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00:00Now, with Donald Trump putting increasing pressure on the Iranians to come to the negotiating table,
00:06Trump is currently holding a cabinet meeting live at the White House.
00:10We're going to listen to a little of that now.
00:12Currently, we believe he's not talking about Iran, but he may well begin to shortly.
00:16Let's listen in.
00:18This morning, I want to give an update on the Operation Epic Fury,
00:23which is an appropriate name because we are absolutely obliterating them.
00:28Over the past three weeks, we've been hitting Iran's military capabilities
00:34at a level that few people have ever seen before.
00:36People never knew there was such a capability.
00:40We have the strongest military anywhere in the world by far.
00:43I built it during my first administration, and I used it during my second administration.
00:50Unfortunately, because I'd rather not have to use it.
00:53But it's a display of force and precision and skill like nothing.
00:56The world has really witnessed, although you get a pretty good witnessing of it in Venezuela also.
01:02And that was a smaller version of what we're doing now.
01:06We're crushing their missiles and drone stockpiles, destroying their defense industrial base.
01:12We've wiped out their Navy completely, their air force completely.
01:16We've wiped out a large percentage of their missiles.
01:21And the missile launchers, without the launchers, you can't, the missiles don't do any good.
01:28And we've knocked out probably close to 90 percent of the launchers,
01:33probably more than 90 percent of the missiles themselves.
01:36Between some they fired and more than they fired, we knocked out.
01:41We've also destroyed a lot of the factories.
01:45We're continuing to do that.
01:46But a lot of the factories where they manufacture the drones and the missiles, the drones, too, are way down.
01:52But the reason they're down is they they go one way.
01:55They don't come back because for the most part we're shooting them down.
01:59But we also are able to, we've really done tremendous damage to the places where they make them.
02:05And just so we set the record straight, because I've been watching the Wall Street Journal's fake news
02:10and all these stories that get printed like, oh, I want to make a deal.
02:14They are begging to make a deal, not me.
02:16They're begging to make a deal.
02:18And anybody that saw what was happening over there would understand why they want to make a deal.
02:24But they say, oh, we're not talking to anybody would know that.
02:28And only a total four.
02:30And they're not fools.
02:31They're very smart, actually, in a certain way.
02:33And they're great negotiators.
02:35I say they're lousy fighters, but they're great negotiators.
02:40And they are begging to work out a deal.
02:44I don't know if we'll be able to do that.
02:46I don't know if we're willing to do that.
02:47They should have done that four weeks ago.
02:50They should have done it two years ago.
02:52Or they should have done it when we first came into office, because two years ago, they had free reign
02:58under Biden.
02:59Sleepy Joe, worst president in the history of our country, when he allowed it to happen to our country at
03:05the borders, and even with a thing like this.
03:08But not just him.
03:09Every president for 47 years, every president should have done this.
03:12They should have done it a long time ago, because you cannot give lunatics a nuclear weapon.
03:18And they would have had a big one.
03:21It stopped, really, when we did the B-2.
03:24But even before that, the Barack Hussein Obama, what he did where he gave them the Iran nuclear deal, gave
03:31them free will toward a nuclear weapon.
03:34Basically, he chose Iran over Israel and others that didn't want him to do it.
03:41But I terminated that deal.
03:43Had I not terminated that deal, you would have had a nuclear weapon years ago, and it would have been
03:47used, guaranteed.
03:49And one of the reasons you know about the guarantee is because their neighbors were sort of like bystanders.
03:57They weren't involved very much.
03:59They didn't choose heavy sides.
04:01They didn't want to, because people were concerned with Iran.
04:04There was a big black cloud over the Middle East.
04:07They were concerned.
04:08But all of a sudden, the war starts, and they start shooting at these five, in particular, five countries.
04:14They start shooting at Qatar, Saudi Arabia, UAE, Kuwait, Oman.
04:22They start shooting at them.
04:24And everybody was shocked, including us.
04:27You know why?
04:28Because they're sick.
04:30And they had a plan to take over the Middle East.
04:33And some of those missiles that were shot at them were locked long before we even started this process.
04:39They were locked and loaded and aimed at those countries.
04:42They wanted to take over the Middle East.
04:44But we happened to come along, so it wasn't so easy.
04:48So right now, their navy is sunk in the largest elimination of a foreign navy that has taken place, maybe
04:57ever, but certainly since World War II.
05:00Their air force is gone.
05:01Their anti-aircraft and communications capabilities are totally dismantled.
05:07And one of the problems they do have when they deal with us is we deal with people, and the
05:11people aren't able to communicate with anybody else.
05:14So, you know, because all of their leadership has been gone.
05:18The first level is gone, and they met to pick a new level, and they're gone.
05:23They're all gone because they didn't make a deal and because they're sick people.
05:28They're really sick.
05:29They're really sinister sick people.
05:32And if anybody thinks it was okay to have a group of people like this to have nuclear capability and
05:38nuclear weapons, and if we didn't attack with the B-2 bombers, they would have had a nuclear weapon within
05:44two weeks of that, maybe four weeks.
