Remarks in an Exchange With Reporters Prior to Departure for Amsterdam, Netherlands

[At this point, several reporters began asking questions at once.]

Q. Mr. President, the Middle East just woke up to a new dawn.

Q. Mr. President, Israel says——

Iran/Israel

Q. Is the cease-fire breaking—[inaudible]?

The President. I don't think so, but I'm not happy that Israel is going out now. There was one rocket that I guess was fired overboard. It was after the time limit, and it missed its target, and now Israel is going out.

These guys have got to calm down. It's ridiculous.

Q. How will the U.S. respond if the cease-fire is violated?

[Several reporters spoke at once.]

The President. I didn't like plenty of things I saw yesterday. I didn't like the fact that Israel unloaded right after we made the deal. They didn't have to unload. And I didn't like the fact that the retaliation was very strong.

But in all fairness, Israel unloaded a lot. And now I hear Israel just went out because they felt it was violated by one rocket that didn't land anywhere. That's not what we want, I'll tell you. And I'm telling you, I'm not happy about that, Israel, either.

[Several reporters spoke at once.]

Q. [Inaudible]—Prime Minister Netanyahu?

The President. Because all I do is play both sides.

I'm going now, as you know, to NATO. Some of you are going with me. And I think it's going to be successful. We'll see. I'll let you know.

[Several reporters spoke at once.]

Status of Women in the Middle East

Q. The agreement—it's a new dawn in the Middle East thanks to the agreement you managed to achieve. What are your future plans for the region—for Saudi Arabia, Israel, Gaza, the hostages?

The President. Look, you're asking me about women in the Middle East. It's getting a lot better. Things are happening at a high level. As you know, Saudi Arabia has done a really good job. It's coming out far faster than I thought. So we're very happy about what's happening with women in the Middle East.

Israel

Q. No, I'm talking about the—a new dawn in the Middle East that you managed to achieve last night.

The President. Yes.

Q. It's in—you know, the region is going to a new place——

The President. That's true.

Q. ——with this agreement. Can you tell us what your future plans——

The President. Yes.

Q. ——for Gaza, for the hostages, for——

The President. Yes. It's a new dawn. I appreciate the question. You're very nice. Who are you?

Q. Thank you. I'm Neria Kraus from Israel——

The President. Very good.

Q. ——Channel 13 News.

The President. Well, we have to have Israel calm down, because they went on a mission this morning.

Q. Did you——

The President. I've got to get Israel to calm down now.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel

Q. Do you plan to speak with Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu?

Q. Mr. President, did you talk to Prime Minister Netanyahu last night——

The President. I speak to everybody. Yes.

[Several reporters spoke at once.]

Israel/Iran

Q. Mr. President, you urged both sides not to violate the ceasefire, but reports coming from the region suggest that both sides accuse each other of violating the ceasefire. So, what is your——

The President. I think they both violated it.

Q. Yes. What is your——

The President. I don't think they—I'm not sure they did it intentionally. They couldn't rein people back. I don't like the fact that Israel went out this morning at all, and I'm going to see if I can stop it. So, as soon as I get away from you, I'm going to see if I can stop it. Okay?

[Several reporters spoke at once.]

Q. Will you talk with Netanyahu, sir? Have you spoken to him this morning?

U.S. Airstrike on Iranian Nuclear Facilities/CNN/News Media

Q. How confident are you that Iran's nuclear capabilities have been completely demolished?

The President. I think it's been completely demolished. I think the reason we're here is because those pilots—those B–2 pilots did an unbelievable job.

And, you know, the fake news—like CNN, in particular—they're trying to—you know, they're trying to say, "Well, I agree that it was destroyed, but maybe not that destroyed." You know what they're doing? They're really hurting great pilots that put their lives on the line.

CNN is scum, and so is MSDNC. They're all—and frankly, the networks aren't much better. It's all fake news.

But they should not have done that. Those pilots hit their targets, those targets were obliterated, and the pilots should be given credit. They're not after the pilots. They're after me. They want to try and demean.

Iran/Nuclear Weapons Development/CNN/News Media

Q. You don't believe that Iran could rebuild its nuclear program?

The President. No, Iran will never rebuild its nuclear—from there? Absolutely not. That place is under rock. That place is demolished.

The B–2 pilots did their job. They did it better than anybody could even imagine. They hit late in the evening. It was dark with no Moon, and they hit that target with every one of those things, and that place is gone.

But when I see CNN all night long—they're trying to say, "Well, maybe it wasn't really as demolished as we thought." It was demolished. You take a look at the pinpricks, and you see. That place is gone.

And I will say, I think CNN ought to apologize to the pilots of the B–2s. I think that MSDNC ought to apologize. I think these guys—really, these networks and these cable networks are real losers. You really are. You're real losers.

[Several reporters spoke at once.]

[Inaudible]—if Israel says—if Israel says that they violated the peace agreement——

The President. You're gutless. You're gutless losers. I say that to CNN, because I watch it. I have no choice. I got to watch that garbage. It's all garbage. It's all fake news. But I think CNN is a gutless group of people, and the people that run it—nobody even knows; it's been sold so many times—but the people that run it ought to be ashamed. MSDNC—a guy named Brian Roberts, he heads it. He's a disgrace. He's a weak, pathetic disgrace.

Iran/Israel

Q. Mr. President, Israel says that Iran violated the peace agreement and the cease-fire agreement. Do you believe that Iran is still committed to peace?

The President. Yes, I do. They violated it, but Israel violated it too.

Q. Are you questioning if Israel is committed to peace?

The President. Israel, as soon as we made the deal, they came out and they dropped a load of bombs, the likes of which I've never seen before, the biggest load that we've seen. I'm not happy with Israel. You know when I say, "Okay, now you have 12 hours," you don't go out in the first hour and just drop everything you have on them.

So I'm not happy with them. I'm not happy with Iran either. But I'm really unhappy if Israel is going out this morning, because the one rocket that didn't land that was shot, perhaps by mistake, that didn't land—I'm not happy about that.

[Several reporters spoke at once.]

You know what? We have—we basically have two countries that have been fighting so long and so hard that they don't know what the fuck they're doing.

Do you understand that?

[Several reporters spoke at once.]