Arabic → English transcript

Naturally, this difference over the Syrian crisis was reflected in our relations with Iran.

The financial support decreased.

And of course it was affected.

The financial support decreased but did not stop.

It declined to a great extent.

To a great extent.

Do you not see that the time has come for it to turn toward the Arabs, toward Saudi Arabia?

This is a question we do not need to ask, because the time came long ago and we did it.

Are you prepared, I mean, to possibly change, to loosen up your positions, your strategies?

So that they are more in harmony with the Arabs?

I am telling you, my brother Abdullah.

This is a question to be asked of someone who was aligned with one axis against another.

He should take heed.

In the past, we…

Not “the Arabs,” if I may interrupt you.

For the Arabs, they see that the mere fact that you are allied with Iran

implicitly is against the region and against the Arabs.

I am telling you, my brother Abdullah.

Good, let me take advantage of this a bit.

At the height of my relationship…

Meaning, at the peak of our relationship with Iran and with Syria and Hezbollah,

our doors were wide open to the Arabs, to Egypt despite the dispute with it,

to Saudi Arabia, to the Gulf states, to North Africa.

We kept the Arab door open.

I mean, let me put it this way

In the past, Tehran used to invite us for successive visits

Meaning, they are the ones learning from you

We Arabs knock on their door

And they do not answer

Some of them respond and some of them do not

And the response comes late, and from some, not from all

While the Iranians are the ones knocking on the door

Meanwhile, the Iranians, with their cleverness, were smart

They dealt with us comfortably, with support, and welcomed us

We Arabs knocked on their door, we knocked on their door in the past

And we knock on their door today, and I will knock on it in the future

No one who has a just cause should act arrogantly toward my people

I do not act arrogantly toward my friends, so how could I act arrogantly toward the Arabs

Just allow me, brother, let me stay on this point

So we have knocked on the Arabs’ door, and we are still knocking

One of the Arab officials, in a relaxed, informal session

Without…

I said to him—he said to me, “Brother, your relationship with Iran…”

He said to me, “Only…” I said to him, “Yes, Iran supports us”

“And I am knocking on your door, so why do you not support us”

He said, “We cannot”

He said, “But Iran benefits”

He said, “Is it possible that Iran supports you for free”

I said to him, “No, not for free”

“And what was the price”

He said to me, “Of course there is a price”

I told him, “Yes, there is a price.”

“But the price is not up to our decisions.”

And he said to me, “Why?”

I said, “The price is eighty.”

The first price is that when Iran supports Hamas,

the Sunni Palestinian movement in religious terms,

this makes its image better in the Arab world for most Sunnis.

And the second…

And the second is that in front of the West it says to them, “I am backing a strong Hamas.

What do you want from Palestine? I am ready.”

I said, “Allow me.”

The Arab official smiled.

I said to him, “What do you think you are doing with the West?”

I said to him, “I have no problem,

and by the way, I have said this before, and in recent months I visited a number of Arab leaders.

I said to him, ‘O so-and-so,

O holder of such-and-such responsibility,

I have no objection to you going to the West and the East and telling them,

‘On Palestine, we can come to an understanding with Hamas and with Fatah,

not with Hamas alone,

with Hamas and with Fatah and with all Palestinian forces.

We are ready

to deal with them,

meaning make them feel that Hamas

the Arabs can reach an understanding with it,

but reach an understanding with it

not just any understanding.

We are not seeking a settlement.

In our hands are the rights of the Palestinian people.’”

Anyway, this Arab official, years ago

when I asked him, “Why did you, and so-and-so, and so-and-so”

and I named some Arab officials,

go and say, “By God, we can come to an understanding with Hamas”?

He said to me, “I cannot.”

I said to him, “Why can you not?”

He said, “Iran does not care,

but for us it makes a difference.”

I said to him, “Fine, Iran does not care.

What do you think about Turkey?

Do you know that Mr. Erdoğan,

on his first visit to Washington,

sent to me in Damascus, four or five years ago,

Ahmet Davutoğlu,

Dr. Ahmed, and it was supposed to be a foreign visit,

he was his adviser,

he came to my office in Damascus,

he said to him, ‘Abu al-Walid, Mr. Erdoğan sends you his regards,

and he says to you, “I am going to Washington, what do you want from me?”’”

I said to him, “Why do you Arabs

shrink back and hunch your shoulders?

You are leaders.

On the contrary, act with courage.

I am an Arab, same as you.

I am a pure Arab, same as you.

No one can outbid me in Arabism.

I went to Iran, it is a Muslim country,

and I am ready to go to any country,

Muslim, Christian, Buddhist,

but I will not pay a price.

I only want the world to stand with me.”

At my centers with Israel