05:47But between two and four weeks, they were planning to have a nuclear weapon.
05:51And if we didn't hit them at that time with the B-2 bombers and one of the great air
05:57raids in history, maybe the greatest, dark at night, no moon, no light, every single bomb hit its mark and
06:05just obliterated that place.
06:07So it's now buried deep under Earth.
06:11And it was an amazing thing.
06:13But they would have a nuclear weapon, and they would have used it without question.
06:16And you know that because why did they shoot all these countries that weren't even really involved with them?
06:21They weren't involved.
06:22They had no big problems because they're sick, because they want to take over the Middle East, not just Israel.
06:29Certainly, Israel would have been the first on their list.
06:31They would have used nuclear weapons, a nuclear.
06:34You don't need too many of them.
06:36But they would have used a nuclear weapon on Israel, and they would have used it on the other neighbors.
06:40And then they would have come after us.
06:43And if we had a weak president, they would have done great damage.
06:47But fortunately, you don't have a weak president.
06:49I knew what was happening.
06:51And I think we've been proven right.
06:53You know, they took one missile, it went 2,500 miles.
06:56They supposedly didn't have a missile like that.
06:58They had no missile with that capability.
07:01But they shot the now-famous Ireland, the island that the UK was very afraid to give us,
07:11because they didn't want to get dragged in.
07:13But we don't want to get dragged into their wars either.
07:16One thing, we're very disappointed, I'll say it publicly, we're very disappointed with NATO,
07:21because NATO has done absolutely nothing.
07:24And I've always said, 25 years ago, I mean, I was somebody that wasn't a politician,
07:29but I was always involved in politics, and I understood politics.
07:33I said 25 years ago that NATO's a paper tiger, but more importantly,
07:38that we'll come to their rescue, but they will never come to ours.
07:42And I want you to remember that we said this, they didn't come to our rescue.
07:46Now they all want to help when they're annihilated.
07:49The other side is annihilated.
07:51They said, we'd love to send ships.
07:53They actually made a statement, a couple of them, that we want to get involved when the war's over.
07:58No, it's supposed to get involved when the war's beginning, or even before it begins.
08:04We had the UK say that we'll send, this is three weeks ago,
08:09we'll send our aircraft carriers, which aren't the best aircraft carriers, by the way.
08:12They're toys compared to what we have.
08:15But we'll send our aircraft carrier when the war's over.
08:19I said, oh, that's wonderful.
08:21Thank you very much.
08:22Don't bother.
08:23We don't need it.
08:25And we don't need it.
08:26And we don't need them.
08:27We estimated it would take approximately four to six weeks to achieve our mission.
08:32And we're way ahead of schedule.
08:35If you look at what we've done in terms of the destruction of that country,
08:40I mean, we're way ahead.
08:41Think of it.
08:42They have no navy.
08:43And they had good ships.
08:45154 ships have been shot down and are resting very nicely at the bottom of the sea.
08:51And we did that in a matter of less than a week.
08:55Because we have the greatest military in the world by far.
08:58Nobody even close.
09:01So we estimated it would take approximately four to six weeks to achieve our mission.
09:0626 days in, we're extremely, really a lot ahead of schedule.
09:12The Iranian regime is now admitting to itself that they have been decisively defeated.
09:18They're saying to people, this is a disaster.
09:22They know.
09:23That's why they're talking to us.
09:24They wouldn't talk otherwise.
09:26But they're talking to us because they've got a disaster in their hands.
09:31They're defeated.
09:32They can't make a comeback.
09:34We're free to roam over there, cities and towns,
09:39and destroy all of their crazy nuclear weapons and missiles and drones that they're building.
09:44Oh, we're doing that.
09:46They now have a chance to make a deal, but that's up to them.
09:50And they'll tell you, we're not negotiating.
09:52We will not negotiate.
09:54Of course, they're negotiating.
09:55They've been obliterated.
09:56Who wouldn't negotiate?
09:58They are begging to make a deal.
10:00We'll see if we can make the right deal.
10:03And if they make the right deal, then the strait will open up.
10:08The Hormuz strait will open up.
10:38And even now, we don't know if there are any mines.
10:39America, when we hit those boats, it's the exact same weapon.
10:43Extremely effective.
10:44We have unlimited supplies and extremely effective.
10:48But they have no more mind-drovers.
10:51By the way, speaking of drugs, we're 98% down drugs coming in by water, by the ocean, by the
10:59sea.
11:0098%.
11:02And we're trying to find out who are the 2% because we think they're the bravest men anywhere in
11:06the world.
11:08Maybe women.
11:09But whoever's on those boats is very brave or doesn't watch television.
11:14But where drugs coming in by sea, coming in by water, are 98% down.
11:21And now we'll stop the drugs coming in by land.
11:23The land is the easy one.
11:24You got to stop the water.
11:25A lot of it came in through the water.
11:27And now it's all pinched, and these people are trying to come in by land.
11:32And we will.
