Administration of Donald J. Trump, 2026
March 17, 2026
President Trump. Well, thank you very much. It's a great honor to have Taoiseach Martin from Ireland and somebody that we know, we get along with. We've had a very good relationship.
Prime Minister Martin. Absolutely.
President Trump. And we continue. And we're going to have some big discussions today concerning trade, concerning lots of different subjects. We have a tremendous trade relationship with Ireland, and we'll keep it that way. I think it's going to be expanded very greatly.
Probably, they want to talk a little bit about tariffs, but I won't mention that. You know, we won't bring that up. But you might want to be discussing that a little bit.
But it's an honor to have you, and thank you very much for being here. Thank you.
Prime Minister Martin. And may I thank you, President, for facilitating this visit and in what is, for us, probably one of the most important weeks in the United States. And in many ways you're affirming the tremendous bonds between Ireland and the United States that go back to the very foundations of this Republic. And 35 million people in this country came Irish descent and Irish heritage.
And I spent the first 2 days in Philadelphia——
President Trump. Right.
Prime Minister Martin. ——going back, really, into the heart of that history. And the fact that three Irish—people born in the island of Ireland signed the Declaration of Independence. It was printed by an Irishman, John Dunlap, and disseminated across the Colonies. And—and Charles Thomson, who was discussed earlier——
President Trump. Right.
Prime Minister Martin. ——he designed the bald eagle that——
President Trump. That's right.
Prime Minister Martin. ——is the seal of the U.S.
So, in many ways, our connection is foundational. It's historic. And the Irish helped to build America. We're very proud of that connection. And we think you hosting us here in the White House is affirmation to all the Irish Americans out there and to our diaspora in this country for what they've contributed to America.
And that's very much true to prism this year, the America 250. It's a very exciting year.
President Trump. Right.
Prime Minister Martin. And we're discovering new things.
I mean, even a guy from my own city, a guy called Stephen Moylan, who was an aide-de-camp to Washington, he's regarded as the guy who came up with the phrase the "United States of America."
President Trump. Oh, that's good.
Prime Minister Martin. The first written record. And it's in New York, in——
President Trump. That's great.
Prime Minister Martin. ——in the museum "Historical." So that's the nature——
President Trump. Yes.
Prime Minister Martin. ——the history of those bonds.
President Trump. Well, you told me something before that was maybe the most interesting of all. How many Presidents are in some way related through blood with Ireland?
Prime Minister Martin. Twenty-three.
President Trump. Can you believe it?
Prime Minister Martin. Twenty-three Irish Presidents. President Trump. They're great politicians. [Laughter] Prime Minister Martin. Yes.
President Trump. The Irish are great politicians.
Prime Minister Martin. Absolutely.
President Trump. No, but think of it: 23 are in some form—and many of them have gone to Ireland.
Prime Minister Martin. Absolutely. Yes.
President Trump. Grant was——
Prime Minister Martin. Grant went to Ireland——
President Trump. Right.
Prime Minister Martin. ——after his Presidency.
President Trump. Right.
Prime Minister Martin. I was saying earlier, Ronald Reagan's visit——
President Trump. Right.
Prime Minister Martin. ——was an extraordinary one, in a place called Ballyporeen in County Tipperary.
President Trump. That's great.
Prime Minister Martin. And of course, John F. Kennedy——
President Trump. Right. Sure.
Prime Minister Martin. ——whose grandfather was Irish, came back, I think, early '63. That's a very memorable visit because of what tragedy that happened subsequently in the——
President Trump. That's right.
Prime Minister Martin. ——assassination, which touched people in Ireland very deeply. So the Kennedy family——
President Trump. They're very popular in Ireland.
Prime Minister Martin. ——the Kennedy family's strong——
President Trump. Very. Yes, it's——
Prime Minister Martin. ——relationship with—with Ireland.
President Trump. Well, we like the family too.
Prime Minister Martin. Yes.
President Trump. One person in particular. [Laughter] One very noncontroversial person.
Prime Minister Martin. I know that. Yes, yes. Yes. [Laughter]
President Trump. But no, he's doing a very good job though. He really is.
But we have more, I think, people here by far than you have in Ireland that——
Prime Minister Martin. Absolutely.
President Trump. ——are of Irish descent. We have—so you have quite a few, but we have a lot.
Prime Minister Martin. You have a lot more than we have. [Laughter]
President Trump. That's pretty amazing, and by a lot.
Prime Minister Martin. Absolutely, yes.
President Trump. Anyway. Thank you very much. It's a great honor.
Prime Minister Martin. Thank you.
President Trump. And any questions for us?
[At this point, several reporters began asking questions at once.]
Ireland/Trump International Golf Links and Hotel Doonbeg
Q. Will you visit Ireland in September, and will you stay at Doonbeg?
President Trump. Well, I'm having—it's a great thing. My son and my family—we have a great golf complex in Ireland, one of the best in the world, called Doonbeg. It's in Doonbeg, and it's been amazing. And Rory McIlroy loves it. They all love it. Great golfers. You have a tremendous golf tradition. And it was chosen for the Irish Open, which is a big deal. That's a big event.
Prime Minister Martin. Absolutely. Looking forward to it.
