Remarks #4 transcript, Jul 8, 2026 (Donald Trump)

When will he end this war? That is the question.

That's a good question. I don't think I've ever asked him that question. I'm going to ask him that question.

Please do.

Mr. President, what's that status of a drone deal between the U.S. and Ukraine?

Say it.

What's the status——

By the way, I will tell you, though, he's going to tell you that he wants it ended as soon as he can end it. He wants it ended——

Do you believe that?

He wants to end it soon. And I ask him, and we talk. I talk to him a lot.

I talk to him a little bit less, but the relationship is very good. But I talk to President Putin a lot. He—and he wants to end the war. And a lot——

A lot of people don't believe that. I'm telling you.

What are President Putin's conditions for ending the war? Do you know what he wants?

Well, I—they were certain conditions that were a little bit different. I think they're changing. I think they're probably getting a little bit better toward some of the things that you'd like.

It's been tough on Russia. It's been a lot tougher than it was supposed to be. I mean, in all fairness, this was supposed to be a—this is a war that would have never happened if I were President. Would have never happened. You'd have a full country. You know, I mean, just a shame that it happened.

But no, this is a—this is something that I think Zelenskyy wants to do and Putin wants to do. They want to—they want to get it done.

Ask the President that question. Ask him.

Go ahead.

No, I don't know what—I don't know what conditions Putin now wants for this peace. So I think that they are changing in a way, because at the very beginning of full-scale war, he was stronger. And now I think he is losing initiative on the battlefield—I think his army. But that's why I think that—because of technologies, because it's not the question now of number of people. People are—our heroic people are very important, but now it's not the question of only number of people. First of all, people and technologies. People with technologies.

Now, I think that we have better steps, technological steps, further than Russia—maybe quicker, because they also—they—you know that they produce a lot of different things, which are tough, strong against us, but we are quicker. And that's why I think that now initiative moved to our hands. Not totally, but moved. We are trying to move this war to the sky from the battlefield. That's why we now began to control the battlefield.

This is very important. It's difficult when you have less people to move them back, but we found another way how to do it, to cut their logistic for the army. It's about weapon, petrol, diesel, without basic human losses. That is the difference between us, by the way. Russia is, I mean, taking——

He's got a lot of support. I just left the room with—you know, where they have, I mean, mostly European—you have Canada——

Yes, yes.

——but mostly European countries. And they have a great support for——

It's true.

——for Ukraine. And you know, really great support.

One of the things—you talk about questions for Putin, but one of the things that I've talked to him about was: "Where would you want to meet?" And he said, "Ideally, in Moscow." I said, "He's not going to meet in Moscow" —you know, it just doesn't work. You can't do that.

But he'll meet, and Zelenskyy is going to meet, and something's going to happen that's going to be positive. And I think—I hope it's going to happen soon, because they have to—number one, lives, but number two, building your country, because it's got a tremendous future, in my opinion.

Yes.

Where would it be held, and when would that happen?

I don't know. I don't know.

President Putin said, "I would love to meet in Moscow." And I said, "I don't think"—you know, I have to put myself in his position. I don't know that he'd go to Moscow. Maybe he would. Would you go to Moscow?

It's difficult. There are lot of Ukrainian drones there—[ inaudible ]. [ Laughter ]

Dangerous for me. It would be dangerous.

That's right. He doesn't want to be hit by a drone. That's right.

Budapest?

Europe, United States.

No, it's hard—would you—it's hard to go to Moscow. It's a little hard to.

I thought—I thought I'd answer that question for him. I didn't want to—I didn't want to ask him that question.

How would you ensure that Ukraine will not be attacked again by Russia?

What about?

How to make sure that Ukraine will not be attacked by Russia again?

Well, look—you mean in the future?

Yes.

You mean after there's an agreement? Well, we're going to work on a security guarantee that—and Russia respects us a lot. And we're going to work on some kind of a security—if we can make the right deal, we'll help Europe. I mean, Europe is going to be watching it, but we're going to be helping them, and we'll work on some kind of a security package that will make sure.

I don't think that's going to happen. I think that if we make a deal, Russia is going to be very happy, and they're going to get on with other things.

They have—by the way, as a country too, they have tremendous potential. They have tremendous land, valuable land that they can do things with. And they have tremendous potential.

But I don't think it's going to happen. I don't see—that question is, "Oh, they're going to attack again." I don't see it at all. I think they've had it. They've had—this has been going on for 5—almost 5 years. Right?

Yes.

Who would have thought?

Too long.

I mean, it's a tribute, because it's a bigger country, strong country. And it's an amazing tribute.

Anything else?

President Zelenskyy has said that Ukraine needs Patriot missiles now. Over 50 Ukrainians have died in recent airstrikes, just in the last few days. So, in addition to these production licenses, which will take time, would you consider providing——

Not that much time, actually.

Would you consider providing any to Ukraine immediately?