11:33That's the easy one.
11:35But we had to take care of the water for us.
11:37Nobody's coming in.
11:39Virtually nothing is coming in anymore.
11:42It was hundreds of millions of dollars a week were coming in by water.
11:48But they now have the chance, that is, Iran, to permanently abandon their nuclear ambitions
11:55and to chart a new path forward.
11:57We'll see if they want to do it.
11:59If they don't, we're their worst nightmare.
12:02In the meantime, we'll just keep blowing them away, unimpeded, unstopped.
12:09There's not a thing they can do about it.
12:11They can't do anything about it, you know.
12:12I'll tell you if they could.
12:13If they could, you'd be hearing about it.
12:16You'd be hearing about it.
12:17You don't hear anything about it.
12:19They can't shoot our jets.
12:20We have the best military equipment in the world.
12:24Not even a contest.
12:25You see that with Venezuela?
12:28They had other equipment.
12:29They didn't have ours.
12:30It didn't work.
12:31It didn't work.
12:32Think of it.
12:32We did a situation in Venezuela.
12:35It was a great military operation getting a very, very dangerous man who's killed a lot
12:40of people, forced people into our country.
12:44Incredible.
12:45He emptied his prisons in Venezuela, emptied his prisons into our country.
12:50And I hope that charge will be brought at some point.
12:53Because that was a big charge that hasn't been brought yet.
12:57It should be brought.
12:58He emptied his prisons into our country and was a major purveyor of drugs coming into our
13:05country.
13:06And he's now been captured and, you know, I guess be given a fair trial.
13:15But I would imagine there are other trials coming because they have just, they've really
13:20sued him just in a fraction of the kind of things that he's done.
13:23Other cases are going to be brought, as you probably know.
13:26In the meantime, with Iran, we're going to keep doing what we've been doing.
13:31And nobody's a match for the United States, but they're not a match for the United States.
13:37It's small potatoes.
13:37That's why I'm so disappointed in NATO, because this was a test for NATO.
13:43This was a test.
13:44You can help us.
13:45You don't have to.
13:45But if you don't have, you know, if you don't do that, we're going to remember.
13:50Just remember.
13:51Remember this in a number of months from now.
13:54Remember my statements.
13:57They have an expression, a great expression.
14:00Never forget.
14:02You can never forget.
14:04So as we end threats to America abroad, we're focused here, at home, on building the greatest
14:10economy in the history of the world.
14:12Now, before this started, the Dow hit 50,000.
14:15The S&P hit 7,000.
14:17Both of those achievements were not achievable.
14:24Every one of you, most of you, I guess, said you'll never hit 50,000 during a four-year
14:30period because it was too high a number.
14:32Well, we hit it in our first year.
14:35And I said, well, now we have to take an excursion to Iran and we have to stop this maniac
14:40who's
14:41no longer with us.
14:43The supreme leader wasn't so supreme, no longer with us.
14:47It's very sad.
14:49But we have to stop him from blowing up the world, blowing up the Middle East and blowing
14:54up our country.
14:55And we did that.
14:57And I thought, frankly, I thought the oil prices would go up more.
15:02And I thought the stock market would go down more.
15:04It hasn't been nearly as severe as I thought.
15:07I think they have confidence in maybe the American president and maybe the people sitting
15:11around this table.
15:13But Americans filing their taxes this year are receiving record-setting refunds.
15:18It's been a very big story.
15:20Well, it should be a big story.
15:21I don't think you write about it that much.
15:22But I speak about it.
15:24You know, I speak about it.
15:26Because if I speak about it, at least people here, you don't write about it.
15:30You don't write about the drug prices going down.
15:34It'll be going down 30, 40, 50, 60 percent, 70 percent.
15:41We're going to be paying the lowest price anywhere in the world before we paid the highest price
15:46in the world, Bobby, right?
15:48And now we're going to pay the lowest price in the world.
15:50That's quite a difference.
15:52It's a difference of from 40 to 70 and 80 and even 90 percent.
15:58That's a pretty big difference.
16:00But we're slashing regulations and investment is pouring in from all over the world.
16:05We have the most investment of any country in history has been put into our country in the last year.
16:11And again, we had to take a little detour.
16:13It won't be long.
16:15It's going to end soon.
16:17We had to take a little detour, go to Iran, and we had to put out a fire,
16:23a very dangerous fire that could have blown up big portions of the world, if not the whole thing.
16:29So tomorrow we'll be announcing a variety of actions that we're taking to support American farmers.
16:35We'll never forget.
16:36We love the farmers.
16:37We gave them $12 billion out of tariff money.
16:40We had a tremendous amount of tariff money come in.
16:43And we continue to have.
16:45We've gone, as you know, the Supreme Court gave us a very unfortunate, foolish ruling,
16:49a ruling that gives the people that have ripped off our country for many years,
16:54gives them some money back.
16:56It's one of those things.
16:58It's a terrible, terrible, horrible mistake they made.
17:02But it's okay because we have another method that's just as good.
17:05We'll use the other method.
