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Trump Gaggles with Press at the Port of Corpus Christi, Feb. 27, 2026

February 27, 2026 · The White House · 0:04:06

Embedded from the source channel — never re-uploaded. Watch on YouTube

What happened

President Donald Trump gagged with the press at the Port of Corpus Christi, Texas on February 27, 2026, standing before tankers he pointed out had come from Venezuela — “millions and millions of barrels of oil are pouring right in here,” he said, calling the new relationship with Venezuela “amazing” and noting the port’s newly opened bridge.

Most of the short gaggle turned on Iran, one day before the strikes began. Asked for a message, the President said Iran “should make a deal, but they don’t want to quite go far enough.” His account of the sticking point: “They have to say we’re not going to have a nuclear weapon and they just can’t quite get there. They want to enrich a little bit. You don’t have to enrich when you have that much oil… I say no enrichment.” Asked how close he was to a decision on strikes, he declined to answer — “I’d rather not tell you” — and said he was concerned not about prices but “about people’s lives… about long-term health for this country.”

Why it matters

This gaggle is the President’s last on-the-record statement of the Iran negotiating position before the February 28 launch address — no enrichment, the words “we’re not going to have a nuclear weapon” as the deal’s price, and a strike decision deliberately left undisclosed. It is recorded on the Foreign Policy & Defense hub.

Scoreboard watch

The President’s statements that he was “not happy with the negotiation” and that no enrichment was his line, made the day before major combat operations began, are recorded here for the weekly scoreboard. The scoreboard entry itself remains review-gated.

Sources: The White House, “President Trump Gaggles with Press at the Port of Corpus Christi, TX,” The White House, February 27, 2026 (official upload, embedded above; Corpus Christi, TX, per the official description). All characterizations as stated by the President at the gaggle.