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Trump and Zelenskyy Take Questions at NATO Summit. Aired 9- 9:30a ET
Aired July 08, 2026 - 09:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[09:00:00]
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Actually very little difference between the people. I mean, you know, it's like the Russians and the Ukrainian people. And they can get along.
But it's a -- it's a nasty war. Thousands and thousands -- mostly soldiers are being killed. The battlefields, I see pictures and it's horrible. He thinks it's horrible. They don't -- we all think it's horrible. And the president wants to get it done. And I believe that President Putin wants to get it done. And that should be a good combination.
Thank you.
(CROSS TALK)
REPORTER: Mr. President, what is your assessment on Ukraine's strike on Russian oil refineries and military factories?
TRUMP: Where are you from?
REPORTER: Ukraine.
TRUMP: Phrase the question differently, please.
REPORTER: Ukraine deliver long strikes on Russian military factories and on oil refineries. And they ran out of gas.
TRUMP: Marco, why don't you answer that because you're right in the middle of it.
MARCO RUBIO, SECRETARY OF STATE: Well -- yes, no, I think what you're discussing is the ability of Ukraine to reach deep inside of Russia to conduct strikes.
REPORTER: Yes. Yes. Sure. Sure.
RUBIO: I think that's one of the dynamics that's changed in this -- in this war over the last few months, and that is that the Russians are finding it more difficult to defend their own airspace. And what we hope that means is that it's going to create the space now for -- to negotiate the end of this war.
TRUMP: It's an escalation, but it's also an escalation that can help lead to an end. And --
(CROSS TALK)
REPORTER: Mr. President, what makes you think that Mr. Putin might be seeking for the settlement?
TRUMP: So where are you from?
REPORTER: Radio Free Europe's Ukrainian service. I'm from Ukraine.
TRUMP: OK. Good. Because I talk to him. I talk to him. I talk to President Zelenskyy. And I think -- that's all I've done. My whole life I've made deals. That's -- I guess becoming president was making a deal, right? It was like a lot of little individual things. In the end it's making a deal.
And that's what I do. And I do it well. And I know when people want to make a deal, I think he wants to make a deal. And I do feel that President Zelenskyy would like to get back to rebuilding his country as opposed to, you know, having all of this death and destruction.
Ukraine has tremendous potential. He understands that. We talk about that. He talks about that more than he talks about the war. You know, to me, I think it's -- I think you might be -- find that more exciting than the war. This is -- it's brutal. The other is the beauty of it, you know. He's -- I think he'll build a great country. I think he's going to build it. We have a little stake in that country, you know, because we have some land in that country. But we have minerals. It's among the wealthiest. It's among the best land anywhere in the world for rare earth. And we have --
(CROSS TALK)
REPORTER: Mr. President, Russia is bombing my city again.
TRUMP: We have some rare earth. And I look forward to taking advantage of it at the right time.
(CROSS TALK)
REPORTER: (INAUDIBLE) Patriot missiles in Europe?
TRUMP: Just look at this guy. He's one of my favorite soldiers. I see him. He's central casting. You -- right? You're doing OK?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, sir.
TRUMP: We see him in meetings. He's good. He's done a great job. A great job.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Trying to do our best, sir.
TRUMP: Yes, great -- great hero, actually.
(CROSS TALK) REPORTER: Mr. President, will you allow Europe to make Patriot interceptors in Europe? Are you comfortable with licensing that technology?
TRUMP: About what?
REPORTER: Patriot interceptors to be made in Europe.
TRUMP: And you're talking with respect to Ukraine?
Well, we're going to talk about that, you know. Look, it's a defensive weapon, which I like, better than an offensive weapon. It's the best. So, I was saying, we have an aircraft carrier, which is one of the most beautiful in the world. It's one of the biggest, the Abraham Lincoln. And a few months ago we had 100 -- I told this story yesterday -- we had 111 missiles shot by the Islamic Republic of Japan. They were shot at the aircraft carrier over a period of about one hour. One hundred and eleven missiles going to a very expensive ship. And every one of those missiles was knocked down, pretty much most by Patriots but by other means also, as you know.