17:06But because the tariff money has been so substantial,
17:10we gave our farmers, who have been mistreated by some countries,
17:14we gave them $12 billion.
17:18And they're extremely happy.
17:20And they deserve it.
17:21They've been great.
17:22They never complain.
17:23They just go out and they farm.
17:25And they wouldn't do anything different.
17:26They wouldn't trade jobs with any of you,
17:30except maybe some of the fake media.
17:32I don't know.
17:32Somehow I don't see that.
17:34I like their job better, actually.
17:36I love the farmers.
17:38So we gave them $12 billion.
17:40So in just a few moments, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent
17:43will discuss the actions that we're taking to address energy prices,
17:48which have not gone up as much as I thought, Scott, to be honest with you.
17:52And, you know, it's not over.
17:53So maybe it'll go up a little bit more.
17:55It's all going to come back down to where it was and probably lower.
17:59And my predictions have been right.
18:01Trump was right about everything.
18:02They have a new hat.
18:03Trump was right about everything.
18:06It's pretty right.
18:09But Scott's going to address that.
18:11And I think before we go very much further,
18:14I want to ask Vice President J.D. Vance to say a few words
18:18about where we are with the situation.
18:23He's involved with Steve and with Jared on negotiations.
18:25And then some of the others will speak.
18:28We'll have Marco say a few words.
18:29Pete Hanks said, who was born for this role.
18:34I mean, he's doing a great job.
18:36They gave him a hard time.
18:37And now people, I'll tell you, somebody came up to me yesterday,
18:40gave you a very hard time, said, you know, I made a mistake.
18:43Pete Hanks said this, doing a good job.
18:46So when I tell you who, you're not even going to believe it.
18:48He said, he gave you such a nasty hard time.
18:53But you're doing, you're doing great.
18:56And then Steve is going to speak and Scott will speak last.
19:02And if we have any questions, we'll take some questions.
19:04You may have questions.
19:05I doubt it, but you may have.
19:08So J.D., please.
19:10Yes, sir.
19:10Well, thank you.
19:11It's good to see everybody.
19:12Proud to be part of this team.
19:13Proud to be serving the president of the country.
19:15Let me just say a couple of things.
19:16So first of all is the president summarized this very ably.
19:20But look, the Iranian conventional military is effectively destroyed.
19:24They don't have a navy.
19:26They don't have the ability to hit us like they could have even a few weeks ago.
19:29And what that does is that gives us options, Mr. President.
19:31Now, there's been a lot of reporting about diplomatic options, about negotiations.
19:35There's, of course, Pete and his team.
19:37There are further military options.
19:39But what we have now that we didn't have when the president took over just a little over a year
19:43ago is the ability to use every tool at our disposal to ensure that Iran doesn't get a nuclear weapon.
19:51Because when I say options, I think it's important the American people know options for what?
19:55And it's options to ensure that Iran never has a nuclear weapon.
19:59You talk about people who walk into a crowded supermarket and have a vest on, and they blow up the
20:04vest, and a couple of people get killed, and that's a terrible tragedy.
20:06What happens when what's on the vest is not something that can kill a couple of people but can kill
20:11many, many tens of thousands of people?
20:13That is the most important American national security objective that exists for any administration at any time is you don't
20:20want the worst people in the world to have a nuclear weapon.
20:22That's why the president is doing this.
20:24That's why the president cares so much about this particular issue.
20:28I'll let Steve talk a little bit about the details of the negotiation.
20:31But the last thing I'll say before I turn it over to Marco is I'm very mindful, of course, that
20:36we have a lot of folks overseas fighting very ably for the United States of America.
20:41I know Pete and the whole team were very proud of them.
20:43But they're fighting at a time where we are about to enter as Christians the most important week of the
20:50Christian calendar,
20:51the holy week that celebrates the return of Jesus Christ to Jerusalem.
20:54And so I want to say to all of my fellow American Christians, but particularly those serving in the Gulf,
21:00that I wish you all a very blessed Easter, a very blessed holy week.
21:04And we continue to stand behind you and continue to support you every step of the way.
21:08Thank you, sir.
21:09Thank you very much.
21:11Marco?
21:11The most important job any president has is to keep the American people safe.
21:16And every president says it, but we have a president that means it and does something about it.
21:19As the president outlined very clearly to the world on the night this operation began, Iran has been at war
21:25with the United States for 47 years.
21:28For 47 years, Iran has been killing Americans and attacking Americans across this planet.
21:33And other presidents had an opportunity to do something about it.
21:35And they all warned about how Iran was dangerous, but they refused to act.
21:39And this president is not someone that's going to refuse to act.
21:41He's not going to leave a danger like this in place.
21:43He's going to address it, and that is what he is doing.
21:46From the very first night of this operation, the president made it very clear.
21:50People like this, and what I'm talking about is not the people of Iran.
21:53The people that run this country are radical Shia clerics.
21:56These are religious fanatics.
21:58Look what they are doing now at their weakest point.
22:00This is the weakest Iran has ever been.
