War With Iran? The Prime Minister of Qatar Is Being Attacked in the Media for Wanting to Stop It
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Thanks for joining us, Mr. Prime Minister. Thank you very much. So you had the World Cup a few years ago here. It was very widely covered around the world. And part of the coverage, maybe the majority of the coverage, was not about soccer, football. It was about your country and how it was, you know, needed to come into line with the social mores of the West, etc. There was a lot of lecturing about, to your country, about the way that you live. Did you feel that?

Well, it's unfortunate, you know, there are the whole purpose of hosting the World Cup is to bring the world together in that country, to put the country in the spotlight about the football, about the tournament and about people coming together. Unfortunately, countries and some NGOs try to use this as an opportunity to attack on values of the society itself, on the values of the country, of the community.

by using it as an opportunity to change these values and to impose their own values on our country and our people. That's something that was expected from our side, that we will be attacked, we will be hearing a lot of lectures about values and things that do not belong to us. And basically, our decision from the beginning that we don't need to change the country

for one month tournament. And I cannot change the value of a whole society and impose on them values that I don't believe in. And it's against every principle in our society, against the principles of Islam, against the principles of Christianity as well. And that's basically, we said very clear.

We respect everybody who is coming here as long as they are respecting the laws in that country, as you are expecting from the Qataris when they visit any of your countries in Europe to respect your laws. And basically, that's what we want from the people. Anything happen in their personal life, it's their personal life. But nothing should happen in public against the laws of the state of Qatar. And we will never change. The problem that...

Those countries and NGOs put a lot of efforts in demonizing this World Cup in order to impose their values. Yet, there were many things happening around the world and they are just turning a blind eye. If they put some efforts and energy on those real issues that are affecting the human lives around the world,

It would be much better than the waste investment that was in campaigns against the country to change its values, to impose new values which are not even related to us. So why do you think that is? This used to be called cultural imperialism, taking your values and using force to impose them on another society. But this is probably the richest country per capita in the world. It's free. Qataris can come and go. They don't have to live here. They choose to live here.

and your values are thousands of years old, why would it be important for an NGO, I thought they were supposed to be feeding people, but instead they're yelling at you for not having enough transgender Qataris. What is the point of that? What do you think that actually is? What are they trying to do? Well, I think it's mainly driven by an agenda that these are the things that we would like to see in countries that they are not accepting it.

and societies that they are not accepting it. We need to make it normal for them. We need to normalize it. Second, a lot didn't accept the fact that Qatar is a small Arab country, can host a world-class tournament. Basically, they were like...

You know, how a lot of attacks that why Qatar won the World Cup, like they don't have even the culture of the World Cup. I don't know what's, you know, what does it mean if I am a country like a marginal country, I don't have the right to host a world tournament. And this is more about, honestly, like I see it like more racism and superiority. And that's basically, I think, the main driver for this.

So an official here told me a funny story, and I want to check to see if it's true. This person told me that some bureau or commission in the United Nations was raiding the human rights here in Qatar and said in order to score higher, you have to build nursing homes for your old people to live. And this person tried to explain, you know, we don't have nursing homes because old people, parents live with their children.

But you built them anyway in order to get a higher score on this, and they remained empty. Is that true? Well, it is true, actually. They are like, you know, sometimes when you have international organizations trying to impose certain conditions in order to give you, like, the better status that will make you look good.

It requires from you some steps that you will do that it's not even required, needed here in this kind of society. Look, Qatar is a very small country. The people here, family matters for us. Parents matters for us. We are indebted to our parents until the last day in their life or in our lives, whatever comes first.

If someone will leave his parents alone without taking care of it, he will be publicly shamed by the society. It's not really an acceptable custom or habit in this country to have your elder, to have your parents staying in a senior home. He's the one, the parents are the ones who took care of us when we were children.

until we grow up to become independent and we should, we have the duty to take care of them. And that's really the genuine nature of the Qatari society. So that's why you end up with something that you don't need. It's not according to your value. It's not according to your religion.

But we built it anyway to get the fancy branding. It does, if you take three steps back, it's like they're mad at you because you don't have enough transgenders. They're mad at you because you don't put your parents in some institution. Maybe they're trying to break up your families. Well, it can be a reason. Honestly, I don't know what is really the purpose behind this, but...

We see that a lot of things that are happening are attacks on humanity in general.

When you lose the family value, when you lose the connection between the family themselves, you will lose the connection between the people as well on a broader level, on the people in the same neighborhood, on the people in the same region, in the same countries. And that basically will just make us, you know, as individuals who are...

quote-unquote, independent from anyone. That's what we will feel. Yet, it will just make our societies vulnerable and easy to be penetrated. That's right. And that's, I think, the main issue that we are facing and the main threat that we are facing. You have seen, Thakur, you spent now a few days in Qatar and you have seen, you came to my home and you have seen that my home is surrounded by my family homes.

