‘Very Wise Man Once Said…’: Trump Mocked Over Old Iran Quote After Reporter Brings Up 2020 Remark
‘Very Wise Man Once Said…’: Trump Mocked Over Old Iran Quote After Reporter Brings Up 2020 Remark Published By, Last Updated: June 19, 2026, 10:03
‘Very Wise Man Once Said…’: Trump Mocked Over Old Iran Quote After Reporter Brings Up 2020 Remark Published By, Last Updated: June 19, 2026, 10:03 IST The 'Islamabad Memorandum of Understanding between US and Iran' calls for “immediate and permanent termination of military operations on all fronts, including in Lebanon”. Rapid Read US President Donald Trump. (Reuters Image) Hours after the signing of a peace deal with Iran, an exchange between US President Donald Trump and Fox News reporter Peter Doocy has gone viral online this week. The interaction took place at a press conference in Switzerland, where Trump had attended the G7 Summit before finalising the agreement. Doocy opened the exchange by recalling a statement Trump had made in 2020 during his first term. “I just want to ask you about this…" he said, before continuing, “A wise man once said, in January of 2020, ‘Iran never won a war, but never lost a negotiation.’ That wise man…" At that point, Trump interrupted, asking, “Who said that?" though he appeared aware of the answer. “Donald Trump," Doocy responded. “That’s what I thought you were going to say," Trump replied with a smirk. The reporter then shifted to his question, pointing to a challenge often associated with a president who describes himself as “the world’s greatest deal-maker." “How do you," Doocy asked, “convince a sceptical American public that this deal…" Trump cut in again.
“Well, look, here they lost militarily, okay? It’s very tough, because I know that no matter what, if I were to go, by the way, if I went another three or four weeks, those same people that are critical would say he went too long, he shouldn’t have… " The exchange then veered into criticism of the US media rather than a direct response to the question. “If they (i.e., Iran) raised the white flag of surrender, and if they said, ‘Praise be to Allah, Donald Trump is the greatest president ever, we totally concede, we totally give up, this war is over, we have failed’, The New York Times and CNN and a couple of others – they’re not all (i.e., the other American news publications) that dishonest – they’d say ‘Iran had a great victory’, okay?" Trump further alleged that major outlets had misrepresented military developments, claiming The New York Times had not reported certain aspects of Iran’s naval losses. “…the Times refused to do a story on it. They said, ‘What would you do? They don’t have a Navy. And you don’t want to do a story on them – they don’t have an Air Force… you don’t want to… We need a fair press.