President Trump. And everybody wants me to be there. You just said, "I hope you're going to go."
Prime Minister Martin. I did.
President Trump. And I'm—we're going to try. We are going to try. But it would be an honor.
But it was a great honor to be chosen. They only choose the best courses in the world for the—you know, for the big opens. That's one of the big ones, the Irish Open. It's really become one of the most important tournaments in the world. It's going to do——
Prime Minister Martin. It's going to do well.
President Trump. I hear it's going to be a fantastic success.
Prime Minister Martin. It will be a great success. Yes.
President Trump. It's a very, very hard——[Several reporters spoke at once.]
Very hard course.
It's a very hard course, however. [Several reporters spoke at once.]
Commercial Transit Through the Strait of Hormuz/U.S. Military Operations in Iran/North Atlantic Treaty Organization
Q. What progress have you made, Mr. President, in getting America's allies to assist the U.S. in escorting those oil tankers through the Strait of Hormuz?
President Trump. Well, we don't need too much help, and we don't need any help, actually.
In fact, we just put out a notice.
I was watching, over the last couple of weeks, and all of our NATO allies were very much in favor of what we did. They thought it was very important. We were just discussing it, actually.
Very important that we take out the nuclear threat from Iran, and we've done that very strongly, very powerfully.
We've wiped out their navy, wiped out their military in every aspect. Their air force is now decimated. They have no air force, no navy. They have no radar. Their radar is entirely gone.
Their antiaircraft machinery is gone. Everything is gone. Their leaders are gone.
I guess one of the—their top person was a—they say—a lot of people say their actual top was killed yesterday, along with somebody else that—who was responsible for the killing—the man that was responsible for the killing of 32,000 people over the last 2 weeks. He was in charge of the killing of protesters.
It's an evil group. I mean, they've killed much more than 32,000 people. And the man who was responsible for that was also killed yesterday.
And all of the NATO allies agreed with us, and—but they don't want to—you know, despite the fact that we help them so much—we have thousands of soldiers in different countries all over the world, and they don't want to help us, which is amazing. I mean, amazing.
And I didn't do a full-court press, because I think if I did, they probably would be. But we don't need help. You know, we've—that war is—has been long prosecuted, as far as I'm concerned, almost from day one. We knocked out many of these things. We knocked out the navy, essentially, in a couple of days.
But I was surprised to see that NATO, while they agree that it was a very important thing to do—they agree fully. Nobody said, "Oh, you shouldn't do it." They had—they would have had a nuclear weapon within 1 month of when we had the B–2 bombers bomb their nuclear potential, the—I call it the "nuclear dust."
So I think NATO is making a very foolish mistake. And I've long said that, you know, I wonder whether or not NATO would ever be there for us. So this is a—this was a great test, because we don't need them, but they should have been there.
The other thing is—and I think, you know, very important: We didn't have to be there for Ukraine. You know, Biden chose to spend hundreds of billions of dollars on Ukraine. And I guess the head of Germany just made a statement that while they weren't involved and they have
nothing to do with the war, but at the same time, they think we did a great thing by knocking them out.
Nobody wants to have Iran—or anybody—but nobody wants to have Iran with a nuclear—because these people are crazy. They're absolutely crazy, and they're vicious, violent. I mean, they killed—think of it. They killed—now I hear it's about 41,000 people.
They put out a notice 2 days ago: Anybody that protests will be immediately shot and killed.
That's pretty tough stuff.
So everyone agrees with us, but they don't want to help. And we—you know, we, as the United States, have to remember that because we think it's pretty shocking.
Yes, please.
President Emmanuel Macron of France
Q. Mr. President, French President Macron has just said in the last hour that he will never join a task force in the Strait of Hormuz until hostilities finish. Yet, yesterday, you said you thought——
President Trump. Who said that? Who said?
Q. President Macron of France. What's your reaction to that, sir?
President Trump. Well, he'll be out of office very soon [laughter], so we'll have to see. You know, I don't know.
Ireland/Trump International Golf Links and Hotel Doonbeg
Q. President Trump, on Doonbeg, you're building an extension to it at the moment, but——
President Trump. Yes, we are.
Q. ——but there's been an objection put in, and it's being held back at the moment due to small snails. What—are you disappointed about that? [Laughter]
Prime Minister Martin. What kind of question is that?
President Trump. I haven't—I have not heard that, no.
Prime Minister Martin. What kind of question is—[inaudible]? [Several reporters spoke at once.]
President Trump. I mean, the course was built, and it's been operated very successfully.
Somebody's objecting—you mean an environmental group is objecting to small snails at Doonbeg?
Q. Yes.
President Trump. I don't know. It doesn't sound like the biggest problem I've ever had. [Several reporters spoke at once.]
Commercial Transit Through the Strait of Hormuz/U.S. Military Operations in Iran
Q. How close is the U.S. to announce a coalition of willing to secure the Strait of Hormuz? Which countries are joining, and which countries have refused it?
President Trump. Well, we've had great support from the Middle East. Qatar has been great.
U.A.E. has been absolutely—they've been great. Saudi Arabia has been terrific. Bahrain has been very good. The Middle Eastern countries have been very strong in their support.
