Administration of Donald J. Trump, 2026
May 2, 2026
The President. Hello, everybody.
So I think we can do this right here instead of at Doral. We're going to Doral. A lot of you are traveling with me.
Doing very well with regard to just about everything, but doing very well with regard to Iran. Again, they want to make a deal. They're decimated. They're having a hard time figuring out who their leader is. They don't know who their leader is because their leader is gone, their leader that—their former leader, Khamenei. But we'll see.
Any questions real fast?
Iran/U.S. Diplomatic Engagement
Q. Have you seen the new 14-point proposal from Iran yet?
The President. Which?
Q. The new 14-point proposal that Iran has supposedly——
The President. No, I haven't. I haven't. I'm looking at it up here.
Q. You're looking at it, sir?
The President. Yes. I'll let you know about it later, but——
U.S. Negotiations With Iran
Q. Mr. President, last night you said we might be better off not making a deal with Iran. Do you think that?
The President. Well, I wouldn't have to. I didn't say that. I said that if we left right now, it would take them 20 years to rebuild. But we're not leaving right now. We're going to do it so nobody has to go back in 2 years or 5 years.
Q. Mr. President——
Q. Mr. President, you also said last night that only——
The President. They told me about the concept of the deal. They're going to give me the exact wording now.
Yes.
Iran/Nuclear Weapons Development
Q. Mr. President, last night you also said that only, like, 85 percent of Iran's missile-making capabilities has been eliminated.
The President. Correct.
Q. Is that other 15 percent important? Does the United States need to eliminate that——
The President. Well, I'd like to eliminate it, yes. I'd like to. It'd be a start for them to build up again. And yes, I would like to eliminate it.
Q. Sir——
Q. Mr. President——
Q. Mr. President——
U.S. Military Operations in Iran
Q. Sir, under what circumstances would you restart military strikes on targets inside Iran?
The President. Well, I don't want to say that. I mean, I can't tell that to a reporter.
If they misbehave. If they do something bad. But right now we'll see. But you know, it's a possibility that could happen, certainly.
Q. Mr. President——
U.S. Naval Blockade of Sanctioned Commercial Transit Through the Strait of Hormuz
Q. Mr. President, in your letter to Congress, you said the hostilities in Iran that started have been terminated. How can you say that given that the naval blockade is still being militarily enforced?
The President. Well, it's a very friendly blockade. Nobody is even challenging it. Nobody at all is challenging.
Just so you understand, many Presidents have been involved in things that are very big. They never had to go through anything with respect to Congress. They considered it to be totally unconstitutional.
And the Democrats in Congress have pushed this, and probably a couple of Republicans.
They're hurting our negotiating ability, which is infinite right now, and they shouldn't be doing it. It's never happened before. No other President has done it, and I'm not going to be the first. Thank you very much.
Go ahead.
[At this point, several reporters began asking questions at once.]
Iran/Oil Supply and Refining
Q. Thank you, Mr. President. Do you envision a future where American energy companies are operating inside of Iran, much like Venezuela?
The President. Could be. It could be.
I'll tell you what: We have a lot of ships coming up to Texas and Louisiana. It's a line of ships. You saw on the satellite. We have a line of ships, big ones—2 million—2 million barrels. And they're coming up. I mean, literally, hundreds of ships are in line to go to—I mean, they're already started. But we're selling a lot of oil. A lot of oil.
Q. Mr. President——
Q. Why is the U.S. removing troops from Germany?
Q. Mr. President——
Germany/Deployment of U.S. Troops
Q. Why is the U.S. removing troops from Germany?
The President. We're going to cut way down, and we're cutting a lot further than 5,000.
Thank you very much.
Q. When is enough enough with Iran?
NOTE: The President spoke at 6:26 p.m. on the tarmac at the Palm Beach International Airport prior to boarding Air Force One. The transcript was released by the Office of Communications on May 3, with a corrected transcript released on May 4.
Categories: Interviews With the News Media : Exchanges with reporters, West Palm Beach, FL. Locations: West Palm Beach, FL.
Subjects: Florida, President's visit; Germany, defense relationship with U.S.; Iran, diplomatic engagement with U.S.; Iran, U.S. military operations; News media, Presidential interviews; Oil and natural gas, domestic production.
DCPD Number: DCPD202600304.