Transcription
And we were determined not to let him down, or our airmen down. Some of these capabilities fall under covert action authorities, because covert means exactly that, I'm not going to be able to tell you everything that you want to know. At the president's direction, we deployed human assets and exquisite technologies that we located the downed aviator as quickly as possible while at the same time, keeping our enemies misdirected. For that reason, in addition to the human and technical assets deployed by the president, CIA executed a deception campaign to confuse the Iranians, who were desperately hunting for our airmen. And concealed in a mountain crevice, still invisible to the enemy, but not to the CIA.
When the president asked me to leave the CIA, he made it clear, get it back to basics, no politics or agendas, tackled the hardest problems and execute the toughest missions. This is about results. Now, that's what his CIA is about. Their skill is unmatched, on the battlefield wherever they step. None of that matters. All of that is wasted. Without a president that has the courage, I've had the privilege of seeing you in the best interest of the United States up close on a daily basis, the Secretary and Chairman will tell you, a commander-in-chief who has their back, the same way they have yours. It's boosted by the knowledge that their work is informing a president who's not afraid to make the hardest decisions when the stakes are highest. Your confidence should be boosted, the security of the nation is in the hands of the nation that's willing to take on problems that have confounded both sides of the political aisle for nearly half a century. It's an honor to serve under a leader who just proved that you can believe him when he says, no matter what, we will leave no one behind. We will come for you. Thank you.
Ladies and gentlemen, fellow Americans and brave warriors in our Armed Forces, over this Easter weekend, the United States military has once again proved why we possess the greatest fighting force the world has ever known. Into extraordinary combat search and rescue operations deep inside enemy territory in Iran, our warriors executed missions of breathtaking skill, courage, and when our warriors were unleashed, they are unstoppable. When American airmen were down behind enemy lines, the Armed Forces and president did not hesitate. Special operations moved swiftly and decisively into treacherous terrain. Ultimately, it was an Iranian threat, as the CIA director mentioned, Iran's military is embarrassed and humiliated. They were high-risk, high-stake missions conducted in the heart of enemy territory. This was deep into Iran, involving coordinated strikes to suppress threats, deception tactics, and false synchronization across Iran. And Iranians are still asking themselves right now, how is the Americans doing this? One downed airman evaded capture for more than a day, scaling rugged ridges by the enemy. When he was able to activate his emergency transponder, it was simple and powerful. He sent a message, God is good. In that moment of isolation, his faith and fighting spirit shone through. Jot down on a Friday, Good Friday. Hidden in a cave, crevice. All of Saturday, and rescued on Sunday, flown out of Iran as the sun was rising on Easter Sunday. A nascent nation rejoicing, God is good. No American lives were lost. Leave no man behind. They performed with near perfection under fire. And they're releasable, just ask any Iranian soldier that dared attempt to get anywhere near that pilot before ordering that mission. Death from above. Death from above, that's what excellence in uniform looks like. Make no mistake about it, none of this would've been possible without the courageous leadership and ironclad determination of President Donald J. Trump. From the moment our airmen went down, President Trump made it clear, we will leave no one behind. The first mission, the first of two ways, audacious, was a thunder run, right of the meadow, authorized in less than two minutes and authorized in the middle of the night because anyone that knows this man, he is up in the middle of the night. The second mission, as soon as we knew where the pilot was, I looked up at my screen, the final mission was completed inside of our, and the top read 45 hours and 56 minutes. We held that call open for coordination from the moment our pilots went down, our mission was unblinking. The call never dropped, the meeting never stopped, the planning never ceased. The president demanded rapid, decisive action. He backed our military with resolve, refusing to let enemy propaganda or tactical setbacks deter us. His leadership ensured that every lethal and non-lethal resource is brought to bear, that our forces had the authority and support they needed to succeed. When the president says he has the backs of our warfighters, he means it. And it means a great deal, and it's a big difference on the battlefield. President Trump understands that peace through strength is not a slogan. It's a doctrine that saves American lives. His commitment to restoring the warrior spirit has paid dividends in missions just like this one. Under his command, America projects power with confidence, and brings our people home with victory. And that continues today, by the way. Per the president's direction, today will be the largest volume of strikes since day one of this operation, and tomorrow, even more than today. And Iran has a choice. Choose wisely. This president does not play around. To those heroes that planned and executed those rescues, urination stands in all, the Chairman stands in all, your professionalism and bravery. You embody the very best of America. To the rescued airmen and their families, welcome home. Your courage and endurance, the quiet declaration of faith amidst the storm, inspires us all. God is good. Every day. And to our adversaries, watching from Tehran, let this be a clear message: the United States military will go anywhere, at any time, to protect our own. And to complete the mission. We execute with precision. We control the sky. We flew for seven hours in daylight over Iran to get the first pilot, in seven hours in the middle of the night to get the second. And Iran did nothing about it. Will you write? And Iran did nothing about it. God bless our troops, God bless President Trump, and God bless the United States of America.
