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Trump Gaggles with Press on Air Force One En Route Joint Base Andrews, Apr. 17, 2026

April 17, 2026 · The White House · 0:07:32

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

What happened

President Donald Trump took questions from the press aboard Air Force One en route to Joint Base Andrews on April 17, 2026. The subject was Iran: “It seems to be going very well in the Middle East with Iran. We’ll know over a little period of time. We’re negotiating over the weekend, and as you know, we have the blockade. The blockade’s been very successful.” Asked what had been agreed, he held the line to one condition: “The main thing is that Iran will not have a nuclear weapon. You cannot let Iran have a nuclear weapon, and that supersedes everything else.”

On Iran’s nuclear material, he said: “They’re turning it over… We’re taking it,” and clarified the sequence — the material would be taken after the agreement is signed, “a lot different than before.” Asked whether Iran would be allowed restrictions or tolls on shipping through the strait, he answered: “No way.” He deflected reports of Pentagon preparations regarding Cuba — “it depends on what your definition of military action is” — and previewed the next day’s White House event as “a little bit of a surprise… something very good for our country,” the psychedelics executive-order signing this chronicle records on April 18.

Why it matters

The Air Force One gaggle is the President’s status statement on the Iran negotiations at the close of that week — weekend talks, the blockade as leverage, and the nuclear-material handover sequenced after signature — recorded on the Foreign Policy & Defense hub.

Scoreboard watch

The terms as stated by the President — no Iranian nuclear weapon, the material taken after signature, and no Iranian tolls or restrictions in the strait — are recorded here as the baseline against which any signed agreement is measured.

Sources: The White House, “President Trump Gaggles with Press on Air Force One En Route Joint Base Andrews, Apr. 17, 2026,” The White House, April 17, 2026 (official upload, embedded above). All characterizations as stated by the President at the gaggle.