We have Patriots, but we don't have that many. We need them for ourselves too. You know? Some—yes, I mean, some, but I think they can produce them pretty quickly.

Once we explain it—we'll bring the company here. You'll work with the company. They have a great ability to produce weapons—pretty complex weapons.

Will you—will you go to Ukraine?

Go ahead.

Will I go to Ukraine?

Will you go to Ukraine?

I would, yes. When it's over.

I'd rather have the war be over. [ Laughter ] Q. Do you have any deadline?

I'm sure Secret Service would be thrilled—[ laughter ]—right now. But you know what? I would.

I would like to go. I think it's—I think the people are incredible.

And I mean, like, Kyiv—it would be nice to get it before any more damage is done, to be honest. It's such a beautiful city, right? And yes, I would go to Ukraine at the right time.

Do you have any deadline when you want to reach a deal between Ukraine and Russia? Do you have any deadline in that regard?

No, I don't have a dead—you can't have a deadline. It's—you know, it's too much going on. But I think you're going to have a deal. I think, you know, I've been—I've been very good.

You know, we had certain deals, like Azerbaijan and some of the deals that we made. And they—they've been going on for 32 years. And they said, "It's an impossible thing to get them solved." Eight different deals.

Even in the Congo, it was—think of it. You have the Congo and Rwanda. That was 14 million people dead, a lot of them with machetes. It's a horrible—we got that one solved. Or, you know, they go—they—it flares up every once in a while, I must say.

But we got deals done that weren't doable. But if you look at—well, India and Pakistan. They were at it. We got that. I—we get them done. And when we get them done, I find that people are not anxious to go back into it. I think we'll have—you once mentioned the word "security guarantee" in the Oval Office, right?

Yes.

And you know, I think they're going to need some kind of a security guarantee.

Very.

But we're going to work with them. That's important.

It's very important.

I think he thinks that's a very important thing, yes.

Yes, the security guarantees are very important. And——

And they'll live by it.

——and, partially, President said about Patriots and licenses. The Patriot system is the best, you know, in the world, for today—the best anti-ballistic system. So, we used a lot of——

That's the best.

Yes, they're the best one. And we—was—I mean, checked everything during the war. So this is true. So, with all respect to other partners, we are thankful for all the systems. Patriots are——

Well, they had different systems in Venezuela.

Yes.

So Venezuela had systems that didn't work.

We didn't have one plane shot down. We didn't have one—we had one helicopter operator who was incredible. He landed perfectly, and his leg was almost blown off. And we gave him the congressional Medal of Honor, because very few people could have landed that. You know, you land them with your feet, really—more than anything else. And he landed it. And he was really in bad shape. And at the State of the Union, we gave him—he was a handsome guy—big, handsome guy. But we gave him the congressional Medal of Honor at the State of the Union.

So, look, he wants to get it done, and we're going to get it done.

What's the status on a drone deal between Ukraine and the U.S.?

On what status?

What's the status of a drone deal between Ukraine and the U.S.?

Well, we would buy their drones. And we make drones. We make great drones. But they have an ability to make a lot of them, which is—right, Marco?—amazing that in a war situation they make them. They make them in basements. They make them wherever the hell you have a little shelter—even if you don't have shelter, I think, I suspect, right? It's an amazing ability. Very few—well, that's why I say with the—with the Patriots they—they would be able to do it. Most countries would not be able—they don't have the talent. You have very talented people.

So, yes, I think we're going to make that deal.

And you know, if we made that deal, he'd have great protection. I love the protection. I think if you had a lot of Patriots, you wouldn't—you'd never be hit.

Yes.

And—as an example, in Kyiv, where the—where they get hit with missiles, those missiles—like what I said about the Abraham Lincoln —the missiles would be shut down, you know? So—and I think you'd start making it pretty quickly, right?

Of course.

You like the idea?

No, no, it's a great idea.

I think everybody likes that one.

We need it.

Yes.

As part of security guarantees, are you ready to close the skies in case Russia attacks again?

To close what?

To close the skies over Ukraine in case Russia——

What?

Close the skies. Air defense.

As a part of security guarantees——

It's been—that—air defense and jets.

Are you——

Will you use jets?

Are you willing to impose the no-flight zone?

If it's necessary, yes. I mean, I—look, I tell you, when we have a deal—we're going to have a deal, security guarantee or no security guarantee.

If we have a deal, we're going to have a deal. We're not going to have to worry about what you're saying. We're going to have a deal. I think if we come to a solution, which I think we will, we're going to have a deal.

Now, we want to make sure the deal sticks. Some people don't think it will. I think it will. I think if—I'm sure it will.

I'm not sure it will with Iran. If we make a deal with Iran, I'm not sure that will stick.

Because I found them to be very dishonorable people.

Yes.

Are you going to reimpose the NATO blockade?