And it's not, I'm not really living in isolation from them. No, you're definitely not. The nuclear family, the bigger family, and it's like, it's all one community, one family. And basically you can apply this and magnify it to the entire country. This is not the case for Mohammed. This is the case for everyone here.

People, even when they move temporarily to another neighborhood or to another place 10 minutes away from their family, they feel homesick. So we believe that this is supposed to be the case for all the countries where families' bonds matter. Families' bonds really create from your society a strong society that's not easily penetrated.

And that's what creates the national unity as well, in the face of external threats and everything. So that's kind of the key, is that when you are cut off, when you're alone, you are powerless, and you can be controlled. Yeah. You can be penetrated. You can be penetrated, yes. Very true. Your country has been in the American media sporadically recently, and it's under attack for reasons I don't fully understand. One of the reasons I wanted to come here was to understand why people are mad at you.

And I think you've got the biggest overseas US air base right near here. So you're clearly a US ally. But I keep reading reference to Qatar as anti-American or pro-Islamist or a threat to the United States somehow. Where do those attacks come from, do you think? Look, as a country, we always want to do the right things.

and basically the right things not only for our people, but for our people, for our region, and for our friends. And when you are trying to do the right things, sometimes you change your mind, you know, when you hear this kind of criticism. But it wasn't really in our culture because we believe that it serves the real cause behind all these efforts is to bring peace.

Peace for the people, peace for the region, and peace for our friends. And basically, the peace is the main foundation for us, for our people to prosper. And peace has a lot of enemies. A lot of enemies who want to undermine it for political reasons, who want to undermine it for economic reasons, who want to demonize your efforts in order to make sure that

every step you will take will be suspicious in order to control also the parties that you are helping in that. And basically, they don't know by doing such a thing, they are not harming us, but they are harming the region and they are harming our friends, including the United States. And having an ally and partner and friend like Qatar

with the air base as one example, and working together very closely on a lot of issues, a lot of files, helping bringing Americans home from different countries, whether it was in the evacuation of Afghanistan, whether it's American hostages all around the world, mediating in different conflicts. They basically, if they keep criticizing Qatar and attacking Qatar,

They think that this is just harming Qatar and Qatar reputation. It's not. It's actually because we always like, you know, we go back to the results. We focus on the outcome and we think about it that that should be our objective and we should focus there and we shouldn't really disturb ourselves with any noise. But they don't know that this is harming the U.S. and the U.S. interest at the end of the day.

So, my sense is that part of the criticism and the confusion from Americans, well, I think two causes. One, you have a Hamas office here. And Hamas has been designated, I think, repeatedly by the U.S. government and certainly by the Congress as a terror organization. And people say, well, how could you have a Hamas office here? What is that?

We have to go back to the root of this, of this office. Like, why it's here in the first place? And Hamas office, when it was opened here in the first place, it was opened with full transparency and full consultation and actually even request from the U.S.,

The U.S. asked you to put a Hamas office here? They are, actually. They have asked us to open the channels with them and to have an established communication channel with the same case what was applied to Taliban as well. And look, at the end of the day, if you have a presence of someone in your country and you are engaging and talking, it doesn't mean that you are endorsing his ideas. It doesn't mean that you are supporting him.

The purpose of this office was to facilitate peace, to stabilize the region, and to make sure that always it's serving the purpose. And you can go through even everything that, all the events that happened in the recent 10 years since the office was officially opened here in Doha.

How many peace deals have been brokered from that office through that channel? Many of them. 2014 was the discussion and the negotiations was initiated here and ended in Egypt. In 2018, 2020 and 2021 with all those escalations and many of escalations that we avoided,

to prevent wars. There are many, plenty of them. You will lose count. Then, after 7th of October, the first hostage deal that released the hostages, the women and children, was 109, and the foreigners, was 109 hostages. November 23 happened through that office. The second hostage deal, which we are going through right now, it was produced out of this office.

So the office is a communication channel, and it doesn't make me feeling shy that I speak with someone whom I have a disagreement with. President Trump spoke with North Korea. He didn't shy out. He met with him. He engaged with him. He wants to put an end for the conflict. He wants to make a deal with him. He's a dealmaker, and this country basically is brokering deals.

Initially at the request of the U.S. government. Yes. And it continued like everything that we did looked after. But I'm confident that throughout the years that I've been working under the leadership of the Emir, we are sure that every step we are taking, we are very transparent, coordinating with the U.S. and making sure that we are doing the right thing.

So I have nothing wrong that I did that I am shying away from. I know that we have a lot of attacks and unfortunately we have attacks from the US legislation, like from the Congress many times that although we did it at the request of the government, yet the Emir always tell me that we are able to save a single life. It's worth everything. And I'll tell you something.

We've been under a significant attack in the last 15 months during this war in Gaza. Unbelievable. No one would handle such an attack. And we worked tirelessly on achieving this deal. And the moment we went out to announce that deal being achieved and we see the celebration in the streets, whether it's in Gaza or in Israel, that moment makes us forget everything. You've been attacked with the U.S. Congress yesterday.

