President Donald J. Trump (00:07):
Well, thank you very much. It's an honor to be here. What a great place. What a great place. But more importantly, what great people. I want to thank his Royal Highness, the Crown Prince, for that incredible introduction. He's an incredible man. Known him a long time now. There's nobody like him. Thank you very much. Appreciate it very much, my friend. And it's a tremendous honor to return to this beautiful kingdom and be welcomed back with such extraordinary generosity and warmth. I've never forgotten the exceptional hospitality showed to us by King Salman. Talk about a great man. That is a great man, that is a great man, a great family. That visit took place exactly eight years ago. The graciousness of the royal family and the Saudi people is really unsurpassed no matter where you go.
(01:09)
Let me also thank the countless ministers, government officials, business leaders, and distinguished guests for that warm welcome, very warm. I know so many of you. I'd like to call out all of your names, but we'd have a lot of problems. We'd be here for a long time. We don't want that. So don't be upset with this historic state visit. We celebrate more than 80 years of close partnership between the United States and the kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Ever since President Franklin Roosevelt met with King Salman's father, King Abdulaziz aboard the USS Quincy in 1945, the US-Saudi relationship has been a bedrock of security and prosperity.
(01:57)
Today, we reaffirm this important bond and we take the next steps to make our relationship closer, stronger, and more powerful than ever before. It is more powerful than ever before. And by the way, it will remain that way. We don't go in and out like other people. It'll remain that way.
(02:30)
I've come this afternoon to talk about the bright future of the Middle East, but first, let me begin by sharing the abundance of good news from a place called America. In less than four months, our new administration has achieved more than most other administrations accomplish in four years or even eight years. We've actually done, for the most part, more. The day I took office, we inherited… Thank you. Thank you. The day I took office, we inherited a colossal invasion on our southern border, an invasion like you'd never want to see here, nobody should ever want to see it. But within weeks, we slashed illegal border crossings to an all-time low down 99.999%. That's good even for this great gentleman standing right in front of me. That's a good number. We had hundreds of thousands of people. They came in at the same time last year, and last month we had in this massive border, three people that got in. That's quite a difference. And we have no choice but to get a lot of the people that came in because they were not the best people. They were, in many cases, very bad people. We're getting them out. We're getting them out very fast. We're bringing them back to where they came from. We have no choice. After years of military recruiting, shortfalls. Enlistments in the US armed forces are now the highest in 30 years because there is such an incredible spirit in the United States of America. We have tremendous spirit again.
(04:20)
Just about a year ago, it was a big story, front page on every paper all over the world that nobody wanted to enlist in our military, meaning we were way under-enlisted. And just last week it came out that we had the strongest enlistment. They say 30 years, but probably it's maybe ever. They don't go back that far. It's the best. And that includes police officers, firemen, everything else. There's a great spirit in the United States right now. A brand-new poll from Rasmussen just showed that the number of Americans who believe the nation is on the right track… They have a right track, wrong track… Is now the highest in over 20 years. And it hasn't been anything like this because for many years it was the wrong track. And I can tell you for the last four years, it was definitely the wrong track, but it's the highest it's been in many, many years.
(05:19)
We named the Gulf of Mexico into the Gulf of America, that was very popular other than perhaps with Mexico. And most importantly, for the people in this room, the days of economic misery under the last administration are rapidly giving way to the greatest economy in the history of the world. We are rocking. The United States is the hottest country, with the exception of your country, I have to say, right? I'm not going to take that on. No, Mohammed, I'm not going to take that on. Wouldn't that be a terrible thing if I made that full statement? But I will not do it. You're hotter. At least as long as I'm up here, you're hotter. But groceries, gasoline, energy, and all other prices are down, with no inflation. We have no inflation. In a few short weeks, we've created 464,000 brand-new jobs. Think of that. It's almost a half a million jobs created just in a matter of weeks.