I don't find that with him, and, I mean, I don't want to upset him, but—everything I've done with President Putin has been okay. It's been good.

He's going say "Oh, that"—but you know, I wouldn't expect you to say that. But that's good. I don't think anything is going to be broken. And we're going to do a security guarantee in case it is.

But with Iran—47 years—this should have been done by another President a long time ago—or somebody else, another country. But they got stronger and stronger, and now they're weak.

Are you going to reimpose the naval blockade on Iranian ports?

You know, don't forget, we knocked out 159 ships in one week. That's good, even for you, right? Hundred and fifty-nine. Their entire navy is at the bottom of the sea. And now they have little boats—little tiny boats that go around. And we knocked about 28 of them out last night with the same—the same weapon we use for the drug people.

You know, drugs are down, by the way—drugs by sea are down 97 percent, meaning nobody wants to get into those boats and take drugs into—they're down 97 percent. And we're using the same thing for the mine boats.

You know, they have—they like to drop mines in, and we hit a lot of them last night—like 28. We knocked out 28 boats last night. Little ones. That's all they have is little ones.

Are you going to try to take out more tonight?

Will we go tonight? You know, normally I wouldn't tell you. I wouldn't tell you. But you know what? There's not a thing they can do about it. So the answer is probably.

He's going to say that's terrible military strategy—"He just said he's going to the"—yes. Because they deserve it. They deserve it.

Daniel.

President Trump. President Trump. What is the effectiveness of last night's attack? What message does that send to what's left of the Iranian—[ inaudible ]?

Which attack are you talking about?

The attack that you guys had on Iran last night. The strikes last night, sir.

Oh, I think it has a tremendous impact. Well, first of all, we took out additional—you know, they were trying to rebuild their radar, and they had about 60 percent built. Now they have to start all over again.

Look, we're not attacking at the highest level. The highest level—the bridges, they're—which we can knock down—I would say in 1 day we'd knock down every single bridge in Iran. There's not a thing they can do about it.

Their electric manufacturing facilities—right?—their electric plants, where they make their electricity and their—we will—if we have to, we'll take them out. I don't want to do that. But if we have to, we'll take them out.

They have desalinization plants. We'll take them out if we have to. I hate to do that. That's probably the one I would like not to do least.

We attacked Kharg Island last night. We knocked out a piece. I said, "Don't touch the oil," because maybe we'll take over Kharg Island. You know, we may take over Kharg Island. There's not a thing they can do about it. But I said: "Don't hit the pipes. Just hit everything else." And they hit it. They may hit it again tonight. So, you know, as for your question, normally I'm not that way. But they really deserve it, because they're saying they want to make a deal, but they don't.

You know, they asked for a time-out. They wanted to go to the funeral of Khamenei. And I said, "Give it to them." And they start shooting missiles. I mean, it's the crazier thing.

Now, we did kill him, you know. [ Laughter ] So, I guess you have to look at it that way. But the funeral took place, and they wanted to have a period of time. And they also asked that we not kill them. And we said, "We're not going to kill you." They were worried we'd kill them during the funeral, I mean, if you can believe it. What a crazy—

Did you ever think I'd be doing this for a living, Marco? Did anybody ever think I'm doing—maybe Pete. But this wasn't supposed to be for me. [ Laughter ] Pete—Pete loved this stuff from day one.

But they said to us, "Please don't kill us during the funeral." I said, "I won't." And we didn't. And we didn't do anything. In fact, we made it safe for them, actually. And what happens? They try and knock out two ships. A Saudi and, I guess, Kuwait, right? Kuwaiti. Oh, no. Qatari, in addition. Really, three.

Three. Yes, sir.

So you had three of them. And they're just—I don't know. I just don't know with them. A lot of people say they—they're very dishonorable people and they can't keep a deal. So we'll see.

Now, as to whether or not Steve Witkoff, Jared, and J.D. and everybody working on that will talk—I guess they could talk, but I'm not seeing it with them. I—you know, with the people. My whole life is deals. I don't see it. I don't see it with them.

And there may be a big attack tonight, and it will knock out a lot of stuff. We don't knock out nothing. We knock out a lot.

Pete, do you want to tell them about last night?

Yes, sir. Last night, as you said, a lot of small craft that they were trying to harass shipping with. So that was a big part of what we targeted. Underground facilities where they were storing drones or missiles; coastal defense sites; radar sites; surveillance sites; anything used to harass shipping in the Strait of Hormuz.

So anything they thought they had rebuilt or capability they were using was a target last night. And tonight, if we need to, on your order, Mr. President, we will hit even more and even deeper, because that's the consequence.

And we may put down the blockade. We may put it back—the blockade. And it will only be a blockade for Iran. Anybody else can have whatever they want.

Now, of course, they'll drop some mines if they can. You know, if they can do it. But it's hard because we're taking out those little boats now with the same weapon we used to take out the drug lords and the boats coming in by sea.