A New York Times reporter asked the president why he switched from calling Iran’s leaders “rational” to calling them “scum.” The answer: “I got to know them.”

President Donald Trump took the question at a news conference Wednesday.

“Last month, you said Iranian leaders were very rational people, nice people to deal with, strong people, smart people. Today, you said they were scum, sick people, and being led by sick people. What changed?” the reporter asked.

“I got to know them,” Trump answered, prompting laughter from Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who was standing behind him.

“When you say rational, I think they’re much more rational than level one, level two. Level one is gone, level two is gone. This is level three, I think,” Trump elaborated, without explaining what he meant by all those levels.

At the NATO summit in Turkey Wednesday, Trump declared that the memorandum of understanding between the United States and Israel was effectively “over.” It had started unraveling when the two countries began trading attacks this week, but the MOU’s death knell sounded when Iran struck commercial ships in the Strait of Hormuz, prompting retaliatory strikes from the United States and the reimposition of oil sanctions on Iran.