[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"transcript-b8eac6c6-5fd7-4abc-8f96-6876c20bb041":3,"transcript-neighbors-b8eac6c6-5fd7-4abc-8f96-6876c20bb041":16},{"id":4,"youtube_url":5,"transcript":6,"created_at":7,"folder_id":8,"name":9,"upload_date":10,"is_public":11,"is_premium":12,"speakers":8,"persona":13},"b8eac6c6-5fd7-4abc-8f96-6876c20bb041","https:\u002F\u002Fwww.youtube.com\u002Fwatch?v=iVxqUe9SEgw","President Donald Trump:\nHello everybody.\n\nReporter:\nMr. President, Mr. President...\n\nPresident Donald Trump:\nIt'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?\n\nReporter:\nPresident 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?\n\nPresident Donald Trump:\nWe'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.\n\nReporter:\nYou'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?\n\nPresident Donald Trump:\nI 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.\n\nReporter:\nYou still expect up to six weeks total?\n\nPresident Donald Trump:\nI 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.\n\nReporter:\nWhat do you think about gas prices right now? Are you worried about gas prices right now?\n\nPresident Donald Trump:\nNo. 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.\n\nReporter (Washington Post):\nDo you worry you're going to end up coming back to Dover for, for more of these such dignified transfers?\n\nPresident Donald Trump:\nSure, I hate to do it, but it's a part of war, isn't it? Who you with?\n\nReporter (Washington Post):\nThe Washington Post. When you say it's a part of war...\n\nPresident Donald Trump:\nYeah, 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.\n\nReporter:\nMr. President, did the United States bomb a girls' elementary school in southern Iran on the first day of the war and kill 175 people?\n\nPresident Donald Trump:\nIn my opinion, based on what I've seen, that was done by Iran.\n\nReporter:\nIs that true, Mr. Hegseth? It was Iran who did that?\n\nPete Hegseth:\nWe're certainly investigating, still investigating. But the only side, the only side that targets civilians is Iran.\n\nPresident Donald Trump:\nWe 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.\n\nReporter:\nCan you give us an idea of what unconditional surrender looks like to you? I mean, what do you want from Iran?\n\nPresident Donald Trump:\nI 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.\n\nReporter:\nMr. 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...\n\nPresident Donald Trump:\nNo, 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.\n\nReporter:\nSecretary Bessent announced some moves to temporarily allow certain Russian oil sales to India. Are you considering any other moves including the SPR?\n\nPresident Donald Trump:\nIf 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.\n\nReporter:\nWould you consider using the SPR or tapping into the SPR at some point? The Strategic Reserve?\n\nPresident Donald Trump:\nWell, 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.\n\nReporter:\nWhat are the circumstances where you'd send in ground troops? How are you thinking about that?\n\nPresident Donald Trump:\nI 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.\n\nReporter:\nAre 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.\n\nPresident Donald Trump:\nI 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.\n\nReporter:\nMr. President, don't you need ground troops to secure the enriched uranium at the nuclear sites?\n\nPresident Donald Trump:\nWe'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.\n\nReporter:\nSir, you said you want to be involved in the selection of the next leader of Iran. Can you talk to me about why?\n\nPresident Donald Trump:\nWell, 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.\nSteve, come on up here.\n\nReporter:\nMr. Witkoff, is there still space to do a deal with whatever is left of the Iranian government?\n\nSteve Witkoff:\nI 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.\n\nReporter:\nWhat sort of thing do you want to see in a deal? I mean, do you think you have maximum negotiating leverage at this point?\n\nSteve Witkoff:\nI think the President has proved that we have...\n\nPresident Donald Trump:\nA lot of negotiating leverage, maybe maximum, but we're not looking to settle. They'd like to settle, we're not looking to settle.\n\nReporter:\nIran 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.\n\nPresident Donald Trump:\nTwo aircraft carriers?\n\nReporter:\nI mean about British bases. Have they said...?\n\nPresident Donald Trump:\nDid 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.\n\nReporter:\nIran 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?\n\nPresident Donald Trump:\nWell, 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?\n\nReporter:\nMr. Witkoff, have you communicated to the Russians not to send targeting information and other assistance to the Iranians?\n\nSteve Witkoff:\nStrongly said that.\n\nReporter:\nAnd do you believe that they are?\n\nSteve Witkoff:\nI hope they're not.