Administration of Donald J. Trump, 2026
President Trump. Well, thank you very much, everybody.
I just want to say His Highness is a warrior. He was in there fighting, and he does what has to be done. And he's known for it. He's a courageous man. He's got a great country. It's a fantastic country. And they've been with the United States for a long time, but I would say much—much more so since I came on board, I will say. And they've invested trillions of dollars in the United States.
And I was telling them before, in another meeting, that we have over $19 trillion being invested in the United States, which is a record. And that's building factories, car plants, everything. We're doing things that have never been done.
The record was $3 billion many years ago with a different country, and we're going to be over 19—I think we'll head to $19.3 trillion. So there's probably not going to be anything—maybe we'll do better next year. I don't know if it can—I don't know if you can do better.
But I just want to say that the relationship has been outstanding. He's a man of great respect.
Everybody respects him, and they respect your country. And it's an honor to be with you.
And we just signed a deal with Iran. And this country was very, very—a very powerful ally, and good things are happening. The ships are starting to move now. We're going to have it fully open by Friday. The ships are starting to move nicely. Oil is starting to go. And the prices are coming down rapidly. Stock market is going up rapidly. A lot of good things are happening.
And most importantly, Iran will not have a nuclear weapon. That was how I got involved in this. We can't let that happen. So they will not have a nuclear weapon.
And other than that, I'd like to ask His Highness to say a few words. And if you want, we can take a couple of questions.
Please.
President Mohamed bin Zayed. Well, it's really my pleasure, Mr. President, to be with you here. And I want to say that we are so grateful to have you here and—as a President of the United States—and thank you for your support, your commitment to your friends, to your allies. And a special thank for your support during the 6 war—6-week war.
President Trump. Mm-hmm.
President Mohamed bin Zayed. It mean a lot to us. And you show us who is really ally. And, without your support, your commitment, Mr. President, not my country only, but the Middle East would be on a different—[inaudible]—different situation today. So it would be my pleasure to see you today, Mr. President.
Thank you for giving us the time, and there's a lot of things we can talk about for—going forward, between our two country, how we can make our relationship even better.
President Trump. We love it. Thank you, my friend.
See, when you're that rich, you can speak that lowly. [Laughter] I was just wondering, "Can anybody hear that?" But when you're so rich, you have such confidence that you don't have to do any strain to the voice. [Laughter] He's great.
So do you have any questions, please?
Iran/U.S. Diplomatic Engagement/Commercial Transit Through the Strait of Hormuz
Q. What should we expect from the second stage of the negotiations from this memorandum of understanding?
President Trump. I don't know. It's a 60-day period or so. I think it's going to happen fairly on time. We've been both involved. I think they're going to want to get it done. Iran wants to get it done. They have to get back to business. And the relationship is now normalized. So I think it's going to go pretty quickly, Steve [Steve A. Holland, Reuters].
Could go faster. Could take longer too, but it could go faster.
Text of the Memorandum of Understanding on the Cessation of Hostilities Between the
U.S. and Iran
Q. There's so much interest in the text of the document. Why not release the text?
President Trump. Oh, I will.
Q. Why not release it before Friday?
President Trump. Well, because I'd like to get a formal setting first before we do that. But I have no problem with that. It's a great document. Here's what it says: Iran will never have a nuclear weapon. That what it says. It won't have one to buy, to develop. They will not have a nuclear weapon.
And I would say that's about 99.9 percent of what I wanted, because we couldn't let that happen. You couldn't let that happen. And they won't have a nuclear weapon. Now, in addition to that, the Strait is going to be open toll-free. And it's toll-free beyond the 60 days. It's not—somebody said, "Oh, it's toll-free for"—no, no. It's toll-free. Period. When it opens permanently, it will be toll-free.
I want to congratulate our Navy, because the naval blockade was unbelievable. But I will—actually, I'll not only release it, I'll probably have a press conference and read it to you word by word so that the press covers it accurately, because it's a— very important document.
And, unlike Obama, who could have destroyed the Middle East with the horrible JCPOA—it is the worst agreement. That was a road to a nuclear weapon. Mine is a wall against a nuclear weapon.
I mean, I see these people say, "But we already had one." It was the worst. He paid a fortune for it. We pay nothing. We don't pay. There was some statement: "We're going to spend $300 million." No, we're not. We're allowed to go and invest, if we wanted to, someday in the future. We have no obligation whatsoever.
It could be that Iran will turn out to be successful when they have oil. But if we left a week ago—just left—before the last two attacks, it would have taken them 20 years to rebuild Iran.
So—but I'll go over the document with the media in a couple of days.