ZELENSKYY: Yes.
TRUMP: Other less expensive means. It's even better when you do that. But out of the 111 missiles, every one of them was shot down. It didn't hit the ship and, you know, bad things happen, right, when that happens. So, think of that, over a period of one hour, these missiles are coming at you. And every one of them shot down.
So, I think one of the things we're going to be talking about is, as you know, the companies, we have great power over the companies. Those companies that make the Patriot and make all of the great stuff, the Tomahawks, all of the great stuff. We have the best stuff. Many things. The Patriot's great, but we have many, many great things. You see that with Venezuela. You see it with Iran. Look, Iran has been wiped out. Iran, their navy's gone. Their air force has gone. Everything's gone.
But one of the things I think we're going to be talking about today, I just -- a little birdie told me this, about the fact that we'll give them the right to make Patriots.
[09:05:07]
We'll show them how to do it. It's very complex, actually. But it's -- you'll figure out the complexity quickly. And we're talking about that. And we'll -- the company that makes them, which is building now four plants -- you know, all of our companies will be able to do this in two to three months. If you order a Patriot, now you have to wait a long time for them. Same thing with Tomahawks. We have a lot of certain equipment. But with the -- they call it the elite equipment. And you don't need elite equipment necessarily for war.
But -- so one of the things we're going to be talking about is you'll -- we're going to give a license to you to make Patriots. That's pretty cool, right? ZELENSKYY: Very cool.
TRUMP: This way he can't complain that we're not giving them enough. I say, make them yourself.
We haven't informed the company of that yet, but that'll work out all right, you know. I'm sure they'll be thrilled. But, you know, they'll be able to do it. You'll be able to figure that out. Most countries couldn't do that.
ZELENSKYY: No.
TRUMP: If I say that to most countries, they wouldn't know what I'm talking about. But this is a very ingenious group.
And what I like about that, it's a defensive -- it's a defensive situation as opposed to an offensive. But I think one of the things you might want to be talking about is that. That's what I heard. A little birdie told me that.
(CROSS TALK)
REPORTER: Mr. President, on Iran, can you clarify, does the end of the ceasefire mean that we are back to a full scale military conflict?
TRUMP: Well, as far as I'm concerned, they violate the agreement every day. They lie, they cheat, they kill people. They've been killing people for 47 years. They knocked out the USS Cole. We lost, what, 100 -- 200 people or more? It was a long time ago.
For 47 years, no president did anything about that. Well, Obama actually gave them vast amounts of money. You'd like this, he gave them a plane load of money, $1.7 billion in green cash. They load up a Boeing -- they loaded up a Boeing 757. Remember, the old 750? It was a beautiful plane. Loaded up with cash. They took all the seats out. And they took all of the cash for Virginia, Maryland and D.C. banks. They had no money. They took every ounce of cash, put it in, flew it to Iran and gave them the money.
I wonder what these guys thought of when the door opened and cash fell out of this big plane, beautiful plane. And then on top of that, they gave them billions and billions of dollars. And by the way, they gave it to the wrong -- the wrong country, frankly, you want to know the truth. And it began -- that was -- that was pretty much -- the Obama nuclear deal, the Obama deal, the -- that was one of the worst tragedies that happened. That's what happened in the Middle East. That deal set back that whole situation. They went with -- frankly, they picked the wrong country. They picked the wrong country. JCPOC (ph), what a terrible -- what a terrible deal. I call it the Obama nuclear waste deal because what he did with that deal is he caused tremendous hardship in the Middle East. It was a terrible, terrible thing to do.
And we've been just the opposite. Our deal is a wall to a nuclear weapon. His deal was a road to a nuclear weapon. We couldn't -- they'll never build a nuclear weapon under our deal. But I don't know if we're going to have a deal. We may just do it without a deal. Because, you know what, it's easier. Because these people, they lie and they cheat. And you have an agreement and they'll go outside.
