US President Donald Trump has issued a stark warning to Iran’s leadership amid reports of mass killings and executions of protesters. Speaking in Detroit, Trump condemned the violent crackdown, calling for "a little bit of freedom" for Iranians and emphasizing that continued executions “will not work out” for the regime. With over 2,500 deaths reported since the start of protests in late December 2025, Trump urged Iranians to continue protesting, while hinting that international attention and support are on the way. The escalating crisis has drawn global concern over human rights violations and Iran’s stability.
00:01Well, we had great numbers introduced today. We had a wonderful speech in front of great people in Detroit, mostly in the car business, and we're setting records in manufacturing. It's going very well. I think people appreciated what I had to say in terms of the numbers. So we're very happy about that. I'm going back to the White House now. We're going to look at the whole situation that's going on in Iran.
00:28Really bad stuff. And Minnesota is going to have to take care of itself for a little while. We have tremendous theft and fraud going on in that state because you have an incompetent governor, grossly incompetent governor, and a corrupt governor. But we'll straighten that out. But Iran is on my mind when I see the kind of death that is happening over there, we think. So we're going to get some accurate numbers. I'll have it in about 20 minutes.
00:58We'll get some accurate numbers as to what's happening with regard to the killing. The killing looks like it's significant, but we don't know yet for certain. I'll know within 20 minutes.
01:08And we'll act accordingly.
01:10How can we ensure that U.S. airstrikes, if it comes to that, will protect, will have the result of protecting the protesters?
01:18Well, you never know, do you? You never know.
01:20So far, my track record's been excellent, but you never know.
01:24Do you think it's going to be something kinetic like that or more like cyber?
01:28Well, I can't tell you that. I know exactly what it would be. We have to make a decision.
01:31Sir, but I can't be, obviously, I can't be telling you.
01:33Do you have a timeline? Yeah, yeah, timeline.
01:35Sir, Jamie Dimon said today that it's not a great idea to be chipping away at the Fed's independence.
01:41Do you think Jamie Dimon's wrong about that?
01:43Yeah, I think it's fine what I'm doing. We haven't had a bad Fed person. He was extended by Biden. And, yeah, I think he's wrong. I think he's wrong. He's done a bad job. We should have lower rates.
01:56Jamie Dimon probably wants higher rates. Maybe he makes more money that way.
02:00Mr. President, Jamie Dimon also was talking about the 10 percent credit card.
02:04The House Speaker said that it could have negative side effects if it was imposed through Congress. Are you concerned about that? Have you talked about that?
02:11No, I'm not. I think that people that are paying 28 percent interest should be protected.
02:16We're talking about for a one-year period. But when you have a bank, whether it's Jamie Dimon or anybody else, charging people 28, 32 percent, 30 percent, 31 percent, one case, 35 percent, no, I'll help those people. That's all right.
02:34Mr. President, it's a one-year 10 percent. Let the people have a break.
02:39In this speech, you said that you're going to be cutting off funding for sanctuary cities on February 1st.
02:45That's right.
02:45What kind of funding?
02:46You'll see. It'll be significant.
02:48On health care, is there something that you can do with insurance companies to bring down premiums like you're doing with credit card?
02:56Yeah, I'm going to meet with the insurance companies. But I want the money to go directly to the people. It's very simple.
03:01I want to go into a health care savings account, but directly to the people so the people can buy their own health care.
03:08On Thursday will be the six-year anniversary of you signing the phase one trade deal with China, the signature on it.
03:16That deal opened Chinese markets to U.S. goods. It protected intellectual property. Can we get back to that?
03:22Yeah, we can. We're doing very well with China. Have a great relationship with President Xi, as you obviously know. We're doing really well. We're making a lot of money with China.
03:31But can you open their markets to U.S. goods? Can you get there?
03:33I think so. Yeah, I think it's going to happen.
