Donald Trump sought to justify the immense cost of his war in Iran in a rambling speech to reporters at the G7 summit on Wednesday, declaring he “got everything” he wanted from the conflict despite growing doubt over his peace agreement.
The US president was speaking at the meeting in the French Alps as details emerged of the 14-point plan signed between Washington and Tehran, which will see a 60-day ceasefire put in place for talks on Iran’s nuclear programme and other contentious issues.
“On Sunday, we reached an agreement with Iran that achieves everything we set out to accomplish, everything and much more, ending the current conflict, reopening the Strait of Hormuz, and preventing Iran from ever obtaining a nuclear weapon, that’s what it was all about,” Trump told reporters gathered in Évian-les-Bains.
“Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon, they can’t develop it, buy it, they can never have a nuclear weapon.”
Trump has himself not revealed details of the memorandum of understanding between Iran and the US, but said it would be signed as soon as Friday or over the weekend in Switzerland. He said he had not decided whether he would attend the signing of the document but that vice president J.D Vance would attend.
During his address at the G7, Trump said he could have continued dropping bombs on Iran for two years – but did not want to provoke an “economic catastrophe”.
World leaders flocked to thank him for ending the war and have stated that they love the peace deal, he claimed, but reports have suggested that members of Trump’s inner circle have grown increasingly critical of the deal.
Secretary of state Marco Rubio, hawkish defence secretary Pete Hegseth and CIA director John Ratcliffe, have expressed concerns about the arrangement, according to Axios.
Trump also wildly claimed the US had prevented “nuclear holocaust” by launching its war on Iran.
“Think of what Israel’s getting – they’re not going to be nuked,” he said. “I told Bibi [Netanyahu], the biggest risk was that [Iran] dropped a nuclear weapon into the middle of Israel. They’d only need one, and there would be no war.”
The US president added: “We stopped nuclear holocaust… There’s not going to be any of that.”
The long-awaited agreement declares a cessation of all conflict, an end to the US blockade of the Strait of Hormuz, and a reconstruction fund for Iran worth at least $300bn, the implementation of which will be discussed in the 60-day negotiation period.
It is unclear whether it stipulates an Israeli withdrawal from Lebanon. The text says the deal will ensure the “territorial integrity and sovereignty of Lebanon”, but senior US officials said earlier this week that the deal would not involve withdrawal.
At several times during his speech, Trump turned his attention to America’s relationship with Israel and his own with Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Trump said Israel “could behave better” and that he feels “very bad for Lebanon”.
“I’m not saying they shouldn’t protect themselves when two drones are shot into the desert, [but] you don’t have to knock down buildings in Beirut,” he said. “They could behave better, and frankly, they could do a better job. I love them as a partner.”
The US president added: “Lebanon has a great culture. It was great, they had the professors, the doctors, the lawyers. It was an incredible culture. For the last 50, 60 years they have been just trashed.”
He described Netanyahu as an “amazing prime minister” who “gets a little excited sometimes”,
“We have a little dispute over Lebanon. I say he can do a little softer touch, you don’t have to knock down a building every time somebody walks into it that’s from Hezbollah.”
Netanyahu would agree, Trump said, that in the US-Israeli relationship, “we’re the big partner, he’s the very small partner”.