Good afternoon, everyone. Thank you, Mr. President. Thank you, Mr. Secretary. I know before I start, I know many of you want specific details in these briefings. We will share what we can, but I will retain what I must in the event that we have to go do this again sometime. I cannot stress the importance, as the president said, around operational security. The secretary and I will do a more detailed briefing tomorrow morning, and we will look forward to sharing the details we can on Thursday. At 4:40 in the morning, local Iran time, the Joint Personnel Recovery Center, which handles the Central Command area of responsibility, declared an isolated recovery for a U.S. Air Force Strike Eagle, which was down in hostile Iranian territory. The pilot was safe, ejected, and was behind enemy lines. Active rescue beacons, and on the direction of the secretary and by order of the president, a rescue operation was launched with the stated purpose of bringing both Americans home safely. Several hours later, in the morning, after positively locating, and unaware of aggressive ongoing search by the enemy, a U.S. Central Command plan was approved by the secretary and president. Shortly thereafter, a U.S. Air Force Combat Search and Rescue Task Force, comprised of HC-130s, HH-60 Jolly Green helicopters, and Air Force Special Warfare airmen package, comprised of combat rescue officers and rescue men, audaciously penetrated enemy territory in broad daylight to find, fix, and recover from behind enemy lines. This was an incredibly dangerous mission. A dangerous undertaking, but an unfulfilled promise that you will not be left behind. We will always come find you, and we will always bring you home. Over the next hours, the search and rescue task force crossed the beach, entered into Iranian airspace, protected by a flight or strike package, and moved into the objective area, all under fire. In route, as some of you have seen on social media, the helicopters pressed onward and forward up into the objective area. While this was ongoing, and out in front of them, and other remotely piloted aircraft, drones, and other tactical aircraft were violently suppressing and engaging the enemy in a close gunfight to keep them away from the front seater and allow the pickup force to get into the objective area. During this engagement, one of this anti-aircraft, the one primarily responsible for communicating with the downed pilot, was hit by enemy fire. This pilot continued to fight, continued the mission, and then upon exit, flew his aircraft into another country and determined that the airplane was not lendable. This is one of our 810 Sandy aircraft. The pilot made the decision to eject over friendly territory and was safely recovered and is doing fine. After picking up, the HH-60 Jolly Green flight was engaged by every single person in Iran who had a small arms weapon. In one of the aircraft, the trailing aircraft took several hits. The crew sustained minor injury, and they are going to be fine. A note for those of you that do not know what Sandy does, named after the flight call sign that did this very mission in Vietnam. The Sandy has one mission: get to the survivor, bring the rescue force forward, and put themselves between that survivor on the ground and the enemy. This is what they've trained for over many, many years. The force and the rescue force did fantastic. Rescuing, she was recovered Friday afternoon. The nation needs to know this. This was an incredibly brave and courageous mission, and a testament to the courage, skill, and tenacity of the joint force and our leaders. And especially having the guts to try, mean so much to so many. Through the hours of daylight, the backseat are elevated using every means available. The efforts of the United States military, the Central Intelligence Agency, were attempting to find and locate with decision. The backseat or, a no on the back theater and at the front seater, the single most important is the spirit of attack within that. The backseat are absolute commitment to surviving made much of our efforts possible. On Saturday, April, after establishing positive communications with the backseat, we learned, as the president said, he was injured and actively evading enemy forces. And thanks to our partners, we are able to get eyes on this location and positively ID him. Throughout