Jared Kushner, the architect of the Avraham Accords and son-in-law of US President-elect Donald Trump, revealed the latter's vision for the Middle East in an interview for the “Invest Like The Best” podcast.
“The agreement with Saudi Arabia will be the key,” says Kushner, “Ten other states will join the agreements immediately after, among others Pakistan and Indonesia. We had a lot of countries that really wanted to join these agreements.”
Kushner criticizes the policies of the Biden administration which inherited the Abraham Accords. He says that during the transition in 2020, he told Biden's teams that an agreement with Saudi Arabia could be concluded within three to six months but, according to him: “They wasted two years criticizing Saudi Arabia and finally, they started to adopt our policy. They have not handled the issues of Iran and the Palestinians properly.”
Concerning Iran, Kushner denounces: “Under Obama, Iran sold 2.6 million barrels of oil per day. When Trump left the White House, he was painfully selling 100,000 a day. The Biden government stopped applying sanctions and Iran was able to sell oil for more than $150 billion, which allowed it to replenish its coffers.”
Kushner recognizes that today Iran is in a complicated situation, after the various Israeli military achievements: “Iran is weaker today than it has ever been in a long time. Hezbollah was the gun he pointed at Israel. Today they are very paranoid because they know how deeply Israeli intelligence has infiltrated them. From what I know, it's very deep. In their latest operation, Israel destroyed all of Iran's air defenses and much of their long-range missile production capacity. This means that he will not be able to sustain a conflict in the long term.”
Kushner details Trump's plan to change the face of the Middle East: “Our vision is to create an economic bloc that will connect the port of Haifa in Israel to Muscat in Oman. People will be able to trade, exchange technology and invest. When I started working with Saudi Arabia in 2017, the situation was completely different from what we see today. The new generation wants to take control. They build things, invest in technology, the younger generation really wants to take another path.”
He continues: “They spend a high percentage of their GDP on the military. If they can use this money for education, it will change the region.”
On Iran, Kushner explains: “I think if we find a way that they want to change their plan and invest in their society and their citizens, we can reach an agreement. Iranians are a wonderful people. The Persian people are extraordinary. They have a beautiful country. But they won't be able to make a false deal like they did with Obama and Kerry. This agreement must be the stupidest in history, it was a temporary limitation on nuclear power, without any control. They were, in fact, able to continue their nuclear program.”
Kushner is optimistic about Trump's chances of success, especially after the latest developments in the region, including the fall of Assad in Syria: “With the return of Trump, Iran's ability to sell oil will most certainly fall, they are very vulnerable and they will have to make difficult decisions.”
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