Does Egypt want to mediate between Israel and Syria?
I don’t think so… I imagine that the Egyptians, like all Arab states, would be pleased were there peace between Israel and Syria… [Egyptian President Hosni] Mubarak is a very impressive man. He is very stable. He defended the [peace] agreement with Israel during difficult periods in Egypt. Why should he not want peace between Israel and Syria? It is natural. Certainly the same is true of [Jordan’s] King Abdullah II, who is an exceptional man. Turning to the issue of Iran. Are the Iranians further ahead [in their nuclear program] than the Iraqis were 26 years ago? And if Russia is selling them ever more sophisticated air defenses, does that limit us and create a situation where it is harder to postpone a response? The Iranian threat is… a combination of several factors. First of all, the nature of the Iranian regime – non-democratic, extremist, built on hatred and detached from all the basic values of Western culture. It sustains the anti-Israeli Islamic extremist movements. It nu
