President Trump Gaggles with Press on Air Force One En Route Miami, FL, Mar. 7, 2026

Hello everybody.

Mr. President, Mr. President...

It's a very sad day and glad we paid our respects. It's a tough, it's a tough situation. Great people, great parents, wives, families, and a beautiful ceremony. I guess you got to see that at least partially. Any questions?

President Trump, did what you just witnessed make you think differently about going ahead with this war or even putting troops on the ground in the Middle East?

We're winning the war by a lot. We've decimated their whole evil empire. It'll continue, I'm sure, for a little while, but very proud of the people and the parents. The parents were so proud of their, their boy, as they call them, my boy. In one case, the young lady. The parents were so proud. Many of them are military parents, as you know. So it's, but it's always a very sad thing. The war itself is going unbelievably well. It's as good as it can be. We have Pete here, Pete Hegseth, and you have Steve Witkoff here, if you have some additional questions.

You're one week in now, sir. You're one week in at this point. How long as of now do you expect operations to continue?

I think we've accomplished more in one week than anyone thought possible. We've wiped out their navy, 44 ships. We've wiped out their air force, every plane. We've wiped out most of their missiles. You see the missiles aren't coming much anymore. We've also hit their manufacturing areas where they make the missiles very hard. Their drone capacity is way down and we've hit them where it hurts, including about every form of leadership you can have, we've wiped out.

You still expect up to six weeks total?

I don't, I don't know. I never project that. Whatever it takes. But we've, the military is almost non-existent. If you look, I mean, we could hit their military itself very hard, but maybe we will, maybe we won't. We haven't made that determination.

What do you think about gas prices right now? Are you worried about gas prices right now?

No. This is a, this is a short excursion into something that should have been done for 47 years. 47 years it's taken to do this, and no president had the guts to do it.

Do you worry you're going to end up coming back to Dover for, for more of these such dignified transfers?

Sure, I hate to do it, but it's a part of war, isn't it? Who you with?

The Washington Post. When you say it's a part of war...

Yeah, deaths are part of war, yeah. It's a part of war. It's a sad part of war. It's the bad part of war.

Mr. President, did the United States bomb a girls' elementary school in southern Iran on the first day of the war and kill 175 people?

In my opinion, based on what I've seen, that was done by Iran.

Is that true, Mr. Hegseth? It was Iran who did that?

We're certainly investigating, still investigating. But the only side, the only side that targets civilians is Iran.

We think it was done, we think it was done by Iran because they're very inaccurate, as you know, with their munitions. They have no accuracy whatsoever. It was done by Iran.

Can you give us an idea of what unconditional surrender looks like to you? I mean, what do you want from Iran?

I said unconditional, not condition. I said unconditional. It's where they cry uncle, or when they can't fight any longer and there's nobody around to cry uncle. That could happen too, because you know, we've wiped out their leadership numerous times already. So it's, if they surrender, or if there is nobody around to surrender, but they're rendered useless in terms of military.

Mr. President, can I ask you what Peter asked you yesterday? You said it wasn't the right time in that event, but he was asking whether you have indications of whether Russia is supporting Iran somehow in this. Do you...

No, I, that, I have had no indication of that whatsoever. If they are, they're not doing a very good job because Iran is not doing too well. As for the Strait of Hormuz, there's no traffic really going through it right now. Well, that's, you know, the ships' choices, but we haven't, we've cleaned out, we've wiped out their navy. Their navy is now at the bottom of the sea. So that's the choice. This is an excursion. We figured oil prices would go up, which they will. They'll also come down, they'll come down very fast and we will have gotten rid of a major, major cancer on the face of the earth. We will have taken out a cancer. You know, don't forget October 7th. Don't forget all of the things that have happened over the years, all, all caused by these people. So what we're doing is a great thing not only for our country and not only for Israel, not only for the Middle East, but for the world.

Secretary Bessent announced some moves to temporarily allow certain Russian oil sales to India. Are you considering any other moves including the SPR?

