Trump discusses expansion of drug cartel crackdown, issues grim warning to Iran

President Donald Trump said Thursday the United States will expand operations against drug cartels while touting his takedown of Venezuelan dictator Nicolás Maduro during an interview on “Hannity.”

“We’ve knocked out 97 percent of the drugs coming in by water, and we are going to start now hitting land,” Trump told Fox News host Sean Hannity. “The cartels are running Mexico, it’s very sad to watch, and see what’s happened to that country.”

“They’re killing 250,000, 300,000 in our country every single year.”

The appearance marked the president’s first sit-down interview since Maduro’s capture.

TRUMP BLASTS GOP WAR POWERS DEFECTORS, SAYS THEY ‘SHOULD NEVER BE ELECTED TO OFFICE AGAIN’

Trump praised the U.S. military personnel involved in the Venezuelan operations, offering admiration for what he called a “fantastic group” that carried out the mission.

“[Maduro’s] house was in the middle of a fort, with thousands of people and soldiers,” Trump explained. “And we went right into the middle of a fort. Who would think you could do that and not lose anybody? But they had it planned so beautifully, General ‘Razin Caine’ and Pete Hegseth were fantastic.”

The president addressed the number of Cuban soldiers “wiped out” in the military operation.

“I don’t even want to say how many, but they got wiped out,” Trump said.

The president also explained the “Donroe Doctrine” – a term some of his admirers have created for his brand of foreign policy.

“Well, they call it the ‘Donroe’ –  I didn’t call it that, but they are calling it the Monroe Doctrine. And now they call it ‘The Donroe,’ which is basically safety for this part of the world. And yeah, Imean, it’s pretty simple: We don’t want drugs pouring into our country,” Trump said. :We don’t want bad people coming into our county, like happened for four years under Biden, who was the disgraced worst president in the history of our country – horrible. We had some other bad ones. Let me tell you, Obama was a terrible president. The divisiveness and the hatred that was caused – many of the people allowed into the country.”

“But what Biden did was a step beyond anything that anybody’s ever done,” the president continued. “We had millions of people pouring through the border. Now we have nobody coming in unless they come in legally.”

Trump also addressed whether he thinks Cuba can survive without Venezuela’s support. 

TRUMP DEFENDS ICE AGENT, SHOWS NYT REPORTERS VIDEO OF DEADLY MINNEAPOLIS SHOOTING

“No. Cuba totally relies on Venezuela for money and for oil, and they give Venezuela protection,” the president said.

Trump touted oil as one of the many wins for America stemming from Maduro’s takedown, in addition to Venezuela agreeing to release all political prisoners.

“[Venezuela] They’ve been great. They really have been. I mean, everything we’ve wanted, they’ve given us,” Trump told Fox News.

Revenue generated from Venezuelan oil will reportedly be used to benefit both the Venezuelan people and the United States.  And, Trump said, the oil is worth “billions and billions.”

He announced that he will meet with oil executives at the White House on Friday.

“The top 14 companies are coming here,” Trump said. “They’re going to rebuild the entire oil infrastructure.”

President Trump also discussed Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado’s offer to give him her Nobel Peace Prize for liberating Venezuela.

While Trump did not directly say whether he would take the prize, he said it would be a “great honor” and announced that Machado will visit the White House next week.

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP

Much of Trump’s conversation with Hannity centered on foreign policy, and it broadened to the widespread protests happening in Iran in opposition of the regime.

Trump issued a stark warning to Iran’s regime, vowing to support the Iranians protesting them.

“In the past, they’ve started shooting the hell out of people,” he said. “And all of a sudden, people without any weapons whatsoever are standing there, and you have machine guns gunning them down, or they take them to prisons and then hang them and kill them.”

“They played rough,” he added. “If they do that, we’re going to hit them very hard. We can hit them hard. We’re ready to do it.”