(06:24)
We just reached a historic trade agreement with the United Kingdom, and over the weekend we reached a breakthrough agreement with China, both outstanding deals. China's agreed we have to get it down. We have to get the little details down. And Scott, you're going to work on that very hard. But China's agreed to open up to the United States for trade and everything else. But they have to do it. So we'll see what happens. But we had a very, very good meeting with both of those countries. We are cutting 10 old regulations for every new regulation. We're getting rid of all of the red tape that is… So many, frankly, countries, as they get older, they develop a lot of red tape, and we're getting rid of it. We're getting rid of it at record levels. And I'm pleased to report that the United States Congress is on the verge of passing the largest tax cut and regulation cut in American history. We think we're in good shape to get that. And if we get that, that will be like a rocket ship for our country.
(07:25)
In the first quarter of the year, the investment in America was up an astounding 22%. More than $10 trillion of new investments have been announced or are coming just since the election on November 5th. So think of that. In a very short period of time, we have over $10 trillion, and it could be much higher than that. Not everybody comes to the White House to have a news conference that they're going to be opening up in America, but they're all coming in at numbers that we've never seen before. If you take a look at other presidencies, they wouldn't do $1 trillion sometime in years. We did this in essentially two months because you have to say, we got into office and they gave me about a month to clean up and fix up the Oval Office, and after that, we started working, and the money is pouring in, the jobs are pouring in, the companies are pouring into our country like we've never seen before. There's never been anything like it. We let other people tariff us into losing a lot of money and a lot of jobs, and now we're tariffing them, and it's at a level that nobody's seen. It's a level that is making us a very much different country and a very different Republican Party. We won a tremendous victory in November. We won all seven swing states, the popular vote by millions and millions of votes. The electoral college, we won by 312 to 226. Remember, they said, "Well, we could get to 270," and we got to 312. That's a big difference. And very importantly, we won counties throughout the United States, 2,660 to 451. That's why when you look at a map, they're all red. The whole country is red. Red stands for Republican.
(09:28)
From the moment we started, we've seen wealth that just poured and is pouring back into America. Apple is investing $500 billion. Nvidia is investing. And I see my friend is here, Jensen, that's very good. Wherever you may be, I thank you very much because he's putting in $500 billion. TSMC is investing. Where is Jensen, by the way? Where is he? He's standing here. Where is he? I just saw Beth. Thank you very much, Jensen. I mean, Tim Cook isn't here, but you are. What a job you've done. He said he's got 99% of the chip market. I don't know. That's not easy to beat. But what a job you've done. Thank you. We are proud to have you in our country. You know that. Thank you for the investment. TSMC is investing $200 billion. And with this trip, we're adding over $1 trillion more in terms of investment and investment into our country and buying our products.
(10:37)
Nobody makes military equipment like us. We have the best military equipment, the best missiles, the best rockets, the best everything. Best submarines, by the way. Most lethal weapon in the world. In addition to purchases of $142 billion of American-made military equipment by our great Saudi partners, the largest ever this week. There are multibillion-dollar commercial deals with Amazon, Oracle, AMD. They're all here. Uber, Qualcomm, Johnson and Johnson, and many, many more.
(11:16)
So I want to congratulate everybody. So many great business executives, most of you I know. They were coming in about a month ago. They weren't that happy when they saw me, and now they're saying, "Sir, you're doing a great job. Thank you very much." It's amazing what a rising market will do. It's going to get a lot higher. In fact, I told people five weeks ago, "This is a great time to buy." I got criticized for that. Now they don't criticize me anymore. People should have listened. But it's going to go a lot higher. You're going to see. We've never had anything like this happen. It's an explosion of investment and jobs and great companies are coming in. Never seen anything like it. There's no better place to make a future or make a fortune or do anything frankly, than what we have in the United States of America under a certain President, Donald J. Trump. I have the right attitude. I have the same attitude that the people in the front row, second row, third row have. As you get back, perhaps they start to wane a little bit in terms of their view, but they understand, and we're doing what a lot of smart people would do. And we're not necessarily being politically correct.