The core question for me is, if Qatari is an enemy of the United States, why is our air base here? Have there been calls to remove the air base? Well, there are like some voices who unfortunately very much misinformed that this is very critical for the U.S., for the U.S. security to be here in this region.

And, you know, actually the base itself, when it's moved, the first place was moved after September 11th to Doha. And it was a very risky decision for any country to take it. And we took it. We took it because of the friendship that we have with the U.S., because of the partnership that we are committing ourselves together with the U.S. And it turned out to be like the most important U.S. base outside the United States.

And basically it served the security of the United States, but also it served the stability of this region. If you're like us, you're probably a little tired of companies that claim to care about your privacy and then whip around without your knowledge and sell your data to the highest bidder. They do it all the time. They make a fortune off your private information. Everything about you, everything you do online can be sold. And it is.

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So the president's envoy in this region and to Ukraine and globally at this point is Steve Witkoff, his friend. And Witkoff, who I think has done a good, for the record, I think has done a good job, but was attacked in some U.S. media for his, he had done business in your country, and he was attacked as a tool of your government.

Well, you know, sometimes when you read the reports about Qatar, you feel that this is a superpower that controls everyone and everyone is a tool in the hand of Qatar. Look, this is all a joke. Steve is a respected businessman. He has done business. We didn't do anything wrong with him. We have done business. I've known him for a long time. I attended his son's wedding.

I have a personal relationship and all this happened before even the election, you know, before the election taking place. This was, I think, last February, just months before the election. And this friendship and relationship, it means that there is a trust between two people. And this trust will, of course, matters for, you know, the working relationship that we have and partnership that U.S. and Qatar has.

And it benefited the deal at the end of the day. The man traveled all the way. He stayed here. He spent a few days in Doha. He participated with us in the negotiation. He pushed when it was required. He did a great job. We, as, you know, as partners, we achieved the deal at the end of the day. The deal wouldn't be achieved without, you know,

with Qatar single-handedly or with the United States single-handedly. He needs all of us. All of us are one team and work together. Now, people are attacking him for his relation with Qatar and being a tool in Qatar. If you go back and trace back, those people who are not interested in having a deal, not interested in having, they put their political interests ahead of the interests of even the hostages themselves.

How many families in Israel celebrated the return of their loved ones? I'm not going to talk about Gaza. There's hundreds of thousands of people. They've been fed after very long. But just, you know, if you look at this and look at the ones who attacked someone like Steve Whitcow, who achieved and succeeded in reaching this deal because of his relation with Qatar, is to make sure that the next time

He calculated his steps. But Steve is a great man, straight shooter. It doesn't matter for him as it doesn't matter for us. We are friends, yes. This is something I feel proud of, that I have many friends in the United States. And those friends might become, you know, in certain positions, whether in this administration or in the future administration. It doesn't mean that, you know, those friends will be like...

a tool in our hand or Qatar hand. And basically, the people who are using this, they just, you know, the problem that they cannot take it that a small country can get the results. They always have to think about an external factor that bringing them these results. And when they look at it as small country and with this amount of resources, the first thing that will come to their mind, oh, they are bribing everyone. I'm a country like any other country.

I'm operating like any other country. I protect my people's interests. I protect my regional interests. I protect my friends. And that's what will always continue the same way. So Trump gets elected in November, inaugurated in January, and immediately there's a ceasefire. Almost immediately, with Steve Whitcomb. Reading the negotiations with your help. But that's coming after years of bloodshed, utterly destabilizing this part of the world, the world itself.

Where was the Biden administration during all of that? Look, Tucker, what's really making me feel sad that the agreement that we have achieved on 15th of January this year is almost 95% the framework that's been agreed in December and the agreement that's been agreed in March 24. And it took all these months in order to put it in motion.

With the previous administration, we were working very closely. The director of CIA is someone that I worked with, I respect a lot. And we did, you know, a lot of work together. The partnership was honestly, you know, an exemplary. But at the end of the day, I think it's the calculations of one party over the other.

that, why would I do it now? Let me wait. And then President Trump, of course, they know there is no deal happening before the inauguration, as he announced. It might have consequences. And I believe that played a big role in this. But the fact is they couldn't get a deal done, and he did. I think this is... Look, also the way that Steve has managed...

to represent President Trump was also a very effective way. One of the criticisms of your country is that you're too close to Iran. And I should say you're very physically close to Iran. Yeah, we are physically close. How close? It's around 120 miles away. Right across the water? Yeah. It's just, you know, you can have a boat ride in 90 minutes, you are there. So, how would you describe your relationship with Iran? And why do you think you're being criticized for it? Look, it's...

