Administration of Donald J. Trump, 2026
April 6, 2026
Q. Mr. President, are you prepared to end the war?
Q. Mr. President, have—[inaudible]—the cease-fire proposal——
Q. Is Tuesday your final deadline?
U.S. Military Operations in Iran
Q. Have you heard the cease-fire proposal from this morning?
The President. I've seen every proposal you can imagine. More proposals than you would think.
Q. Is Tuesday your final deadline? Is Tuesday at 8 p.m. your final deadline?
The President. Yes.
Iran
Q. If Iran does not meet your demands, Mr. President, are you willing to continue the war?
The President. Well, you'll have to watch.
[At this point, several reporters began asking questions at once.]
By the way, it's an easy question—the answer is yes, but you'll have to watch.
Iran/U.S. Diplomatic Engagement
Q. What do you think of the latest proposal, Mr. President? What do you think of the latest proposal?
The President. They've made a proposal, and it's a significant proposal. It's a significant step.
It's not good enough, but it's a very significant step. [Several reporters spoke at once.]
They have made—they have made—they're negotiating now, and they have made a very significant step. We'll see what happens.
[Several reporters spoke at once.]
United Kingdom
Q. Have you spoken with Keir Starmer, sir? And also, do you believe the U.K. should resurrect like Jesus this Easter weekend?
The President. Well, that's what they need. They have a long way to go. The U.K. has a long way to go.
[Several reporters spoke at once.]
We don't want another Neville Chamberlain. Do we agree?
Q. Have you spoken—[inaudible]?
The President. We don't want Neville Chamberlain.
Missing U.S. Servicemembers Rescued From Iran
Q. How is the—Mr. President, how is the airman doing now?
The President. Who?
Q. How is the airman who was rescued doing?
The President. He's doing really well. They're both doing well. You know, it was two. And we held off the one because we—if you—if they would have known we had him—so we held off the one. They are both recovering very well. They were both injured, and they're doing well.
[Several reporters spoke at once.]
Q. Are you committed to committing a war crime in this war with Ukraine—with Iran?
The President. What else?
Missing U.S. Servicemembers Rescued From Iran/U.S. Military Operations in Iran
Q. Mr. President, you said that Iran has no antiaircraft equipment. How were they able to drop those two—[inaudible]?
The President. Well, you know what? When you do thousands and thousands of flights and you have one plane shot down and not mortally—the two pilots got out. They got a little bit lucky. And you know what? In war, you need a little bit of luck also. They got a little bit lucky. That's all they got.
U.S. Military Operations in Iran/Political Leadership in Iran
Q. What's stopping you from ending the war, Mr. President?
The President. Well, it could end very quickly, the war, if they do what they have to do.
They have to do certain things. They know that. They've been negotiating, I think, in good faith.
We've had total regime change. You know, the people there now are much more reasonable than the lunatics that you had in phase one and phase two. They were lunatics.
The people that we're negotiating with now in—on behalf of Iran are much more reasonable. You can call it what you want, but I call it "regime change." And I think most people are giving us credit for that.
The first regime was taken out. The second regime was taken out. Now the third group of people that we're dealing with is not as radicalized, and we think they're actually much smarter.
The President's Truth Social Post Concerning the Iran Conflict
Q. Why did you use such vulgar language in that Truth Social post——
The President. Only to make my point.
Q. ——on Easter?
The President. I think you've heard it before.
U.S. Servicemembers Rescued From Iran
Q. Mr. President, have you spoken to the families of the airmen that were saved? Have you spoken to the families of the airmen that were saved?
The President. I'm going to be doing it right now. [Several reporters spoke at once.]
Iran/Nuclear Weapons Development/Venezuela
Q. Mr. President, what do you say—what do you say to Americans who are not a fan of the
war?
The President. They're foolish, because the war's about one thing: Iran cannot have a nuclear
weapon. Had we not broken the Barack Hussein Obama agreement—you know the—you know what I'm talking about: the Iran nuclear deal. This is years ago—my first term—you would have had a total—Israel would have been gone, extinguished. Israel would be a—would've been wiped off the face of the Earth, and the entire Middle East would have been, at a minimum, in big trouble.