(12:31)
You saw what we did yesterday with healthcare. We've cut our healthcare by 50 to 90%. You're going to see drugs and pharmaceuticals come down at numbers that nobody has ever seen. And drugs, pharmaceuticals, we think will be dropping, and it'll be a redistribution of costs with other nations, which really took advantage of a very nice group of people that ran our country. But not only is this a time of
President Donald J. Trump (13:00):
…of incredible excitement in the United States. It's also an exhilarating period right here in the Arabian Peninsula. A beautiful place, by the way, a beautiful place. Exactly… Thank you. Exactly eight years ago this month I stood in this very room and looked forward to a future in which the nations of this region would drive the forces of terrorism and extremism, drive them right out of existence and take your place among the proudest, most prosperous, most successful nations anywhere in the world as leaders of a modern and rising Middle East. So exciting. So exciting.
(13:44)
Mohammed, do you sleep at night? How do you sleep? Huh? Just thinking. What a job. He tosses and turns like some of us, tosses and turns all night, how do I make it even better, all night. It's the ones that don't toss and turn, they're the ones that will never take you to the promised land. Won't they? But you have done some job. True. But critics doubted that it was possible what you've done. But over the past eight years, Saudi Arabia has proved the critics totally wrong. The transformation that has occurred, even by these incredible business leaders, I mean you have the biggest leaders in business anywhere in the world standing right before us, but the transformation that has occurred under the leadership of King Salman and Crown Prince Mohammed has been truly extraordinary. Such a thing has I don't think ever happened before. I've never seen anything at that scale happen before.
(14:53)
And I guess maybe you could say the United States is doing pretty well too, but I don't think too many people have seen that happen before. Majestic skyscrapers, the towers that I see, the difference between now and eight years ago. And eight years ago, it was very impressive. But the towers that I see rising, some of the exhibits that I was shown by Mohammed, if what I've seen there is just an amazing, it's amazing process, an amazing genius, so many people, architecture, but I have a feeling nowhere. I know where many of those ideas came from, happens to be sitting right in this room right before me.
(15:36)
But the towers and all of the different… I've seen a lot of different towers. I didn't think there's any version of a tower that I haven't seen in one form or another. I just passed four exhibits. I have never seen anything like any of them. So it's going to be very exciting. And they sit among the ancient wonders of a growing and exciting city. It's really amazing. Riyadh is becoming not just a seat of government, but a major business, cultural, and high-tech capital of the entire world. The World Cup is here. Johnny, just stand up, Johnny. Johnny, thank you, Johnny. Great job, Johnny. Great job. But the World Cup and the World Expo will soon be coming here, just like the World Cup is coming to the United States. It's going to be really exciting next year.
(16:44)
The engines of Formula 1 racing now roar through the streets of Jeddah in a historic milestone. Other industries recently surpassed oil. Think of it, all of your other industries now have surpassed oil. I don't know if a lot of people will understand what that means, it's so big. To make up a majority of the Saudi economy for the very first time ever, so think of that. Other industries are now bigger even than oil, which is always going to be a big monster. It's a big one, but that's a great tribute to you and economic development properly used.
(17:21)
In other cities throughout the peninsula, places like Dubai and Abu Dhabi, Doha, Muscat, the transformations have been unbelievably remarkable. Before our eyes a new generation of leaders is transcending the ancient conflicts of tired divisions of the past and forging a future where the Middle East is defined by commerce, not chaos, where it exports technology, not terrorism, and where people of different nations, religions, and creeds are building cities together, not bombing each other out of existence. We don't want that. And it's crucial for the wider world to note this great transformation has not come from Western interventionalists or flying people in beautiful planes giving you lectures on how to live and how to govern your own affairs. No, the the gleaming marvels of Riyadh and Abu Dhabi were not created by the so-called nation-builders, neocons or liberal nonprofits like those who spent trillions and trillions of dollars failing to develop Kabul, Baghdad, so many other cities. Instead, the birth of a modern Middle East has been brought by the people of the region themselves, the people that are right here, the people that have lived here all their lives developing your own sovereign countries, pursuing your own unique visions, and charting your own destinies in your own way. It's really incredible what you've done.
