geoff: As we reported earlier,
president Biden wrapped up his
first trip to the Middle East
today at a meeting of 10
regional leaders, led by Saudi
crown prince Muhammad bin
Salman.
The trip largely focused on
Saudi Arabia's human rights
record, and president Biden
reversing his promise to make
Saudi Arabia a "Pariah."
But there was also talk of oil,
and whether Saudi Arabia would
produce more, possibly easing
gas prices.
Last night, correspondent Nick
schifrin sat down with Adel
al-jubeir, the Saudi minister of
state for foreign affairs.
Nick: Do you believe that these
meetings mean that president
Biden has decided not to make
Saudi Arabia a pariah?
Mr. Al-jubeir: I believe that
that quote was during the
campaign, and the campaign is
what I call the funny season.
Lots of things happen, but
things, people have a different
perspective they're in office
and have access to intelligence
and information.
And they look at the vastness of
the relationship, so it's a
critically important
relationship and it's important
that we have a continue the
tradition of personal contact
between the leadership of our
two countries.
Nick: One of the points of
contention that president Biden
has pointed out is human rights.
And tonight he specifically said
that he brought up Jamal
khashoggi's death to the crown
prince.
The president said that mbs said
he was not personally
responsible for it.
And then the president said, I
indicated to him that he
probably was responsible for it.
Is that how that went?
Mr. Al-jubeir: I didn't hear
that exchange, that particular
exchange.
What I heard is that the
president talked about the
importance of human rights to
the United States, and that
human rights is an issue that
American presidents attach great
importance to, even though
sometimes they don't live up to
those ideals, which makes
America human like the rest of
the world.
Nick: Did the president did the
president bring up Jamal
khashoggi?
Mr. Al-jubeir: He brought -- he
mentioned the issue of Jamal
khashoggi, and he said that this
is an issue that has generated a
lot of interest and concern in
the U.S. Congress and among the
American public, and that he
understood, he knew what what
Saudi Arabia's position was, and
the crown prince indicated that
Saudi Arabia, every civilized
country would do.
We investigated.
We brought charges against those
who committed this crime.
The courts rendered their
verdicts, and those individuals
were punished.
America did this after Abu
ghraib.
Nobody can say that George Bush
as president was responsible or
ordered Abu ghraib.
Nick: President Biden said
tonight that the Saudis, "Share
the urgency about lowering oil
prices."
Will Saudi Arabia push for OPEC
plus to increase oil production
in the next few weeks?
Mr. Al-jubeir: Saudi Arabia's
policy has always been to make
sure that there are adequate
supplies of oil that go to the
markets.
Nick: Adequate is a different
word than the president used.
Mr. Al-jubeir: Whatever the
markets need.
We try to ensure that the
markets are adequately supplied.
This has been our policy for a
number of decades.
Nick: That, with all due
respect, that doesn't sound like
you're going to increase
production in the next few weeks
as the president hinted.
Mr. Al-jubeir: No, we have
increased production over the
last nine months, um,
tremendously.
There will be an OPEC meeting on
the 3rd of August, I believe,
and decisions will be made with
regards to whether the market
needs more crude or not.
So it is not a yes or no.
Nick: Let's talk about Iran.
U.S. And Israeli officials I
speak to say the breakout time
in Iran is just a few weeks, but
that actually creating nuclear
bombs might take as much as two
years.
Is that the Saudi assessment as
well?
Mr. Al-jubeir: I can't comment
on terms of specific
assessments, but our view is
that the Iran acquiring a
nuclear weapon is extremely
dangerous to the world and
extremely dangerous to our
region.
We believe that Iran should be
prevented from acquiring a
nuclear weapon with all means
possible.
We believe that the jcpoa away
-- the jcpoa in its original
form was too weak and too
limited.
Nick: And therefore the deal
that's on the table currently is
also too weak and too limited?
Mr. Al-jubeir: We believe that
any agreement has to ensure that
Iran can never produce a nuclear
weapon.
Our criticism of the original
deal was that it had a limit on
how many years Iran was
restricted from enriching, and
it also had a limit with regards
to the extent of the
inspections.
Inspections are very intrusive,
but they were not broad enough.
Nick: The crown prince four
years ago said that if Iran were
to go nuclear, Saudi Arabia
would also go nuclear.
Has Saudi Arabia taken any steps
toward that decision, given how
close that breakout time is in
Iran?
Mr. Al-jubeir: We are, we
certainly would not be
discussing this on television.
[Laughter]
But we have pointed out the
danger of Iran going nuclear.
We believe that it will
contribute to proliferation in
in our region.
And our position was very
clearly articulated.
Nick: Will Saudi Arabia take
further steps of normalization
toward Israel, so long as there
is an occupation by Israel of
the Palestinians?
Mr. Al-jubeir: It's not about
normalization.
Our objective is to have peace,
and our objective is to have
peace in which you have two
states living side by side in
peace and security and both
states prospering.
We believe that when you reach
that point, then everything is
possible.
But we believe that the Israelis
have to do take certain steps in
order to try to make that
happen.
Nick: Bahrain, Jordan, Egypt
and, of course, the United Arab
Emirates have political
normalization.
But they also, according to
Israeli officials, have military
and intelligence cooperation
with the Israeli military.
Is that something that the Saudi
military is willing to do?
Mr. Al-jubeir: We see the
countries that signed agreements
with Israel under the so-called
Abraham accords.
We're beginning to see some
impact of those decisions on the
Israeli domestic politics with
regards to the benefits of
having peace.
And we hope that those positive
changes will continue and lead
to a more forward leaning policy
within Israel towards an
accommodation with the
Palestinians.
Nick: So that sounds like that
kind of cooperation, military to
military intelligence
cooperation -- these are simple
he steps that you're not willing
to take yet.
Mr. Al-jubeir: It's difficult to
take steps in the absence of
peace agreements.