A Conversation with King Abdullah of Jordan

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A Talk With Jordan's King

6/20/08: Newsweek-Washington Post's Lally Weymouth interviews King Abdullah of Jordan about the Arab-Israeli peace process and how he views Iran.

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You've always been so protective of Lebanese Prime Minister Fouad Siniora.

I continue to be so.

But hasn't his government lost its power at Doha and on the ground to Hezbollah?

I actually think it's still part of the larger picture. The summer and fall will show whether Doha is something that was final and has given the Lebanese a fresh new start, or is it part of something else.

Is there any chance the Saudis might bring down the price of oil?

They say even if they increased the output of oil, that's not going to greatly affect oil prices. But the major problem is not just oil but basic commodities. We need sugar. Agriculture products are going to be the major concern on everybody's mind over the next couple of years.

So you're not in favor of military action against Iran?

I am not in favor of military action against Iran. I think you'd be playing with Pandora's box.

So you're willing to live with a nuclear Iran?

What do we mean by nuclear Iran? Some people are saying they have a nuclear weapons program, and some people are saying they don't. The latest American intelligence estimate released a couple of months ago was that their nuclear program has diminished or stopped. Now the British-Israeli view of that is not as positive as the American one, so I've been told.

The American view was that the military program was diminishing in 2003, but not that it had stopped.

I think that you need to engage with the Iranians. A military strike in Iran today will only solicit a reaction from Iran and Iranian proxies, and I don't think that we can live with any more conflicts in this part of the wor ld.