You know, Iran has a lot of problems with the West. We understand that. We acknowledge that. They have problems with the region, with countries in the region, yes. At the end of the day, Iran is, you know, our next-door neighbor. And we have to have to maintain a good relation with all our neighbors. We have a lot of things in common when it comes to the gas field, the largest gas field in the world.

It's a partnership between us and Iran. It's two-thirds of it in the Qatari territory and one-third is in the Iranian territory. This is in the Gulf. This is under sea. Yeah, this is the one in the Gulf Sea. I have to coordinate on environmental issues, like, for example, the water contaminations. I have to coordinate on security issues, like smuggling.

I have to have this relationship, this working relationship with Iran. But also when you think about it from a bigger perspective, it's for the interest of the region to have a better relation for everyone in the region with Iran. And you have seen that there is a huge progress in the relationship with Iran and the GCC, between Iran and the GCC in the last few years.

And basically, even the disagreement that we had in certain policies, for example, we worked against each other in Syria for 14 years. Against Iran. Against Iran, yeah. Right, which was backing Hezbollah and you were opposed. And the same thing in Lebanon. And those differences are put aside when it comes to the bilateral. We made the bilateral as a relationship of necessity that we need to...

have this engagement together all the time. Those disagreements, we talk about them, we try to understand each other's concern, and we try to find a common ground. And basically, that's what we expect from other countries to do when they are, you know, around neighbors that some others have disagreements with. You need to engage. Now,

This is criticized in the U.S. that we are close to Iran. In terms of what? In terms of policies that has controversies with the U.S.? It's not true. Our policies has been very clear. Our policy is based on principles. Our policy has zero enemies. We have to have friends with everyone. We would like to see peace in our region. We would like to see a peace around the world.

If we see innocent people under attack, whatever their backgrounds, we will always help them and we'll support them. These are the things that our foreign policy is standing for. So if they see me that, you know, this is like putting me on a club on the other, they are watching me from thousands of miles away. They don't know what's happening in this region. They have no knowledge about it.

This relationship, it's an important relationship, not for me, for the entire GCC and for the entire GCC stability. Look, Tucker, I think that there is a misunderstanding, or let's say maybe it's more about a legacy issue, that the U.S. needs to take care of the whole world problem. This shouldn't be the case. Each region needs to address their own problems.

needs to make sure that this region is stable. The US is the friend and the ally and partner of all the GCC countries. So the US expects from us to come to them with vision, that this is the way we would like to see the region, and that's the way we are going to work on the region. And we would like to have also your support in that direction. That's, I believe, how the relationship should work between us and the US.

Not, I'm waiting for the U.S., what's the problem between them and Iran, and then I based my dealing with Iran based on what the U.S. want. The U.S. is waiting to listen to me what I need from Iran, because I am the friend of the U.S., and Iran is my next-door neighbor. And basically, I think this misunderstanding, or let's say the legacy issue, that's what's driving this whole narrative floating here and there. I think that, you know, one day,

So I think it's the policy of your government that you oppose Iran getting nuclear weapons. Certainly your neighbors are on the record against it.

How close do you think Iran is to getting a nuclear weapon, to building one? Well, look, actually, a nuclear weapon is bad for the region, for any country, whether it's Iran or any other country. But also, like, when it comes to, you know, developing a nuclear program, there are concerns, of course, whenever any nuclear program is developed around your region. And those concerns can be not only military concerns, but also security and, like, safety concerns.

As I mentioned to you, if the water is contaminated, the nuclear facilities of Iran are on the other side of the coast. It's closer to Doha than Tehran itself. So the risks and the threats is affecting me, my country, affecting other countries in the GCC more even. So there's a nuclear site directly across from you. Yeah. And that's basically...

You know, that's why it's putting the entire region in a lot of risk. There is no clear standards for managing those nuclear facilities. And those clear standards ensuring that this is a nuclear power plant that will be used for peaceful use. Now, who's right and who's wrong, this is not for me to judge. Yet, what we would like to see, we would like to see a nuclear program that have

complying with the international standard. We are speaking with the Iranians all the time that we need to work together, we need to work with the IAEA in order to ensure that those standards are followed. There are a lot of news and headlines. We see that Iran is close to a nuclear weapon. This is nothing we have ever heard, we have ever seen, I mean, or experienced. Even our engagement with the

leaders there, even with the Supreme Leader. He said very clearly that he has issued a fatwa or a declaration that Iran will never go for nuclear bomb. And basically, this has also its moral status within the country. So I hope that we can reach to a solution, a diplomatic solution, where

There is prosperity for the region. Sanctions are lifted. Nuclear program is peaceful and assurances for the entire region. And this will be, I think, a booster for the region development and prosperity. So there's a great deal of pressure in Washington on the White House and on the Congress to participate in or sign off on an attack, an aerial bombardment of the Iran nuclear sites, however many there actually are.

one of which, as you said, is directly across from you, so you think about this a lot. What would be the consequences if that happens? And that's not theoretical, as you know, that could happen soon. What would happen next? Well, I think it will just be a start of a war that will spread all over the region. And basically, do we expect from any country to get attacked and to stay silent? There will be a reaction. Those reactions and retaliations...

