President Donald Trump basked in the glory of what has the potential to be his greatest foreign policy accomplishment yet, arguing that it represented more than just a peace deal to end the war in Gaza.

Giving his first interview since the historic peace deal was announced, Trump told Fox News’s Sean Hannity that it was a “great honor” to be involved in the peace negotiations, praising the “amazing” negotiators involved, including Secretary of State Marco Rubio and U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff. He said the peace deal saw the whole world come together and could lead to wider peace in the Middle East.

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“The whole world came together, to be honest, so many countries that you wouldn’t have even thought of, they came together,” Trump said, arguing that this was the critical component of the deal. “This is more than Gaza. This is peace in the Middle East, and it’s an incredible thing.”

“People are going to be taken care of. It’s going to be a different world. I think really, the Middle East came together,” he added.

Trump voiced hope that the “tremendous” wealth of the Arab countries involved in the rebuilding of Gaza after the war could turn it into a new and better place. In typical hyperbolic fashion, Trump said that some suggested the peace deal could last “3,000 years.”

He waved off concerns that the deal could collapse, saying there were “no dark clouds.”

Trump’s ability to push through the peace deal won him rare praise from many critics, who conceded that the breakthrough was only possible due to his strong personality and ability to balance relationships with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the Arab states.

“This ceasefire and hostage release, if it happens, only came to fruition because of Trump’s willingness to pressure Prime Minister Netanyahu,” frequent critic Aaron David Miller of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace told the New York Times. “No president, Republican or Democrat, has ever come down harder on an Israeli prime minister on issues so critically important to his politics or his country’s security interests.”

Trump’s team viewed the result as a complete vindication of the president’s approach to diplomacy, using the occasion to gloat over their detractors.

“It’s very humbling to witness something so gigantic. There’s also a real sense of pride, because so many Democrats and haters in the media doubted this would happen. They wrote hit pieces about Steve [Witkoff]. They s*** on Jared [Kushner] for simply coming in to help. They have, of course, always doubted the president. And he proved them all wrong, once again,” a White House official told Politico.

As part of the deal, all remaining living hostages, Hamas’s last leverage over Israel, will be released either late Sunday or early Monday. The roughly 20 living hostages will be accompanied by the estimated 28 bodies of those who died, though when isn’t fully clear. In return, Israel will release 250 life sentence Palestinian prisoners plus 1,700 Gazans who were detained after Oct. 7, 2023, along with hundreds of bodies.

Israel Defense Forces will withdraw periodically from the Gaza Strip in phase one of the deal, maneuvers which began on Thursday. Hundreds of aid trucks will be allowed to pour in per day.

TRUMP ANNOUNCES PEACE DEAL BETWEEN ISRAEL AND HAMAS

Trump is expected to travel to Israel sometime over the weekend, possibly to greet the hostages personally. He said he would address Israel’s parliament, “if they want me to.” Hostage families invited the president to speak at Hostages Square in Tel Aviv.

Meanwhile, jubilant crowds across Israel and Gaza celebrated the peace deal that many hope will end the war.