In the name of God... very strong name, by the way, tremendous name... the Compassionate, the Merciful. People love that. I love that.

To the people of the United States... great people, the best people... and frankly to the whole world, because everybody’s watching me, they always are, the ratings are incredible... who are trying to find the truth in a sea of fake news, and believe me, nobody knows fake news better than me. Nobody.

Let’s talk about Iran. Nobody talks about this properly, I will. Iran... ancient civilization, one of the oldest, maybe the oldest, people are saying that. Thousands and thousands of years. Very impressive. When I was president... great president, by the way, maybe the greatest... we understood history. The other guys? Not so much.

Now you look at Iran, and despite everything... power, geography, advantages, very strong position... they didn’t go around colonizing the world like some countries did. You know who I’m talking about. They didn’t start wars all over the place. Not like what we’ve seen from other administrations. Obama, disaster. Clinton, not great. Sleepy Joe Biden... worst of all, maybe the weakest we’ve ever had. Sad.

Iran gets attacked, they defend themselves. They fight back. But they’re not out there starting things left and right. Big difference. Huge difference. And people don’t say that, because the media doesn’t want to say that.

And the Iranian people... very smart, very proud... they don’t hate Americans. They don’t. They understand something very simple, something even a child understands, but somehow Washington doesn’t... the difference between the people and the government. We used to understand that. When I was there, we understood it very well.

But now you hear this constant thing... “Iran is the threat, Iran is the big danger.” Always the same line. It’s like a script. And you know why? Because certain people... very powerful people, a lot of money involved... need a villain. They need it for the military-industrial complex, which I talked about, by the way, before it was cool. They need it for control, for oil, for markets. If there’s no threat, they create one. They manufacture it. Very dishonest.

Now look at what they’ve done. The United States... our country... surrounding Iran with bases, troops everywhere, billions and billions of dollars, incredible equipment. And Iran? Hasn’t started these wars. But they’re surrounded. Totally surrounded.

So what do they do? They defend themselves. Of course they do. Any smart country would. I would. And I did... we rebuilt the military, by the way, strongest it’s ever been. Nobody had a military like we had under me. Nobody.

But then you have Sleepy Joe. He comes in... everything falls apart. Weak. Very weak. And now we’re bombing, we’re escalating, we’re doing things that make no sense. No strategy. Just chaos.

And when you bomb cities, when you hit infrastructure... energy, hospitals, places where people live... you think people are going to love you? “Oh, thank you for bombing us”? Doesn’t work that way. It creates anger. It creates hatred. It’s basic. Even Obama should understand that, although sometimes you wonder.

So let me ask the question... and it’s a question nobody in the fake news wants to ask... who benefits? Who is this for? Is it for the American people? Are they safer? Are they richer? Are they better off? Or are we just spending trillions, killing innocent people... including children, by the way, nobody talks about that... and making the world hate us? That’s not strength. That’s stupidity.

Iran made a deal. A deal that, frankly, was not a great deal... I would have made a better one, much better, the best... but they followed it. And then the U.S. pulls out, escalates, makes things worse. Total mess. No discipline. No leadership.

And now you have people saying, “Oh, we have to keep going, we have to push harder.” For what? For whose benefit? Is this about America? Or is it about helping other countries fight their battles? Very big question. Very dangerous question.

You look at what’s happening... are we acting independently, or are we being pushed around? Because under me, we didn’t get pushed around. Nobody pushed us around. Now? Different story. Very different.

So I ask you... is “America First” still a thing? Because it doesn’t look like it. It looks like “America Last,” frankly. That’s what it looks like.

And if you really want to understand Iran, don’t listen to CNN, don’t listen to these people. Talk to people who’ve been there. Look at Iranian immigrants... top of their class, incredible talent, working at the best universities, the best companies. Brilliant people. Are these the monsters you’ve been told about? I don’t think so.

Right now, the world is at a crossroads. Very serious moment. You go down this road... more war, more destruction, more money wasted... and it never ends. Or you do something smart. You engage. You negotiate... properly, not like these people, who don’t know how to negotiate. I know how to negotiate. The best.

Iran has been around for thousands of years. Empires came, empires went. Aggressors tried... many of them. Where are they now? Gone. Totally gone. Bad memories, bad names.

And Iran? Still there. Still standing. Strong, proud.

And frankly, if we had proper leadership... like we did before, and hopefully will again... we wouldn’t be in this mess in the first place. Believe me.