Where is it going to be? Are they going to reach thousands of miles away? They are going to be in the region. And basically every country in the region are concerned from such a step because it will affect our security, number one. But also for a country like the US, it will affect their security as well. They have a big stake in that region, whether it's military bases, whether it's energy facilities in that region.

economic interest, forget about everything, educational facilities. So all those, you know, interests will be affected if something, God forbid, erupts in that region. Look, there is no way that Qatar would, you know, support any kind of military step in that region.

And we will not give up until we see a diplomatic solution between the U.S. and Iran. This needs to reach to an agreement. May I ask, just going back a second, you've said that there's the Iranian nuclear facility directly across the water from you. If that were blown up and nuclear material wound up in the water, since it's right on the water, what would happen to the water?

This will be basically entirely contaminated. We have run this exercise of risk in the country. A few years ago, before we built our reservoirs, we had the water that we use for our people is from desalination. And we don't have rivers. We don't have water reserves. And basically, the country would run out of water in three days. The whole country? The whole country.

Now, after the reservoirs, we increased that capacity and we are keep increasing it. But this is not only applied for Qatar. This is applied for Qatar. This is applied for Kuwait. This is applied for UAE. It's all of us in that part. So if that nuclear site gets blown up and nuclear material winds up in the water, none of those countries have water? No water, no fish, nothing. Like it has no life.

Oh, so that would be a history-changing environmental catastrophe. It is an environmental catastrophe. That's why I'm telling you that the position of Qatar on the map and the region with Iran, a lot of people, they don't even understand it. I remember once I went to visit the U.S. Congress and I was meeting with one U.S. senator.

And we were talking, discussing about Iran. He said, basically, you don't have to deal with them. And I drew for him a map on his desk. For the first time, he realized that these two countries are that close to each other. So there are a lot who doesn't see this region as close to Iran and like it's too intertwined. So they don't have maps in the Senate?

No, they do have maps, but probably they don't know how to spot Qatar. We are very small. Do you think, I mean, to the extent you can say, I should say you're the prime minister, but you're also the foreign minister, so this is what you do all day, every day. But to the extent you can say, do you think that the Iranian government is willing to de-escalate

through negotiation, open up its nuclear sites to international inspection of some kind, reassure the world they're not two weeks away from getting a bomb, as we read practically every day on the internet, whether it's true or not. I mean, do you think that's achievable? Well, I think it is achievable. And actually, all the engagement that we had with Iranian officials, as I mentioned to you, it's...

We were just there a few days ago actually and engaging with the president, engaging with the Supreme Leader, with the foreign minister over there in order to find a diplomatic solution. And basically they are willing to engage, they are willing to get to a level that creates comforts for everybody.

And most importantly, they are focused on mending their relationship with the region. And that's something in itself. It can create a lot of progress in every front with Iran. So I believe there is an opportunity. Now, we come back to the question, the chicken and the egg, which come first. I believe we should forget about these questions and get the parties together.

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There's talk in the United States of increasing sanctions on Iran. I didn't know that was possible, but Iran has been under some form of sanctions for almost 50 years. 46 years, I think. Have they achieved their intended goal? And bigger picture, have you ever seen sanctions?

against anybody achieve their intended goal? Look, this issue is very

controversial first as a principle for my country, for the state of Qatar. We see unilateral sanctions are ineffective. And it's punishment of punishing the people, not punishing a country or a regime. That's number one. They still have the revolutionary government from 1979 in power, right? Yeah. I mean, if it would lead to a result, we wouldn't be in that situation until now. Fidel Castro died in Havana.

Yeah. After 50 years of U.S. sanctions. So just, you know, going back, sanctions, what does it create? It pressures the people. It starves them. It creates black markets. It creates a whole illegal system. If the sanctions are coming out of the U.S., it actually prevents all the U.S. interests or companies to have business and lose the opportunities for other countries. So I don't see a world where the sanctions work.

Honestly, for us, as I told you, it's a core principle in our foreign policy. We refuse, we don't support sanctions at all. And sanctioning countries I'm talking about. And sanctioning countries is just making the situation much worse. Well, can I just ask you, so three of the biggest oil producing countries in the world, Venezuela, Russia, Iran, have been under, I mean, the most extensive sanctions in history. Yes.

They're still selling oil, though. Oh, yeah. Like a lot of oil. Yeah, much. Yeah, I think I think it's mainly it's sold in different means and different currencies. And look, Tucker, I recall when the Russian sanction came out at the beginning, beginning of the war between Russia and Ukraine. I had an interview in one of the U.S. media channels, and I said very clearly that

Sanctions will only create a parallel marketplace for other currencies. So the dollar-dominated international currency, you will start to see people moving, countries moving away from that. Yes. By the time. So it won't benefit. It won't benefit. It won't get you what you want. It's the contrary. That's basically what's been, you know,

At the end, like any country like Venezuela, for example, or Iran, they need to survive. They need to feed their people. They need to get, you know, at least the basic requirements that they want. They will find ways to sell their oils. They will find ways to use other currencies. They will find markets who will accept them and, you know, selling them and buying from them.

