Remarks at a State Dinner With Amir Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani of Qatar in Doha, Qatar

President Trump. Thank you very much, everybody.

I have a very good friend on my left. He said: "Do you mind if I invite just a few guests? And do you mind shaking hands with them just before dinner?" I said, "Sure." I didn't know you're going to have 400 people. [Laughter]

No, it's an honor. So—I know so many of you, so many great people.

I want to thank His Highness Sheikh Tamim and First Lady—thank you very much; really a great honor—for the beautiful welcoming.

And this is a home. This is a serious home, I will tell you that. There is nothing like it. So, it's just a perfect evening. Got to meet so many people that I didn't know. Got to say hello to so many people that I did know.

And it's a true privilege to visit your country—special country—and gather as friends in this majestic palace. It's a palace indeed, which must be among the most elegant anywhere in the world. I don't think I've seen anything like it. I thought I saw them all.

I want to recognize the Prime Minister, who's done a fantastic job, His Excellency Sheikh Muhammad, whom I was honored to host at the White House for dinner last month.

Tonight Qatar has returned the favor with unbelievable splendor and warmth, and I'm honored to be the first American President ever to officially visit your great country. It's a great honor for me, especially since I've known the incredible gentleman on my left for a long time, a lot longer than I've been in politics.

I knew him then, and I said, "This guy is going to make it someday," and I guess I was right. But I've known him a long time. He's been my friend for a long time, and it's a real honor.

I didn't know that I was going to be President, and I didn't know how successful he'd be. I mean, what he's done with this incredible piece of land—this beautiful piece of land, what he's done is incredible, unthinkable.

So we were both in a much different position long ago, and it's been a lot of fun for me to see him rise.

I also thank the many other Qatari Government leaders who have joined us.

And let me say to my Chief of Staff, a very, very special person—she is considered the most powerful woman on Earth. I grew—if you know her, you would know that anyway. The most powerful woman, but she's really one of the greatest people you'll ever meet. Susie Wiles. I want to say happy birthday to you, Susie. Happy birthday. This is your birthday. [Applause] She's a terrific person, actually.

As I said in my address to the region last night in Saudi Arabia, the transformation that has taken place here in the Gulf with Gulf nations has been extraordinary—nothing less than extraordinary—as Qatar's development has been among the greatest of them all. Nobody has seen anything like it.

Your country now stands as a hub of global commerce, acts as a key diplomatic force on the world stage, and has even hosted the World Cup. People said, "Oh, the World Cup is going"—and, by the way, Gianni is here someplace. Where's Gianni?

Amir Tamim. He's here, on your left.

President Trump. Congratulations, Gianni, because you're going to be with us next. He's coming—he's coming to the United States, actually. Thank you very—great job you do, Gianni.

The Amir is building a stunning legacy of economic progress, engineering marvels—what I've seen is incredible—and cultural attainment that should make this entire nation so very, very proud. They are proud. A lot of friends that live here, they're so proud.

You only have to look at the shimmering skyline of Doha or the beautiful waterfront promenade, which I just looked at a little while ago—there wasn't a tree out of place; everything was perfect—to understand Qatar's amazing path to modernization and prosperity.

And you've done it all while honoring your heritage—you've always stayed with your heritage; you haven't given it up—maintaining your culture, and embracing your national traditions.

To the Amir, to the royal family, and to this entire nation, congratulations on a spectacular job. Well done. Congratulations. Really something.

As you can see from the extraordinary range of leaders and pioneers in this room—the biggest people on Earth, the most successful people, the most powerful people—everyone wants to come and witness what is happening right here.

As President, I'm proud that our growing friendship is blossoming into a full-fledged economic and security partnership, as we've seen clearly on this trip, because we're setting records on this trip. We're bringing a lot of investment back into the United States of America. It's coming back at levels never seen before. We've never seen anything like it.

In 2 months, we've done more than anybody. I don't think there's anything—I don't think there's ever been anything close, and that means into any country.

In addition to our agreement that will lead to the $1.2 trillion in economic activity, before we even start about the big Boeing deal and all of the other deals that we talked about today, we're pleased to supply your military with billions and billions of dollars in brandnew equipment. And we're going to get a glimpse of some of it tomorrow morning at your military base, which is incredible, by the way.

Earlier today we were honored by the escort of eight F–15s from your air force. And I will say that I asked the pilot of Air Force One, "Do we need them?" And he gave me a bad answer. He said, "Well, I'd rather have them." That wasn't really the answer I was looking for—[laughter]—to be honest. I thought he would say: "No, we don't. This is just fun. This is just fun and games." He didn't say that, but here we are.

But they were something. We were looking out the window. Everybody was amazed. It's a little disconcerting when you see a plane that goes 2,000 miles an hour, when actually going 500 miles an hour is a strain on the plane. But you look out and you can read the pilot's name on his helmet, and it's pretty close. But they were great. They were great pilots too.

And it's fitting that you have chosen the mighty falcon as a symbol of your nation, representing dignity and strength. That's what the falcon represents.

Our Qatari partners showed that spirit last weekend when you helped negotiate the release of the last living American hostage in Gaza, Edan Alexander. And hopefully, this is a stepping stone toward getting the rest of the hostages back. But that was something, and you really did help us a lot.

And Steve Witkoff and Marco Rubio are here. I want to thank you, Steve, Marco, and Scott, Howard. Everybody was involved. Brought a lot of hostages back. They've all been involved.

