{"id":872,"date":"2026-06-07T17:39:46","date_gmt":"2026-06-07T17:39:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/trustedmovinggroups.com\/?p=872"},"modified":"2026-06-07T17:39:46","modified_gmt":"2026-06-07T17:39:46","slug":"read-the-transcript-president-donald-trump-interviewed-by-nbc-news-meet-the-press-moderator-kristen-welker","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/trustedmovinggroups.com\/?p=872","title":{"rendered":"Read the transcript: President Donald Trump interviewed by NBC News\u2019 \u2018Meet the Press\u2019 moderator Kristen Welker"},"content":{"rendered":"
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KRISTEN WELKER:<\/p>\n

President Trump, welcome back to Meet the Press.<\/p>\n

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PRES. DONALD TRUMP:<\/p>\n

Thank you.<\/p>\n

KRISTEN WELKER:<\/p>\n

Thank you so much for being here. We are going to talk about your visit, why you\u2019re here in Wisconsin. But I\u2019d like to start off by talking about the major issue that you are focused on every day which is Iran. Sunday will mark 100 days since the first strikes. Your secretary of state, Marco Rubio, said that the war had concluded. And yet, just this week, Iran attacked U.S. allies in the region, calling it retaliation for a set of U.S. air strikes. Is the United States at war with Iran?<\/p>\n

Read more Trump says Fed chair should \u2018do whatever he wants\u2019 but criticizes possible interest rate hikes<\/a><\/p>\n

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PRES. DONALD TRUMP:<\/p>\n

Well, they\u2019ve been largely decapitated. And I call it a military exercise because people would rather have it called that. It\u2019s not a big war for us. It\u2019s not. We have the most powerful military in the world. I built it, frankly. I built it in my first four years. And I\u2019m using it a little bit in my second four years. Their navy is gone. Their air force is gone. Their anti-aircraft is gone. They might\u2019ve built it up a little bit over the last four weeks during this little ceasefire that we did at the request of some very good people, very, very fine people from \u2014 actually from numerous places, as you know. You know, there are a lot of people involved. But from Pakistan in particular, the field marshal and the prime minister. And we\u2019re very close to having a deal. And if we don\u2019t have a deal, we\u2019ll do it one way or the other. Either way, we win.<\/p>\n

KRISTEN WELKER:<\/p>\n

I do want to talk about the terms of any potential deal —<\/p>\n

PRES. DONALD TRUMP:<\/p>\n

Sure.<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n

KRISTEN WELKER:<\/p>\n

\u2013 in just a moment. But let me just follow up with you. You did post on social media just this week, \u201cMy final negotiations to end the war with the Islamic Republic of Iran.\u201d There is a naval blockade in place \u2013<\/p>\n

PRES. DONALD TRUMP:<\/p>\n

Yeah.<\/p>\n

KRISTEN WELKER:<\/p>\n

\u2013 which technically is an act of war under international law. So is this a war as long as there\u2019s a naval blockade in place?<\/p>\n

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PRES. DONALD TRUMP:<\/p>\n

Well, we have a blockade. It\u2019s been extremely effective. And the reason we have it is they tried a blockade, and now we blockaded them. And, as you know, they\u2019re losing $400-500 million a day. It\u2019s not sustainable for them. They have an economy that\u2019s shot, in addition to everything else. Their leaders are gone. Their generals are gone. Their first tier and second tier are gone. Much of their third tier is gone. But they put up a blockade and so we blockaded them. And we have the ultimate blockade. I don\u2019t consider that a war, but if you want to define it as such, I guess you can.<\/p>\n

KRISTEN WELKER:<\/p>\n

Well, how do you define it?<\/p>\n

PRES. DONALD TRUMP:<\/p>\n

I don\u2019t define it at all. I don\u2019t think about it. I just do what I have to do.<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n

KRISTEN WELKER:<\/p>\n

But if you\u2019re not specifically calling it a war, would you consider sending some of the troops who are stationed there, who were sent because of Operation Epic Fury there home?<\/p>\n

PRES. DONALD TRUMP:<\/p>\n

You mean boots on the ground? Are you talking about \u2013<\/p>\n

KRISTEN WELKER:<\/p>\n

No. Would you consider sending them home if it\u2019s not technically a war?<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n

PRES. DONALD TRUMP:<\/p>\n

We don\u2019t need as many troops. I think it\u2019s just like it\u2019s on the \u2014 to err on the side of caution. We have a lot of people there. They\u2019re very safe. You know, if you think, we beat Venezuela. We lost nobody. Took over the whole country. We lost nobody. We have a great relationship, by the way, with Venezuela. Venezuela\u2019s doing very well. But we lost nobody. We\u2019ve lost 13 people here and that\u2019s a lot. Thirteen people, too many. But, if you look at Vietnam, where hundreds of thousands of people were killed, if you look at any one of the last seven or eight wars where many, many people were killed, we lost 13. And again, 13 is too many. I don\u2019t want to lose any. But 13 is less than anybody\u2019s ever even envisioned. I think we\u2019re doing a great job.<\/p>\n

KRISTEN WELKER:<\/p>\n

But so are you saying you would consider sending some of the troops home, sir? Some of the 50,000 troops who were sent there as a part of Operation Epic Fury?<\/p>\n

PRES. DONALD TRUMP:<\/p>\n

I would say this. It costs us very little to keep them there. I don\u2019t consider them in danger. We have the best defense anyone\u2019s ever seen. We have the best offense anyone\u2019s ever seen. So I don\u2019t consider it danger. I would say it would be foolhardy to do that because maybe we may use them. It\u2019s unlikely. But I think we\u2019ll keep them there until such time as we have a completion. And when we have a completion, you will see things like you\u2019ve never seen. The oil will go down. The stock market already, as you know, it\u2019s at an all-time high. Even in the midst of it, it hit all-time highs. We had 73 all-time highs in the short period of time that I\u2019ve been in office, which is a record, by the way. And, you know, we\u2019re doing very well. But the main thing is we cannot let Iran have a nuclear weapon, can\u2019t do it. <\/p>\n

<\/div>\n

KRISTEN WELKER:<\/p>\n

What is your \u2013<\/p>\n

PRES. DONALD TRUMP:<\/p>\n

And we won\u2019t do it.<\/p>\n

KRISTEN WELKER:<\/p>\n

Now, you just referenced the 13 Americans who were killed. <\/p>\n

<\/div>\n

PRES. DONALD TRUMP:<\/p>\n

Yeah.<\/p>\n

KRISTEN WELKER:<\/p>\n

And I want to know what your red line is. What would trigger you to restart military action? Would it be Iran killing more American citizens?<\/p>\n

PRES. DONALD TRUMP:<\/p>\n

Well, certainly, that would be something that I would think about very seriously. But my red line would be if I think I wasn\u2019t going to make a deal, or if I wasn\u2019t going to make a deal fast enough. So we\u2019re having very good negotiations with the people that are leading the country now. It\u2019s the third group that we\u2019ve been dealing with. And they are different. And you could say it\u2019s regime change actually because these are very different people. I find them to be more rational, very smart.<\/p>\n

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More from NBC News’ interview with Trump<\/h2>\n