EVIAN, France: US President Donald Trump on Wednesday defended the US-Iran peace agreement, saying it had averted a global “economic catastrophe” by preventing a prolonged conflict that closed the Strait of Hormuz and triggered severe turmoil in international markets.
Speaking at a press conference at the G7 summit in Evian, Trump said he has a “little dispute” with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over military operations in Lebanon, suggesting that Israeli strikes were at times too forceful.
Trump said Netanyahu “gets a little excited sometimes” in military actions and indicated he had urged a more restrained approach.
“We have a little dispute over Lebanon. I say, ‘You can do a little softer touch, Bibi,’” Trump said, adding that Israel did not need to “knock down a building every time someone walks into it that’s from Hezbollah.”
“They could behave better, and frankly, they could do a better job,” Trump added. “I feel very bad for Lebanon.”
Trump said that America’s allies were “thrilled” with the memorandum of understanding reached with Iran, describing it as a “historic agreement” to end the conflict, reopen the Strait of Hormuz and prevent Tehran from obtaining a nuclear weapon.
Speaking at the Group of Seven (G7) summit in Evian, France, Trump said he had spent the past two days discussing the agreement with allied leaders and had received overwhelming support for the deal.
“Many presidents and prime ministers … they are thrilled that we made a deal, every one of them,” Trump told reporters.
“There’s not one nation that came to us and said, ‘Please sir, keep dropping bombs on them, please keep dropping bombs’,” he added.
HAPPENING NOW: President Trump breaks down the Iran deal to close out the G7 Summit in Evian, France. 🇺🇸 pic.twitter.com/HXyatDmndD
— The White House (@WhiteHouse) June 17, 2026
Trump said that a copy of the US-Iran agreement has been sent to Israel.
“The deal we reached with Iran will be signed shortly; tomorrow or maybe the next day,” he said.
“Iran will neither produce nor procure a nuclear weapon,” Trump reiterated.
He added that a copy has been sent to Israel.
Trump thanks Pakistan, Qatar for mediation
Trump expressed gratitude to Pakistan and Qatar for their role in mediating the peace process.
“I want to thank our partners in both Pakistan and Qatar; these people worked so hard,” he said.
“And they knew them (Iran) a little bit, in the case of Pakistan, quite well; in the case of Qatar, they were sort of at odds.”
Trump said leaders attending the G7 summit had welcomed the agreement because they wanted to see the conflict brought to an end.
“They all put out statements saying they love this deal, because they want to see it over,” he said.
Trump hints at removing sanctions on Iran
President Trump suggested that sanctions on Iran could be removed once “they behave”.
“As far as sanctions are concerned, at some point, you know, we have sanctions which will never let them rebuild. They would have no money, they would be in poverty, the 91 million people would starve, so something will happen as soon as they behave,” he told reporters.
“When they behave, we’re going to let that go. We’re going to have to. I put sanctions on a lot of people, and then I let them go.”
Strait of Hormuz reopening
Addressing G7 leaders, Trump said the agreement reached with Iran on Sunday would pave the way for the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz, one of the world’s most strategically important energy corridors.
The US President said the agreement would also ensure that Iran could never acquire a nuclear weapon.
“They can’t develop it, buy it, they can never have a nuclear weapon,” Trump said.
He argued that the breakthrough had already boosted investor confidence, pointing to gains in financial markets and positive reactions from energy markets.
According to Trump, the United States would have continued military operations against Iran had the agreement not been reached.
“If we didn’t make the deal, we’d be bombing them for at least another three weeks,” he said. “You would never have the Hormuz Strait open, you would never have success.”
The Strait of Hormuz handles a significant portion of the world’s oil and liquefied natural gas shipments and has been closely watched by global markets throughout the conflict.
Maritime traffic and flow of energy to resume
Trump said that maritime traffic and the flow of energy will be back to normal within the coming days.
“Maritime traffic in the Strait of Hormuz has already increased really substantially and the normal flow of energy will resume in the coming days,” he said, adding that “trillions of dollars” will be made.
He also called Iranian leaders “very smart people, very good negotiators”.
The US President said that Iran will “work closely with us” to turn over their enriched uranium.
“Nobody can get it, so it’s not important that we do it quickly … When we have a chance, we’ll do it,” he says while addressing the G7. “In the meantime … if they do [remove the material], we’ll hit them with Patriots.”
He adds that technical discussions on the removal of Iran’s stockpiles of enriched uranium will “begin immediately”.
Trump says US will have to return Iranian assets
Trump also reiterated earlier claims that his administration had effectively achieved “regime change” in Iran. “I think they’re going to behave much differently,” he said of Iran’s leadership.
The US President said he had chosen to pursue diplomacy rather than prolong the conflict because of the potential economic consequences.
“I didn’t want to see economic catastrophe,” Trump said. “Every time we talked about the possibility of peace, the market shot up like a rocket ship.”
He said financial markets had consistently responded positively to signs of diplomatic progress and negatively when tensions appeared to be escalating.
Trump said the US has “taken a lot” of Iranian assets and frozen them, noting that it’s “their money”.
“At a certain point in time, I guess we’re going to have to give it back,” he said in response to a question. “If we didn’t give it back, nobody would ever invest in the dollar again.”
US says Iran’s neighbours can help in reconstruction
Asked about reports that the US-Iran MoU includes $300 billion in reconstruction funds, Trump said “we’re not doing anything”.
“We’re not putting up money in Iran, but if people want to invest, they can invest,” he said, repeating remarks from earlier in the day.
The $300bn, the president added, will only come to fruition “if they’re doing things right”, but did not elaborate.
“We don’t have to give them anything. But some people may want to invest,” Trump told reporters.
The US President has faced political pressure domestically amid reports that the deal with Iran will lead to the release of the country’s frozen assets.
“They need investment,” said Trump, claiming the war caused “maybe two trillion dollars” in damages.
“So, somebody’s going to have to help them out. There’s no guarantee about helping them out. It could be their neighbours will help them out a little bit, I don’t know.”
He added: “But we’re not investing any money.”
Trump hails Russia, China
Trump thanked Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin for being “neutral” during the US-Israel war on Iran.
“I just want to thank them because they made it a lot better,” Trump said, adding that China was “terrific” and made efforts to help settle the conflict.