03:35Mr. President, Iran says that it will retaliate in the instance of U.S. strikes against U.S. assets in the Middle East. What do you say to U.S. service members about why it's worth the risk to intervene in Iran?
03:47Yeah, Iran said that the last time I blew them up with the nuclear capability, which they don't have any longer. So, Iran said that the last time, they better behave.
03:57The Intel stock is really high after you invested. Are you going to invest more in Intel?
04:03Yeah, I like it. So, well, I don't know about Intel, but I'll invest more in other things.
04:07What other companies?
04:07As you know, Intel came to see me. They needed help. And I said, I'll help you, but I want 10 percent of your company to go to the United States of America.
04:16And we made, because of that deal, tens of billions of dollars. The stock went very up and very high, and we made tens of billions of dollars.
04:26We got, they walked away and they gave us a lot of money, but they did a great deal for themselves because their stock has gone up.
04:32As soon as we went in, Apple went in, NVIDIA went in, a lot of smart people went in, they followed us.
04:39So, yeah, we're doing that. We've done other of those deals.
04:42In Alaska, we did a deal where we got a big piece of a company where we were helping them to get a road.
04:47We're the only ones that could have done it.
04:49And we said, we want something out of the company for the United States of America.
04:53OK, so I believe in that. We have some other ones that we're looking at.
04:58I believe in that. If it's up to us, if they can't do it without us.
05:02And then I say, well, we'll do it. If you were a private guy, you'd say, what do we get for doing it now?
05:08I don't want anything for myself. I want it to. I want our country to be rich as hell.
05:12But with Intel, we made billions and billions of dollars. Right.
05:16So, Mr. President, on Iran, do you have a message for the leaders currently of Iran?
05:21Yeah, the message is they've got to show humanity.
05:24They've got a big problem. And I hope they're not going to be killing people.
05:27And I'm going to have a report very soon.
05:30It would seem to me that they have been badly misbehaving.
05:34But that is not confirmed.
05:36So you mentioned the 1980 hostage rescue effort that ended in disaster.
05:42Well, it was a disaster for Jimmy Carter.
05:44They had all sorts of problems and the helicopters were crashing and everything.
05:48You know what it was? The exact opposite of Venezuela.
05:52Do you agree with that? Do you agree?
05:54As a reporter, who are you with? Who are you with?
05:56I'm with the Financial Times, sir.
05:58Oh, good. That's a nice paper.
06:00So are you committing not to sending U.S. troops into Iran?
06:04Why would I tell you that?
06:06Mr. President, I don't talk about military strategy with a reporter, you know, even though I do like the financial.
06:12Mr. President, are you consulting with our allies regarding Iran?
06:17What are they telling you? And why do you think the Iranian—
06:19Well, I'm not going to tell you what they're telling me.
06:20Why do you think the Iranian leadership continues to defy you, Mr. President?
06:26You think they are?
06:27Well, it's only been a couple of days.
06:29They continue to kill protesters.
06:30Well, they said that about Venezuela, too, you know.
06:33It's only been a couple of days.
06:34They haven't defied me.
06:35They haven't done anything as far as we're concerned.
06:38But it looks like they're killing a lot of people.
06:40But it has not been confirmed.
06:42I'll know very soon.
06:43The premier of Greenland said today, we prefer to stay with Denmark.
06:49Do you see that as the final word?
06:50Who said that?
06:50The premier of Greenland.
06:52Well, that's their problem.
06:57That's their problem.
06:58I disagree with them.
06:59I don't know who he is.
07:00Don't know anything about him.
07:02But that's going to be a big problem for him.
07:04Do you want to see democracy in Iran?
07:08Ideally, you'd like to see it.
07:09But what we want to see is we don't want to see people killed.
07:12We want to see a little bit of freedom for these people.
07:14These people have been living in hell for a long time.
07:18You know, that used to be a hell of a country.
07:19You have friends that used to invest in Iran, and they did well with their investments.
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