And of course, Israel has been our partner. Israel's been very, very strong along with us. It's been a very strong collaboration.
I was against Iran long before I even thought about Israel being against Iran. I was—if you look back, many years ago, I talked about Iran was a big threat to this country, to this world of ours. And turned out to be I was right.
In fact, I said you have to attack Kharg Island. You have to attack them. Years ago when they were acting up—they've been acting up for 37, 47—I guess now 48 years. For 48 years, they've been bad players, vicious players, and you can't let them have a nuclear weapon.
If they got a nuclear weapon, I would say they would have used it within 24 hours after having it. And they would have had it if we didn't bomb them out from—on that great raid with the B–2 bombers 8 months ago or so. You would have had a nuclear war in the Middle East and maybe beyond. I think it would have hit Europe.
Maybe not Ireland, but it would have hit Europe. I think you would have been a nice piece of it. They—it all gets you. It's big enough that you would have been affected. They would have hit Europe eventually.
[Several reporters spoke at once.]
National Counterterrorism Center Director Joe Kent/U.S. Military Operations in Iran/North Atlantic Treaty Organization/Ukraine/U.S. Security Assistance
Q. Mr. President, your Director of National Counterterrorism, Joe Kent—he just resigned today. He said he can't support your conflict with Iran. What's your reaction to that? And did you talk to him?
President Trump. Well, I read his statement. I always thought he was a nice guy, but I always thought he was weak on security—very weak on security. I didn't know him well, but I thought he seemed like a pretty nice guy.
But when I read his statement, I realized that it's a good thing that he's out because he said that Iran was not a threat. Iran was a threat. Every country realized what a threat Iran was. The question is whether or not they wanted to do something about it.
And many people, many of the greatest military scholars are saying for years that Presidents should have taken out Iran because they wanted a nuclear weapon.
They were—if we didn't do the attack—or if—I'll go a step further. If I didn't terminate the Iran nuclear deal given to us—one of the worst deals ever made by Barack Hussein Obama.
Remember when they sent Boeing 757s over there loaded with cash? Hundreds of millions of dollars. You would have been very happy. This was a wonderful—they sent hundreds of million—people forget that. Does anybody remember? Right? You remember hundreds of millions of dollars in a Boeing 757. I think they had two of them loaded. They took the seats out, and they put cash. And it was so much that there wasn't a bank in Virginia, Maryland, or DC that had any money left. They stripped them of all their money, put it into planes, sent it to Iran almost as ransom.
That's not going to happen with Trump.
And nobody ever did anything about it. Nobody ever said anything—can you imagine if I did that?
So they've been a threat for a long time. But they've really been a threat if I didn't terminate Obama's horrible deal that he made, the Iran nuclear deal, you would have had a nuclear war 4
years ago. You would've had nuclear holocaust. And you would have had it again if we didn't bomb the site.
So, when somebody is working with us that says they didn't think Iran was a threat, we don't want those people because—and there are some people, I guess, that would say that, but they're not smart people or they're not savvy people. Iran was a tremendous threat.
And virtually every NATO nation—and this is the thing. If they told me it wasn't a threat and, therefore, they don't want to help—but when they say it was a threat, and it was a major threat—every one of them—I think every one of them—I don't know of one that said they're not a threat. But when they say it was a threat, but we're not going to help, I think they're very foolish.
You know, it's interesting——[Several reporters spoke at once.]
It's interesting because I could say this, that what's happening in Ukraine—we're probably in there for $400 billion. We don't spend any money anymore. They buy it from us, and they pay full price. But Biden gave them between $350- and $400 billion of equipment and cash.
Someday, they'll have to find out about the cash. And you could say that wasn't a threat. You know, we're helping them.
So we helped them, and they didn't help us. And I think that's a very bad thing for NATO. Yes.
[Several reporters spoke at once.]
China
Q. Are there any repercussions for NATO? And are you still going to China?
President Trump. Well, yes, we're—on China, it's a little different story. We are—we're resetting the meeting, and it looks like it will take place in about 5 weeks. We're working with China. They were fine with it. We're going to say—we're—I look forward to seeing President Xi. He looks forward to seeing me, I think. But I do look forward to seeing him. We have a good relationship with China.
China actually has become economically, for us, very good, very good, as you know. It's much different than it was in the past. And we have a very good working relationship with China.
So we're making it in about 5 or 6 weeks. [Several reporters spoke at once.]
North Atlantic Treaty Organization
Q. [Inaudible]—repercussions for NATO for not supporting you on this? Any repercussions?
President Trump. Well, no. I just think that it's not good for a partnership when they say, "What you're doing is a great thing, but we're not going to help." You know, they say, "What you did is"——
[Several reporters spoke at once.]
——"what you did is a great thing, but we're not going to help." [Several reporters spoke at once.]
U.S. Military Operations in Iran
Q. Will you put boots on the ground in Iran? Because the Iranian regime has told Sky News, if you put boots on the ground in Iran, it will be another Vietnam. Are you afraid of that?
President Trump. No, I'm not afraid of—I'm really not afraid of anything. [Several reporters spoke at once.]