And that's basically you created like a parallel market. And that's what I've been saying. So you cut out U.S. countries, you weaken the U.S. dollar, you make the country more repressive, inevitably, but you don't dislodge the leadership, whether it's Putin, Chavez Maduro, the Ayatollahs in Iran, Fidel Castro.

And you don't prevent them from selling their oil in international markets. So why exactly would you levy sanctions? Honestly, look, from at least, you know, my humble experience looking at all those sanctioned countries in the last, let's say, you know, I always like to talk about my tenure in diplomacy, which is 10 years. In the last 10 years, I've seen a lot of sanctions floating around on a lot of countries. None of these sanctions has achieved the results that's intended for them.

I mean, I think that's true. It's not an ideological point. That's like factually true, right? It is factually true, yeah. So why do we keep doing it? Just, you know, if you go and name a single country that has a regime change or an entire behavior change to the good because of sanction, you will not find any. Okay, so again, I don't think what you're saying should be controversial because it's provable. Go to Wikipedia. Yeah.

So why? I mean, just I think this morning I was reading we're going to sanction this person more. There's got to be some reason that the U.S. Congress and various administrations have continued to want to do this, even though there's absolute proof that it doesn't work.

What would be the reason to do it? Well, look, as I told you, you know, when, you know, some, I don't know, honestly, we can ask this question more for U.S., you know, legislator and policymakers. But I think from my perspective, this is when you have, like, if you don't talk to the other party, if you don't want to use military, which is something that we never advised for.

The only tool will remain in your hand is sanction to show power and to show leverage, which some people, they think that this is leverage and power, which it's not. Well, it doesn't seem to be. Power is measurable, right? Actually, look, as you know, just, you know, if you go through every, like, every sanctioned countries, it never achieved the objective. That's what I want to say. Yeah, I think that's true.

Um, how does the Ukraine war end, do you think? Well, look, you know, there is a lesson that history taught us, that there is no war started with one of the parties wants the war. Always two parties, they don't want the war and they end up in a war. And there is no war ended without a negotiation around the negotiation table to find a peaceful solution. How, despite how long it took.

So this war will end at the end of the day around the negotiations. Now, if you look at the recent efforts that President Trump is doing together with the Kingdom of Saudi, I believe this is the right direction, the right path forward. Because

You know, we were like, when the war started as a state of Qatar, we always like, you know, express our willingness to help, to support if there is any chance for mediation. We looked at it, it's something far away, it's in Europe. Yet, we have some experience in mediation, which is a track record that we have built throughout the year. And we saw that this conflict is too complicated. We tried

to break it down to smaller mediation efforts. And we were working on the children file, for example, Russian and Ukrainian children, bringing them back to their families. We were working on the energy file, but unfortunately it didn't work out in order to build a foundation for, you know, someone like President Trump to come and to broker a peace deal.

I believe it is the moment. I believe that the steps that's being taken are the right steps. And basically, the way it ends, it should be the way that it addresses both countries' concerns. I think that the Ukrainians have legitimate concerns that they need to address, and the Russians have legitimate concerns that the Ukrainians need to address. And I believe this will never reach a solution unless there is some, you know...

direct talks between them, and also some demonstration of support from the partners of both Ukraine and Russia, that they need to put an end for this, and they need to understand each other's concern, and they need to take them in consideration. And the partners' role is to give them the assurances and the comfort that those considerations will be taken seriously. I hate to say it, but I think Russia's partners are probably willing to

express support for a settlement. I don't know if Ukraine's are, and that would be Europe, Great Britain, and Western Europe. And, I mean, you just saw the Prime Minister of Britain say the other day, we're going to send British troops to Ukraine. Well, it's, you know, at the end of the day, as I told you, it's an issue between Russia and Ukraine, and they need to address it themselves. They need to get the assurances that

you know, both countries need. I think that within even within the EU, not everyone is sharing the same opinion, I believe, but at the end of the day, they will come down to a conclusion that this issue needs to be settled peacefully and this issue needs to take into consideration everyone's concern. You participated in a successful ceasefire

between Israel and Gaza. And who knows if that lasts? I mean, I don't know when this is gonna air, so I don't even wanna speculate. But clearly it's been awful for everybody. Certainly been awful for Gaza. It's been awful for its neighbors. I think it's been really bad for Israel. I mean, it's just kinda hard to see an upside. So how would you, if you were in charge, fix this 80-year-old conflict for good?