\n\nReporter:\nAnd do you see any evidence?\n\nPresident Donald Trump:\nWe don't know, but it's not doing very well if they are. It's not helping much. If you take a look at what's happened to Iran in the last week, if they're getting information, it's not helping them much.\n\nReporter:\nWhat would it mean to you if they were? I mean, even if it's not helping the Iranians particularly much, it's still involving themselves in a conflict that they're not directly...\n\nPresident Donald Trump:\nWe'd say we do it against them, wouldn't they, wouldn't they say that? We do it against them. I don't know, look, they can give all the information that they want, but the people they're sending it to are overwhelmed. Russia would be overwhelmed too. Anybody would be overwhelmed. We have the greatest military on earth and I built it in my first term, and unfortunately, I'm forced to use it now. But when you look at what we did with Venezuela, when you look at what we did with the B-2 bombers, that was a very big moment because Iran was going to have a nuclear weapon within two or three weeks, and that stopped it and it stopped it cold. And you ask about maybe going back and getting that, something could happen at the right time.\n\nReporter:\nIs Iran running out of missiles and drones, or do you expect those counterattacks to continue with that...?\n\nPresident Donald Trump:\nNot only that, manufacturing capability also. We've hit the manufacturing very hard. They're at about 9% of what they sent out in the first two days and we think that's because they don't have that much. We've also knocked out about 70% of the rocket, of the launchers. The launchers are a big deal. Very hard to get, very expensive.\nYou want to talk about leverage. Every passing day, we have more and more leverage because we have more and more capabilities. We're hitting them harder and harder and they have less of an ability to defend themselves. So we're pressing the offensive every single day, creating all the leverage the President needs for the outcome he wants.\n\nReporter:\nSo it sounds like you think they're running out of both the drones and the missiles...\n\nPresident Donald Trump:\nI think when you look, I mean they're sending in much less, much less drones. They're being decimated. Now, you know, at some point I don't think there'll be anybody left to maybe to say, we surrender, but they're being decimated. And when you look also, they all of a sudden they apologized to the Middle Eastern states that they shot at them. I was very surprised to see they did that, but you mark that down as a victory for us and for the Middle Eastern states who are really friends of ours. But I guess they're not going to be shooting at them anymore, they apologized. And we'll see what happens, but that's a big loss. That's a surrender right there. I called it a surrender tonight. When they apologized and said they're not shooting at them anymore, that's really a surrender to those states and to us. Okay, anything else?\n\nReporter:\nSir, some Iranians are concerned that the Kurds will carve out kind of an autonomous region as they did in Syria and Iraq...\n\nPresident Donald Trump:\nWe're not having, we're not looking to the Kurds going in. We're very friendly with the Kurds, as you know, but we don't want to make the war any more complex than it already is. No. You rule that out? I have ruled it out. I don't want the Kurds going in. I don't want to see the Kurds get hurt, get killed. We've had a good relationship. They're willing to go in, but we really, I've told them I don't want them to go in.\n\nReporter:\nAnd do you think the map of Iran will look the same after this is all done?\n\nPresident Donald Trump:\nThat I can't tell you. Probably not.\n\nReporter:\nDo you know how many shipping companies have taken the US up on its offer of insurance to go through the Strait of Hormuz?\n\nPresident Donald Trump:\nYeah, we have it set up. We have a great insurance and reinsurance system, but I don't... Sir, when this ends, we're going to have a much safer world, you know that. So, you know, this is a minor excursion, but when this ends, we're going to have a much safer world and we will have gotten rid of a lot of sick and demented people, the leadership. So we got rid of the one leadership, then we got rid of the second level of leadership, now they're on their third or fourth level of leadership and they have leaders right now that nobody even knows who they are. Thank you very much, everybody. Thank you.","2026-09-04T15:17:11.747661+00:00",null,"President Trump Gaggles with Press on Air Force One En Route Miami, FL, Mar. 7, 2026","20260307",true,false,{"name":14,"slug":15,"image_url":8},"Donald Trump","donald-trump",{"prev":17,"next":20},{"id":18,"name":19},"5aa74da0-c77f-482d-85a6-d890570ea1bf","President Trump Delivers Remarks to the Republican Members Issues Conference",{"id":21,"name":22},"a40033c3-d2af-4215-ab16-4525371a2de7","President Trump Delivers Remarks to the Shield of Americas Summit"]