North Atlantic Treaty Organization/Ukraine
Q. Mr. President, are you rethinking the United States relationship with NATO, possibly getting out or possibly——
President Trump. Well, I'm disappointed in NATO, that we spend trillions of dollars on NATO—think of it—trillions over the years, many trillions of dollars. It's one of the reasons we have deficits, and we help other countries. And when they don't help us, I mean, it's certainly something that we should think about.
I don't need Congress for that decision, as you probably know. I can make that decision myself. I'd work with some very smart people, and I'd always deal with Congress anyway, but I don't need Congress for that decision.
But you know, when you say "rethink," I'm not—I have nothing currently in mind. But I will say that I'm not exactly thrilled, when we helped them with Ukraine. Look, Ukraine would have been over in one day if we didn't help. Frankly, Ukraine would have been over on the first day.
They had the best equipment in the world. It was our equipment, given by Sleepy Joe Biden. No charge. No charge. Hundreds of billions of dollars of the best equipment in the world, no charge. I will say that I'm not happy about it.
[Several reporters spoke at once.]
Iran/Cuba
Q. A couple questions, one on Iran and one on Cuba. Is Iran now a bigger foreign policy priority for you than China? And on Cuba, the Cuban Government——
President Trump. Iran is just a military operation to me. Iran is something that was essentially largely over in 2 or 3 days because the navy was wiped out almost immediately, the air force came next, the anti-aircraft came next.
I mean, we're flying over Iran—we could take out their electric capacity in 1 hour. We have all the—there's nothing they can do right now because everything is knocked out. They have no—again, no radar, no antiaircraft. They have nothing. And we don't—and it was a decision I made. We discussed it—Pete, Marco, J.D., all of us—Chris. We discussed it. We can knock out their electricity in a matter of minutes if we wanted to. There's nothing they can do about it.
We can knock out their oil in Kharg Island. We—the only thing we didn't take down was their oil, because if we knock out—I call them the pipes. Very complex. But if you do that, it'll take them forever to rebuild, meaning whoever, and hopefully, it's a sane group of people. But whoever it is that's going to be running that—and we're going to try to get people that are going to run it well, and, you know, it's going to be a prosperous, wonderful place.
It used to be. You know, if you go back, it used to be a very—the people are great. The people are smart and energetic, and it used to be very successful. Now it's a country run by fear. It's a country where they tell protesters, "Don't go outside, because if you do, we're going to kill you."
[Several reporters spoke at once.]
Q. And, Mr. President, On Cuba——
President Trump. Yes, Cuba——
Q. On Cuba. Yesterday—yesterday the Cuban Government says that——
President Trump. Well, Cuba right now is——
Q. ——it wants investment.
President Trump. ——is in very bad shape. They're talking to Marco, and we'll be doing something with Cuba very soon. We——
[Several reporters spoke at once.]
We're really focused on this, but we're dealing with Cuba. Marco, do you want to say a couple of words about it?
U.S. Secretary of State Marco A. Rubio. Yes, I mean, Cuba has an economy that doesn't work and a political and governmental system that can't fix it, so they have to change dramatically. What they announced yesterday is not dramatic enough. It's not going to fix it. So, they've got some big decisions to make over there.
Venezuela
Q. But Secretary Rubio, do you support—and I know this is up to Congress, but do you support easing the Cuban—the trade embargo if you get more cooperation from Havana?
Secretary Rubio. Well, I'm not going to discuss what we would talk about or not; suffice it to say that the embargo's tied to political change on the island. The law has been—the embargo's codified.
And—but the bottom line is their economy doesn't work. It's a nonfunctional economy. It's an economy that has survived its—for 40—that revolution—it's not even a revolution—that thing they have has survived on subsidies from the Soviet Union and now from Venezuela. They don't get subsidies anymore, so they're in a lot of trouble.
And the people in charge are in—they don't know how to fix it. And so, they have to get new people in charge. That's what has to happen.
President Trump. And the relationship we have with Venezuela has been—I think you could almost say incredible. It's been really good. It's been good for Venezuela, and it's been good for us.
And I congratulate the Venezuelan baseball team, because that was a big win. And I guess they play another game tonight in the finals.
Secretary Rubio. Yes, against the U.S.
President Trump. And I said a lot of good things have happened to Venezuela lately. This is the first time they've ever been in the finals. And it was pretty exciting.
Yes.
[Several reporters spoke at once.]
U.S. Military Operations in Iran
Q. Mr. President, on Iran, you just said that Iran is just a military operation to you, but do you not have a day after plan? What—and, if so, what is your day after plan for Iran?
President Trump. Well, we have a lot. Look, if we left right now, it would take 10 years for them to rebuild. But we're not ready to leave yet. But we'll be leaving in the near future. We'll be leaving in pretty much the very near future.
But right now, they've been decimated from every standpoint. And again, we've had great support from countries in the Middle East. Great support. But we've had no support from—essentially, no support from NATO.
[Several reporters spoke at once.]
Prime Minister Keir Starmer of the United Kingdom
Q. Mr. President, what about your relationship with London? Has it been damaged by the fact that Keir Starmer isn't supporting you in this war? And has your opinion of Keir Starmer changed because of this?