For instance, they agreed, we'll never have a nuclear weapon. They agreed. Then they go outside, they have a news conference where they leak that we never discussed the subject. Now, who would believe we never discussed the subject because, for me, that's 99.9 percent of what we're doing. It's denuclearization of Iran, OK.
So, when you ask, our guys can continue. You know, Steve is great and Jared and all the guys. They know him very well. Yes, actually, they're working on your stuff too. I wonder which -- I picked two beauties. You know what, we settled eight wars. I got a couple of beauties here. But Steve's great and Jared's great. You're with the right guys. And we'll see what happens.
But I will say this, Iran, they've misbehaved for 47 years. They've killed our soldiers. They've killed our people. And they've killed a lot of people all over the Middle East and elsewhere. And the roadside bomb was their preferred -- you know, the preferred weapon was by Soleimani, the roadside bomb where it would explode under a truck. We actually built trucks with floors, steel, this thick. And then all they did was they made bigger bombs.
[09:10:03]
And we have young guys around not walking around because they have no legs. But their legs were blown off. Their arms were blown off. Their face was blown off. And they lived because of modern medicine. You can do anything. But they're living. They're living like in hell. Their whole life changed because of Iran. And that was -- 96 percent of the people that used that -- they were made in Iran. And so, we have a score to settle too.
(CROSS TALK)
REPORTER: What about the naval blockade, sir?
REPORTER: Mr. President, you say that President Putin is ready to finish this war. What if he doesn't? Do you -- are you ready to put pressure on Russia? Are you ready to put more sanctions --
TRUMP Well, we have a lot of pressure. We have a lot of pressure on President Putin. You know, I -- I don't think he likes what's going on. I don't think he likes -- I don't think he's thrilled with what's happening. There's a lot of pressure on President Putin to get it done. I think there's pressure on everybody to get that one done. A lot of pressure.
(CROSS TALK)
REPORTER: What's your security guarantee for Ukraine?
TRUMP: The guarantee?
REPORTER: Yes, security guarantee for Ukraine?
TRUMP: Well, the security guarantee you're talking about?
REPORTER: Yes.
TRUMP: I mean, not that we want to do it. We'll do it to save lives.
Look, Ukraine is very far away. We have an ocean separating us. What I'm doing is I'm trying to save lives. A lot of lives are being lost.
I also think that, it's a country with great potential. I think, if this kind of brainpower can go toward build -- rebuilding the country, instead of fighting a war, I think it's going to do -- I think that country's going to do fantastically well.
And likewise, Russia, you know, look, they're devoting a lot of energy, a lot of energy.
You have a question for President Putin, please.
(CROSS TALK)
TRUMP: President -- do you have a question for President Putin?
QUESTION: Yes. Yes.
TRUMP: Not Zelenskyy. Putin.
(CROSS TALK)
TRUMP: What would you like to ask him? Because I'm going to ask him that question.
REPORTER: I have a question -- you -- once -- last year -- last year you called Russia a paper tiger, referring that they're not doing --
TRUMP: Who did I call?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Russia.
REPORTER: I'm from Telegraph Ukrainian media.
TRUMP: No, give us a question. Not for Zelenskyy. Give us a question for Putin.
(CROSS TALK)
TRUMP: Because I'm speaking to him today.
REPORTER: Yes.
(CROSS TALK)
TRUMP: Give me a good, hard question.
REPORTER: (INAUDIBLE) he wants peace? REPORTER: When will he end this war? That's a question.
TRUMP: That's a good question. I don't think I've ever asked him that question. I'm going to ask him that question.
REPORTER: Please, do.
(CROSS TALK)
REPORTER: Mr. President, what's the status of a drone deal between the U.S. and Ukraine?
TRUMP: Say it.
REPORTER: What's the status of --
TRUMP: By the way, I will tell you, though, he's going to tell you that he wants it ended as soon as he can end it.
REPORTER: Do you believe that?
TRUMP: He wants it ended. He wants to end it soon. And I ask him, you know, we talk. I talk to him a lot.
REPORTER: Mr. President --
TRUMP: I talk to him a little bit less. But the relationship is very good. But I talk to President Putin a lot. He -- and he wants to end the war.