But I did it. That was phase one. We killed Soleimani. Without Soleimani—if they had Soleimani, it would be a whole different thing. Maybe. We'd still be winning, but it would've been harder.
Because we are obliterating that country. And I hate to do it, but we're oblitering [obliterating; White House correction], and they just don't want to say uncle. They don't want to cry, as the expression goes, uncle. But they will.
And if they don't, they'll have no bridges, they'll have no power plants, they'll have no anything. I want to—I won't go further because there are other things that are worse than those two.
And we might have—well, the—the thing—if I had my choice, what would I like to do?
Take the oil. Because it's there for the taking. There's not a thing they can do about it.
Unfortunately, the American people would like to see us come home. If it were up to me, I'd take the oil. I'd keep the oil, and we'd make plenty of money.
And I'd also take care of the people of Iran much better than they've been taken care of. It's been a horrible—they've killed 45,000 people, as of a month and a half ago. Forty-five thousand protestors. We don't do that.
[Several reporters spoke at once.]
So, if I had my choice, I'd keep the oil. But I also want to make the people of our country happy. I think most people wouldn't understand that.
Venezuela—I'll give you an example. Venezuela has worked out so incredibly. We have a hundred million barrels of oil right now in Houston being refined. It's been great. The relationship with Venezuela—the leaders has been fantastic. And I think we're going to have a long-term, very good relationship.
[Several reporters spoke at once.]
And it might be beyond long term. You understand what that means. [Several reporters spoke at once.]
Q. [Inaudible]—would you bomb energy infrastructure?
Iran
Q. Mr. President, when you say the American people don't want that, how do you know that?
The President. Well, I tell you what: I'm pretty good at this stuff, and I go around, and I
check. They'd like to see us win and come home.
And I appreciate CNN for the first time, maybe, in my life. They did a poll, and everyone was saying, "Oh, is Trump losing MAGA?" No, I'm not losing MAGA. MAGA loves what I'm
doing. And CNN did a poll of MAGA voters. A big poll. Very important poll. Harry. And he went on. He said, "This is amazing. One hundred percent support." He said, "I've never had a 100 percent poll at anything before." And it's: "Do you support Trump?" MAGA people. Which is, by the way, mostly Republican. If you—if you look, I would say MAGA makes up a majority—like, about 95 percent of the Republican Party. All right?
[Several reporters spoke at once.]
So they went out. They did a poll. And CNN came back: 100 percent support. So, they support what we're doing, but they would like to see it end and come back. But remember, wars last years. We're in there for 34 days, and we've obliterated a very powerful country in 34 days.
Yes, if it were up to me, I'd like to keep the oil. I just don't think the people of the United States would really understand.
[Several reporters spoke at once.]
Q. [Inaudible]—why are we still there?
U.S. Military Operations in Iran/Political Repression in Iran
Q. How is it taking care of the Iranian people if you're bombing their energy infrastructure?
The President. Yes. Who you with? Who you with?
Q. PBS, sir.
The President. Well, that's a radical-left group of lunatics that you're with. [Several reporters spoke at once.]
Let me just tell you—let me just tell you. Very fair question.
The Iranian people, when they don't hear bombs go off, they're upset. They want to hear bombs because they want to be free. And the only reason they're not out protesting—you know that—is because they were informed that, if they protest, like the wrestler and his friends—if they protest, they will be shot immediately. And that's an edict. That's in writing. If they protest, if they go out in the streets, they will be immediately shot.
They don't have guns. You know, we sent some guns. But the group that was supposed to give—which I said would happen to my people. I said it. I called it exactly. We sent guns. A lot of guns. They were supposed to go to the people so they could fight back against these thugs. You know what happened? The people that they sent them to kept them because they said: "What a beautiful gun. I think I'll keep it." So I'm very upset with a certain group of people, and they're going to pay a big price for that.
