Trump Issues Warning To Iran, Blasts Biden's Record In Remarks To GCC Leaders Summit In Saudi Arabia

Forbes Breaking News

Earlier today, President Trump delivered remarks at the plenary session of the GCC Leaders Summit in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

Transcript

00:00I have to say that I've seen such progress.

00:26It's really incredible.

00:27I've also seen great unity and friendships.

00:30I spent a little time with you just before this, and I've seen tremendous unity, tremendous

00:35friendship, and the whole world is watching the Middle East, and many are watching with

00:39envy.

00:40You have something very special going on.

00:43Incredible opportunities are within reach for this region.

00:47If we can simply stop the aggression from a small group of pretty bad actors, the Biden

00:53administration created havoc and bedlam by basically being incompetent.

00:59But for that to happen, it must stop sponsoring terror, halt its bloody proxy wars and permanently

01:08and verifiably cease its pursuit of nuclear weapons.

01:12They cannot have a nuclear weapon.

01:14I don't imagine there's anybody at this table or anybody in this room that would say they

01:18can.

01:19I'm strongly urging all nations to join us in fully and totally enforcing the sanctions

01:25that I just placed on Iran.

01:27Iran.

01:28And we also placed secondary sanctions, which are in certain ways even more devastating.

01:34Iran, as you know, had no money when I left office.

01:38They were broke.

01:39They had no money for Hamas.

01:41They had no money for Hezbollah.

01:43There was no attack.

01:44There was no thought of attack.

01:45There would have been no attack if I were president.

01:47But bad things happened in that election.

01:51And I said, let's do it again.

01:54And by doing it again, it became much more historic.

01:57It's a much more historic election, much more powerful election.

02:03And we have a mandate.

02:04We won every swing state.

02:06We won by millions of votes.

02:08We won 2,750 districts, we call them districts, out of a total, if you look at the numbers, 2,750

02:22to 505.

02:25The whole map was red, red meaning Republican.

02:28So I will say recently we launched strikes on more than 1,100 Houthi targets in Yemen,

02:36as you know.

02:38And last week they agreed to stop.

02:40They don't want to be targeting our commercial ships anymore.

02:43And they said, that's enough.

02:45That's enough.

02:46And about 52 days, 52 nights, it didn't end.

02:52We just put in a budget of a trillion dollars.

02:54It's our biggest budget, military budget, we have ever put in.

03:00And the United States is very, very strong right now.

03:02It's amazing.

03:03In a short period of time, we've been there 100 days.

03:06And in a short period of time, we've done what a lot of people don't do in four years.

03:13We're a hot country, just like you're a hot area.

03:17And we're going to keep it that way.

03:19In Gaza, my administration shares the hope of so many in this region for future of safety

03:25and dignity of the Palestinian people.

03:27But that cannot happen as long as Gaza's leaders take delight in raping, torturing, and murdering

03:33innocent people.

03:34You can't have it.

03:36I greatly appreciate the constructive role that the leaders in this room have played in

03:42trying to bring the terrible conflict to an end, including by helping secure the release

03:48of American hostage, Edan Alexander.

03:51It was a big day yesterday, a very important day.

03:55I was told just before I left that they were going to be releasing Edan.

03:59We thought Edan was dead.

04:02Three weeks ago, they said Edan was no longer living.

04:06And it was a very, very good thing.

04:09Ultimately, all hostages of all nationalities must be released as a stepping stone to peace.

04:16And I think it's going to be happening.

04:17A lot of things are happening.

04:18A lot of very positive things are happening on every front.

04:22With the support of leaders in this room and the great leaders you are, we are currently

04:27exploring normalizing relations with Syria's new government, as you know, beginning with

04:33my meeting with President Ahmed al-Shara and Secretary Rubio's meeting with the Syrian foreign

04:41minister in Turkey.

04:42After discussing the situation with Crown Prince Mohammed and President Erdogan of Turkey, I'm

04:52also ordering the cessation of sanctions against Syria to give them a fresh start.

04:57It gives them a chance for greatness.

04:58The sanctions were really crippling, very powerful.

05:02And I spoke to Mohammed and I spoke to a friend from Turkey who we just spoke to also by phone

05:11now.

05:12But I felt very strongly that this would give them a chance.

05:15It's not going to be easy anyway, so it gives them a good strong chance.

05:21And it was my honor to do so.

