Press gaggle on Air Force One (June 24, 2025) in which President Trump reports that Israel called back planned air raids and a ceasefire is in effect; he credits U.S. actions (B2 strike), states Iran will not pursue enrichment or a nuclear weapon, and rejects seeking regime change while saying he prefers calm. He discusses NATO—advocating increased defense spending, giving a noncommittal definition of Article 5—and notes likely meetings with allies (including Zelensky). He also comments that oil prices fell ~ $10 and criticizes President Biden for prior policies.
Chapters
Hello, everybody. How are you?
How are you? We have breaking news. Everything good.
Israel, as you know, turned back. They didn't do that raid this morning, fortunately. That was a big thing. Appreciate it. They had a lot of planes going and they were going to do something and they, they didn't do it. We're happy about that, very happy about that. So the ceasefire is very much in effect and I think we're going to keep it there for a long time.
Did you speak to president, to Prime Minister Netanyahu about what did you tell him?
Said you got to turn back the planes they were going to go because look, they hit him very hard after we made the deal yesterday. They were entitled to, but nobody thought that would have happened. But they hit it very hard and that shouldn't have happened. And then, as you know, Iran hit them very hard last night because of that. I don't think they would have, except for the first hard hit. And I guess a missile was launched a couple of minutes afterwards which went nowhere, hit nothing. And there was going to be a retaliation morning by Israel. And I said, you got to call back the planes. It's enough, it's enough. And they did, which I respect very greatly. So nobody was killed. That was a, that was the sort. But they had a lot of planes going in the wrong direction. You know that.
Right.
Do you want any consequences for Israel or Iran for breaking.
They didn't do anything. No, they didn't do anything. They would have if they, I put out a statement on truth and they didn't do anything.
Again, say in a couple weeks.
That tired of it. I think they don't want it to happen again. And Iran's not going to have a.
Nuclear weapon, by the way.
I think it's the last thing on their mind right now.
Mr. President, did Iran make any commitments yesterday about uranium enrichment? About uranium enrichment?
They're not going to have enrichment and they're not going to have a nuclear weapon. And they know that they're going to get on to being a great trading nation. You know, they're very good traders and they're going to be a great trading nation and they have a lot of oil. They're going to do. Well, they're not, they're not going to have a nuclear weapon. On Iran's mind right now is nuclear weapons.
Can you clarify what you meant when you mentioned regime change in your Truth Social Post the other night? Which regime change? Do you want to see regime change in Iran?
No. If there was, there was, but no, I don't Want it? I'd like to see everything calm down as quickly as possible. Regime change takes chaos, and ideally, we don't want to see so much chaos, so we'll see how it does. You know, the Iranians are very good traders, very good business people, and they got a lot of oil. They should be fine. They should be able to rebuild and do a good job. They're never going to have nuclear, but other than that, they should do a great job, which is exactly what I've been saying for years. You cannot let Iran have a nuclear weapon. But we're going to be with. Where's Marco? I think Marco is here someplace. You know, our great secretary of State. But we cannot let them have a nuclear weapon. They won't have a nuclear weapon. And I will tell you, the last thing on their minds is nuclear weapons. They don't even want to think about nuclear. And our B2 pilots made this all possible. They had a magnificent hit in the dark of night with no moon, no light, no nothing. They hit the target perfectly, wiped it out. And the press is very disrespectful. I saw CNN fake news going, well, maybe it wasn't a perfect hit. It was perfect. They said, maybe it did destroy it. We agree it did destroy it, but maybe it could have destroyed it more. No, no, it couldn'. Destroyed it. Everyone hit. And it's very disrespectful to those great geniuses and patriots that flew those planes through tremendous danger. So CNN and Ms. DNC are disgrace, and so are the others. I mean, they're pretty much all a disgrace. But it's. It's an amazing period of time. Now we're going to NATO and we'll get a new set of problems. We'll solve a new set of problems.
Do you think you'll meet with Zelensky when you're there?
Yeah, probably. I'll see him. Ye.
What would you say to him?
Say, how you doing? He's in a tough situation. Should have never been there.
Sir, you said a couple days ago that you didn't think the US should have to agree to the 5% increase in GDP on defense.
No, I was the one that said that's what they should be paying as, you know. No, I should do something. And they're having a problem with Spain. There was a problem with Spain. Spain's not agreeing, which is very unfair to the rest of them, frankly.
This won't be increasing our GDP to 5%.
We should pay what everyone else. You know, they're in Europe. We're not, you know, a lot of that money goes to rebuilding their bridges, their roads. So it can take heavy equipment. And, you know, we don't have any roads in Europe. We don't have any bridges in Europe. So, no, it wouldn't be quite the same thing for us, but we're with them.
Are you submitted to Article 5 of NATO?
It depends on your definition. There's numerous Definitions of Article 5. You know that. Right? But I'm committed to being their friends. You're not become friends with many of those leaders, and I'm committed to helping them. What do you want the role of.
NATO to be going forward? Once these other countries are spending more.
By having a unified system, I think we're going to have stronger peace, better peace, and I think we have that. You know, when I went to NATO, they were broke. When I first started this whole thing, it seems like a long time ago, nine years, Right. But they were broke. I knew it immediately. I said, you guys are broke. They weren't paying their dues. Seven of the 28 countries at the time it was 28 were paying their dues, but they weren't paying very much. NATO was broke. And I said, you're going to have to pay. And we did a whole thing and now they're paying a lot. Then I said, you're going to have to lift it to 4% or 5%, and 5% is better. They just. I guess they're voting on that today, but they're going to be lifting it to 5%. That's good. It gives them much more power.
Mr. President, if there's language in the final summit declaration about aggression by Russia, would you be okay with that kind of language?
Well, I'll have to take a look at it and, you know, I'd like to see a deal with Russia. As you know, Vladimir called me up. He said, can I help you with Iran? I said, no, I don't need help with Iran. I need help with you. And I hope we're going to be getting a deal done with Russia. It's a shame. 6,000 soldiers died last week. More 6,500 soldiers died last week. Russia, Ukraine. A war that never would have happened if I was president. So enjoy your flight.
Let me ask you one more follow up in your comments just now about Article 5. That will probably make some people in Europe concerned. Can you clarify what you mean? Are you still committed to mutual defense?
I'm committed to saving lives. I'm committed to life and safety. And I'm going to give you an exact definition when I get there, I just don't want to do it on the back of an airplane.
And one other question on energy. What's your take on the oil price situation right now and are you concerned?
I love it. It dropped almost $10 yesterday. I put out a statement. Get it down because a lot of people aren't able things. When the energy goes down, you're going to have a lot less conflict. So it came down and our energy department's doing a great job. We're, we're drilling like we've never drilled before. We're keeping it down. We're going to keep it down until all these wars are settled. Thank you very much, everybody.
I'll see you in sleeper cells in the United States.
Biden let a lot of supercell and Biden was an incompetent president, had no idea what he was doing. He hardly ever signed a document. Other people signed documents for him with the aut it was gross incompetence. And among everything else, he let a lot of supercells in, many from Iran. But hopefully we'll take care of them. What Biden did to this country should never be forgotten.
Do you think you'll get the Nobel Peace Prize now, sir?