It's going back to the basics. You know, if you look at the history since Madrid Declaration in the 90s, where Israel needed to be integrated in the region, economic normalization should happen between the countries in the region, and a political horizon for the Palestinians to establish their own state on the borders of 1967, which is according to the Security Council Resolutions.

Since that time until today, we didn't see anything, but the situation is going backward. More settlements, more violence, more, you know, policies which are destructive for the Palestinians, unfortunately. And basically, we are expecting from the Palestinians, you know, just to obey, to stay quiet.

and not, you know, there will never be anything instigated. This is normal, you know, when you have, you know, a situation that's lasting that long, to have this kind of turbulence all the time. And I'm not talking here about 7th of October, I'm talking about the entire period. How many wars we had? We had a lot of them. A lot of people, we hear them saying that we need to try again.

something new. We need to try things that we are not even, you know, thinking about. Yes, we agree. The two-state solution. We've been talking about, we never tried this. Have we ever tried this and didn't work? Does this country that's established next to Israel will be a threat for Israel? It's a threat as long as it's not a country. And we said that we are willing to provide security guarantees for Israel. We

all of us, we will be integrated together as one region and demilitarized Palestinian state even. So it's not even like, you know, fully independent. Not even a real country. It's demilitarized. So it's basically like everything you are offering. And in exchange, we were always like, you know, either because of their political situation in Israel, like we were always faced by rejections.

There were just few leaders in Israel who had the courage to come out and to say that this is the only solution, this is the only way forward. But in the last few years, we didn't see any of them. Do you think Donald Trump can force a Palestinian state? I think, you know, look, President Trump, he's a great dealmaker. He's a great businessman. He's very successful. He made...

brokered many deals around the world during the first administration. And I believe if we will have peace one day, this is the best opportunity for us with someone like President Trump. Is Qatar at net zero? I know there was some enthusiasm about making sure you got to net zero. Well, if you see the largest exporter of LNG at net zero, I think there is something happening wrong.

Does that mean you're dead if you're at net zero? We are, look, we are committed, first of all, that, you know... Wait, aren't you supposed to pretend you're getting to net zero? Look, I'm not, you know, going to pretend anything that I'm not going to do, but the gas has proven that it is the most important, reliable baseload source of energy for the next century, maybe. So...

And the gas is much cleaner than a lot of other energy resources. And it's benefiting the environment, benefiting a lot of countries, switching from coal to gas. And that's what we are producing. That's what we are focusing on. Now, countries who were just, you know, rushing to get to net zero and trying to impose some, you know, green policies that are not realistic, they are retracting from those policies now.

Yeah. You see them like, you know, some of them, they are going back to coal. Well, they're also on the verge of revolution in some cases because they destroyed the lives of their people. So it's basically, also it's not fair when you try to impose, you know, these kind of regulations in countries that they have their resources not being developed, not being exploited, and they have no electricity even.

like Africa, for example, and you want to make sure that, no, everything there is green, everything is to reach net zero, and you are not allowed to come and to exploit your energy. But I don't have electricity. So the whole concept, I think it's, right now, there is a lot of debate, there is a lot of, you know, argument about it, and I'm not sure if the world will be able to achieve it. Look, we understand the danger of the climate,

We understand the danger of the climate change, but it doesn't mean that we shoot ourselves in the foot. We need to think about it wisely. We need to think about it gradually. And look, Tucker, honestly, maybe I told you in a separate meeting that, you know, the pyramid of the needs of the people, first security, then food and water, then health, energy,

Education. Education. Strong economy and then climate change and the environment. So we are living in a region that barely handling the three, like the three layers of foundation. And people like coming and, you know, trying to impose on us the tip of that. We need to make sure that our neighbors, our surrounding are safe.

We need to ensure that they are fed. We need to ensure that they have enough health care. We need to ensure that they have a good education. We need to make sure that they have energy, access to energy in the first place. Time for another true life Alp story. I got a call from a friend of mine yesterday, honestly, true story, who said his girlfriend had just broken up with him over Alp. He wouldn't stop. And I thought to myself, that's kind of sad. And he said, no, it's not sad. Imagine if I'd married her.

No ticket!

So in two days, he's saved from a tragic marriage to a girl who doesn't like Alp and a speeding ticket. All true. It's more than a nicotine marriage. In an age of 350 million, people are guessing there are about 350 million Alp stories. Email us yours. We want to know and read it on the air. Email tellall at alppouch.com. Tellall at alppouch.com. Give us your Alp story.

This episode is brought to you by Progressive Insurance. Do you ever find yourself playing the budgeting game? Well, with the Name Your Price tool from Progressive, you can find options that fit your budget and potentially lower your bills. Try it at Progressive.com. Progressive Casualty Insurance Company and Affiliates. Price and coverage match limited by state law. Not available in all states. It does seem like things have changed just in the past six months, right?

Partly because of the electricity needs of AI, of EVs, all the stuff baked in the cake. The clear limits of renewables, like they can't actually run a modern society. That's all obvious now. And so a lot of investment funds and politicians have sort of pulled back from the net zero theology. But what's amazing to me is that it seems like some of them really believed it. I mean, in the case of Qatar, you're opening up a new gas field.