(19:07)
In the end the so-called nation-builders wrecked far more nations than they built, and the interventionalists were intervening in complex societies that they did not even understand themselves. They told you how to do it, but they had no idea how to do it themselves. Peace, prosperity,, and progress ultimately came not from a radical rejection of your heritage, but rather from embracing your national traditions and embracing that same heritage that you love so dearly, and it's something only you could do. You achieved a modern miracle the Arabian way. That's a good way. Today, the Gulf Nations have shown this entire region a path towards safe and orderly societies with improving quality of life, flourishing economic growth, expanding personal freedoms, and increasing responsibilities on the world stage. After so many decades of conflict, finally it is within our grasp to reach the future that generations before us could only dream about, a land of peace, safety, harmony, opportunity, innovation and achievement right here in the Middle East. So beautiful. It's such a beautiful thing that's happening. I guess the people that are here can't even really appreciate it because you see it happening, and it's when you come to a place that you haven't seen in five years or 10 years or 20 years, that it's even more incredible.
(20:49)
When I left office just over four years ago, that future seemed almost impossible, what you've done. Together we had obliterated the killers of ISIS. We wiped them out, and terminated its founder and leader, al-Baghdadi. We had healed the divide in the Gulf Cooperation Council. It's a very big deal, and united the nations of the region to stand against the enemies of all civilization. We'd imposed unprecedented sanctions on Iran and starved the regime of resources to fund terror. They were unable to fund anything because they had no money left. They had no money, but the new administration came in and let them have a lot of money, and you saw what happened. It was not money well spent.
(21:39)
And with the historic Abraham Accords that were so proud of, all the momentum was aimed at peace, and it aimed very successfully. It's been an amazing thing, the Abraham Accords. And it's my fervent hope, wish, and even my dream that Saudi Arabia, a place I have such respect for, especially over the last fairly short period of time what you've been able to do, but will soon be joining the Abraham Accords. I think it'll be a tremendous tribute to your country, and it will be something that's really going to be very important for the future of the Middle East.
(22:15)
I took a risk in doing them, and they've been an absolute bonanza for the countries that have joined. The Biden administration did nothing for four years. We would have had it filled out, but it will be a special day in the Middle East with the whole world watching when Saudi Arabia joins us. And you'll be greatly honoring me, and you'll be greatly honoring all of those people that have fought so hard for the Middle East, and I really think it's going to be something special. But you'll do it in your own time, and that's what I want, and that's what you want, and that's the way it's going to be.
(22:49)
When I left office, the only thing still standing between this region and its unbelievable potential was a small group of rogue actors and violent thugs seeking constantly to drag the Middle East backward and into havoc, mayhem, and indeed into war. Unfortunately instead of confronting these destructive forces, the last US administration chose to enrich them and empower them and give them billions and billions of dollars.
(23:18)
The Biden administration, the worst administration in the history of our country, by the way, spurned our most trusted and longstanding Gulf partners. And I can say partners worldwide, one of our great, great partners, no matter who we look to, and we have great partners in the world, but we have none stronger and nobody like the gentleman that's right before me. He's your greatest representative, greatest representative.
(23:49)
And if I didn't like him, I'd get out of here so fast. You know that, don't you? He knows me well. I do. I like him a lot. I like him too much. That's why we give so much, too much. I like you too much. Great guy.
(24:14)
They lifted sanctions on Iran in exchange for getting nothing and sent the regime tens of billions of dollars to fund terror and death all over the world, and they laughed at him. They laughed at our leader, and they're still laughing at our leader. They thought him a fool, and they made nothing but trouble ever since, including the funding of October 7th, one of the worst days ever in the history of the Middle East, a horrible day.
