Wall Street Journal reporter Phil Wegmann pressed President Trump during an Oval Office executive order signing on Monday about balancing the U.S. economy and preventing Iran from getting a nuclear weapon: <\/p>\n
REPORTER: Can you ensure that the Iranians won’t use profits from oil sales to rebuild their military? PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Well, they’re not supposed to be doing that, so we’ll see. But they’re supposed to use money to buy food for their people, because right now the people are very hungry, and they’re buying it exclusively from us: corn, soybeans. It should be a lot of money. I hope it’s a lot of money. PHIL WEGMANN: If a war with Iran could cause a “worldwide depression,” as you noted, Mr. President, are you willing to risk economic catastrophe and strike Iran again? PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Well, not the way I’m doing it. It’s not going to cause a depression. PHIL WEGMANN: Yes, but if they don’t abide by the memorandum of understanding – PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Well, nuclear weapon supersedes depression. Depression’s real bad. Nuclear weapon will cause depression much more quickly. The way we’re doing it, we have the opposite of a depression. We’re doing really well. The numbers are incredible. The oil is at a level that nobody’s ever seen before. Oil prices are way down. I think they’re very comparable to what they were. Chris, I don’t know, pretty comparable to what they were before we started. ENERGY SECRETARY CHRIS WRIGHT: They’ve returned most of the way back down. PHIL WEGMANN: So if Iran does not abide by the MOU, are you still willing to strike, and does it cause a depression? PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: I didn’t say it would cause a depression. I said it could cause a depression, right? And they said that I don’t want to be Herbert Hoover. That’s a president I don’t want to be, because he was in charge during the Great Depression. And certainly a lot of bad things could happen. That would be one of the things. I don’t think it would. But no, if Iran doesn’t live up to their agreement, or if they’re not behaving, I will do what I have to do. PHIL WEGMANN: Does that give them leverage over you, Mr. President? Does that give the Iranians leverage over you? PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Oh, you — “leverage.” You know, their navy is gone. Their air force is gone. The leaders are all dead. Their whole country is a mess. Their economy is shut. The Times, the fake New York Times, said, Oh, it’s about the same as it was four months ago. No. Four months ago, they had a navy – 159 ships, to be exact. It’s gone. The whole navy is gone. They had 250 airplanes, all gone. Their anti-aircraft is gone. Their radar is gone. These guys love radar. Their radar is gone. Everything’s gone. Their leaders are gone. The whole country is gone. And The Times said, Oh, they’re about the same as they were four months ago.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n