22:02And look at what they're doing.
22:04They're attacking embassies.
22:05They're embassies.
22:06They're attacking hotels.
22:09Imagine what these people would do if they had a nuclear weapon.
22:11That is an unacceptable risk for the world.
22:13By the way, the president is not just doing a favor to the United States and to our people.
22:17This is for the world.
22:19He defined very clearly on the first night of this operation what the goal was.
22:23We were going to destroy Iran's navy, and that is happening.
22:26We were going to, if it hasn't already happened, I'll let Pete speak to the specifics of it.
22:30We were going to destroy their missile launching capabilities.
22:33We're well on our way to achieving that goal.
22:36We were going to destroy the factories so they couldn't make more missiles and more drones.
22:39And that is moving forward.
22:40Every single objective the president clearly laid out on the first night of this operation is being effectuated.
22:47Again, Pete will speak to the specifics of it.
22:49This has been an incredibly successful operation.
22:51Every day.
22:52It may not get covered because, you know, unlike them, we're not bombing embassies and hotels.
22:57We're hitting military targets.
22:58But every day, the Department of War lets the drummer get wicked over every portion of Iran that has these
23:05military capabilities, and the results are going to bear fruit for the world.
23:08The world is going to be a safer and a better place when President Trump's mission here is achieved.
23:13And frankly, I think countries around the world, even those that are out there complaining about this a little bit,
23:18should actually be grateful that the United States has a president that's willing to confront a threat like this and
23:23not allow it to continue to persist.
23:25Because these people will kill as many Americans as they have a chance to do.
23:29And if they have a nuclear weapon, as the vice president pointed out, they could kill millions of Americans in
23:33the future.
23:34And that is a risk that was not going to continue to exist as long as we had this president.
23:39Thank you, Marco.
23:40Well, you know, it's very interesting because yesterday I was watching, he said, Anthony Blinken, and he was saying that
23:47they should have done it.
23:48But they didn't do it.
23:50Nobody did it.
23:51Nobody did it.
23:52For 47 years, Marco, that's the number.
23:5547?
23:55I guess now it's 48 because we've been saying 47 for a long time.
24:00It's probably 48.
24:01But for 47, 48 years, every president should have done this.
24:09And some are saying now that they made a big mistake in not doing it.
24:13But we're taking care of business.
24:15Steve Whitcuff, please.
24:19Mr. President, it is my distinct honor to be a member of your cabinet and to report to you and
24:26your team on our negotiations with Iran.
24:30Mr. President, you directed Jared and I to pursue a diplomatic resolution with Iran prior to Operation Epic Fury, which
24:39we did.
24:40However, it became quite clear during these meetings with the Iranian negotiating team that we could not make a deal
24:50that fulfilled your objectives of the following.
24:52No enrichment whatsoever, no chance of weaponizing whatsoever, decommissioning of Fordow, Natanz, and Esfahan, which you destroyed in Operation Midnight
25:05Hammer.
25:07No stockpiling of any material, which they flagrantly violated, turning all enriched material over to us, and a cutback in
25:18Iran's missile inventory and range capability of those same missiles.
25:23Throughout our meetings with the Iranians, we heard the following from them.
25:27The Iranians have the inalienable right to enrich.
25:32Then we heard they possessed enough 60% enriched material, 460 kilograms, to make 11 atomic bombs.
25:43Finally, we heard the following statement.
25:46They would not give up diplomatically what we could not win militarily.
25:51In other words, they were again miscalculating the success of Midnight Hammer, which was a total success.
25:59These are incontrovertible signs, among many other signs, sir, that their regime had not given their negotiating team authority to
26:12make a deal required by you.
26:15We conferred with you and all the other members of your foreign policy team, Susie Wiles, Pete Hegseth, the chairman,
26:24Marco Rubio, J.D., Scott Bessent, Chris Wright, John Radcliffe, throughout all of these negotiations, and we were repeatedly rebuffed
26:35on everything we asked for.
26:37I have no doubt that we exhausted all efforts on behalf of a peaceful resolution, as you directed.
26:44Jared and I both agreed that the Iranians were there to buy time until a weaker president arrived.
26:51This was a flawed strategy, as your clear direction was to never allow Iran to obtain a nuclear weapon today
27:00or any time in the future.
27:03Against that backdrop and our compelling military successes in Epic Fury, we have had multiple reach-outs from the region
27:12and others who want to play a role in ending this conflict peacefully.
27:18I can report to you today that we have, along with your foreign policy team, presented a 15-point action
27:27list that forms the framework for a peace deal.
27:31This has been circulated through the Pakistani government, acting as the mediator, and this has resulted in strong and positive
27:41messaging and talks, as you just indicated to the press.
27:45But these are sensitive diplomatic discussions, and you have directed us to maintain confidentiality on the specific terms and not
27:55negotiate through the news media, as others do.
27:59I can say this.
28:01We will see where things lead, and if we can convince Iran that this is the inflection point with no
28:08good alternatives for them, other than more death and destruction.