If there were some I would do it just to take a little of the pressure off, but I think that the oil pressure, but there's a lot of oil. We've got a lot of oil. Our country has a tremendous amount and we have, there's a lot of oil out there. That'll get healed very quickly.

Would you consider using the SPR or tapping into the SPR at some point? The Strategic Reserve?

Well, I'm the one that filled them up. Biden used them so that he could get some extra votes in the election. It turned out it wasn't even him that ran, it was Kamala, and she obviously didn't get any extra votes because we won in, in an absolute landslide. So he shouldn't have used it for that. He used it to get... I filled it up and he brought it down to the lowest level it's ever been. We will start at the appropriate time, which is basically a gut instinct. We will start filling up the strategic reserves.

What are the circumstances where you'd send in ground troops? How are you thinking about that?

I don't even want to talk about it now. I mean, it's, I don't think it's an appropriate question. You know I'm not going to answer it. Could there be? Possibly for very good reason. Have to be very good reason. And I would say if we ever did that, they would be so decimated that they wouldn't be able to fight at the ground level.

Are you thinking about the oil facility there? There's an oil facility kind of on the coast of Iran that could be secured by ground troops. There's been some speculation that could be a target.

I know what the speculation is, but I, I certainly wouldn't be able to tell you that. I'd be in trouble with myself if I told you that.

Mr. President, don't you need ground troops to secure the enriched uranium at the nuclear sites?

We'll find out about that. We haven't talked about it, but it was a total obliteration. They haven't been able to get to it. And at some point maybe we will. You know, it would be, would be a great thing, but right now we're, we're just decimating them. But we haven't, we haven't gone after it, but you know, something we could do later on. We wouldn't, we wouldn't do it now. Maybe we'd do it later.

Sir, you said you want to be involved in the selection of the next leader of Iran. Can you talk to me about why?

Well, because I don't want to just come back every ten years and mostly you'll have presidents, mostly, that won't do that because they don't get it. But we don't want to come back every five years or every ten years and do this. So we want to pick a president that's not going to be leading their country into a war. Do you have any questions for Pete or Steve? Come on up here. Steve, come on up here.

Mr. Witkoff, is there still space to do a deal with whatever is left of the Iranian government?

I think there is. I think that's going to be up to the President. That's what I think. But they didn't seem to be very amenable in those, in those first set of negotiations. You heard what I said. They said we have the inalienable right to enrich. They, they bragged about having 60% enriched fuel enough for 11 bombs. They told me and Jared, we're not going to give you diplomatically what you couldn't take militarily. So you know, I think they're going to need a change of attitude.

What sort of thing do you want to see in a deal? I mean, do you think you have maximum negotiating leverage at this point?

I think the President has proved that we have...

A lot of negotiating leverage, maybe maximum, but we're not looking to settle. They'd like to settle, we're not looking to settle.

Iran accused his government, has now offered use of some bases, the British government has offered use of some bases now after you'd previously said you were very disappointed in them.

Two aircraft carriers?

I mean about British bases. Have they said...?

Did you see my response I just put out? I just put out a response. You mean the offer to send two aircraft carriers? Maybe, maybe, but they're not sure? I just put out a response today. I said, we don't need them. It's not the right time. It ought to have been nice to have had them two weeks ago, but the response I put out I think says it very well for you.

Iran today accused the US of hitting a desalination plant in Iran, and they said that that might open the door to other strikes on infrastructure, non-military. Did the US hit a desalination plant in Iran?

Well, it'll also open the door to other strikes against them. Look, they are among the most evil people ever on earth. They cut babies' heads off, they chop women in half. What they did, take a look at October 7th, take a look at what they've done over the last 47 years. So I know nothing about a desalination plant other than to say, if they're complaining about a desalination plant, we complain about the fact that they shouldn't be chopping babies' heads off, okay?

Mr. Witkoff, have you communicated to the Russians not to send targeting information and other assistance to the Iranians?

Strongly said that.

And do you believe that they are?