(CROSS TALK)
TRUMP: But a lot of people don't. A lot of people don't believe that.
(CROSS TALK)
REPORTER: Doesn't he want the --
REPORTER: Would you -- what --
REPORTER: What's the status of a drone deal between Ukraine --
REPORTER: What are -- what are President Putin's conditions for ending the war? Do you know what --
TRUMP: Well, they were certain conditions that were a little bit different. I think they're changing. I think they're probably getting a little bit better toward some of the things that you'd like.
It's been tough on Russia. It's been a lot tougher than it was supposed to be. I mean, in all fairness, this was supposed to be a -- this is a war that would have never happened if I were president. Would have never happened. You'd have a full country. You know, I mean, it's just a shame that it happened.
But, no, this is a -- this is a -- something that I think Zelenskyy wants to do and Putin wants to do. They want to -- they want to get it done. Ask -- ask the president that question. Ask him.
(CROSS TALK)
REPORTER: (Speaking in Foreign Language).
TRUMP: Go ahead.
ZELENSKYY: No, I don't know what -- I don't know what conditions Putin now wants for this peace. So, I think that they are changing in any way because at the very beginning of full-scale war, he was stronger. And now, I think he's losing initiative on the battlefield. I think his army. But that's why I think that because of technologies. Because it's not the question now of number of people. People are --our heroic people are very important.
But now it's not a question of -- question of only number of people. First of all, people and technologies. People with technologies. Now, I think that we have -- we have better steps, technological steps further than Russia, maybe quicker because they also -- they, you know, that they produce a lot of different things, which are tough, strong against us, but we are quicker.
[09:15:00]
And that's why I think that now initiative moved to our hands, not totally, but moved.
We are trying to move this war to the sky from the battlefield. That's why we now began to control the battlefield. This is very important. It's difficult when you have less people to move them back. But we found another way how to do it, to cut their logistics for their army. It's about weapon, petrol, diesel, without massive human losses. That is the difference between us, by the way. Russia is -- I mean taking --
TRUMP: He's got a lot of support. I just left the room with, you know, where they have -- I mean, mostly European, Canada, but mostly European countries. And they have great support for --
ZELENSKYY: It is true.
TRUMP: For Ukraine. And, you know, really great support.
One of the things you talk about, questions for Putin. But one of the things that I talked to him about was, where would you want to meet? And he said, ideally in Moscow. I said, you're not going to meet in Moscow. You know, it just doesn't work. You can't do that.
But he'll meet and Zelenskyy is going to meet and something's going to happen. It's going to be positive. And I think -- I hope it's going to happen soon because they have to -- number one, lives. But, number two, building your country, because it's got a -- it's got a tremendous future, in my opinion.
Yes.
REPORTER: Where would it be held and when would that happen?
TRUMP: I don't know. I don't know.
(CROSS TALK)
TRUMP: President Putin said I would love to meet in Moscow. And I said, I don't think -- you know, I have to put myself in his position. I don't know that he'd go to Moscow. Maybe he would. Would you go to Moscow?
ZELENSKYY: It's difficult. There are a lot of Ukrainian drones there. That's right. It's dangerous.
TRUMP: He doesn't want to be hit by a drone.
REPORTER: Budapest?
ZELENSKYY: Europe. No, it's hard -- when you -- it's hard to go to Moscow.
(CROSS TALK)
TRUMP: I thought I'd answer that question. I mean I didn't want to -- I didn't want to ask him that question.
(CROSS TALK)
REPORTER: Mr. President, how would you ensure that Ukraine will not be attacked again by Russia?
TRUMP: What about them?
REPORTER: How to make sure that Ukraine will not be attacked by Russia again?
TRUMP: Well, look, you mean in the future?
REPORTER: Yes.
TRUMP: You mean after there's an agreement? Well, we're going to work on a security guarantee that and Russia respects us a lot. And we're going to work on some kind of a security -- if we can make the right deal, we'll help Europe. I mean, Europe is going to be watching it. But we're going to be helping them. And we'll work on some kind of a security package that will make sure.