28:13We have strong signs that this is a possibility, and if a deal happens, it will be great for the
28:20country of Iran, for the entire region, and the world at large.
28:24Your policy of peace through strength is the most effective tool for a diplomatic resolution here, just as this policy
28:34was an effective tool in each and every one of all of the other conflicts you settled in your first
28:40year.
28:41Iran is looking for an off-ramp, following your powerful threat on Saturday.
28:47Your indications that you are willing to listen to peace proposals have been well received.
28:54You have instructed us that your preference is always peace, and that we should make that our priority.
29:01We have delivered that message, sir, along with the 15 points for peace.
29:07Finally, we have told Iran one last thing.
29:11Don't miscalculate again.
29:13Good.
29:14Thank you very much.
29:15Good job.
29:16Doing a great job.
29:17Everybody around this table is doing a great job.
29:21Can you take sense, please?
29:23Mr. President, I'll start kind of where you left off, Mr. President.
29:26Thank you for doing the work of the free world and having the courage to step up and stop the
29:32Iranian terror regime from holding the world hostage.
29:36That's really what it is.
29:37And 27 days ago, Iran had a modern military.
29:40Never in recorded history has a nation's military been so quickly and effectively neutralized.
29:44Operation Epic Fury is not an endless war.
29:48It's a decisive campaign with clear objectives to destroy Iran's offensive military capabilities and ensure they never obtain a nuclear
29:58weapon.
29:59This is stuff for the history books.
30:02This is stuff for legacy.
30:04Mr. President, you are acting now to ensure future generations do not have to live under the threat of a
30:11nuclear-armed Iran.
30:14However, you wouldn't know it if you listened to the dishonest hate Trump media, as you referenced.
30:19The folks here in the room, these cameras, they have a choice.
30:23You're either informing the American people of the truth or you're not.
30:27Because I hear it from my people every day.
30:30Behind every headline you write, there's a helicopter crew in the air.
30:35And behind every news banner you write, there's a battalion on the move.
30:40And behind every fake news story, there's an F-35 pilot executing a dangerous mission.
30:47My message to the media is get it right.
30:50This actually isn't something new to me.
30:52I may be a young guy, Mr. President, but I'm not a rookie in this realm.
30:56You know, in 2007, I helped lead the surge, the public fight for the Iraq surge.
31:02Stood and watched people stand in the Senate and declare the war is lost before it even started.
31:07Who was that?
31:09That was Harry Reid.
31:10That was the Democrats and the media working hand in glove.
31:14Back then, it was three years into a war.
31:16Now we're three weeks into an operation.
31:19But see, unlike Iraq, this isn't a tie, this is not parody, this is not chaos.
31:27This is success, pure American success, on plan, and as the President said, ahead of pace.
31:34Over 10,000 enemy targets destroyed, over 140, I think now you're right, Mr. President,
31:39over 150 naval vessels sunk, underground facilities destroyed, their defense industrial base in shambles.
31:45And overnight, not only do they not have a Navy, Mr. President, they no longer have a Navy commander.
31:52IRGC's Navy commander was killed overnight in operation.
31:55So no Navy, no Navy leader.
31:59Here's the thing about the media, though.
32:01If President Trump had not acted, you'd be screaming, why not?
32:06And now that he has taken decisive action, you're asking, well, why did you?
32:11It's the same old tired playbook, TDS in your DNA.
32:15But the hardworking, God-fearing, patriotic Americans out there know better.
32:20And you alluded to this, President Obama, Mr. President.
32:23Here's a fact that you don't hear on your networks, but we know.
32:26Many of the Iranian military factories and bases that we're systematically destroying
32:32were paid for by the pallets of American cash that Barack Obama flew into Tehran under the Iran deal.
32:41You might call it an inconvenient truth.
32:44Iran took our money and turned it into weapons and bunkers and ammo.
32:47And now we're destroying those weapons and we're righting, you're righting, Mr. President, that grievous wrong.
32:53And make no mistake, we had to act.
32:56And our objectives are clear.
32:57No nukes, no Navy, and a complete dismantling of their missile program and defense industrial base.
33:02And as Marco pointed out, that mission, and the VP as well, has not changed since day one.
33:09Yet, two days ago, they shot two failed missiles on a target 4,000 kilometers away.
33:18For years, they told the world that their missiles could only range two kilometers.
33:23Surprise.
33:24Yet again, Iran lied.
33:26And to the world, I say London is 4,000 kilometers from Iran.
33:32Washington, D.C. is 3,300 kilometers from Venezuela, another country President Trump did something about that partnered for a
33:40long time with Iran.
33:42So you're telling us that Iran is not a threat to the world or to the U.S. President Trump
33:46knows better.
33:46And here's what success actually looks like right now.
33:50You mentioned it, Mr. President.
33:51A-10 Warthogs, if you know them, you love them, and Apache helicopter gunships are flying strike missions inside Iranian
33:59airspace and throughout the Strait of Hormuz at will.