President Trump. Well, he hasn't been supportive, and I think it's a big mistake. You know, they make a lot of money on trade with the United States. I did—I went out of my way—as you know, they couldn't make a deal with Biden because they had no real administration to make a deal—Biden. But we made a deal. We made a good deal for them. And frankly, probably wasn't appreciated.
I do look forward to seeing the King. He's, speaking of, going to be—he's going to be coming, as you know, very shortly. But no, I was disappointed because Keir was willing to send two aircraft carriers after we won, because essentially we're—there's no threat for the aircraft carriers right now. And I said, "No, no, we want things sent before the war, not after the war is won."
So, yes, I'm disappointed with Keir. I like him. I think he's a nice man, but I'm disappointed. [Several reporters spoke at once.]
You see that man right there? You know who that is?
Q. Churchill.
Q. Winston Churchill.
President Trump. That's the late, great Winston Churchill. And Barack Hussein Obama did not want his bust in this office. Did you know that? And Barack Hussein Obama sent that bust back to England. He didn't—they didn't want it.
And when I came in, I was asked if I wanted it. I said, "Absolutely, I want it," and I put it right there. Winston Churchill. And you know, unfortunately, Keir is not Winston Churchill.
[Several reporters spoke at once.] Prime Minister Martin. Sorry——[Several reporters spoke at once.]
Q. Mr. President, when will it—when will it be safe again——
President Trump. No, no. Hold it.
Q. When will it be safe again——
President Trump. Right here.
Prime Minister Martin. Just could I——
Q. ——for—to ship——
President Trump. Hold it. Hold it.
Q. Okay, sure. Absolutely. Absolutely.
Prime Minister Martin. Just to make a number of points, first of all, I think, notwithstanding what has happened, the transatlantic relationship between Europe and the U.S. is very, very important on a number of fronts. And I think we've had issues over the last year or two, but we settled them. And I think many of these leaders engage with you particularly on trade. Initially, you remember all the fuss last year. But we got a landing zone between Europe and the U.S. And I think we can get a landing zone again.
And I think—I just met with Keir Starmer last week. The British-Irish relationship is a very important one. Churchill was a great wartime leader. Although, in Ireland, there was kind of a different perspective in terms of—during our own war of independence. [Laughter] Just want to—he created his own bit of difficulties for us. But that said, he was a great wartime hero.
Keir Starmer has done a lot to reset the Irish-British relationship. I just want to put that on the record. But I do believe that he's a very earnest, sound person, who I think you have a capacity to get on with, and you've got on with him before, and you've got on with other European leaders as well.
President Trump. That's right.
Prime Minister Martin. And I think you have that capacity again.
And I think everyone accepts, I mean, you cannot have a rogue state with a nuclear weapon or the capacity for a nuclear weapon. Iran was a sponsor of terrorism. We sanctioned Iran—all the European countries did—as a terror—and the IRGC in particular as a terrorist organization. They sponsored Hamas, they sponsored Hizballah, and the Houthis. They created mayhem and most maligned force in the Middle East.
The Irish position has always been, ultimately, can we resolve this to—you know, can we get peace? And obviously, there was preconditions before you get to that situation.
We had our own conflict, which went on for 30 years, and we learned a lot from that in terms of how to try and bring about peace.
And I think—I've listened to you in terms of—and you're correct. I mean, our hearts go out to the Iranian people, who have been repressed and suppressed for so many—so many years, culminating in that savage murder of thousands and thousands of Iranians some months ago, and——
Q. Taoiseach—[inaudible]——
Prime Minister Martin. ——no one was in a—just—no one was in a position to do anything about that. And I think—and likewise with Ukraine. I mean, the Russians did invade Ukraine, have attacked civilian infrastructure, and so on like that. And for the people of Ukraine, who just want peace and an opportunity to live, I think there is—I think we have to continue to work to see, can we bring peace, a different regime to Iran where Iranians can live in peace again, and the people in the Middle East can live in peace.
And you're doing your bit there in terms of the work in Gaza and so on like that. And I think that's what we——
Q. Taoiseach—[inaudible]——
Prime Minister Martin. That's what we want, is a peaceful resolution of conflict. That's where we come from, as a small nation.
President Trump. Right.
Prime Minister Martin. We've been peacekeepers all our lives. And we're the longest serving nation in terms of provision of peacekeeping forces in the world, as it turns out.
But we think, ultimately, all conflicts come to an end. And I think we have to try and work towards that end. And I'm sure European leaders and the U.S. administration will engage, and hopefully, we can get a landing zone somewhere——
[Several reporters spoke at once.]
President Trump. No, I mean, the only thing—and I——
Prime Minister Martin. Yes.
President Trump. ——I agree with everything you said, but we helped with Ukraine.
Prime Minister Martin. Yes.
President Trump. And they don't help with Iran. And they all acknowledge that Iran can't have a nuclear weapon. You yourself say it. You know, these were—these are—horrendous people. These are the worst people in—going back to Hitler, right? Going back to Hitler, these are the worst people. That's a long time ago.
And there's been nothing close. Every problem, every—so many deaths. Ninety percent of the people that got blown up by landmines—the landmines, they loved them.
You know, Soleimani, we killed him. If we didn't, it might be a different story because he was a horrible person, but he was a very powerful——
Prime Minister Martin. He was, yes.