this entire time, the enemy force continued to search, and the joint force continued to strike them over and over again. Fighting off marginal weather in Iran, and enemies search for the second time on Saturday. This came from the president and the secretary for approval. This time with a much larger force package, based on the time that the enemy had. Again, this force was protected using the Sandy call sign, and this force had one single mission: do everything they can to bring an American home. This meant having a plan, being prepared to execute that plan, and more importantly, being prepared for multiple simultaneous contingencies. Because of this force's professionalism, bravery, and determination, which anyone who has done these types of missions knows, we run into every single time. During the period of darkness on Saturday, and as the secretary said, on Easter Sunday, and they were protected overhead by air, including tactical grounds, strike aircraft, and others. They fought through multiple contingencies. Something no other nation, no other military can do. Safely return home, and all other Americans home as well. More than 50 hours after the start of this operation, the Joint Personnel Recovery Center declared him, both the front and back seat, returned to friendly territory. The courage demonstrated by the pilot and the weapon system, their grit and warfighting tenacity is a direct result of the absolute trust they have in their training and will to survive. They always knew that we would be ordered to go get them. Operate under a clear motto: these things that we do, that others may live. Their actions were a direct embodiment of that commitment to others, and I could not be more proud of each and every one of them today. As the secretary said, this operation serves as a clear reminder of the capability and will of America's joint force. When we want to, we will always bring overwhelming skill and firepower. Our interagency partners, the leadership. Thank you. I'm proud of each and every one of you, and thankful to our deployed forces and their families. Lastly, and most importantly, welcome home. Job well done. Thank you.
Pretty amazing. These two gentlemen have been, from day one, they have been perfect. I got to know General Kane in my first term because he was able to take out ISIS in four weeks instead of the four-year projection that was given by other generals. I said, if I ever do this again, that's going to be the head of my Joint Chiefs of Staff, and we worked it that way, right? We defeated ISIS in four weeks. I was told it would take four years. I flew to Iraq to find out. We have the greatest equipment in the world, why would it take four years? He told me, sir, it won't. It will take four weeks, and you will have time left over, and that's exactly what happened. He was treated unfairly, and now those same people have treated them unfairly. They said, what a great choice he was. What happened during his nomination? I'm sorry, people that were not for him, senators, friends of mine, sir, I don't think you're doing the right thing. Now they are calling me up, what a choice! These two guys are fantastic. And John Radcliffe was incredible, a genius. He called us from 40 miles away and said, you know, we are seeing something moving up in the mountain. This was at night. And they kept the camera on him for 45 minutes. He was now moving in. He said, you know, probably wrong, but we are seeing something moving. And this is a vast mountain. It's thick with bushes, trees. You see something moving 40 miles away, the head of a human being. I tell you, it's moving. And 45 minutes later, he moved a lot. He stood up, and they said, we have him. And that was really the beginning of something incredible. We had an idea where he was, but not specifically. It's a big mountain. I want to thank the CIA as well. I don't think they get enough credit. They did a great job. Yes, please?
Thank you, Mr. President, for this great opportunity. I have two quick questions. What was your reaction when you learned that the region had resumed exporting oil to the international market with your support as the United States of America?
I expected that. I've gotten along with them for a long time.
Another question. What would your reaction be if I run into people, Iranian people, raise up during the cease-fire?
