00:00We really want is we want a world where oil and gas is flowing freely, where people can afford to
00:06heat their homes and cool their homes, where people can afford to transport themselves to work.
00:10We've got tools in our toolkit that we so far haven't decided to use.
00:14The president of the United States can decide to use them and he will decide to use them if the
00:18Iranians don't change their course of conduct.
00:20So you asked if there's new information, and I don't, unless I have a text message from Steve, I do
00:27have a text message from Steve Whitcoff.
00:29Wouldn't you like to know the subject of this message?
00:31But no, I need to read it first before I talk about it.
00:34But here's, here's, what time is it in the United States right now?
00:39Okay, that makes sense.
00:40All right.
00:41Okay, so, so Natalie, on this question of the deal, I really think there are two pathways.
00:48The president's been very clear about this.
00:50There are two pathways that this thing is ultimately going to end.
00:53First of all, the United States has largely accomplished its military objectives.
00:56There are still some things that we'd like to do, for example, an Iranian ability to manufacture weapons that we'd
01:01like to do a little bit more work on militarily.
01:03But fundamentally, the military objectives of the United States have been completed.
01:07So that means, as the president has said, very shortly this war is going to conclude.
01:12And I think the nature of the conclusion is ultimately up to the Iranians.
01:15I think there really are two pathways, and I'm oversimplifying this a little bit.
01:18But I think pathway one is where the Iranians decide they're going to be a normal country.
01:23They're not going to fund terrorism anymore.
01:25They're going to be part of the world system of commerce and exchange.
01:29And that's going to mean much better things for them economically.
01:32It's going to mean better things for the peace and safety of the world.
01:35It's going to mean a lot of good things for a lot of people all over the planet.
01:39That's option A.
01:41Option B is if the Iranians don't come to the table and they stay committed to terrorism, to terrorizing their
01:47neighbors, not just Israel, but of course their Arab neighbors too, then the economic situation in Iran is going to
01:53continue to be very, very bad.
01:54And frankly, it will probably get worse.
01:56And so what the president has asked his entire team to do, particularly Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, is to
02:01figure out what are the contours of a potential deal?
02:04What are they willing to do?
02:05Because militarily, it frankly doesn't matter one way or the other to us.
02:09It's fundamentally a question of what does this look like afterwards.
02:12And that has been what the negotiations have been focused on.
02:15And the president's also been very clear that while the Iranians are trying to exact as much economic costs through
02:21the Straits of Hormuz, the United States has the ability to extract much greater economic costs on Iran than Iran
02:29has on an ability to extract costs on us or on our friends in the world.
02:33So I hope that they're smart.
02:35The president has set a deadline for about 12 hours from now in the United States.
02:39We're going to find out, but there's going to be a lot of negotiation between now and then.
02:42And I'm hopeful that it gets to a good resolution.
02:45You know, the second question you asked about, you know, is God on our side?
02:49Is God on, you know, whose side?
02:51I think my attitude towards military conflict has always been to pray that we're on God's side.
02:57And my own view is that we're doing this for the right reasons.
03:01We're doing this because we don't want a regime that has committed acts of terrorism to have it the world's
03:08most dangerous weapon.
03:09Because that would mean a lot of innocent people dead.
03:11I certainly hope that God agrees with the decision that Iran shouldn't have a nuclear weapon.
03:17But I'll keep praying about it.
03:18And if he gives me a good answer, you'll be the first to know, Natalie.
03:22Next question.
03:25Let's see.
03:26I think we have Reuters and AP.
03:35I checked my earpiece to see if somebody in my staff would tell me who I should call on, but
03:41nobody answered.
03:42This is just Hungarian, so go ahead.
03:45Thank you, Mr. Vice President.
03:47This is Humey Rappam from Reuters.
03:48I have a couple of questions.
03:50I do think you have to read that text because we have reporting that the United States is striking some
03:56targets in Karg Island.
03:58You did say that the military objectives of this war have been achieved.
04:03So could you help us understand why the president is still threatening to attack every bridge and every power plant
04:11in Iran?
04:13You also said that this will wrap up soon, but yesterday in his press conference when he was asked about
04:20a timeline, he did not give a specific timeline, and he had said four to six weeks, and we're now
04:26in week six.
04:27Do you have a specific timeline?
04:29Excuse me, these are spontaneous questions.
04:31That's a lot of questions.
04:32Okay, I'll stop.
04:33I mean, the Hungary question is this.
04:36If Prime Minister Orban loses, do you commit, does the United States commit to working with the new leader?
04:43Will you have a golden age relationship with the new leader?
04:46Thank you so much.
04:47Well, of course, we're going to work with whoever wins the Hungarian election because we love the people of Hungary,
04:52and it's an important relationship.
04:54But Viktor Orban is going to win the next election in Hungary, so I feel very confident about that and
04:58about our continued positive relationship.
05:00Viktor, is that right?
05:02That's the plan.
05:02Okay, all right.
05:03So you asked about Karg Island.
05:06You know, my understanding, you know, having talked to Pete and General Cain about this, is that we were going
05:12to strike some military targets on Karg Island.
05:14I believe we have done so.
05:15The president's deadline has been followed by us and everybody else, and he said very clearly, we're not going to
05:22strike energy and infrastructure targets until the Iranians either make a proposal that we can get behind or don't make
05:28a proposal.
05:29But he's given them until Tuesday at 8 o'clock.
05:31So I don't think the news on Karg Island represents a change in strategy or represents any change from the
05:37president of the United States.
05:38He continues to say the deadline is 8 o'clock.
05:40And the deadline is for what?
05:42Fundamentally, what Iran is trying to do, because they've been defeated militarily, is they're trying to extract as much economic
05:48pain on the world as possible.
05:50And the president of the United States is a man who recognizes leverage, that if the Iranians want to exact
05:56a certain amount of pain, the United States has the ability to exact much, much greater pain.
06:01The president doesn't want to do that.
06:03I don't want to do that.
06:04That's why we're negotiating so aggressively.
06:06But fundamentally, the ball is in the Iranians' court.
06:09Now, I think the president has talked about this.
06:11One thing I will say is that the Iranians are not—they were not the fastest negotiators before the war started,
06:18and they are certainly not the fastest negotiators now.
06:20So we recognize there's some delay sometimes in transmitting messages from one person to another, but we feel confident that
06:28we can get a response, whether it's positive or negative.
06:31We're going to get a response from the Iranians by 8 o'clock tonight.
06:33I hope they make the right response, because what we really want is we want a world where oil and
06:40gas is flowing freely, where people can afford to heat their homes and cool their homes, where people can afford
06:45to transport themselves to work.
06:46That's not going to happen if the Iranians are engaged in acts of economic terrorism.
06:51So they've got to know we've got tools in our toolkit that we so far haven't decided to use.
06:56The president of the United States can decide to use them, and he will decide to use them if the
07:01Iranians don't change their course of conduct.
07:05I think that's it.
07:07Mr. Vice President.
07:08Minister, I'm safe.
07:10Thank you very much, Mr. Prime Minister, Mr. Vice President.
07:13That concludes our press conference.
07:14Mr. Prime Minister, thank you very much for being with us, and goodbye.
07:17Mr. Prime Minister, thank you very much for being with us, and goodbye.
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