UAE Minister on Iran: ‘We are everything that they’re not’

[0:00] now to our next guest the united arab emirates has taken more direct attacks from iran than any [0:06] other country including israel in the last seven weeks of war joining us now is the ua's minister [0:11] of state for international cooperation ream al-hashimi thank you so much uh madam secretary [0:17] for being here um so i want to get to that point you have been attacked by iran more than any other [0:26] country and we put together the numbers here um this is from the uh the gulf uh research center [0:33] and it shows look at the numbers uh i mean you know them well you have been attacked more than israel [0:38] more than saudi arabia why has iran aimed so much firepower at the uae thank you very much john for [0:46] having me well in 40 days we were attacked a little over 2800 with 2800 missiles and drones [0:54] and for us it's very clear that they've chosen to go down this path because we are everything that [1:00] they're not we are a model of economic prosperity we have 200 nationalities that live there we have [1:07] religions and cultures from all around the world we used our oil wealth to build an economic powerhouse [1:14] they used their wealth for nuclear programs that are nefarious for missiles drones proxies etc [1:21] so whereas we tried to become and have become an international global responsible player [1:29] they are a pariah state and they wanted to break that model but they underestimated our resolve [1:35] so how concerned are you that at the end of this process even if there is a deal that iran [1:41] will retain the power to continue once again to attack the uae so we're very concerned because we [1:49] believe that it's really important that as part of the neighborhood that one is in that you have [1:56] neighbors that don't just launch these types of weapons against fellow neighbors i don't know if you're [2:02] aware john but over 90 percent of all of their targets was actually civilian infrastructure [2:08] so they weren't just going after the u.s bases or u.s facilities not at all and not even the u.s bases [2:14] where nothing was actually fired from the u.s bases right so they really wanted to break what it was [2:19] that made the uae special which is this incredible model of prosperity and and tolerance now what we're [2:26] looking at moving forward is how do you live with the reality of geography in a neighborhood that still [2:32] holds and upholds not just international law but also how are we going to be able to deal with a team [2:41] in the irgc that doesn't have such hostile intentions towards us so what do you make of the prospects for [2:47] these talks in islamabad do you think there's going to be a deal do you think it's well eventually [2:51] there's going to have to be one but it has to be a good deal right because there's no point in kicking [2:56] the can down the road when we're just going to end up where we started maybe even with a more [3:02] emboldened regime that wants to continue to hurt its neighborhood so from our perspective we do [3:08] want to have peace in our region but it can't be a bad peace it can't be a peace where it doesn't [3:13] address the root causes which is iran dealing with proxies like hezbollah and hamas and the houthis [3:20] having a nefarious missile and drone program a nuclear enrichment program being able to weaponize [3:27] the straits i mean that i think is a really serious tool that the iranians have taken forward which is [3:34] to hurt cities from des moines to delhi in spiking up fuel prices in spiking up food prices they don't [3:42] have the right to do that and that's why what the president has put forward which is to not allow them [3:48] to take over the straits is going to be really important moving forward and you i mean they're your [3:54] neighbors you opposed this war in the beginning you wanted a negotiated agreement in the beginning [4:01] do you think that the iranians as the regime now stands can be trusted to keep commitments even if [4:08] they come to an agreement look trust is earned right and what we've seen so far has been a pure [4:15] demonstration of a lot of hostility so the onus is really on them to demonstrate that they are not [4:21] going to be going forward in the way that the trajectory has been so far but trust is earned [4:26] john and we are we are not fools we've seen them even even before february 28th when this started a [4:33] couple of weeks before that one of our senior ministers was in tehran talking through how are we [4:39] going to be able to deal with as i said the realities of geography right now they're going to have to [4:45] really step up in a significant way for us to be able to believe what they say again president trump has [4:50] said that there has been regime change in iran i mean obviously the supreme leader was killed a lot [4:56] of the other leaders were killed you don't think there's been regime change in iran i know that [5:00] personalities have changed right you have different characters that are currently in place but how has [5:05] that changed the character of the revolutionary guard that's yet to see it doesn't seem very hopeful [5:10] though right now and let me ask you also about this threat that he's made to take out every bridge and [5:17] every power plant if there isn't an agreement are you concerned about that we believe that maximum [5:24] pressure is what actually takes you forward dealing with the revolutionary guard whether it's military [5:31] whether it's economic pressure which is why that piece is going to be critical now that they've [5:35] weaponized the straits the tolling of vessels the fact that they are able to have another amplified revenue [5:44] source those are all things that need to be tackled ultimately we don't want to hurt the iranian people [5:49] that's very important to mention but at the same time it's the revolutionary guard that have taken [5:54] forward a military stance and a posture not against the u.s and israel alone but against the very [6:01] neighborhood that they operate in through the gulf states all right uh madam minister thank you very [6:06] much for being here really appreciate your time it's a pleasure thank you john thank you so much thank you