Trump on Iran: "Are You Going to Let 91 Million People Starve to Death?"

"Are you going to let the 91 million people starve to death?" Trump said at the G7 summit France, defending the agreement reached with Iran and pushing back against critics who opposed ending military operations against the country.

The remarks came during an concluding press conference of the G7 summit, where Trump addressed the Iran agreement, the killing of Qasem Soleimani, Israel's conduct in Lebanon, the state of Iran's missile arsenal, and a range of other global issues.

Emphasis On The Deadline and the “Bombs” Threat

Trump described the agreement reached on Sunday as achieving "everything we set out to accomplish - everything and much more," adding that the formal signing is expected "tomorrow, maybe the next day."

"If we didn't do this deal, we could have dropped more bombs for another 2-3-4 weeks or 2 years. You would never have the Strait of Hormuz open," he said.

He also made clear the deal carries a hard deadline. "It's a memorandum of understanding. If it doesn't get done in 60 days, it's all right, we go back to bombing. We're never going to let them have a nuclear weapon," he said.

He also revealed that bombing had already resumed at least once during negotiations: "They went back on one of their promises, and I bombed their biggest bridge - the equivalent of the George Washington Bridge of Iran."

Trump added that Iran has already lost between $1.5 trillion and $2 trillion worth of infrastructure. "Somebody's going to have to help them out," he said, though he offered no guarantees of US investment.

On Soleimani’s Killing: "A Joint Venture With Israel"

Trump provided new details on the January 2020 killing of Iranian General Qasem Soleimani, describing it as "a joint venture, as we say in the real estate business" between the US and Israel.

He said the operation was planned for nearly a month and that the two sides tracked Soleimani's travel on commercial airlines.

Trump said Israel ultimately pulled back.

"Israel informed me that they won't do it. And I had to make a decision," he said, adding that he authorized the strike himself.

"If I didn't kill General Soleimani, we probably wouldn't be talking right now about this deal, because he was a mad genius. They were never able to replace him."

On Iran's missile capabilities, Trump said the US knocked out "probably 84, 85 percent of their missiles," with the remainder underground and inaccessible.

He defended allowing Iran to retain some missile capability, saying: "What am I going to do, am I going to let Saudi Arabia have missiles, but they can't have them?"

On Iran's New Leadership

Trump stated that the new leaders of Iran as "smart, very smart" and "far less radicalized."

He said: "I think they really love their country. They are good."

He stated: "They have, in one way, a primitive culture, but it's also a genius primitive culture - they're very smart people, very good negotiators."

On frozen Iranian assets, Trump said the money would have to be returned.

"When it's not our money, it's their money. If we didn't give it back, nobody would ever invest in the dollar again," he said.

He credited the stock market as a barometer of the deal's logic. "Every time we talked about peace, the stock market went up. The stock market is more brilliant than anybody there is, including the people on this stage - other than me," Trump said.

Netanyahu: "The Small Partner"

Trump said "Bibi Netanyahu is a good man. He gets a little excited sometimes, but he happens to be a very good man," Trump said.

"We are the big partner, and he is the very small partner." he stated.

Trump criticized Israeli strikes in Beirut, saying: "When 2 drones are shot into the desert and dropped harmlessly, you don't have to knock down buildings in Beirut. They could behave better."

He added: "I looked at the scene two days ago, yesterday, where they hit that. That was a big hit. That was unnecessary in my book."

He also defended Netanyahu's historical record, recalling how Netanyahu "begged Barack Hussein Obama not to do the JCPOA" and went to Congress to oppose it, to no avail.

Syria, Abraham Accords, and Other Fronts

Trump praised Syria's president Shaara, saying he "has done a tremendous job" putting the country together in roughly a year and a half, and suggested Syria could play a role against Hezbollah in Lebanon with "precision" rather than broad strikes.

On the Abraham Accords, Trump said their expansion remains a goal, singling out Saudi Arabia: "I think Saudi Arabia, if they lead the way, they'd be doing themselves a big favor."

Trump thanked both Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin for staying "totally neutral" during the Iran conflict.

On Russia and Ukraine, he said both sides "are losing a lot of soldiers" and that "they both want to do something, they just don't know how to do it."

On Mexico, Trump said: "The cartels run Mexico. The president is a very good woman, but she is a very scared woman."

When a reporter asked about a strike on a school that killed more than 100 children on the first day of the war, Trump said: "Mistakes are made, war is nasty. I would ask Pete Hegseth that question because they have it under investigation."