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Trump rejects settling war with Iran, raises notion of eliminating all potential leaders

US President Donald Trump on March 7, 2026 raises the possibility of the war against Iran ending only once that country no longer has a functioning military or any remaining leadership in power. Speaking to reporters aboard Air Force One, Trump said he was not interested in negotiating with Iran at this point and later added the air campaign could make it a moot point if all potential leaders of Iran were killed and the Iranian military was destroyed. Trump's remarks came on a day of Israel and Iran trading numerous attacks as the Middle East war entered a second week. Iran's president apologized to neighboring states to cool anger across the Gulf but stirred criticism from hardliners at home.

WHITE HOUSE / US NETWORK POOL VIA REUTERS

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Transcript
00:00Did the United States bomb a girls' elementary school in southern Iran on the first day of the war and
00:05kill 175 people?
00:06No, in my opinion, based on what I've seen, that was done by Iran.
00:11Is that true, Mr. Hickson? It was Iran who did that?
00:13We're certainly investigating. Still investigating.
00:16But the only side that targets civilians is Iran.
00:21We think it was done by Iran.
00:25Because they're very inaccurate, as you know, with their munitions.
00:28They have no accuracy whatsoever. It was done by Iran.
00:31But he was asking whether you have indications of whether Russia is supporting Iran somehow in this.
00:37No, I haven't had that. I haven't had no indication of that whatsoever.
00:41If they are, they're not doing a very good job because Iran is not doing too well.
00:46Did you consider using the SPR or tapping into the SPR at some point?
00:51Strategic reserve? Yeah.
00:53Well, I'm the one that built them up. Biden used them so that he could get some extra votes in
00:57the election.
00:58It turned out it wasn't even him that ran. It was Kamala.
01:01And she obviously didn't get any extra votes because we won in an absolute landslide.
01:06So he should have used it for that. He used it to get...
01:09I filled it up, and he brought it down to the lowest level it's ever been.
01:14We will start at the appropriate time, which is basically a gut instinct.
01:19I think we will start filling up these strategic reserves.
01:22Does anyone want to be involved in the selection of the next leader of Iran?
01:27Can you talk to me about that?
01:27Well, because I don't want to just come back every 10 years.
01:30And mostly you'll have presidents, mostly, that won't do that because they don't get it.
01:36But we don't want to come back every five years or every 10 years and do this.
01:40So we want to pick a president that's not going to be leading their country into a war.
01:45What sort of thing do you want to see in a deal?
01:47I mean, do you think you have maximum negotiating leverage at this point?
01:51I think the president has proved that we have.
01:54We're all drawn today.
01:56QCUS is hitting.
01:57We have a lot of negotiating leverage, maybe maximum, but we're not looking to settle.
02:02They'd like to settle. We're not looking to settle.
02:04I just put out a response.
02:06Give me the offer to send two aircraft carriers, maybe, maybe, but they're not sure.
02:12I just put out a response.
02:14I said, we don't need them.
02:18It's not the right time.
02:19It would have been nice to have had them two weeks ago, but the response I put out, I think,
02:25says it very well for you.
02:30Mr. Wykov, have you communicated to the Russians not to send targeting?
02:34Information and other assistance to the Iranians.
02:37You strongly said that.
02:39And do you believe that they are?
02:41I hope they're not.
02:44Do you see any evidence?
02:45We don't know, but it's not doing very well.
02:48If they are, it's not helping much.
02:50If you take a look at what's happened to Iran in the last week, if they're getting information, it's not
02:57helping them much.
02:57It sounds like you think they're running out of one or both of the drones.
03:01I mean, when you look, I mean, they're sending in much less, much less drones.
03:05They're being decimated.
03:07Now, you know, at some point, I don't think there'll be anybody left, maybe, to say we surrender, but they're
03:14being decimated.
03:15Some Iranians are concerned that the Kurds will carve out kind of an autonomous region as they did in Syria
03:21and Iraq.
03:21We're not having, we're not looking to the Kurds going in.
03:25We're very friendly with the Kurds, as you know, but we don't want to make the war any more complex
03:30than it already is.
03:31Have you ruled that out?
03:32We don't want, yeah, I have ruled it out.
03:34I don't want the Kurds going in.
03:36I don't want to see the Kurds get hurt, get killed.
03:41We've had a good relationship.
03:42They're willing to go in, but we really, I've told them, I don't want them to go in.
03:46They're on their third or fourth level of leadership, and they have leaders right now that nobody even knows who
03:52they are.
03:53Thank you very much, everybody.
04:22Thank you very much.
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