They should do it, but the consequences were great. They were told, if you protest, you will be shot immediately. He and his two friends were hung, and all they did was saying a little bit about liberty. They wanted liberty, and they were violently executed. The number is up to 45,000 people being killed. When someone stays in the house, they will be immediately shot and killed. And they sure did that. It was publicly issued, it was not a secret. That's why so many people say, why are you doing this? We can't let Iran have a nuclear weapon. We have regime change. We do. We are dealing with a much different regime than before. We are dealing with different people. They are smarter, I think they are sharper, and far less radical. We have regime change, but we did not do this for regime change. We did it for the fact. In my view, it's very simple. Someone said, no, he doesn't have a plan. I have the best plan of all. They want me to say, here's my plan, we are going to attack at 9:47 in the morning and do this and this. And if you don't do that, they say I don't have a plan. Everyone here knows what the plan is. It's very unfair to say. I don't mind being insulted. I've been insulted many years by the fake news, but it's so bad for the people that you saw three unbelievable people, and they have a plan. Every single thing has been thought out by all of us. I can't reveal the plan to the media. You said Iranians would be mad if you. But why would they want you to blow up the infrastructure, to cut off their power? Would not be punishing Iranians for that action of the regime?
The Iranians. We've had numerous intercepts. Please keep bombing. Bombs are dropping near their homes. Please keep bombing. Do it. And these are people that are living where the bombs are exploding. And when we leave and we're not hitting those areas, they say, please come back. These are the people. I don't know what they do. All I can tell you is that they want freedom. They have lived in a world that you know nothing about. It is a violent, horrible world. If you protest, you are shot. Remember the great woman protest, what they had 400,000 or 500,000 women, and they were going to protest. And everyone said, boom, boom. They had five sneakers. That's all it took. And those four or five hundred thousand women said, what's that? A woman shot right between the eyes. And after five or six of them go down, you start hearing the per through the loop, through the vast number of people. Who would do that? They are incredible people, but they've lived so horribly. Iran was a great country if you went back 25 years ago. The Persian people, they are incredible, brilliant, actually. And I know, coming from New York, originally, I know so many people from Iran. They are incredible people, energetic, and very incredible people. When you're standing in a group and protesting, and you have a woman, remember the great woman march. Everyone said this is the end of the country. Men's snipers selectively picked every single one was shot between the eyes from a long distance. They were on top of buildings. This was neighbor sitting on the top of buildings, aiming and hitting women. And when they see people go down, and all of a sudden there's a riot, and they never came out again. And a lot of the news don't talk about it. They talk about women's rights. Do you want to see women's rights? If that, you are not going to see it there. Backtalk in the middle of. There's too much on the line. And somebody was saying, should we abort this now and wait? You must have been thinking this could have completely changed.
So the first one, which was in many ways as dangerous as the second, because we're flying over daylight. We're the best in the world at night. We have goggles. I've tried next daylight today. We have a beautiful day. You see just as well with goggles. In many ways, it's enhanced. So we're the best in the world. No other country has that capability. They don't have that particular piece of equipment like we do. But when I was told flying in daylight, I think we flew seven hours over Iran. That's a long time, over unbelievably hostile territory where they have nothing but weapons. We took out their anti-aircraft, which is great. We took out their radar. We took out a lot. What hit this one was a shoulder, hand-held shoulder missile, heat-seeking missile. It totally, whatever. And they had probably a little luck because you got to get lucky. But they shot it, and it got sucked in by the engine. These guys got out of there. Their timing was great. They said it was a dangerous mission. They said we're going to be sacrificing hundreds of people to this. You have tankers that are flying over this area because the flight was so long, they had to refuel. It's a very dangerous mission. I just felt it was worth it. If you would have told me that we would have been successful, got involved, and nobody would be injured.
Reporter: Thank you very much.
Welcome back.
Reporter: Given that you are now dealing, you say, with a more reasonable, extreme leadership in Iran, what does that mean for the protestors in that country?
