WASHINGTON — President Trump said Thursday that the military is “incredible,” that the United States controls the Strait of Hormuz, and that Iran will “either sign a very fair deal, or they won’t exist any longer.”
He said it on the South Lawn, in the same departure gaggle as his line on the Flydubai flight. The White House posted the video as “President Trump Gaggles with Press Upon Departure from the White House, Oct. 1, 2026.” The military sentence comes after the oil claim and before the deal. It is not a separate answer.
Look, Iran now — Iran now’s got 301 percent inflation. Their money is valueless. Their economy is gone. They have no military. They have no anti-aircraft shooters. They have very little going. And we control the straight. We took out more oil in the last two days than at any time in the history of the strait, and that includes before the war. … Our military is incredible, the job they’ve done. Now I have to make a decision. They’ll either sign a very fair deal, or they won’t exist any longer.
He said “straight.” The waterway is the Strait of Hormuz. The department’s Operation Epic Fury page says U.S. forces began that operation on Feb. 28, striking targets to dismantle Iran’s security apparatus. A quoted line from Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on that page says the mission includes destroying Iranian offensive missiles, missile production, and the navy, “and they will never have nuclear weapons.” The gaggle does not use the operation name. The “incredible” line is his description of that work. It does not name a unit or a date.
The 301 percent figure is his. Iran’s Statistical Center said point-to-point inflation reached 89.8 percent in September, and that the annual rate rose from 69.9 percent in August to 73.6 percent. The central bank had put an earlier urban figure lower. Neither series matches 301. The gaggle does not cite a source for that number.
The two-day oil total is also his. A June 20 Central Command release said 55 merchant ships transited that day, moving more than 17 million barrels of oil, and that U.S. forces remained present to see that an agreement with Iran was kept. On Sept. 19, Commander Brad Cooper said on the command’s account that forces had supported more than 2,000 commercial transits and that shipments had exceeded 1 billion barrels in recent months, and that Iranian exports had been reduced to zero under a blockade. Neither statement is a two-day record, and neither is dated to Oct. 1.
He said Iran has “no military” and “no anti-aircraft shooters,” then said the U.S. military is “incredible” and “the job they’ve done.” The two lines are about different forces. The department has not posted a release using “no military” or “no anti-aircraft shooters.” Epic Fury’s stated mission is to destroy missiles, production, the navy, and other security infrastructure. A mission statement is not an inventory of what remains.
The “won’t exist any longer” line is the decision he said he has to make. It is not a description of an order already given. The plane answer came first and was conditional. This one is about the Strait, the force he credited, and a deal.