TRANSCRIPT: President Trump Attends the Israel-Hamas Peace Agreement Signing in Egypt, 10.13.25
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President Donald Trump: Well, thank you very much, everybody. This is a tremendous day for the world. It's a tremendous day for the Middle East, and, uh, you can see that this is probably the greatest assemblage of countries in terms of wealth and power maybe ever assembled, and it's, uh, just an honor being part of it. Uh, we're gonna be signing a document that's going to spell out a lot of rules, and regulations, and lots of other things. And, uh, it's very comprehensive, but -- and we've already signed documents in the Middle East, and having to do with Israel, and Hamas, and just about everything else. And it's, uh, it's really working out incredibly well. The hostages, as you know, were let go on time, on schedule. Uh, the very sad situation of bodies, which [Inaudible] the sad situation, and they're being sought out, and they're working with, uh, many different people, finding some were brought in and some were not, and, and, uh, working now to find out where those bodies are.
It's hard to believe that you even have to say something like that. It's so sad. It's so sad. But what's not sad is that [Inaudible] finally after, I guess they say 3,000 years. I've heard from 3,000 years, to 500 years, to whatever it is, it's a lot. But this was the one. This was the granddaddy of them all, and [Inaudible], and I thought this was probably gonna be the toughest, and maybe in many ways it was. But we have a lot of good talent, uh, Steve Witkoff, Jared, and Marco, and Pete, and, uh, General Caine. I'm so glad. Uh, John Ratcliffe was incredible. We have, uh, an amazing array of talent, and we were helped by, in particular, the countries that are represented at this table, uh, I will say, to me, were fantastic, and your country is unbelievable, and, uh, I don't think they give you a fair shake.
They, they talk about you as, as though you're not a nice person, and you happen to be a nice person. You had to [Inaudible] when you're surrounded by everybody, to -- and they -- So without you, this wouldn't have happened, and I just wanna thank you very much. That's Qatar, and [Inaudible] is an amazing leader. And another man who's been a friend of mine for a long time -- I dunno what it is, I like the tough people better than I like the soft, easy ones. I dunno what the hell that is. That's a personality, uh, a problem, I suspect, but this gentleman from a place called Turkey is a, well, has one of the most powerful armies, actually, in the world.
It's much more powerful than even lets known. If you look at some of the recent conflicts, he was in the top of 'em, and he was winning 'em, and he did win 'em, and he doesn't want any credits. He doesn't want anything. He just wants to be left alone. He's a tough cookie, but he's still my friend. And every time I've ever needed him, he's been there for me, so I just wanna thank President [Inaudible] has a problem with him, 'cause he is difficult, they call me. They said, "Would you do me a favor? Will you speak to Erdogan?" And I do, and he never fails. That's right, [Inaudible] never fails. He's a - amazing, so I just wanna thank you for the friendship as well. Thank you very much. And, and then, of course, we have, uh, the host tonight, and I just wanna thank you very much. There was a reason I chose Egypt, because you were very helpful and, uh, were very, very helpful.
Everybody wanted to have us, but we really thought it was appropriate, and you are a great leader. You have very little crime, with, uh, problems that other countries don't have, and of course, nothing's perfect, but the job you do is amazing, and I wanna thank you, and – Everybody wanted to have us, but we really thought it was appropriate, and you are a great leader. You have very little crime. We have, uh, problems that other countries don't have. And of course, nothing's perfect, but the job you do was amazing, and I wanna thank you. Another one, we, you're my friend, right from the beginning, during the campaign against uh crooked Hillary Clinton, have you heard of her?
We were both downstairs waiting to go up to meet this gentleman who has a place called Egypt, the oldest civilization. They say 6,000 years. China's 5,000 years, but you're uh, you're actually number one. 6,000 years. Can you believe it? But, uh, the oldest, they say civilization. But, uh, so I went up to meet him first. Uh, we liked each other so much that she waited for about an hour and a half. And I think your meeting lasted about two minutes with them. So I always remembered that. But that was our first meeting. We had great chemistry together. And he's a fantastic man and a fantastic general, by the way. But he's a great, uh, great president and I want to thank Egypt and all of your representatives for treating us all so well.