05:22So we've, we will be dropping all of the sanctions on Syria, which I think really is going to

05:28be a good thing.

05:29And it actually, we made a speech last night and that was the thing that got the biggest

05:34applause from the room.

05:35We had a very crowded room with thousands of people and the statement that got the biggest

05:40applause was dropping the sanctions on Syria.

05:44Likewise in Lebanon, there's a new chance for a future free from the grip of Hezbollah terrorists

05:51if the new president and prime minister can rebuild an effective Lebanese state.

05:55We just appointed a very good ambassador, a friend of mine who's Lebanese.

06:01And I didn't even know that.

06:02And I said, why do you want to be the ambassador to Lebanon?

06:05That could be dangerous.

06:07He said, I don't care.

06:08I grew up there.

06:09I love the, I love the country and I don't care if it's dangerous or not dangerous.

06:14I want to do that.

06:15And he's very capable man, very successful man from the United States.

06:19And he's going to be your ambassador.

06:21He's going to be, he's going to do a great job.

06:24But this is a once in a generation opportunity to forge a Lebanon that is prosperous and at

06:29peace with its neighbors.

06:32And I think things can really happen there.

06:34They've been, they've had a tough go of it for a long time.

06:40At the end of my first term, all of the momentum of this region was toward peace.

06:44I especially want to thank and congratulate the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain for their

06:49vision and courage in signing the historic Abraham Accords.

06:54It was something that's a very big thing.

06:57We would have, I believe we would have had it filled out had the election been called fairly,

07:05which it wasn't.

07:06It was a rigged election.

07:07I hope that in the near future, we can continue that progress.

07:12We have a mandate from the American people, the likes of which people haven't seen for

07:15129 years, they say.

07:18It was the most consequential election in America in 129 years.

07:23So that sounds like a long time, so we'll take that.

07:26But in the future, we'll continue that progress by adding more countries to the Abraham Accords.

07:32We have four, and we're going to, they're going to be, I think they're going to be filling up very rapidly.

07:38Biden didn't do anything because he never did anything about anything.

07:42He had no capability, he had no ability.

07:45And it was a shame what he's done to so many countries, including our own.

07:51We had an interesting fact about a year ago, there was a story that we're having a hard time

07:57getting enlistments into the military, and it was at the lowest level almost ever.

08:03We just, people didn't want to go into our military.

08:06And it just came out last week.

08:08You probably saw that we have now the strongest enlistment in the history of our country.

08:14They say 38 years.

08:16One said 37, one said 32, and one said ever.

08:20So we just had the strongest enlistment in the history of the United States of America.

08:27So think of it.

08:28In one year, we went from they can't get people to enlist to we have the strongest enlistment.

08:33And that includes the police departments, too.

08:35We're having a hard time getting people to be policed, the great law enforcement arm that we're known for.

08:41And now we're setting records.

08:44It's hard to get a job.

08:47I mean, frankly, the lines of people wanting to be police officers and going to the military.

08:54And it's really, it's a matter of spirit.

08:56We have great spirit in the country right now.

08:58We've done a lot in 100 days, I'll tell you that.

09:01It all started on November 5th with the election.

09:04But a stable and peaceful Middle East will be a successful and prosperous Middle East.

09:09And that's what you've done and that's what you're doing.

09:12And, you know, it's amazing because when I was here last, it was fine.

09:17It was doing good.

09:18And then I see the things that you're doing here and in your countries.

09:22It's just incredible what you what you're doing is the whole world is talking about it.

09:27The whole world is watching us.

09:29Look at all the news over there, the fake news.

09:31Look at them.

09:32That whole world, the whole world is talking about what you're what you're doing.

09:37And you're the envy of the world together.

09:40We're in this room and we're going to forge a Middle East that will be a thriving commercial,

09:45diplomatic and cultural crossroads at the geographic center of the world.

09:50That's what it is.

09:51It's the center of the world.

09:52I look forward to working with you.

09:54And I want to thank Mohammed.

09:55I want to thank you, Crown Prince.

09:58We have a special relationship.

10:00We have long had a special relationship.

10:02But it was an honor to spend a couple of days with you.

10:05And I'll see you again soon.

10:07And I'll see you a lot.

10:09Thank you all very much.

10:20I'm gonna play it for you because I had a good idea.

10:22I'm gonna play it.

10:23I'm gonna play it.

10:24I'm gonna play it.

10:25I'm gonna play it.

10:28I'm gonna play it.

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