But the Iranian people will fight back as soon as they know they're not going to be shot and as soon as they can get weapons. If they had weapons—not many of them. If they had weapons that were going the other way—and you know what would happen? Iran would give up in two seconds because they wouldn't be able to take it.
But in Iran, they have absolutely no weaponry, and they've been told, point blank, "If you come out—if you come out to the streets, you will be killed."
As of this morning—and we have this on pretty good information—45,000 protesters have been killed. Pretty bad.
[Several reporters spoke at once.]
U.S. Military Operations in Iran/U.S. Servicemembers Rescued From Iran
Q. Mr. President, you said Iran has been obliterated. Why are we still at war, then?
The President. It's a big country. They can't fight back. They have no capability. I mean they'll have—they have some missiles left. They have some drones left. But essentially, they have no capability.
They had a lucky shot with an airplane, but we got them back out. The rescue was incredible. And it wasn't of one person. It was of two person. There are those that say that's never happened before. Because usually, when you're shot down in strong enemy—in deep enemy territory, you can't go after them because you'll end up losing 250 people to get one.
So it's a terrible thing. But we had to make a decision: Do we do it, or do we not? And we did. And you know, we have some helicopters with a lot of bullet holes in them right now probably. You know that.
No, I'm very honored by—I'm very honored to have rebuilt our military. We rebuilt our military in my first term. I'm using it in our second term. And we are the most respected country anywhere in the world with the greatest military anywhere in the world.
Thank you.
So we have a news conference. You'll all be there. So, you could ask a question in a little while.
Q. Can we ask the First Lady a question?
The President. We have a news conference in a little while. What would you like to ask her?
U.S. Military Operations in Iran
Q. What she wants to say—Madam First Lady, can you tell us your message to children who find themselves in a war zone during this Holy Week?
The First Lady. Well, all of this is happening for their future so they will be safe in years to come.
The President. That's who we're fighting for. We're fighting for our children that are now in a war zone. We're keeping them as safe as we can possibly keep them. But we're fighting for their parents, their grandparents. We're fighting for them. We're fighting for their future.
And I will tell you, I—it was given to me loud and clear—the time the Iranian people are the most unhappy, when you hear bombs all over, is when those bombs stop.
[Several reporters spoke at once.]
That's the problem is when they stop, because that means that—"Are they coming back? We want to have them back." And you know, everybody knows it. Everybody sees it.
So, hopefully, it can be over with quickly. Again, there are lots of different alternatives. We have many alternatives. We could leave right now, and it would take them 15 years to rebuild what they have. We could leave right now, but I want to finish it up.
Iran—ready?—cannot have a nuclear weapon. They are lunatics. And you can't put nuclear weapons in the hands of a lunatic.
Thank you very much.
[Several reporters spoke at once.] We'll see you at 1 o'clock.
NOTE: The President spoke at 11:09 a.m. on the South Lawn at the White House. In his remarks, he referred to former President Barack Obama; Harry Enten, chief data analyst, CNN; and Saleh Mohammadi, Mehdi Qasemi, and Saeed Davoudi, who were convicted for their role in the killing of two law enforcement officers at a police station and executed in Qom, Iran, on March 20.
Categories: Interviews With the News Media : Exchanges with reporters, White House. Locations: Washington, DC.
Names: Davoudi, Saeed; Enten, Harry; Mohammadi, Saleh; Obama, Barack; Qasemi, Mehdi; Trump, Melania.
Subjects: Iran, human rights issues; Iran, nuclear weapons development; Iran, oil supply and refining; Iran, rescue of U.S. servicemembers; Iran, U.S. military operations; News media, Presidential interviews; U.S. military readiness, improvement efforts; United Kingdom, defense relationship with U.S.; Venezuela, relations with U.S.; Venezuela, U.S. military capture and exfiltration of President Maduro; White House Easter Egg Roll.
DCPD Number: DCPD202600231.