Iran/International Cooperation
Q. Mr. President, a few weeks back, you said you'd like to see other nations join the Abraham Accords, much like the U.A.E. has. Have there been any discussions with Arab leaders about that?
President Trump. About what?
Q. Joining the Abraham Accords——
President Trump. Yes.
Q. ——like the U.A.E. has.
President Trump. Well, I'd love to have them. He—this is a man who's very advanced. He was early in, and he's done very well with them, the whole—the Abraham Accords.
No, it's—I think they should happen easily. The big impediment to the Abraham Accords—we have our original countries—very smart countries, every one of them. Do you notice that even during that period of conflict, nobody dropped out? Nobody said, "Oh, gee, I'm going to drop out." Nobody. I think they're all going to come in—yes—into the Abraham Accords.
The only conflict was a place called Iran, and I understand that. You know, it's a little bit tough when people were afraid of Iran. So—but I think they're going to all start coming in now. Yes.
Iran
Good question, actually. Yes.
Q. Mr. President, what do you say to Republicans like Senator Lindsey Graham, who is
skeptical of the MOU? To——
President Trump. Lindsey is skeptical?
Q. Yes.
President Trump. I'll have to talk to Lindsey. He'll be in big trouble. [Laughter] Lindsey's good. Lindsey's fine. He's not skeptical. He's just fine.
Look, this agreement covers something very nicely. We're not paying for anything. We're not doing anything. The markets now are higher than they were when we started. Remember that. The stock market now is 2,500—maybe even more than that—points higher than it was when we started, so it's pretty amazing. This agreement is about one thing: that Iran will never have a nuclear weapon—never, ever, ever. The rest of it's irrelevant, frankly.
Q. Senator Graham also said that an eventual agreement with Iran should be sent to Congress for review. Would you do that?
President Trump. I never thought of it, but I would. I wouldn't mind. I mean, you know, the Democrats—you know, we call them "Dumocrats," because they're dumb people. The "Dumocrats" are—well, what I'd like to do is send it to Congress, saying "you shouldn't approve it," and I'll get it approved. [Laughter] Because they do—whatever they—whatever I say, they want to do the opposite. It's not working too well for them, by the way.
But yes, I would. I never thought about sending it—never even thought about it, but I will. I will send it to Congress. I like the idea.
Q. Are you——
Q. On another topic——
President Trump. I mean, who wouldn't approve it? Let's—let them have a nuclear weapon.
The "Dumocrats" will say, "Oh, they should have a nuclear weapon." They'll go crazy.
I like the idea. Send it to Congress, please. All right?
Ultimate Fighting Championship Event at the White House
Q. Mr. President, were you briefed on an attack—the attack plans for the UFC event at the White House? There was—the FBI thwarted an attack.
President Trump. I haven't heard about it, no.
But I watched—the attack that I watched were the fighters. [Laughter] And he saw it too, by the way. He was sitting back home in his beautiful palace, and he was watching that. And they were as good of fights as I've ever seen, right?
President Mohamed bin Zayed. It was the best fight.
President Trump. The best.
President Mohamed bin Zayed. Absolutely.
President Trump. That last fight was brutal. And the two last—all of the fights.
President Mohamed bin Zayed. Including the two fights. Yes.
President Trump. It was all good. It was a great evening. It was very different for the White House, but I wish you could have been there. They—we built an incredible arena. Dana did a great job.
President Mohamed bin Zayed. Is there going to be another fight next year, Mr. President?
President Trump. Well, I don't know. It's—[laughter]—I got away with it this—because 250 years. You know? Maybe in another 50. Maybe at 300. [Laughter]
Russia/Oil Markets and Prices
Q. So are you considering an increase on sanctions on Russia and whether to renew those oil waivers?
President Trump. Well, soon we'll able to do that because the oil is now flowing.
Q. You'll be able to——
President Trump. So we put—we took——
Q. ——let those lapse?
President Trump. ——sanctions off because, obviously, we're not looking to impede the oil.
So we're in a position to do that soon.
Q. Let them lapse? But——
President Trump. Yes.
Q. Okay. Thank you.
President Trump. At some point.
Q. Mr. President, I have a question.
President Trump. Yes.
Q. Regarding this trade——
President Trump. What a nice-looking person. Is he from your country?
President Mohamed bin Zayed. You see that? Yes.
President Trump. Is he from your country?
President Mohamed bin Zayed. Absolutely.
President Trump. No, he's got such a nice way about him. My people are so—they're so mean. [Laughter] Look at him. Handsome guy. You could put him in——
Q. Thank you so much.
President Mohamed bin Zayed. Be careful now. [Laughter] President Trump. No, I could put him in a movie right now. Go ahead.