President Trump. ——person and leader and smart. But we killed him. If we didn't, I think you'd have a—I did—but I think it would have maybe a different situation. It wouldn't have been so easy as it has been, because it has been very easy.
You know, it's—all of their military's out, but you could always have somebody drop a mine in the water. That's, like, terrorism.
Prime Minister Martin. Yes.
President Trump. And then you have the people that own the billion-dollar ships saying, "Well, let's not move that ship yet because we want"—so we thought that Europe would help that, because they do have some minesweepers.
But it's amazing that, you know, they all said, "What a great job." They were calling me, saying—congratulating us on the great job we did with respect to Iran, and we knocked the hell out of them. They're no longer the bully of the Middle East. They were known as the bully of the Middle East, and they're not the bully anymore.
But you would have thought they would've said, "We'd love to send a couple of minesweepers." That's not a big deal. Doesn't cost very much money. But they didn't do that.
So, you know, it's—I think it's very unfair to the United States—not to me, but to the United States.
Go ahead, please.
Q. Sir, Keir Starmer isn't making——
President Trump. You—she's a fantastic reporter, by the way. [Laughter]
Q. Thank you.
President Trump. Go ahead.
United Kingdom/U.S. Military Operations in Iran
Q. The Prime Minister isn't making the case to the British public as to why he should be supporting you. Could you do that now and talk to the U.K. and to GB News viewers about why it's in their interest that we help you?
President Trump. Well, because we have a tremendous long-term relationship with relationship the U.K. I mean, people would say it's the best. I don't want to get into that. But we've had—it was the longest, the oldest, should be the best. Always was the best, until Keir came along. And now—and I like him. He's a nice man. He says everything beautiful. He's a very nice man with a beautiful family. Everything's perfect. But he doesn't produce.
And I think it's very inexpensive. I just said: "You don't have to send me aircraft carriers. Send me a couple of minesweepers. We don't need your aircraft carriers." But even the aircraft carriers, he would only send them after we essentially won. I mean, he's sending them where there are no planes left, when the missiles are down to 8 percent. They have, like, 8 percent of the missiles. We—the rest, we demolished the missiles and the factories—largely, the factories are going. Even as we speak, they just hit another factory. They may have a lot of—they have a lot of missile factories. They have a lot of drone factories.
And so he's—you know, wants to send them when we don't need them. But we'd like to have minesweepers, because just in case—we don't know that there are any mines down, because we wiped out, I think, 24. They actually have—think of this for a country: They have 24 boats that do nothing but put mines in the water.
This doesn't sound like a great country. This doesn't sound like a friendly country. But we killed all of those boats. They're at the bottom of the sea. But we—so, we don't even know if there are any mines there. But if there are, you know, we'd like to have a little help in finding them. Most—probably most importantly.
[Several reporters spoke at once.]
Prime Minister Keir Starmer of the United Kingdom/Energy Sources/Migration Issues
Q. Would you like a change in Prime Minister? Do you have confidence in Keir Starmer? Would you prefer to deal with somebody else who's more——
President Trump. Well, it's not for me. It's really—it's really for the people of the UK to have confidence. I mean——
Q. Of course, but is he Churchillian? Is that——
President Trump. I mean, I've been very critical of Keir. And I did it in a friendly way. I said, "If you don't change your energy problem—thing and get away from windmills and go back to oil and gas and—you know, you own—you have something that's—no other country has." Very few countries have anything like it. The North Sea. "You have some of the greatest oil and oil deposits in the entire world." The North Sea. They don't use it. "You buy a lot of your oil from Norway. You know where they get their oil? From the North Sea. And you pay a very big price. So why are you paying a lot of money?"
And I tell them, and they—you have the better part of the North Sea. So why aren't they taking the oil from the North Sea? Why are they buying oil from Norway?
But they have windmills all over the country destroying those gorgeous Scottish fields and those beautiful fields all over the—windmills, which don't work, they're tremendously expensive.
And the best testament to that is the windmills are made in China, but China doesn't use them. You know what China uses? Coal. They're building 58 coal-fired plants right now, and that's up to them.
But these foolish countries that are buying windmills, putting them out of business—I'm proudly telling you that we're going to try and have no windmills built in the United States during my period——
[Several reporters spoke at once.]
——because they're very bad. They're very bad environmentally. They kill the birds. They're unsightly. They make a lot of noise. And for some reason the environmentalists love windmills. Okay?
[Several reporters spoke at once.]
Q. You say Keir Starmer is a very nice man. Mr. President, you say he's a very nice man. Is that what we need——
President Trump. I think he's a nice——
Q. ——in a wartime Prime Minister?
President Trump. I think he's a nice man, but I disagree with him on two things primarily: immigration—his immigration policy is a disaster, and his energy policy is a disaster. And they're about the biggest policies you can have. He's—you've allowed millions and millions and millions of people to come into your country that shouldn't be there.
And by the way, that's all over Europe. Europe is a different place. It's a different place. And you know——
Q. Taoiseach, sir, you have something say about that?
Prime Minister Martin. Well——
President Trump. ——I originate—to put it nicely, I originate—many of us do—from Europe. I love Europe. I've spent a lot of time in Europe. It's a different place. Bad things have happened to Europe.