(24:42)
Biden removed the Houthis from the list of foreign terrorist organizations even while missiles and drones were being launched right here at your beautiful city of Riyadh and launched at ships if they happened to be sailing in the wrong location. The Biden administration's extreme weakness and gross incompetence derailed progress toward peace, destabilized the region, and put at risk everything we had worked so hard to build together. And when you think of the great achievements that you've made to do it in light of a pretty hostile administration, an administration that was not a believer, it makes your achievements even greater. It makes them even greater. You know that. But in a few short months since taking office, we have achieved the swift return of American strength at home and abroad. Now working with the vast majority of people in this region who seek stability and calm, our task is to unify against the few agents of chaos and terror that are left and that are holding hostage the dreams of millions and millions of great people. The biggest and most destructive of these forces is the regime in Iran, which
President Donald J. Trump (26:00):
… which has caused unthinkable suffering in Syria, Lebanon, Gaza, Iraq, Yemen and beyond. There could be no sharper contrast with the path you have pursued on the Arabian Peninsula than the disaster unfolding right across in the Gulf of Iran. Think of that. They wanted to name it that, I said, "They're not going to let them do that. Do you mind if I stop that?" I stopped it. We're not going to let that happen. While you have been constructing the world's tallest skyscrapers in Jeddah and Dubai, Tehran's, the year land marks are collapsing into rubble and dust. They had it going for a little while under a much different system, but those buildings are largely falling apart, falling down while you're building some of the world's biggest and most incredible infrastructure projects, buildings, all sorts of things you're building that nobody's ever even seen before. Iran's decades of neglect and mismanagement have left the country plagued by rolling blackouts, lasting for hours a day all the time you hear about it.
(27:17)
While your skill has turned dry deserts into fertile farmland, Iran's leaders have managed to turn green farmland into dry deserts as their corrupt water mafia, let's call it the water mafia, to causes droughts and empty riverbeds. They get rich, but they don't let the people have any of it. And then of course there's the key difference at the root of it all, while the Arab states are focused on becoming pillars of regional stability and world commerce, Iran's leaders have focused on stealing their people's wealth to fund terror and bloodshed abroad. The most tragic of all, they have dragged down an entire region with them. Countless lives were lost in the Iranian effort to maintain a crumbling regime in Syria. Look at what happened with Syria.
(28:09)
In Lebanon, their Hezbollah proxies have pillaged the hopes of a nation whose capital Beirut was once called the Paris of the Middle East. Can you imagine all of this misery and so much more was entirely avoidable, absolutely avoidable. And Mohammed knew that. He knew that. Smart people knew that. If only the Iranian regime had focused on building their nation up instead of tearing the region down.
(28:41)
Yet I'm here today not merely to condemn the past chaos of Iran's leaders, but to offer them a new path and a much better path toward a far better and more hopeful future. As I've shown repeatedly, I am willing to end past conflicts and forge new partnerships for a better and more stable world, even of our differences may be very profound, which obviously they are, in the case of Iran, I have never believed in having permanent enemies. I am different than a lot of people think. I don't like permanent enemies, but sometimes you need enemies to do the job and you have to do it right. Enemies get you motivated.
(29:23)
In fact, some of the closest friends of the United States of America are nations we fought wars against in generations past, and now they're our friends and our allies. I want to make a deal with Iran. If I can make a deal with Iran, I'll be very happy if we're going to make your region and the world a safer place. But if Iran's leadership rejects this olive branch and continues to attack their neighbors, then we will have no choice but to inflict massive maximum pressure, drive Iranian oil exports to zero, like I did before. Did you know that, they were a virtually bankrupt country because of what I did, they had no money for terror, they had no money for Hamas or Hezbollah and take all action required to stop the regime from ever having a nuclear weapon. Iran will never have a nuclear weapon.