President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi: You're welcome. Thanks.
Trump: So with the signing, the representatives of the whole group of nations. And uh sitting behind us, and you know most of them. I can tell you this bunch has so much money. They all have. There's more money and power sitting behind us. I love that they're behind us. They've never been sitting behind anybody before. This is a very unique position for them. But, they are, seriously, they're, uh, among the most powerful countries, uh, in the world. The, the richest countries in the world. And there's never been really an assemblage like what we have today. I don't think, well, I've never seen it anywhere. And I want to thank everybody for being with us. Khachaturyan, I just started a war for him. Azerbaijan. I think you've met -- Who did you come here with? Where? Oh, there he is.
Unidentified: [In Arabic, not translated]
Trump: -- two years, in one hour we settled it, right? And they like each other. So, I wanna thank everybody for being here. Khachaturyan, he's a very strong ruler. He's been doing a great job. So we want to uh thank him. So many good work. We're actually gonna be making a speech after this. So this is just, uh, a very important signing, but we're doing a signing then we're doing the speech and then I may stay behind with the leaders just to talk about that, uh, some things without the press. I wanna thank the media for very, you, you've been so respectful on this deal. You know the importance of the deal. And I, I really, uh, it was so pleasant to watch. I was on the plane for quite a while listening to the various newscasts and they were all fair. They were talking about how incredible this is. This is an incredible day for the world, let alone the Middle East.
So I just wanted to thank the media. They really treated it with respect. I wish you could be like that on other things, but that's perhaps too much to ask for. But on this, uh, tremendous, everybody feels the same. Uh, just tremendous respect and we appreciate it very much. Can we get the documents please? Okay.
Unidentified: Here. You'll sign right here.
Trump: Sign it? Okay.
Unidentified: Let's see, again. [Inaudible]
Trump: This took 3,000 years to get to this point. Can you believe it? And it's gonna hold up too. It's going to hold up. Okay, thank you.
Unidentified: Thank you.
Trump: You can use my pen, if you want. You have a pen? Want to use mine? Okay.
Unidentified: Okay.
Trump: Okay. Okay.
el-Sisi: [Inaudible]
Unidentified: Hold it up for one second.
Trump: Okay. [Inaudible]. You think we're gonna hold it up? I don't hold up the signature page. Yeah. So we're gonna go and, uh, I'm gonna say a few words. Will give you a little speech. And then we're gonna meet with the leaders after that, and, uh, spend a little time together without the media. Uh, the media's invited to the speech. I just wanna tell you the people behind me and some of the people in the room that are so helpful. But the people behind me are the greatest leaders. Most powerful leaders, the richest leaders, frankly. Sometimes, it's not politically correct to say that. But I'll say it, the richest in the world that the world has ever seen.
And yet, when you get to know them, I know every one of them, uh, in their own way. And, and I can say in particular some, because that's the way life works, but some of the greatest people you'll ever meet and people that really care for their countries and why, uh, this happened is they all came together and they wanted to get Gaza straightened out. They wanted to get the whole thing straightened out. It got to a point where it was just crazy. And, uh, once they got together and once we started talking, it went really -- To me, it went smoothly. It went so smoothly. It was such a big help. But it went so smoothly that nobody could even believe it, that we're sitting here and, and getting this, uh, all certified out and all done.
And, uh, and everybody's happy about it. Everybody's happy about it like I've never seen before actually. I've done other deals and people don't care as much. Uh, big deals. I think they're big deals, but this is something that's taken off like a rocket ship. And it did from the beginning. And I've heard for years, this is the biggest deal. It'll never happen. For years, long before I ran for office, that this is the, the Middle East. It's, uh, the biggest, most complicated deal. And also it's the, uh, place that could lead to tremendous problems like World War III. They always talked about World War III would start in the Middle East. And, uh, that's not gonna happen.
We don't want it to start anywhere, actually. But it's not gonna happen. So I just want to thank everybody and I'll see you in a little while. And in particular, thank you all. Thank you, [Inaudible]. Mr. General, thank you very much. Thank you very much. Great job. Great job, thank you. Thank you very much everyone. Thank you. Okay.