Q. Taoiseach, sir, you——
President Trump. Very bad things.
Q. ——do you have any points about that?
President Trump. And you'd better do something about immigration, and you better do something about energy, or you won't have a Europe.
[Several reporters spoke at once.] Prime Minister Martin. If I——
Commercial Transit Through the Strait of Hormuz
Q. What's your timeframe, Mr. President, for when cargo ships can safely go through the Strait of Hormuz?
President Trump. It won't be, I don't believe, too long. We're knocking the hell out of the coast. It's basically the coast and the water, and it won't be too long.
And the Middle Eastern States, including Israel, by the way, who has been terrific—the Middle Eastern states have been helping us a lot.
[Several reporters spoke at once.] Go ahead. You, please.
Oil Markets and Prices
Q. Mr. President, on fuel prices. What do you have to say to the people in Ireland who are paying sky-high prices because of your war in Iran?
President Trump. Well, I think the people in Ireland are very happy that I'm getting rid of—I have a lot of friends from Ireland. They're very happy that I'm getting rid of a nuclear power, a nuclear terrorist. And as soon as that war is over, which will be soon, your prices are going to drop like a rock. You watch. I've been very——
[Several reporters spoke at once.] I've been very good at predicting. [Several reporters spoke at once.] No, in the back.
U.S. Military Operations in Iran
Q. Mr. President, what do you think about our President's comments that your actions in Iran is breaking international law?
President Trump. Say it.
Q. What do you think about our President's comments——
President Trump. Can you speak—you're speaking right into your phone. [Several reporters spoke at once.]
Kurdistan/Iraq
Q. How do you—Mr. President, how do you respond to the increasing attacks by the Iraqi militia groups against the U.S. Embassy and consulate in the Kurdistan Region?
President Trump. You want to answer that, J.D.?
Secretary Rubio. Yes, I——President Trump. Do you want to? Secretary Rubio. Oh.
President Trump. Go ahead.
Vice President James D. "J.D." Vance. Yes, well, Marco, obviously, the Secretary of State, has control over the Embassy.
Look, there have been a lot of militia attacks against our base or our Embassy in Iran [Iraq; White House correction]. I think Marco's done a good job of limiting the number of people who are at that embassy so we can provide essential functions but also protect our people.
But it goes to show there are a lot of terrorists in that region of the world, and we've got to eliminate when we find them.
President Trump. And you can't give them nuclear weapons. You can give them rifles. You can give them guns. You can't give them nuclear weapons.
I think we agree——
Prime Minister Martin. Agree on that.
President Trump. ——very strongly on that. Please, go ahead.
Q. Taoiseach, do you have any points to make just on the immigration point he made about Europe?
President Trump. Yes. Excuse me.
Prime Minister Martin. Just a little—first of all, I would say that Europe is still a very good place to live in.
President Trump. Good.
Prime Minister Martin. A lot have—just to let you know. [Laughter]
President Trump. I'm glad to hear that. [Laughter]
Prime Minister Martin. And our view is, you have to have robust and fair rules around migration, but on the other hand, a lot people—you know, within the European Union, we have free mobility of people.
And in Ireland, our population is growing, but in a very positive way. Our economy is going well because we're attracting a lot of people from Europe and beyond in to work legally and validly in our country.
In fact, I'd love if we could develop a legal pathway between the U.S. and Ireland into the future because of our history and so on, like that——
President Trump. Mm-hmm.
Prime Minister Martin. ——that we could have a legal pathway because we're—no one is in favor of illegal migration or—and so forth. So you have to have robust rules and—for that.
And—but fundamentally, I think sometimes Europe and—gets characterized wrongly, in terms of it being overrun or whatever like that. It's much more robust now. It's much more stronger mechanism in place to facilitate legal migration. And I think it's important that that understanding is there.
We need more economic growth in Europe. It doesn't have the same focus on innovation as you do here in the U.S.—we discussed that earlier with the Vice President—in terms of technology, in terms of AI. We need to pivot more to innovation, as opposed to regulation, and into, I think, investing in people. You know?
And that's the key to, I think, our collective future. But we do think there are lessons from how you're doing things and thinking about——
[Several reporters spoke at once.] Yes.
Q. Prime Minister——
Prime Minister Martin. Yes?
President Catherine Connolly of Ireland/U.S. Military Operations in Iran
Q. Mr. President, the Irish President has said that your war against Iran is illegal, it's an attack on international law. What do you——
President Trump. Who said that? Who?
Q. The Irish President.
President Trump. Look, he's lucky I exist. That's all I can say. Because if you're going to allow countries that are sick and demented—and they are demented—to have nuclear weapons, the—everybody, the whole world should be very thankful.
And I'm disappointed in NATO. Very disappointed. I'm disappointed in a couple of other countries too.
But they should be very thankful that this group of people feels the way we do, because if a country like Iran was allowed to have the power of a nuclear weapon—if we didn't stop them—I stopped them twice. I stopped them my first term when I terminated the Iran nuclear deal, which was Barack Obama's deal. It was one of the—maybe the worst deal I've ever seen. It gave everything to Iran, including billions of dollars in green cash. I don't mean cash; I mean green cash flown over by airplanes. I can't, to this day, believe that was allowed to happen.