(30:28)
But with that said, Iran can have a much brighter future but will never allow America and its allies to be threatened with terrorism or nuclear attack. The choice is theirs to make. We really want them to be a successful country. We want them to be a wonderful, safe, great country, but they cannot have a nuclear weapon. This is an offer that will not last forever. The time is right now for them to choose, right now. We don't have a lot of time to wait. Things are happening at a very fast pace, they're happening right here. They're happening at a very fast pace, so they have to make their move right now, one way or the other. Make your move. As I said in my inaugural address, my greatest hope is to be a peacemaker and to be a unifier. I don't like war. We have the greatest military, by the way, in the history of the world.
(31:24)
And I rebuilt our military in my first four years and rebuilt it into the most powerful military there is, and you saw that when I knocked out ISIS in three weeks. People said it would take four years, five years, we did it in three weeks. Just days ago, my administration successfully brokered a historic ceasefire to stop the escalating violence between India and Pakistan, and I used trade to a large extent to do it. I said, fellas, "Come on. Let's make a deal. Let's do some trading. Let's not trade nuclear missiles. Let's trade the things that you make so beautifully."
(32:05)
And they both have very powerful leaders, very strong leaders, good leaders, smart leaders, and it all stopped. Hopefully it'll remain that way, but it all stopped. I was very proud of Marco Rubio and all of the people that worked so hard. Marco, stand up. You did on that. Thank you. JD Vance, Marco, the whole group worked with you, but it was a great job. And I think they're actually getting along. Maybe we can even get them together a little bit, Marco, where they go out and have a nice dinner together. Wouldn't that be nice?
(32:42)
But we've come a long way and it could be millions of people could have died from that conflict that started off small and was getting bigger and bigger and bigger by the day. I've also been working relentlessly to end the terrible bloodshed between Russia and Ukraine and very importantly, talks are being held in Turkey later this week, probably on Thursday, and they could produce some pretty good results. Our people are going to be going there. Marco's going to be going there, others are going to be going, and we'll see if we can get it done.
(33:19)
5,000 people, young people for the most part, soldiers from Ukraine, soldiers from Russia, they're not from here and they're not from the United States, but they're souls. They're souls. I think usually mostly they're young, beautiful souls that left their parents waving goodbye, left their brothers and sisters, "Goodbye. I'll see you soon." And they got loaned to pieces. 5,000 on average a week are dying and people are dying elsewhere in the region, but tremendous numbers like we haven't seen since World War Two are dying and I want to stop it. I want to stop it. It's a horrible war. It would've never happened if I were president. That's a war that would've never happened. October 7th would've never happened if I were president because Iran had no money to pay Hamas or anybody else. They had no money. They were not looking to take care of them, they had to take care of themselves. They had no money. We stopped their oil effectively with the embargoes and sanctions.
(34:24)
But let me take this opportunity to thank the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia for the constructive role that you've played in facilitating the Ukraine talks, and it really is… You've been amazing. You've made everything available to us. Thank you very much. Thank you. And if we get that settled, we'll pay a special tribute to what you've done. You really did lay a great groundwork. Thank you very much. Appreciate it.
(34:55)
The West should not be dragging itself backward into another endless war in Europe, yet another endless war. We should stop the killing and work together to address the biggest long-term threats as one unbeatable team. Think of us as an unbeatable team. I mean, when you look at what you've done here, that's much more difficult than stopping stupidity. Think of it, it's stupidity. What you've done is much more difficult and you did it better than anybody else has ever done it. As President of the United States, my preference will always be for peace and partnership, whenever those outcomes can be achieved, always, it's always going to be that way. Only a fool would think otherwise.