34:03See, you only send these slow, low-flying, close air support platforms when the enemy has no meaningful air defenses
34:12left.
34:14Their presence is proof that Iran's air defenses are gone.
34:19Their command and control is shattered.
34:20Their top leaders hiding in underground bunkers while their mid-level commanders are being crushed in the field.
34:26The morale of their fighters plummeting, and we see that disconnect daily.
34:30They're privately admitting, as you said, Mr. President, very heavy losses.
34:35We know that.
34:37President Trump has given us a clear mission.
34:39Our capabilities are only going up, and Iran's are plummeting.
34:43We are here to win, and we're full speed ahead.
34:46So, Steve, we appreciate your efforts.
34:49We pray for a deal, and we welcome a deal, and we have the ultimate dealmaker to make it happen.
34:55But in the meantime, as I said yesterday, the Department of War will continue negotiating with bombs.
35:01War is negotiation by other means.
35:04And finally, I want to thank our incredible troops, our pilots, crews, sailors, refuelers, air defenders, the absolute best of
35:14America, the real 1% of our country.
35:16This president, President Trump, has your back.
35:20And I know this cabinet prays for you every single day.
35:24And we ask the American people to do the same as they continue in this mission.
35:28God bless.
35:29Thank you, Mr. President.
35:29Thank you very much.
35:30It's great.
35:31I think before I ask Scott to say a couple of words, it would be great if people like the
35:42mayor of Chicago and the governor of Illinois would say,
35:48please come in and stop the crime.
35:52A beautiful young lady was killed the other day, and the father was a very good friend of Dan Scavino.
36:03And he took it very hard.
36:05Dan took it very hard.
36:06He liked the father.
36:07Friends.
36:08They grew up together.
36:11And it's a young lady whose life would be saved if we did what we did, as an example, in
36:21Washington, D.C., which is now a safe city.
36:25All the time, people come up to me in the building.
36:27People that work here, they say, thank you so much.
36:29I know immediately what they're talking about.
36:31They're able to walk to work.
36:32They walk to work.
36:33You all walk to work.
36:34Some of you were mugged.
36:35I know you told me stories.
36:36Some of you were mugged.
36:38One person in particular was viciously mugged in the group right here.
36:42It's not happening anymore.
36:44You have a safe city.
36:48Louisiana, the governor of Louisiana called me.
36:50Can you help me?
36:51With New Orleans, they just had the Mardi Gras.
36:53He said it was the safest Mardi Gras we've ever had.
36:56Sounds terrible to say.
36:57No murders.
36:58You know, it sounds like who would say this?
37:00No murders.
37:01But they always had murders.
37:03They had a lot of crime during Mardi Gras.
37:05He said virtually no crime.
37:07We had the troops down there.
37:09Memphis, Tennessee.
37:11I just got back.
37:11We were there.
37:12Crime is down 75 percent.
37:14In a short period of time, we're there five months.
37:17We could do that for Chicago.
37:19We could do that for New York.
37:20We could do that for L.A.
37:23And we could do that for, frankly, San Francisco.
37:26I know they have a mayor who's trying very hard.
37:28He's a Democrat, but he's trying very hard.
37:30But we could do it much more effectively because he can't do what we do.
37:33He can't take people out from the city and bring them to back to the country from where
37:40they came, where they were in prisons.
37:43They were allowed to go in prisons.
37:45There were drug dealers, the highest level drug dealers, murderers, 11,888 murders.
37:51We do things that they can't do.
37:53I had friends calling me up from San Francisco.
37:56Could you give him a chance?
37:57I said, absolutely.
37:58If you want him, we'll give him a chance.
38:00He's trying.
38:01He's doing OK.
38:02But we could do much better.
38:03We could make it a lot safer than it is.
38:06San Francisco, a great city, was a great city, could quickly become a great city again.
38:11All right.
38:12We are going to dip out of that live cabinet meeting at the Trump White House.
38:17Much of that, as you heard there, focused on the administration giving their assessment
38:22of the war in Iran, which is now nearly a month old.
38:26You heard, of course, from the president himself, from the vice president, J.D. Vance,
38:29the secretary of defense, the secretary of state, and interestingly as well,
38:33the top negotiator for Donald Trump, Steve Wyckoff.
38:37And he was at pains to emphasize that, at least according to him, there are strong signs
38:43Iran could be convinced to make a deal to end this conflict.
38:49Well, with me, Angela Diffley, our foreign editor, who was listening to that with me.
38:54And Angela, lots to unpick, but let's start with that question of a deal.
39:00Donald Trump says, look, Iran is begging for it.
39:02Steve Wyckoff is the man who's doing some of the more technical aspects of this.
39:06He, too, seemed to suggest that possibly some kind of deal is on the table,
39:10even though what we're hearing from Iran is quite the contrary.
39:14Yeah, I mean, Iran is now acknowledging that there are some sort of movements towards negotiation,
39:20backchannel, indirect, as is the norm.
39:25Both sides, and that is quite normal in negotiations, have started off with maximalist positions,
39:32which would automatically be rejected by the other side.
