In new interview, Trump makes eye-opening Iran war claims

[0:00] Axios' Mark Caputo just sitting down with the president in Trump's first interview [0:04] since he signed that agreement with Iran about 24 hours ago. Here's some of what he said. [0:12] What have you learned about not just the exercise of power, but the limits on your power [0:16] as a result of the conflict? There are no limits. No limits. No, not, I haven't learned that lesson [0:22] yet. I know there are, but you know, there are no limits. We defeated them totally militarily. [0:27] I did a naval blockade where not one ship was able to get through. Some tried, [0:32] they didn't, you know, it didn't last very long. And it certainly brought Iran to the table more [0:38] than before. However, beginning a conflict, you had talked about you only wanted unconditional [0:43] surrender. And the MOU doesn't look like unconditional surrender. Well, it really [0:49] probably is unconditional surrender. It is? I think so. You heard the incredulity in Mark's voice. [0:56] We've got much more of this. I mean, Mark went on to question the president about his claims that [1:00] there's been regime change in Iran. And Trump responded to him in that case. He said, [1:03] I actually think it's regime change if you want to know the truth. Now, Caputo responds to Trump, [1:09] how is it regime change if you had, and then Trump jumps in on him and says, because they're different [1:14] people. Caputo responds, but you have Khamenei Jr. You have still a lot of IRGC officials there. [1:20] To which Trump responds, well, they're different people. All right. Khamenei Jr. is different [1:25] from the father. It's almost like, it's almost like that's a late night skit. Okay. There's a [1:30] lot more news from this headline making interview. And we're going to be talking to Mark Caputo in just [1:34] a moment. We've got more for you. But you've heard the president make a number of claims in the [1:38] interview. For example, you know, this whole issue of regime change. Well, look, Iran's new regime, [1:44] you know, when he said they're different people. Yeah. One was the father. Now it's the son. [1:48] Khamenei is a different person than his father, who was killed in the US airstrike, which began the war. [1:54] That may be about where the differences end. Just listen to what Kareem Saadjipur, [1:58] our global affairs analyst, told me. So Kareem, is this a new regime that's much more [2:04] reasonable and less radicalized than the two prior regimes over the past four months or four weeks? [2:10] I'm sorry. That's false, Aaron. It's the same regime. It's new personnel. It's the same ideology. [2:18] It's a 56-year-old Ayatollah Khamenei instead of an 86-year-old Ayatollah Khamenei. [2:23] And their fundamental worldview hasn't shifted one iota. So I don't think there's [2:27] any indication that it's a new group of men with a different ideology. [2:31] That sort of just makes the whole point. And as for Trump's claim that the US totally defeated [2:38] Iran militarily, he has said this, frankly, many times, even during the war itself. [2:44] But as we have said, when you look at the facts, the reality is that that is not true. Iran's nuclear [2:49] material, of course, is still there. And we know from Seth Jones and the Center for Strategic [2:55] and International Studies that Iran still has about 70 percent of its pre-war missile stockpile [3:01] and 70 percent of its launchers. Out front now, Mark Caputo, the White House reporter for Axios, [3:07] who sat down exclusively with President Trump and shared that clip first with Out Front. I mean, [3:12] Mark, it's really an extraordinary conversation that you just had. I just want to emphasize, [3:17] this is the first time Trump has spoken since signing the agreement with Iran, right? The [3:21] memorandum of understanding. He certainly comes off as defiant and defensive in the conversation with [3:28] you. He's proud. He thinks the deal or he's projecting that the deal that he has agreed to [3:34] or the memo that he signed is great because of the stock market and oil prices. That's what he's [3:39] really fixated on. So let me play again a little bit more here of where you were pressing him, [3:46] Mark, on the agreement with Iran that he just signed. Here it is. [3:51] What have you learned about not just the exercise of power, but the limits on your power [3:55] as a result of the conflict? There are no limits. No limits? No. Not, [3:59] I haven't learned that lesson yet. I know there are, but, you know, there are no limits. We defeated [4:04] them totally militarily. Beginning a conflict, you had talked about you only wanted unconditional [4:10] surrender. And... Well... The MOU doesn't look like unconditional surrender. Well, [4:15] it