If they assume control, and they do something, and we assume control, it's a big step. I don't think the radicalization you've seen. Women are being executed because they are not properly clothed, they say. They shoot them right on the street. No, you have a much different group of people. I'm not saying we are dealing with them. They have essentially until 8:00 tomorrow night, Eastern Time. We are dealing with them. I think it's going well. Mr. Woodkoff is sitting right here, and I think it's going finely. We've been dealing with these people for 47 years. I'm standing here with a much more powerful Iran as of a month ago, not anymore. They are decapitated. This should have been handled by seven presidents. A lot of presidents. And those presidents are saying now, every one of them to their friends, we should have done this a long time ago. So it's not something I like doing. It's very dangerous, and we're getting them at the height of their strength. If I didn't terminate the nuclear deal. He chose Iran over Israel, pure and simple. How Israel can vote for a Democrat is, if you're Jewish in New York City or anyplace else in this country, and how you can vote for a Democrat is unbelievable because he chose Iran, a very hostile Iran. Remember when he filled up the 747 with cash, and they gave them tens of billions of dollars? He chose Iran over Israel and really the Arab world. The other, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, UAE. I can add Kuwait and Bahrain, and you can add others. He chose such an unlikely candidate. Nobody could believe it. Frankly, if you're going to choose between Iraq and Iran, you should have befriended Iraq. He went in the exact opposite direction of all thinking, and he made a terrible mistake. But that was a road to a nuclear weapon. And when I terminated that, everyone said, oh, he's terminated it. It was one of the best things we ever did because he had a road to a nuclear weapon. You don't do a ten-year deal. This isn't your landlord, and you're renting a store on a certain street, and you give somebody a five-year or a ten-year lease. This is a country. It was a short-term deal. It was ready to expire. I terminated it before it expired, took a lot of heat, and it was one of the best things I ever did because he would have had a nuclear weapon. Had those beautiful B-2 bombers not gone in and obliterated, by the way, the word is on, the word is obliteration. We had all those planes flying in at night with very little cover, unbelievable tail of planes, and they were able to do their job. If we didn't do that, Iran would have had a nuclear weapon at a high level, either of those two instances. And if they did, in my opinion, I told this to Benjamin Netanyahu yesterday, Israel would have been extinguished. Large portions of the Middle East would have been extinguished, whether it's Saudi Arabia, UAE, or others. They thought they would be watching us fight, and all of a sudden UAE got hit by 1500 missiles. He would have taken them out also, and they were powerful. If I didn't come along and terminate the Obama deal, which was terrible, the Iran nuclear deal, it was a road to a nuclear weapon, unlimited. Legally, I terminated it without even much thought. It was so easy. I terminated that, and then the B-2 bombers. I did one other thing. I had killed Hassan Soleimani, who was an evil genius. I heard he was going to knock out five of our military bases. Had he lived, I believe we would be fighting perhaps a different Iran right now because he's never been replaced. I did one other, but this one was not picked up, Osama bin Laden. If you read my book, I said you got to take him out one year before the World Trade Center came down. So I wish you'd read the book. But as the president, to be a good president, I believe you have to have good instincts, and a lot of this is instinct.
Reporter: Thank you very much for taking my question, Mr. President. Last year--
Take lead on opening the Strait of Hormuz? Have circumstances changed that you're issuing a 48-hour ultimatum? Secondly, would a new cease-fire be--
I can't talk about cease-fire, but we have an active, willing participant on the other side. They would like to make a deal. I can't say anything more than that. Who are you with?
It's based in Iraq.
Go ahead.
You said before that you don't want the occurred forces to be in Iran and be harmed? What role do you expect them to play now?
I'd rather have them stay away. I'd rather have them stay away because I think they bring with them some problems and difficulty. They bring death to themselves, but I'd rather have them stay away. Go ahead.
Deliberate attacks on civil infrastructure violate the Geneva--
Who are you with?
I'm with the New York Times.
The failing New York Times. Circulation is way down at the New York Times.
Reporter: Your threat to bomb power plants and bridges--
No, not at all. I hope I don't have to do it. Again, I just said 47 years they've been negotiating with these people. They're great negotiators. They are not going to have a nuclear weapon. If somebody who takes my place one day is weak and ineffective, which possibly that will happen because we had numerous presidents weak and ineffective, afraid of Iran. We're never going to let Iran have a nuclear weapon. And if you think it's okay for people who are sick in mind, that are tough, smart, and sick, really sick from a policy standpoint, from a-- any which way you want to say, mentally, these are disturbed people. If you think I'm going to allow them, and powerful and rich, to have a nuclear weapon, you can tell your friends at the New York Times, not going to happen. You no longer have credibility at the New York Times. The New York Times said Trump won't win an election. I won in a landslide. New York Times has no credibility. The credibility they have is it used to be all the news that's fit to print, the old gray lady, it was great, but they are running on past fumes, and you can't do that. You have to be able to give the correct news. And people like you, who I know are fake. You're fake. Go on, please.