Commercial Transit Through the Strait of Hormuz
Q. Mr. President, how can we make sure that Strait of Hormuz is lasting for open—open for lasting and navigation in the future?
President Trump. Have a United States with a strong President. It's the only way you can do it, I guess, when you think. We have all the agreements you want. The agreements for bad people don't mean anything.
President Mohamed bin Zayed. True.
President Trump. Look, we were the ones that blockaded the—he—they blockaded it. And we then said, "Well, we blockaded it for them," so they didn't get any oil.
You're going to need to have—and this is true with a lot of things: If you have a strong President of the United States, a lot of good things are going to happen. You know? You know that better than anybody better than anybody, right?
President Mohamed bin Zayed. Absolutely.
President Trump. You know it better than anybody.
President Mohamed bin Zayed. The stability of the Middle East.
Iran/Disposition of Nuclear Material
Q. Mr. President, can you talk a little more about the plan for the enriched uranium that is in the mountain?
President Trump. Yes, we do. We'll take it.
Q. Has Iran—has Iran said they would welcome the U.S. coming in? What—how specific have they said——
President Trump. Iran will be just fine. What's happening is, at an appropriate time—there's no rush at all. We have cameras from space on it. We know everybody that goes there, which is, like, nobody.
The B–2 bombers hit it. The entire mountain collapsed inside it. It's a very tough excavation.
Nobody else can do it but us and probably China. They have the equipment. We have the equipment. We're in no rush, but we get it. And when we get it, we'll destroy it.
Q. Is that part of the agreement?
President Trump. We're not looking to take it. We're looking to destroy it. We have plenty of
it.
France-U.S. Relations/Consumer Prices
Q. Tell us, the Versailles dinner tomorrow night. What prompted you to go to that? The dinner tomorrow night in Versailles.
President Trump. So—well, I'm a fan of beautiful places. [Laughter] And I was leaving in the afternoon, and then the French President, who happens to be a very nice man, invited me to dinner at Versailles.
And Versailles is not a gold leaf. Versailles is the real deal. [Laughter] And I said, "I'd like to do it." I mean, you know, all it means is that I get home later in the evening—meaning early in the morning. And I'm not a big sleeper anyway. I'll be in the Oval Office very—I won't—I won't lose any time in the Oval Office.
So I have to say this: Our country is doing really well. We're doing better than we've ever done as a country. The stock market's the highest—everything's the highest—401(k)s are the highest they've ever been by 25 percent. And we're doing really well. And now you're going to see prices coming down.
You know, when I took over, prices were very high. We had the worst inflation in the history of our country. Prices were high. Eggs were high. Bacon was high. Everything was high.
And the first question I got asked: "What about affordability?" I did a news conference one day after I took over. And these people said, "What about affordability?" I said, "I didn't cause it, but I'm bringing it down."
And now with the fuel going way down—you saw it yesterday. It went down $6, $7. With fuel going down—as goes fuel, so goes everything. I've always seen that, right? Fuel. You're in a very good business, because as goes fuel, so goes everything. Fuel is dropping. It's now in the
$70s per barrel. And I think we'll get it down.
When I say—I was in Iowa. And we had great victories in Iowa. And when I left, I noticed at a gas station: $1.85 a gallon. That's where we were. It's a little bit higher, generally. But I saw two stations: $1.85; one had $1.91. And you know we're going to get around those levels.
So, very honored.
Thank you very much, everybody.
NOTE: The President spoke at 2:26 p.m. at the Hôtel Royal Evian Resort. In his remarks, he referred to Dana F. White, Jr., president and chief executive officer, Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC); and President Emmanuel Macron of France.
Categories: Interviews With the News Media : Exchanges with reporters, Évian-les-Bains, France; Meetings With Foreign Leaders and International Officials : United Arab Emirates, President Mohamed bin Zayed.
Locations: Évian-les-Bains, France.
Names: Graham, Lindsey O.; Macron, Emmanuel; Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan; Obama, Barack; White, Dana F., Jr.
Subjects: France, President; France, President Trump's visit; Gasoline costs; Inflation; Iran, cease-fire agreement with U.S.; Iran, commercial transit through Strait of Hormuz; Iran, nuclear weapons program; Iran, restriction of commercial transit through Strait of Hormuz; Iran, U.S.
airstrikes on nuclear facilities; Manufacturing industry, domestic investment; Middle East, regional integration and security; Oil markets and prices; Stock market; Ultimate Fighting Championship; United Arab Emirate, President; United Arab Emirates, investment and business ventures in U.S.; United Arab Emirates, relations with U.S.
DCPD Number: DCPD202600407.