Facing ethics scrutiny over his decision to accept a $400 million luxury jet from the Qatari royal family for use as Air Force One, President Donald Trump defended the move on Monday, calling it a “very nice gesture” made out of gratitude for U.S. security assistance.

Speaking to reporters in the Oval Office during an executive order signing, Trump said he believed the Qataris offered the plane because the U.S. has “helped them a lot over the years in terms of security and safety.” Trump said of Qatar as well as Saudi Arabia and the UAE, “We keep them safe. If it wasn’t for us, they probably wouldn’t exist right now.”

Trump remarked that he has “a lot of respect for the leadership and for the leader of Qatar” and that “if we can get a [Boeing] 747 [jet] as a contribution to our Defense Department to use during a couple of years while [Boeing is] building the other ones, I think that was a very nice gesture. Now, I could be a stupid person to say, ‘Oh no, we don’t want a free plane.’ We give free things out. We’ll take one too, and it helps us out.” 

The unprecedented gift quickly sparked accusations of impropriety and violations of the Constitution’s anti-bribery clause, including from congressional Democrats and ethics experts. Rep. Ritchie Torres (D-NY) wrote to the Trump administration that “In the cruelest irony, Air Force One will have something in common with Hamas: paid for by Qatar.”

The president said he does not plan to use the plane in his personal capacity once his term ends: “It would go directly to the [Trump Presidential Library Foundation] after I leave office, I wouldn’t be using it.” He further insisted it was not a gift to him personally, but to the Defense Department.

Trump also said the release of American hostage and New Jersey native Edan Alexander from Hamas captivity, scheduled for later Monday, is “really great news” and that Alexander will be released “before the eyes of [Middle East envoy] Steve Witkoff, who has done a fantastic job. … Steve knew very little about the subject matter, who does? But he learned it in about two hours and he’s been fantastic.”

The president confirmed that the number of living hostages left in Hamas captivity is 21, down from 24. After Alexander’s release, Trump said, Hamas will have “20 live hostages there. The rest are dead bodies.” 

Depending on the status of Alexander’s health upon his release, his family confirmed he may travel to Doha to meet Trump and the Qatari emir during Trump’s Middle East visit this week. 

Regarding Syria, Trump told reporters that he is “doing some work” with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and has to “make a decision on the sanctions” the U.S. currently has placed on Syria, “which we may very well relieve. We may take them off of Syria because we want to give them a fresh start. … We want to see if we can help them out.” 

Trump said he may stop in Turkey on Thursday depending on his Middle East travel schedule to join Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky who have said they may meet for direct talks.

Bipartisan groups of lawmakers on Capitol Hill have floated lifting sanctions on the new Syrian government contingent on the country reaching benchmarks on issues such as democracy and counterterrorism. Israel has taken a less optimistic view of the new regime and its leader Ahmed al-Sharaa, whom Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar has described as “a jihadist in a suit,” and is maintaining a military presence over the border in Syria, though al-Sharaa recently revealed that Jerusalem and Damascus have been engaged in indirect discussions to prevent flare-ups.

Trump also touched on ongoing U.S. negotiations with Iran, which just completed the fourth round of talks this weekend, saying, “I think you have very good things happening there. … I think they can’t have a nuclear weapon, but I think that they are talking intelligently.”

He stated that he wants Iran “to be wealthy and wonderful and happy and great, but they can’t have a nuclear weapon. It’s very simple. So I think they understand that we mean — that I mean — business, and I think they’re being very reasonable thus far.”

On the ceasefire recently reached between the U.S. and the Houthis in Yemen, the president said that the U.S. has “created a situation where the Houthis, for the first time ever, have ceased firing, and they’ve let it be known that they’re not going to be firing at American ships anymore, not going to be firing at Americans anymore.” 

Trump said the Iran-backed terror group has been “in war essentially for forever” and has been “very difficult for other countries. Nobody was able to do what we did, but they stopped, and we take their word for it today. Their surrogates and them directly said we don’t want to do this anymore. And so we were satisfied with that.” 

The agreement was announced just days after the Houthis attacked Israel’s Ben-Gurion Airport complex and the group has continued firing on Israel since the ceasefire with the U.S. came into effect.