(35:45)
In recent years, far too many American presidents have been afflicted with the notion that it's our job to look into the souls of foreign leaders and use US policy to dispense justice for their sins. They loved using our very powerful military, and now it's really the most powerful it's ever been. We just are getting a budget approved, $1 trillion, the highest budget we've ever had in history for military, $1 trillion, and we're getting the greatest missiles, the greatest weapons, and I hate to do it, but you have to do it because we believe in peace through strength. You have to have the strength, otherwise bad things could happen. But hopefully, we'll never have to use any of those weapons. It seems to be an awfully big waste of money if you're never going to use them, but hopefully we'll never have to use them because the destructive power of some of those weapons are like nobody's seen before. I believe it is God's job to sit in judgment, my job, to defend America and to promote the fundamental interest of stability, prosperity, and peace. That's what I really want to do.
(36:58)
I will never hesitate to wield American power if it's necessary to defend the United States or to help defend our allies, and there will be no mercy for any foe who tries to do us or them harm. We will have no mercy. They understand that. That's why I've been pretty lucky. A lot of people think, "He's looking to fight. He's looking to fight," and things get settled. It's an amazing thing when they really think you mean it, but we do. We have the greatest military, the strongest military, stronger than any… Nobody's even close. We have the best weapons in the world, but we don't want to use them. If you threaten America or our partners, however, then you'll be faced with overwhelming strength and devastating force. We have things that you don't even know about, you don't hear about, and if you did, you'd say, "Wow."
(37:57)
In recent weeks following repeated attacks on American ships and freedom of navigation in the Red Sea, the United States military launched more than 1,100 strikes on the Houthis in Yemen. As a result, the Houthis agreed to stop. They said, "We don't want this anymore." It's the first time you've heard that from them too. They're tough, they're fighters. But just days ago we asked to cease targeting commercial. They were not going to be targeting commercial ships in any way, shape or form or anything American, and they were very happy that we stopped, but we had 52 days of thunder and lightning like they've never seen before. This was a swift, ferocious, decisive and extremely successful use of military force. Not that we wanted to do it, but they were shooting down ships. They were shooting at you. They were shooting at Saudi Arabia. We don't
President Donald J. Trump (39:00):
I don't want them shooting in Saudi Arabia, if that's okay. So we hit them hard. We got what we came for, and then we got out. Since January 20th, the US military has terminated 83 terrorist leaders operating across Iraq, Syria, and Somalia, including ISIS's number two global leader. You read about that just recently. With the help of Pakistan, we apprehended the ISIS terrorists responsible for the attack on 13 American service members at Abbey Gate. That horrible, horrible disaster. During this Afghanistan withdrawal, that's another thing that we don't even think about so much anymore. 13 died, but 42 were horribly wounded, but hundreds of people died overall, because I count the people on the other side. Hundreds of people, just grossly incompetent.
(39:55)
It's probably why Putin decided to go into Ukraine, something he never would've done if I were president, but we wouldn't have had the problems of October 7th if I were president. We wouldn't have had Ukraine, Russia, if I were president, we wouldn't have had Abbey Gate because there wouldn't have been any reason. We were getting out, but we were getting out with dignity and with strength and power, but the way they got out was not good. I think it was the most embarrassing moment in the history of our country.
(40:27)
And we've been working tirelessly to bring back all hostages held by Hamas. We brought back a lot already, but we're bringing back more. This weekend, we successfully negotiated the release of the last American hostage. Edan Alexander just came out a few hours ago, and we continue to work to get that war ended as quickly as possible. It's a horrible thing that's taking place. All civilized people must condemn the October 7th atrocities against Israel, which would never have happened, again, if you had probably a different president, but definitely if you had me as president. The people of Gaza deserve a much better future, but that will or can not occur as long as their leaders choose to kidnap, torture and target innocent men, women and children for political ends.