really probably is unconditional surrender. It is? I think so. [4:22] It is, which is the incredulity in your voice, Mark. I mean, you know, we just a moment ago laid [4:28] out the fact that, you know, saying that they have no military is just not true. And as you point out, [4:35] maybe with your incredulity, $300 billion of a reconstruction fund, unfreezing of assets of $100 [4:40] billion, the U.S. agreeing that it's going to withdraw or somehow do something that's unclear [4:48] to its forces in proximity to Iran and the region, those things are not unconditional surrender. [4:53] I guess the question for you is you're sitting there face to face with him. Do you think [4:56] that he really believes what he's saying to you? That's one of those enduring questions about Trump, [5:01] is that when he says what he says he believes, does he really believe it? The reality is, is he stayed [5:08] relentlessly on message with this. His view is, is that their military has been crushed. And let's [5:14] give him that, is that by and large, it's true. I mean, the Navy has been seriously damaged, [5:20] their missile capacity and the like. Yes, there are some reports indicating it's not as destroyed [5:25] as Trump says it is, but Iran really took a whipping from the United States. However, the reality [5:32] is, as a lot of experts predict at the time, the Iranians are tough and they're resilient and they [5:38] had war games for this. And they were able to take the whipping and still survive and were in no mood [5:44] and were unlikely to unconditionally surrender. And those folks are right. The Iranians have not [5:50] surrendered unconditionally. And what about the whole thing on regime change when he was looking [5:55] you straight in the face and saying it's regime change because it's a different person? Yeah. That's why I [6:00] said, well, are you, are you sure about that? The, you know, you have Khamenei Jr., Khamenei Jr., [6:05] you have IRGS, IRGC officials. He said, well, they're different people. Like, well, okay. But [6:10] the reality is the Iranian military and the IRGC structure, their government structure had anticipated [6:18] one day the United States and Israel or its enemies would launch a decapitation strike. And as a result, [6:24] they came up with something called the Mosaic Doctrine, which essentially said that there'd be [6:28] a mosaic, a different patchwork of different leaders who could step in when other leaders [6:34] were killed. And that's what happened. Yeah. It's just, I find it interesting, [6:37] as you say, that it's, the question is, does he really believe what he's saying? [6:40] But that, that your takeaway from talking to him was that he was remarkably on, [6:45] that he stayed consistent with what, what he was saying to you. And he is, I mean, [6:49] he only had two hours of sleep. He flew in from. He does sound like he's, he's got a cold or so. [6:54] He doesn't, he didn't, he did sound a little. But he was in the interview. He wasn't, he, yeah, [6:58] he, he did have a lower energy level than he normally does, but his overall presentation was [7:04] pretty positive. And he just loves the idea that gas prices are coming down, oil prices are coming [7:11] down and the stock market is going up. That's what he's really fixated on. And that's sort of the [7:15] sub headline of this entire thing is that Trump had had enough of this war. He'd had enough of people [7:20] talking about high, high fuel prices and he wanted it to end. And this is the way [7:25] he brought about an end. Yeah, it's fascinating. And I, it does raise so many questions, [7:29] given what he said to you about, you know, is this what really people around him are telling [7:33] him? Is this the bubble that he's in or not? You also asked him about Netanyahu. And obviously [7:39] that was at the core, their relationship was at the core of this war to begin with. And now it's the [7:45] fraying of that relationship is core to how this war is ending, or at least how this [7:50] agreement has proceeded. What did he say about Netanyahu? [7:55] He said, I asked, I asked him about the relationship with Netanyahu. He said, [7:58] Bibi's fine. The relationship's fine. He said, but we need to keep him sane. He used that word sane. [8:04] The implication is that Netanyahu had gone a little nuts. And I asked him, how are you going to keep [8:11] Israel from attacking Lebanon? And the subtext of that was, and sort of messing up this deal with Iran, [8:18] something that Trump had lost his temper with Netanyahu over a few days or a few weeks ago, [8:24] I've lost track of time. And Trump just said, they'll do what I say, that Israel loves me and [8:32] what I tell them to do, they will do. So we're going to see if that sticks.