I don't think that's going to happen. I think that if we make a deal, Russia is going to be very happy and they're going to get on with other things. They have -- by the way, as a country, too, they have tremendous potential. They have tremendous land. Valuable land that they can do things with. And they have tremendous potential. But I don't think it's going to happen. I don't see -- that question is, oh, they're going to attack again. I don't see it at all. I think they've had it. They've had -- this has been going on for five -- almost five years. Yes.
ZELENSKYY: Yes.
TRUMP: Who would have thought. I mean it's a tribute because it's a bigger country, a strong country. And it's an amazing tribute. Anything else?
(CROSS TALK)
REPORTER: Mr. President, with the Patriot missiles -- with the Patriot missiles -- with the Patriot missile, President Zelenskyy has said that Ukraine needs Patriot missiles now. Over 50 Ukrainians have died in recent airstrikes just in the last few days. So, in addition to these production licenses, which will take time, would you consider providing --
TRUMP: Not that much time, actually.
REPORTER: Would you consider providing any to Ukraine immediately?
TRUMP: We have Patriots, but we don't have that many. We need them for ourselves too, you know. Some. Yes, I mean, some. But I think they can produce them pretty quickly. Once we explain it, we'll bring the company here. You work with the company. They have a great ability to produce weapons. Pretty complex weapons.
(CROSS TALK)
REPORTER: Will you -- will you go into Ukraine?
REPORTER: Mr. President, do you have any deadline?
TRUMP: Will I go into Ukraine?
REPORTER: Will you go to Ukraine?
TRUMP: I would. Yes, I believe so.
REPORTER: Do you have any deadline that you want to reach a deal?
TRUMP: I'd rather have the war be over.
REPORTER: Yes. Do you have any deadline?
TRUMP: I'm not sure our Secret Service would be thrilled.
(CROSS TALK)
TRUMP: But, you know what, I would. I would like --
(CROSS TALK)
REPORTER: (INAUDIBLE) Putin doesn't stop (INAUDIBLE) a plan.
TRUMP: I think it's -- I think the people are incredible. And, I mean, like Kyiv, it would be nice to get it before any more damage is done, to be honest. It's such a beautiful city, right? And ,yes, I would go to Ukraine at the right time. (CROSS TALK)
REPORTER: Do you have any deadline? (INAUDIBLE) deadline when you want to reach a deal between Ukraine and Russia? Do you have any deadline in that regard?
TRUMP: No, I don't have a deadline. You can't have a deadline. It's, you know, it's too much going on. But I think you're going to have a deal.
I think, you know, I've been -- I've been very good. You know, we had certain deals like Azerbaijan and some of the deals that we made. And they've been going on for 32 years.
[09:20:02]
And they said, it's an impossible thing to get them solved. Eight -- eight different deals. Even in the Congo it was -- think of it, you have the Congo and Rwanda. That was 14 million people dead. A lot of them with machetes. It's a horrible -- we got that one solved or, you know, they go -- they -- it flares up every once in a while, I must say. But we got deals done that weren't doable. But if you look at, well, India and Pakistan, they were at it. We got that -- we get them done. And when we get them done, I find that people are not anxious to go back into it. I think we'll have -- you once mentioned the word security guarantee in the Oval Office.
ZELENSKYY: Yes.
TRUMP: And, you know, I think they're going to need some kind of a security guarantee. But we're going to work with them. It's important.
ZELENSKYY: It's very important.
(CROSS TALK)
TRUMP: I think he thinks that's a very important thing.
ZELENSKYY: Yes. Security guarantees are very important. And --
TRUMP: And they'll live by it.
ZELENSKYY: Partially the president said about Patriots and licenses. The Patriot system is the best, you know, in the world for today. The best anti-ballistic system. So, we used a lot of --
TRUMP: That's the best.