Reporter: Your messaging on the war has moved from war coming to an end to we're going to be bombing Iran into the Stone Ages, and then we heard a range of messages. Which is it? Are you winding this down?
I don't know. I can't tell. Depends what they do. This is a critical period. They have a period of, well, tomorrow at 8:00. I gave them an extension. They asked for an extension of seven days, right? I said, Steve, give them ten days. Ten days is up, actually today, so I gave them 11, I guess, indirectly. I thought it was inappropriate the day after Easter. I want to be a nice person. They have until tomorrow, and we'll see what happens. I can tell you they are negotiating, I think in good faith. We're getting the help of some incredible countries that want this to be ended because it affects them also. A lot of people are affected by this. We're giving them until tomorrow, 8:00 Eastern Time, and after that, they are going to have no bridges, they are going to have no power plants, Stone Ages, yeah.
Reporter: Are you willing to make a deal that does not include reopening the Strait of Hormuz?
I would say it's a very big priority. That's one thing that's a little different. We can bomb the hell out of them. We can knock them out. But to close the Strait, all you need is one terrorist that somehow has a truckload of, because you can carry them in trucks, large trucks, a water mine, drop them in the water, and now you tell people that own ships that cost $1 billion, don't worry about the mines. You can do that by saying we put mines in the water. We can knock out their military. We already have. We knocked out their navy. We knocked out their air force completely. Knocked out 158 ships in three days. We knocked out even their mine droppers. They don't have any mine droppers anymore. But they put them on other boats and they could drop them. Personally, they say there might be eight. I don't know. I think they might be none. They are very good bullshit artists. People are living in hell. You live in that country, they are living in hell. No, I think that 47 years of this stuff is long enough. They are at the weakest point they've ever been. They have no navy. They have no air force. They have no anti-aircraft weaponry. They have no radar. They have no communication. The biggest problem we have in our negotiation is they can't communicate. I say, Steve, what are they saying? Sir, they can't communicate. They have no method of communication. They are communicating like 2000 years ago, with children bringing a note back and forth. They have no communication. But all I want to see is I want to have a safe world. And you're not going to have a safe world. Israel will be gone, the Middle East will be gone, and then they are coming for Europe. I have to tell you, I'm very disappointed in NATO. It will never disappear in my mind. They are coming to see me on Thursday. They are going to do this, do this. Now, all of a sudden they want to send things. When I spoke to UK, of all, I would have said they would have been the first because they are the oldest. Yeah, I'd love to have a little help. No, sir, we'd rather wait until you win. I don't need help after we win. I guess we can use them. Who the hell knows. I called the general, he didn't want them. He said, we don't need them, we have the USS Abraham Lincoln. We don't need them. In terms of technology, we had 101 missiles going at 2,700 miles an hour aimed at the Abraham Lincoln. Out of 101 missiles, 101 missiles were shot down. Unbelievable technology. Ten years ago, five years ago, I don't know if that would have been possible. But ten years ago, that wouldn't have been possible. 101 missiles heading to a ship that's not that far off the coast, and out of the 101 missiles, we shot down all 101. We have weaponry. The Patriots are unbelievable. We have weaponry that's unbelievable. Go ahead, please.
Reporter: Thank you, Mr. President. You said earlier today during the Egg Roll that you would like to take Iran's oil, but Americans want U.S. forces home.