39:36We don't know an awful lot about the 15-point plan, but the American one,
39:42but no nuclear program would certainly be part of it.
39:47Limited ballistic missiles, an end to proxy militia support, regime chains.
39:57We don't know how that fits in there.
40:00And the Iranians have said what they want.
40:03They want a guarantee that there will be no further aggression,
40:08and they want a number of other things.
40:11But both sides have been pretty maximalist at the beginning.
40:15Steve Witkoff there said, we were negotiating, but it was clear before the war started on February the 28th
40:24that the Iranians were negotiating in bad faith.
40:29And the Iranians now feel exactly the same about this.
40:33They feel that this idea of negotiations might simply be a cover,
40:38while the Americans better prepare for whatever is about to come next.
40:43And they have no trust in these negotiations either.
40:47So it's a very difficult situation in terms of the negotiations.
40:51The other issue is, you know, what does success look like?
40:56You know, who is pressuring Donald Trump?
40:58There is what Donald Trump would like to see happen.
41:02There is what would be in the United States' interests.
41:05What do the Gulf countries want?
41:07What do the markets want?
41:09And what would it look like for Israel?
41:12And all of those different pressures are feeding into Donald Trump's thoughts.
41:15And it's really not clear that he has a plan.
41:18For the moment, there seems to be this sort of dual strategy,
41:21which in some ways does make sense,
41:24whereby you threaten deeply intensifying the campaign,
41:29going after Iranian infrastructure.
41:31But what if they retaliate, as they have said they might?
41:34And on the other hand, you say, we're ready to negotiate.
41:38They're begging for it.
41:39We'll see how far that gets us.
41:42So, you know, we don't know where we are on this.
41:45We don't really know what their strategy is.
41:46We don't really know if there is one.
41:49Rubio and J.D. Vance, both very keen to reframe this war.
41:56Because although Pete Hegseth has said again and again,
42:00laser focus on our goals, clear from the outset,
42:03everybody knows it was not clear from the outset.
42:07There was no clear aim set out in front of the American people
42:12about what this war was about.
42:13Suddenly it was upon them.
42:14And there was no clear aim to set up.
42:16There was very little mention of Israel in that press conference at all.
42:21And it was reframed very clearly by Vance and Rubio
42:25as Rubio saying this is a dangerous fanatical regime.
42:30And Vance saying we had to stop them getting nuclear weapons
42:34because that is the same as a terrorist in a shopping mall times a million.
42:40And so that was clearly reframed.
42:43Yeah, I agree with you.
42:44It definitely sounded like they were trying to focus now to say,
42:47look, actually our goals are Iran's nuclear program,
42:49not something, as you say, that they've said so explicitly before.
42:53Something else that Donald Trump said,
42:55again, we've heard this kind of language from him previously,
42:57but it was interesting how critical he was of NATO in his statements.
43:03Yeah, I felt sorry for Mark Rutter earlier today,
43:07trying to put a brave face on what is a very difficult relationship
43:13within that organisation.
43:14You know, the whole world knows the United States and the rest of NATO
43:18are at loggerheads.
43:20Donald Trump did not consult anybody before launching this war.
43:25Most of the other NATO members think it was a bad idea.
43:28Mark Rutter said today, you know,
43:30they weren't consulted because it was important that Donald Trump,
43:34that the smallest number of people knew about these military plans.
43:37There could have been leaks.
43:38You know, that's a fair point.
43:40But nevertheless, you know,
43:42those things are usually got around when you're planning a war.
43:46And, you know, the NATO members have said,
43:48we do not agree with this.
43:50We are not helping.
43:51And Donald Trump has said, we will not forget.
43:54It is complicated as well,
43:56because this war is also interlinked with the Ukraine war.
44:00You know, we've seen again and again suggestions
44:03that the Russians are helping the Iranians,
44:07that Donald Trump thinks, well, that's OK.
44:09We're sort of sharing intelligence with the Ukrainians.
44:11And, you know, there have been suggestions.
44:13I heard an expert saying earlier that the Kremlin had said to Trump,
44:19if you stop giving intelligence to the Ukrainians,
44:22we'll stop helping the Iranians.
44:24It seems the offer wasn't taken up yet.
44:26But, you know, it shows just how interlinked it is.
44:28And, of course, the other thing, NATO depends entirely.
44:32The whole raison d'etre of NATO, in a sense,
44:35is this idea of trust,
44:37is that if you attack one NATO member,
44:40all of them will come to that NATO member's aid.
44:43And whilst just that simple premise,
44:47that simple idea,
44:48is completely undermined on a regular basis by Donald Trump,
44:53then NATO loses so much of its power.
44:56And these regular attacks on NATO from Donald Trump
45:00make everyone around the world question,
45:02you know, would he help NATO members?
45:05All right.
45:05Thank you very much for the moment.
45:06Angela Diffley there,
45:07listening with me to that Cabinet meeting at the White House.
45:11desenvolved for tomorrow,
45:11as it is.
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