And I think some, like even energy people laughed at you and said there's kind of no future for gas. Yeah. Well, look. Why did they say that? This actually happened to us twice. Once when we started the gas exploitation, it wasn't yet the future of the energy. At that time, this was back in the early 90s.

And we took the risk. Qatar was in a totally different economic situation at that time. We took a great risk. We put a lot of pressure on the country and the needs of the country. And apparently, the LNG picked up and became one of the main sources.

Then, at the peak of the net zero and the green agenda, we announced the expansion of our production, which was back in 2018. And we decided to go on to invest. And at that time, you can read reports from the IMF, for example, that a lot of countries will end up with a lot of oil and gas production.

but with no money because they will have no countries to sell the gas to or they will have no markets to sell their oil to. And this was just in 2018 and like everyone was panicked. The same in the same year, we have announced that we are going to expand our gas field production and we are hoping to double it by 2030.

So from 77 million cubic ton, which was peaked in 2011 and continued being sustained until today, by 2030, we will reach 144. And that's basically will be the biggest. So there was a projection in 2018 that no one would want to buy your natural gas? After 2050. Who made that? I mean, that's like... That's IMF report, actually. It's not a projection for Qatar, but it was for the entire GCC.

And basically... That's so far out of whack with observable reality. Like, that's insane, obviously. It's not. It wasn't. I mean, like, we had the debate about this within our government at that time, and we didn't believe it. We have seen that the requirement for the energy will just increase. We were watching the revolution in a lot of technologies, and we have seen that...

whether it's the green hydrogen, the blue hydrogen, the renewables, all of them, they can never be cost effective in the next 10, 15 years and maybe more. And they will not be enough. The base load, you will always need an energy mix and the base load of this mix will be the LNG, will remain always the gas. So that was obvious to just interested non-experts like me or just people who read about it like on the side. But

But the IMF researchers and, you know, energy analysts who came up with this projection, do you think they really believed it? Well, I don't know, honestly. I mean, we were like...

At the beginning, when we have seen these reports, we were just questioning why they are doing that. But it was like part of the global sustainability agenda. And probably this is an idea that all international organizations agreed to promote. And basically, it's the same thing like, you know,

When it comes to those organizations, you always see a common agenda item that everyone is advocating toward the same direction. Look, we have nothing against the green and the climate change. It's something that all of us, we need for our survival, for our planet, yes. But also we need to be realistic in our approach. We need to make sure that this progress is

is not harming us, it's benefiting us. It's not because we want to make sure that the planet lasts forever, that our people doesn't last forever. I mean, it's basically, it's really a miscalculation. Now, another example I want to give you, like, for example, in our partnership with the US in the gas area, we have, during, you know, the time before, like, the fracking and the

Shell gas in the US, we were supplying the US with energy at certain point of time. And we built this what's so-called the Golden Pass in Texas in order to be a receiving terminal for the gas.

during President Trump's time in the first administration, we signed with him, we signed during his administration to make it as a sending terminal. So all the gas, the U.S. gas, will be exported through that terminal, which is a partnership between Qatar Energy and ExxonMobil. So to explain, you take natural gas out of the ground, it's often found with oil, but then you have to basically freeze it and make it

to convert it to a liquid state in order to ship it across the ocean. So LNG is liquefied natural gas. That's what you're talking about. Liquefied natural gas, yes. And then you have also beside that during the same meeting when during the previous administration with President Trump, the first one, we have signed the largest, single largest petrochemical plant in the world. It's called the Golden Triangle, which hopefully will be online very soon. And that's what will provide

the basic feedstock for all the industries in the United States, which is the polymers. And this is also a partnership between Qatar Energy and US companies. I mean, looking back, I think we can be a little bit more critical and try to understand what the green agenda was or net zero was. But no one ever explained without natural gas, how are you going to get fertilizer and plastic?

Did anyone ever explain that to you? No, they have no answers. Even, I mean, look, even people with, like, who are adopting the green agenda when they are talking about electricity, for example, generating electricity from green energy, green resources. Those electricity will need batteries. Batteries will need lithiums or the AVs. This lithium, when you mine those lithium, what is the effect on the environment?

Oh, I know. And if you calculate it, it's much worse for the planet and for the land than the oil and the gas combined, and maybe from the coal as well. So it wasn't really well thought of. It was something that I believe was taken to a direction that doesn't serve the interest of the entire world.

Does it make you nervous that the smartest, most powerful people in the world could jump to conclusions they didn't think through without evidence, that they could just say something was true without knowing it was true and thinking through the consequences? I mean, it seems like a kind of mass insanity that took over the world. It keeps us up all night. Me too. Mr. Prime Minister, thank you very much. Thank you very much, Tucker. Appreciate it. Thank you.

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