Correct. If I had my choice, if I had my choice, because I'm a businessman first. With Venezuela, as you know, the war was over in about 45 minutes, and we have great people running Venezuela, very good people. I mean, the relationship is good, and we are a partner with Venezuela, and we've taken hundreds of millions of barrels, hundreds of millions. Over 100 million barrels already is in Houston, refined and out, and paid for that war many times over. You know, the old days, to the victim, okay? You know that. To the winner belong the spoils. And I've said, why don't we use it? To the victor go the spoils, and we don't have that. We haven't had that in this country in probably 100 years because even the Second World War, we helped rebuild all those countries. We rebuilt Germany. How about Germany telling us, Germany telling us, well, it's not their war. We had nothing to do. They wanted me to go ahead and tell them everything I was doing. We don't know anything about it. If I told them, it would have leaked, and we wouldn't have been nearly as successful, possibly. But to the victor belong the spoils. We haven't heard that in, I think, maybe hundreds of years. Now, with Venezuela, and just so you understand, the people of Venezuela, they say if I ran for president of Venezuela, I'm polled higher than anybody has ever polled in Venezuela. So after I'm finished with this, I will go to Venezuela. I will quickly learn Spanish. It would take too long. I will run for president. But we're very happy with the president-elect right now. The people running it. If you remember Bush in Iraq, they fired the joint, they fired the police, they fired everybody, and you know what they had? They had a mess. And you know what happened? ISIS formed. The soldiers, generals got together, they all got together, formed ISIS. Not going to happen with us. So Venezuela's been an incredible situation. We went in, we were very successful. Military power like nobody's ever seen. The Venezuelan general said I was on the site. I've never seen ferocity like that. I've been doing this for 40 years, never seen. They hit us from 17. They were all set. They saw the big aircraft carriers and planes were pouring off it at 1:00 in the morning. Typically, if you see that late at night, you could be in trouble. Already, they had their equipment. They had their equipment. It was Russian and Chinese. They were all set. They were going to give us a fight. And they came at speeds like we've never seen. And they came at 17 different angles, the general and his people. That was a lot of different angles. He said, we knew it was over in three minutes. We were waiting for him. Their equipment didn't work, and there's a reason it didn't work. Some day we'll explain that to people. They pressed the button, nothing happened. They pressed it again and again, nothing happened. They said, we knew the whole thing was over in three minutes. He said, the ferocity of these planes from 17 different angles, and it was over. They went inside. Remember, that was on a military base with thousands of soldiers, and those soldiers looked and they said, get the hell out of here. We didn't have thousands. We had 200 people. We had a great military. Somehow this rescue captured the world's attention more so than, normally you're talking about two people, but this rescue captured the world's attention. But we did it in Venezuela, and that was amazing. Now we have a very bad man in prison and going to trial. He released, aside from the drugs, which he was terrible, Maduro released drug dealers, murderers, the worst people in the world were released into our country because we had a stupid president who probably didn't know, and we had a border czar who never went to the border and never called our border patrol agents. Kamala, she never called. I used to call them every day. Ask any one of them, Paul, Brandon. How are we doing? How are we doing? I'm proud to say we have a totally sealed border. Nine months, nobody comes through the border, and nobody even tries. So we don't have caravans anymore. So maybe one or two more, and we'll be done.
Reporter: Mr. President, are you willing to end this conflict with Iran charging tolls for passage through the Strait?
US charging tolls?
Reporter: Is that something you're considering?
Why shouldn't we? We're the winner. We won. The only thing they have is the psychology is, oh, we're going to drop a couple of mines in the water. We have a concept where we'll charge tolls. Your question would have been more accurate if you said US.
Reporter: Can you clarify, in order for Iran to successfully meet your deadline tomorrow, do they have to open the deal, open the Strait, or both?
We have to have a deal that's acceptable to me, and part of that deal is going to mean we want free traffic of oil and everything else.
Reporter: Mr. President, thank you very much. You said glory be to end in this conflict. Do you believe God supports the United States?