(41:24)
The way those people are treated in Gaza, there's not a place in the world where people are treated so badly. It's horrible. After years of suffering, two of the nations most ravaged by terror are finally beginning to end their long nightmares under the new generation of leaders in Lebanon, where a friend of mine has just become the ambassador. He's going to be great. I said, "That could be a very dangerous job." He said, "I was born there. I'm Lebanese. I love that country." I said, "But it's very dangerous." This is a friend of mine from New York. I said, "But it's very dangerous. Are you sure you want to do it?" I never thought of him as being a warrior, but he is a warrior. He loves his country. He said, "If I'm injured or die, I'm dying for a country that I love." He grew up there. It's horrible what's happened in Lebanon, but you have a great ambassador, I can tell you that.
(42:20)
And Lebanon, which has been endlessly victimized by Hezbollah and their sponsor, Iran, a new president and prime minister brought the first real chance in decades for a more productive partnership with the United States, and we're going to work with their new ambassador and everybody else, Marco, and we're going to see if we can really help them out and let them get over that very high grid that they're going to have to get over. My administration stands ready to help Lebanon create a future of economic development and peace with its neighbors. You have tremendous people in Lebanon, doctors, lawyers, great professional people. I hear it so many times.
(43:01)
Likewise, in Syria, which has seen so much misery and death, there is a new government that will hopefully succeed in stabilizing the country and keeping peace. That's what we want to see in Syria. They've had their share of travesty, war, killing, many years. That's why my administration has already taken the first steps toward restoring normal relations between the United States and Syria for the first time in more than a decade. And I'm very pleased to announce that Secretary Marco Rubio will be meeting with the new Syrian foreign minister in Turkey later this week. And very importantly, after discussing the situation in Syria with the Crown Prince, your Crown Prince, and also with President Erdogan of Turkey who called me the other day and asked for a very similar thing, among others and friends of mine, people that I have a lot of respect for in the Middle East, I will be ordering the cessation of sanctions against Syria in order to give them a chance at greatness.
(44:22)
Oh, what I'd do for the Crown Prince. The sanctions were brutal and crippling and served as an important, really an important function, nevertheless, at the time, but now it's their time to shine. It's their time to shine. We're taking them all off, and I think they're going to have, based on the people and the spirit and everything else that I'm hearing about, so I say good luck, Syria. You show us something very special like they've done frankly in Saudi Arabia. Okay? They're going to show us something special. Very good people.
(45:37)
Everywhere we can, my administration is pursuing peaceful engagement, offering a strong and steady hand of friendship to all that will take it in good faith. Together we have made unprecedented strides and tremendous progress, and we're still just at the dawn of the bright new day that awaits for the people of the Middle East, the great, great people of the Middle East.
(46:03)
If the responsible nations of this region seize this moment, put aside your differences and focus on the interest that unite you, then all of humanity will soon be amazed at what they will see right here in this geographic center of the world. It really is. It's like a center of the world, and the spiritual heart of its greatest faiths. For the first time in a thousand years, the world will look at this region not as a place of turmoil and strife and war and death, but as a land of opportunity and hope, just like you've done right here, a cultural and commercial crossroads of the planet. Security and stability will lift millions into lives of safety and success, and the nations of this region will be free to realize your highest destinies, honor your proud histories, harness amazing new opportunities, and bring incredible glory to Almighty God.
(47:06)
People will come from all over the globe to be inspired by the cities you build, the businesses you create, the technologies you invent, and the beauty, talent and potential you unleash right in the hearts of your citizens. Each of you will be able to take tremendous pride in the legacy you will leave to your children because you will have given them the ultimate blessings of prosperity and peace. So important. In the United States, we've launched the Golden Age of America. It's the golden age. We see it. We see it with all that money, trillions and trillions of dollars pouring in, hundreds of thousands of jobs coming in with it.
(47:48)
And with the help of the people of the Middle East and the people in this room, partners throughout the region, the golden age of the Middle East can proceed right alongside of us. We will work together, we will be together, we will succeed together, we will win together, and we will always be friends. Thank you.
(48:22)
So Mohammed, I want to thank you again very much for having me and as a representative of what I think is the greatest nation in the world. We are with you all the way, and you have a tremendous future. Thank you very much. And please pay my respects to-