ZELENSKYY: That is the best one. And we was -- I mean checked everything during the war. So, this is true. So, with all respect to other partners, we are thankful for all the systems, Patriots --
TRUMP: Well, they had different systems in Venezuela. So, Venezuela had systems that didn't work. We didn't have one plane shot down. We didn't have one -- we had one helicopter operator who was incredible. He landed perfectly and his leg was almost blown off and we gave him the Congressional Medal of Honor because very few people could have landed that. You know, you land them with your feet really more than anything else. And he landed and he was really in bad shape. And at the State of the Union, we gave him -- this is a handsome guy, a big, handsome guy, but we gave him the Congressional Medal of Honor at the State of the Union.
So, look, he wants to get it done and we're going to get it done.
(CROSS TALK)
REPORTER: (INAUDIBLE) status on a drone deal between Ukraine and the U.S.?
TRUMP: What's that?
REPORTER: What's the status of a drone deal between Ukraine and the U.S.?
TRUMP: Well, we would buy their drones. And we make drones. We make great drones. But they have an ability to make a lot of them, which is, right, Marco, amazing that, in a war situation, they make them. They make them in basements. They make them wherever the hell you have a little shelter, even if you don't have shelter I think, I suspect, right? It's an amazing ability. Very few.
Well, that's why I say with the -- with the Patriots, they would be able to do it. Most countries would not be able. They don't have the talent. You have very talented people. So, yes, I think we're going to make that deal.
(CROSS TALK)
TRUMP: You know, we made that deal. We'd have great protection. I love the protection. Think if you had a lot of Patriots, you wouldn't -- you'd never be hit.
ZELENSKYY: Yes.
TRUMP: And as an example, in Kyiv, where they get hit with missiles. Those missiles, like what I said about the Abraham Lincoln, the missiles would be shot down, you know? So -- and I think you'd start making them pretty quickly, right? You like the idea?
ZELENSKYY: Of course. No, no, it's a great idea.
TRUMP: I think everybody likes that one.
ZELENSKYY: We need it.
(CROSS TALK)
REPORTER: In spite of security guarantees, are you ready to close the skies in case Russia attacks again?
TRUMP: Close what?
REPORTER: To close the skies over Ukraine in case Russia --
ZELENSKYY: It's been jets. Air defense and jets.
REPORTER: As a part of security guarantees are you -- are you ready to impose the no fly zone?
TRUMP: If it's necessary, yes. I mean, look, I tell you, when we have a deal, we're going to have a deal. Security guarantee and no security guarantee. If we have a deal, we're going to have a deal. We're not going to have to worry about what you're saying. We're going to have a deal. I think if we -- if we come to a solution, which I think we will, we're going to have a deal.
Now, we want to make sure the deal sticks. Some people don't think it will. I think it will. I think if -- I'm sure it will. I'm not sure it will with Iran. If we make a deal with Iran, I'm not sure that will stick.
REPORTER: May I ask you what -- what does --
(CROSS TALK)
TRUMP: Because, because I found them to be very dishonorable people.
Yes.
REPORTER: Mr. President --
REPORTER: (INAUDIBLE) reimpose the naval blockade?
TRUMP: I don't fight it out with him. And, I mean, I don't want to upset him, but everything I've done with President Putin has been OK. And it's been good. He's going to say it wasn't. But I would expect you to say that. But that's good. I don't think anything's going to be broken. And we're going to do a security guarantee in case it is. But with Iran, 47 years -- this should have been done by another president a long time ago, or somebody else, another country. But they got stronger and stronger and now they're weak.
REPORTER: Are you going to reimpose the naval blockade on Iranian ports?
TRUMP: You know, don't forget, we knocked out 159 ships in one week. That's good even for you, right? One hundred and fifty-nine. Their entire navy is at the bottom of the sea. And now they have little boats. Little tiny boats that go around.
[09:25:01]
And we knocked about 28 of them out last night with the same -- the same weapon we used for the drug people.
You know, drugs are down, by the way. Drugs by sea are down 97 percent. Meaning nobody wants to get into those boats and take drugs into -- they're down 97 percent. And we're using the same thing for the mine boats. You know, they have -- they like to drop mines in. And we hit a lot of them last night. Like 28. We knocked out 28 boats last night. Little ones. That's all they have is little ones.