I do. God is good, and God wants to see people taken care of. God doesn't like what's happening. I don't like what's happening. Everyone says I enjoy this. I don't enjoy this. They don't like. I don't like seeing people killed. I've ended eight wars. Nobody's ever done it. The person who won the Nobel Prize came to me and said, you deserved the Nobel Prize. She announced that when they announced. It goes to Maria. She's really a good person. She said, no, no, no, this is ridiculous. They gave me the Nobel Prize. President Trump ended eight wars. I can go over every one of them. The Prime Minister said, President Trump saved from 30 to 50 million lives. That makes me much happier than what we're doing right now. That makes me much happier. We have one more to end, by the way.
Reporter: You called yesterday the Iranians crazy bastards. What is your response to critics who say--
I don't care about critics.
Reporter: Who say it is your mental health?
I haven't heard that. If that's the case, you're going to have to have more people like me because our country was being ripped off on trade and many other things before I came along. If that's the case, you're going to have more people.
Reporter: You said very little is off limits in Iran, including power plants--
Very little is off limits. I don't want to tell you that. I don't want to tell you that. We have a plan because of the power of our military where every bridge in Iran will be decimated by 12:00 tomorrow night, where every power plant in Iran will be out of business, burning, exploding, and never to be used again. I mean, complete demolition by 12:00, and it will happen over a period of four hours. We don't want that to happen. We may get involved with helping them rebuild their nation. You know what? If that's the case, the last thing we want to do is start moving power plants and bridges. You saw the bridge. The bridge went. We were very close to a deal, and then I got a call from Mr. Whitkoff, Mr. Kushner, and JD saying, I think they are breaking the deal. I said, that's okay. Tell them to look out their window and watch. And within 45 minutes, I gave the order to knock out the biggest bridge. I gave the order to knock out the biggest bridge in Iran, and within then minutes after I gave that order, that bridge was over. So do I want to do that? No. It will take them 100 years to rebuild. Right now, if we left today, it would take them 20 years to rebuild their country, and it would never be as good as it was. The only way they are going to be able to rebuild their country is to utilize the genius of the United States of America.
Reporter: Is that a danger to the U.S. not being de facto the leader of the alliance and other powers then getting the decision-making when it comes to wars and nuclear weapons?
Look, we went to NATO. I didn't ask them strongly. I said, if you want to help, great. No, no, we will not help. I always said NATO is a paper tiger. See, NATO is a paper tiger. Putin is not afraid of NATO. He's afraid of us. NATO is us, and when we needed them, we didn't need them, by the way, because they haven't helped at all. Just the opposite. They didn't even want to give us landing strips. Think of it. It's not just NATO. You know who else didn't help us? South Korea didn't help us. You know who else didn't help us? Australia. You know who else didn't help us? Japan. We got 50,000 soldiers in Japan to protect them from North Korea. We have 45,000 soldiers in South Korea to protect us from Kim Jong Un, who I get along with. He used to call Joe Biden a mentally retarded person. He said he was a mentally retarded person. He was so nasty to Joe Biden. He was terrible. He's very nice to Trump. But we have 45,000 people, soldiers, in harm's way, and right next to Kim Jong Un with a lot of nuclear weapons, which should have never happened. If a certain president, I'm not going to mention this president because I happen to like him, believe it or not, but if a certain president did his job, Kim Jong Un would not have nuclear weapons right now. Just to conclude and just to finish, Japan didn't help us, Australia didn't help us, South Korea didn't help us, and then you get to NATO, NATO didn't help us. There were some countries that did. Some countries that have been good. Saudi Arabia's been excellent. Qatar's been excellent. UAE has been excellent. Bahrain did shoot down two or three of our planes. Friendly fire. I call it unfriendly fire. They unfortunately didn't know how to use our great Patriots. The pilot said, what kind of a missile is coming at us? Patriot. Boom, they got out because a Patriot never misses. They had planes heading in their planes. Unfortunately, they decided to shoot those planes. Those were our planes. NATO is a paper tiger. He's coming to see me. He's a wonderful guy. Secretary General is great. It all began with, you want to know the truth? Greenland. We want Greenland. They don't want to give it to us, so I said, bye-bye. Thank you very much, everybody.
Reporter: What about rising gas prices for Americans who are concerned?