You're also working with us very closely with respect to negotiating a deal with Iran, which is the far friendlier course that you would see. I mean, we have two courses. There's only two courses. There aren't three or four or five. There's two. There's a friendly and a nonfriendly, and the nonfriendly is a violent course, and I don't want that.

I'll say it up front: I don't want that. But they have to get moving.

I hope the Iranian leaders understand that what you're doing and—really, what you're doing for them is a big favor. Your Prime Minister and your great leader right here on my left has been helping so much, and they respect them, and they're listening to them. But they have to get moving, and we both understand that. They have to make that decision. It's their decision.

Because we want to see Iran do well and thrive and be successful and everybody be happy. I know many Iranians. I know many Iranians living in New York and Washington, DC, and they're great people. And we want to have this end peacefully, not horribly.

So I just want to thank Your Highness for that act of help, but we're really helping the region. We're helping the world. We're helping your country. And we'll try and get it done. If we can, we're going to try and get it done. They have to move quickly.

And I just hope Iran realizes what a good friend they have right here. And, in a certain sense, I guess I'm a good friend, because a lot of people would rather have me take a much more harsh road. But I know that if we can avoid that road, that'd be a great thing. And I'd like to do that.

This is an exciting time in America, as you know. It's really exciting. As you're hearing and seeing, after years of recruiting shortfalls into the military, enlistment has now reached the highest point in probably history, but definitely 30 years, including for police and firefighters. But our military, we have the highest recruitment we've ever had. And just about a year ago, you read headlines that people weren't joining the military. We had a lot of empty spaces that we had to fill, and we weren't able to fill them.

And it's a pretty great thing when, just in a short period of time—just a little, short period of time—we went from not having people wanting to serve in our military, Army, Air Force. Just think, the Army and the Air Force, in particular, I don't know what was going on. But Navy, Marines. How about Space Force, Coast Guard? All great, but we couldn't get them. And now, we have waiting lists to get in.

So, something happened. And I'll tell you what happened. It was called November 5th, where I won on behalf of everyone. I won on behalf of the people with common sense, the people that want to have a country, the people with strength and intelligence.

I won all seven swing states, the popular vote by millions and millions of votes, the Electoral College 312 to 226. Remember, they were saying, "Well, he might get to 270." Well, we got to 270 by—we got to 312, actually, and we had a great day and a great evening. But very importantly, we won the counties throughout the United States 2,660 to 451. That's why, when you see the maps, they're all bright red—"red" meaning Republican.

So that was really something. There's a spirit going on in our country that we haven't seen in many, many years.

But from that moment on, our country has taken in commitments. We think it's probably—Scott is here, and Howard is here—Commerce. And the Secretary of Treasury, Scott, has been great. Howard has been great. But I think these numbers are maybe looking—making them look better than they're supposed to be looking.

Where are they? Howard, where are you? And there's Howard. Stand up, Howard. Now, where's Scott? Boy, this——

Amir Tamim. Scott is here.

President Trump. Oh, well, you're not too far away, huh?

He's become a big star. You know, every time he goes on television, everything goes up. And sometimes I say, "Say it more forcefully," but he shouldn't do what I'm telling him. [Laughter] Because every time he goes, he's really—he's really considered one of the great gurus, one of the great geniuses of markets and understanding markets. And he does understand the market, and he also understands that we took on a terrible situation that was left to us by a prior administration.

And within a short period of time, I think we're in great shape. I think we're one of the most—maybe the most talked about—we are the most talked about country anywhere in the world. We're really—and this is in a period—a short period of time. This is during, really, a hundred days. A little more than three months; and let's say the first month doesn't count because, for the first months, I wanted to fix up the Oval Office, make it look really nice.

So, just in a couple of short months, we've taken in numbers that nobody ever thought possible. I don't think there's ever been anything like it in any country, and certainly there hasn't been in ours.

So we'll be well over $10 trillion. And I want to thank Your Highness for helping with that number. That's a big—it's a big contribution. But you know you can count on us, and you know that it's going to be a great investment for you, and it's been a great investment over the years.

So tonight let us give thanks for the blessings of this friendship. We have a great friendship, our country and your country, added to by our friendship.

And in keeping with the title of your national anthem, I want to wish peace to the amir and to all Qataris. Working together, we can help the entire region unlock its potential. You have unbelievable potential here—such great, such rich land; such beautiful, magnificent—it's just a magnificent place. And you're unlocking its potential.

And you have a truly great leader and royal family. But you have a great leader, because you can have great land, you can have great wealth, you can have oil all over the place—you could have the oil and gas like nobody has—if you don't have a good leader, it doesn't mean a thing. And you see it all the time. There are a lot of places with oil. There are a lot of places with everything that you're supposed to have for success, and they're not successful. But you're successful because of a man that's sitting on my left. That's a special man.

So I just want to say it's an honor to be with you tonight. And I look forward to coming back and watching some more buildings go up and everything else that you're doing. You're at a level that few people can even think about.

And I hope you can help me with the Iran situation, because it's a perilous situation, and we want to do the right thing. We want to do something that's going to save maybe millions of lives, because things like that get started, and they get out of control. I've seen it over and over again. They go to war, and things get out of control, and we're not going to let that happen.

So I want to thank you and Prime Minister and everybody else for the help you've given us. And in turn, we'll do things for you that I think you'll be very, very happy about, and that's, more important than anything else, leading a great and safe and prosperous life in a fantastic country.

Thank you very much, everybody. I appreciate it. Thank you. Thank you.