REPORTER: Are you going to try to take out more tonight?
TRUMP: Will we go tonight? You know, normally, I wouldn't tell you. I wouldn't tell you. But you know what? There's not a thing they can do about it. So, the answer is, probably.
(CROSS TALK)
TRUMP: He would say that's terrible military strategy. He just said he's going tonight. Yes, because they deserve it.
(CROSS TALK)
REPORTER: President Trump, President Trump, President Trump, President Trump, what is the effectiveness of last night's attack? What message does that send to what's left of the Iranians?
TRUMP: Which attack are you talking about?
REPORTER: The attack that you guys had on Iran last night. The strikes last night. So --
TRUMP: Oh, I think it has a tremendous impact.
Well, first of all, we took out additional -- you know, they were trying to rebuild their radar and they had about 60 percent built. Now they have to -- have to start all over again.
Look, we're not attacking at the highest level. The highest level are the bridges. They're -- which we can knock down -- I would say in one day we knocked down every single bridge in Iran. There's not a thing they can do about it.
Their electric manufacturing facilities, right? Their electric plants, where they make their electricity, there, we will -- if we have to, we'll take them out. I don't want to do that. But if we have to, we'll take them out.
They have desalinization plants. We'll take them out if we have to. I hate to do that. That's probably the one I would like not to do least.
We attacked Kharg Island last night We knocked out a piece. I said, don't touch the oil because maybe we'll take over Kharg Island. We may take over Kharg Island. There's not a thing they can do about it. But I said, don't hit the pipes. Just hit everything else. And they hit it. And they hit it again tonight.
So, you know, as per your question, normally I'm not that way, but they really deserve it because they're saying they want to make a deal, but they don't. You know, they asked for a time out. They wanted to go to the funeral of Khamenei. And I said, give it to them. And they start shooting missiles. I mean, it was a craziest thing.
Now, we did kill him, you know, so I guess you have to look at it that way. But the funeral took place and they wanted to have a period of time. And they also asked that we not kill them. And we said, we're not going to kill you. They were worried we'd kill them during the funeral. I mean, if you can believe it. What a crazy -- did you ever think I'd be doing this for a living? Marco? Did anybody ever think I'm doing -- maybe Pete, but this wasn't supposed to be for me. Pete loved this stuff from day one.
But they said to us, please don't kill us during the funeral. I said, I won't. And we didn't. We didn't do anything. In fact, we made it safe for them, actually. And what happens? They try and knock out two ships, a Saudi and I guess Kuwait, right Kuwaiti? Oh no, Qatari. In addition -- two or three.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Three. Yes, sir.
TRUMP: So, you had three of them. And they just -- I don't know. I just don't know with them. A lot of people say they're very dishonorable people and they can't keep a deal. So, we'll see.
Now, as to whether or not Steve Witkoff, Jared and J.D. and everybody working on that will talk, I guess they can talk, but I'm not seeing it with them. I -- you know, with the people. My whole life is deals. I don't see it. I don't see it with them.
(CROSS TALK)
TRUMP: And there may be a big attack and it'll knock out a lot of stuff. We don't knock out nothing. We knock out a lot. Pete, do you want to tell them about last night?
PETE HEGSETH, DEFENSE SECRETARY: Yes, sir.
Last night, as you said, a lot of small craft that they were trying to harass shipping with. So, that was a big part of what we targeted. Underground facilities, where they were storing drones or missiles, coastal defense sites, radar sites, surveillance sites, anything used to harass shipping in the Strait of Hormuz. So, anything they thought they had rebuilt, or capability they were using, was a target last night. And tonight, if we need to, on your order, Mr. President, we will hit even more and even deeper because that's the consequence.
TRUMP: And we may put down the blockade. We may put it back, the blockade. And it'll only be a blockade for Iran. Anybody else can have whatever they want.
[09:30:00]
Now, of course, they'll drop some mines if they can, you know, if they can do it. But it's hard because we're taking out those little boats now with the same weapon we used to take out the --
