President Trump, President Trump, President Trump, what is the effectiveness of last night’s attack? What message does that send to what’s left of the Iranians?
PRESIDENT TRUMP: Which attack are you talking about?
REPORTER: The attack that you guys had on Iran last night, the strikes last night.
PRESIDENT TRUMP: I think it has a tremendous impact. Well, first of all, we took out additional, you know, they were trying to rebuild their radar, and they had about 60% built, now they have to start all over again.
Look, we’re not attacking at the highest level. The highest level are the bridges, which we can knock down. I would say in one day we knocked down every single bridge in Iran. There’s not a thing they can do about it.
Their electric manufacturing facilities, right? Their electric plants, where they make their electricity there. We will, if we have to, we’ll take them out. I don’t want to do that, but if we have to, we’ll take them out. They have desalination plants, we’ll take them out if we have to. I hate to do that. That’s probably the one I would like not to do, at least.
We attacked Karg Island last night. We knocked out a piece. I said, don’t touch the oil, because maybe we’ll take over Karg Island. We may take over Karg Island. There’s not a thing they can do about it. But I said, don’t hit the pipes, just hit everything else. And they hit it. They may hit it again tonight.
So, you know, as for your question, normally I’m not that way. But they really deserve it, because they’re saying they want to make a deal, but they don’t.
Trump on Iran’s Request During Khomeini Funeral and Ceasefire Tensions
PRESIDENT TRUMP: You know, they asked for a timeout. They wanted to go to the funeral of Khomeini. And I said, give it to them. And they started shooting missiles. I mean, it was a crazy thing. Now, we did kill him. Yes, I guess you have to look at it that way. But the funeral took place, and they wanted to have a period of time. And they also asked that we not kill them. I said, we’re not going to kill you. They were worried we’d kill them during the funeral. I mean, if you can believe it, what a crazy idea.
Did you ever think I’d be doing this for a living? Marco, did anybody ever think I’m doing this? Maybe Pete, but this wasn’t supposed to happen to me. Pete loved this stuff from day one. But they said to us, please don’t kill us during the funeral. I said, I won’t. And we didn’t. We didn’t do anything. In fact, we made it safe for them, actually.
What happens? They try and knock out two ships, the Saudi and I guess Kuwait. Oh, no, Qatari. In addition, really three. So you had three of them. And they’re just, I don’t know. I just don’t know with them. A lot of people say they’re very dishonorable people, and they can’t keep a deal. So we’ll see.
Trump on Iran Deal Prospects and Steve Whitkoff’s Role
As to whether or not Steve Whitkoff, Jared, and J.D., and everybody working in that will talk — I guess they could talk, but I’m not seeing it with them, you know, with the people. My whole life is deals. I don’t see it. I don’t see it with them. And there may be a big attack, and it’ll knock out a lot of stuff. We don’t knock out nothing. We knock out a lot.
Steve, do you want to tell them about last night?
STEVE WHITKOFF: Yes, sir. Last night, as you said, about a small craft that they were trying to harass shipping with. So that was a big part of what we targeted. Underground facilities where they were storing drones or missiles, coastal defense sites, radar sites, surveillance sites, anything used to harass shipping in the Strait of Hormuz. So anything they thought they had rebuilt or capability they were using was a target last night. And tonight, if we need to, on your order, Mr. President, we will hit even more and even deeper because that’s the consequence.
Trump on Potential Blockade of Iran and Drug Interdiction at Sea
PRESIDENT TRUMP: And we may put down the blockade. We may put back the blockade. And there will only be a blockade for Iran. Anybody else can have whatever they want. Now, of course, they’ll drop some mines if they can, you know, if they can do it. But it’s hard because we’re taking out those little boats now with the same weapon we used to take out the drug lords and the boats coming in by sea.
Think of it. Ninety-seven percent. For years, we had fentanyl and all the other drugs coming in from different countries, including Venezuela. And it was, you know, they’d arrest them, they’d bring them to a court, they’d be released, and they’d be back in another boat the next. Ninety-seven percent. What was done in the past had no impact. Ninety-seven percent drugs down coming in by sea. And now we’re going to start doing it by land. The land is easier when we have to do sea first.
And nobody, I mean, I think the 3% of the people that still do that, I think they’re the bravest people in the world. We should probably give them a medal for bravery. And we’re using the same exact missile to take out the mine droppers.
Trump on NATO Mine Sweepers and Closing Remarks
But we have mine sweepers. And one of the things that came up today is that European Nations, the NATO group, they’re sending mine sweepers. We don’t need them now. We have pretty much the mines have cleared up, but they’ll probably drop some more. They’re evil people. They’re sick people. They’re mentally disturbed people. And it should have been done 47 years ago.
Thank you, everybody. Thank you, guys. Thank you. Thank you, guys. Thanks, Emily. Thank you. Thank you. Goodbye.
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