And come to think of it, it would be a good thing for somebody to look at. How could—does the President have the power to hand hundreds of millions of dollars of cash to terrorists?
But it began with that, and I terminated that deal. If I didn't terminate that deal, we might not be here right now. If I didn't terminate that deal, a unbelievable nuclear holocaust would've taken place.
And then I did it a second time when we hit them with the B–2 bombers and we totally obliterated their potential nuclear weapon that they would've had in less than 1 month. They think 2 weeks, but in less than 1 month. And it would have been—I believe it would have been a much different world than it is right now.
[Several reporters spoke at once.]
We have to go. We're going to a lunch, so maybe we'll take one more nice question. [Several reporters spoke at once.]
You.
BBC News/CBS News
Q. Can I ask you how you're doing with your legal case against the BBC and their fake news documentary—[inaudible]—month?
President Trump. Well, BBC was incredible. What they did is they had me speaking something I never said, and I've never seen anything quite like it. You know, CBS had that. We had the situation on "60 Minutes" and—not the current owners, the past owners. The current owners, I think, are good: Ellison. But BBC took it a step further. They actually had—they put words in my mouth, and they said I said some pretty bad things. And I didn't say them. It was AI generated. And I said, "I never said that."
In fact, some of my people said, "Wow, that was pretty bad stuff you said." I said, "What did I say?" [Laughter] You know, I'm pretty good at this stuff. I mean, if you can go through years of these press conferences and you're a popular President of the United States that won in a landslide, that won all 7 swing States, that got record numbers of votes—I mean, so I guess I'm okay at this stuff. I said, "I never said that."
And then we found out it was AI generated, and they admit they made a mistake: BBC.
But I watched them this morning for some crazy reason, and it was so inaccurate. Their reporting on the war was unbelievable. We have decimated that country. And if you watch BBC, it's almost like they're fighting us to a draw. They're not fighting us to a draw. It was very inaccurate news. It was fake news.
So I'm very proud of the term "fake news" because it was my term. I came up with it.
But it's no longer accurate. It really is—it's corrupt, fraudulent news. It really is. It's fraudulent. It's not just fake. It's beyond fake. It's really criminal what they do.
But I watched BBC this morning—and I don't know much about BBC, other than what took place. Because people were calling me, saying, "That was a terrible thing you said." I said, "What did I say?" And they—I said, "I never said that." And when we checked it, you agree—they agree it was somehow generated, I guess, by AI or something, with me saying unbelievable——
So we brought a lawsuit against them. They admit they're guilty, but we'll see how it comes
out.
[Several reporters spoke at once.]
Thank you. I like that question. I like that question.
Thank you very much. We'll see you later. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you very much,
everybody.
NOTE: The President spoke at 11:47 a.m. in the Oval Office at the White House. In his remarks, he referred to U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.; Secretary of the Supreme Council for National Security Ali Larijani of Iran, who was killed in an U..S. Israeli airstrike in the eastern outskirts of a Tehran, Iran, suburb on March 17; Chancellor Friedrich Merz of Germany; U.S. Secretary of War Peter B. Hegseth; U.S. Secretary of Energy Christopher A. Wright; King Charles III of the United Kingdom; and Larry Ellison, executive chairman and chief technology adviser, Oracle Corp., and controlling stakeholder, Paramount Skydance Corp., and his son David Ellison, chairman and chief executive officer, Paramount Skydance Corp., the parent company of CBS Broadcasting, Inc.
Categories: Interviews With the News Media : Exchanges with reporters, White House; Meetings With Foreign Leaders and International Officials : Ireland, Prime Minister Martin.
Locations: Washington, DC.
Names: Biden, Joseph R., Jr.; Charles III, King; Ellison, David; Ellison, Larry; Hegseth, Peter B.; Kennedy, Robert F., Jr.; Kent, Joe; Larijani, Ali; Martin, Micheál; Merz, Friedrich; Obama, Barack; Rubio, Marco A.; Starmer, Keir; Vance, James D. "J.D."; Wright, Christopher A.; Xi Jinping.
Subjects: BBC News; CBS News; China, President; Cuba, political and economic stability; Europe, migration issues; Germany, Chancellor; Iran, commercial transit through Strait of Hormuz; Iran, nuclear weapons development; Iran, political unrest and violence; Iran, U.S. airstrikes on nuclear facilities; Iran, U.S. military operations; Ireland, Prime Minister; Ireland, relations with U.S.; Ireland, Trump International Golf Links and Hotel Doonbeg in Doonbeg; Israel, defense relationship with U.S.; National Counterterrorism Center; North Atlantic Treaty Organization; Russia, conflict in Ukraine; Secretary of Energy; Secretary of Health and Human Services; Secretary of State; Secretary of War; Solar and wind energy; Tariffs; Ukraine, Russian invasion and airstrikes; Ukraine, U.S. assistance; United Kingdom, King; United Kingdom, Prime Minister; United Kingdom, relations with U.S.; Venezuela, relations with U.S.; Vice President.
DCPD Number: DCPD202600182.