00:00Minister, thank you for joining us.
00:01Firstly, what is your reaction to this war?
00:04And in your eyes, is it legal?
00:07It's a big discussion, of course.
00:09And I think that when you see international law and the interpretation of the last few decades,
00:15that it can be problematic.
00:17But it's a righteous cause to try to decapitate the Ayatollah regime.
00:24That's something totally, it's rightful.
00:26So I think that there's a lot of discussion about it.
00:31I fully understand this.
00:33But I cannot support the Ayatollah regime, not for a second.
00:37It is the most cruel regime of the world.
00:42And they're supporting Hamas, they're supporting and financing Hezbollah and Houthi
00:46and all those terrorist actors in the Middle East, but also in Europe, also here in Brussels, also in Belgium.
00:53So I think that this may be problematic concerning international law,
01:02but I think that it can be defended as well, that they try to take out all those dictators and
01:10mullahs and Ayatollahs.
01:11So you think the means justify the end here?
01:15For me, I think it is, yeah.
01:17I think that also the same thing has been said by our Minister of Foreign Affairs yesterday in the Parliament.
01:22So yes, we are totally on the same line.
01:24And yesterday you said that Belgium is preparing to provide military support should this be requested in the region.
01:31What could this support look like?
01:33And if Belgium does provide support, does this mean Belgium is at war as well?
01:39No, so it will be defensive action.
01:42So for example, a country like Jordan asking for aid, then we can help them to protect their territory.
01:52It's not to start a war or to continue or to participate with Israel and the United States.
02:00It's more to help people and countries in the Middle East.
02:06And obviously, as we've just said, Belgium is providing support.
02:09Do you think the EU as a whole should also be doing more to support allies in the region?
02:15Yeah, of course.
02:16But like military decisions, it is the sovereignty of every and each country.
02:20So that's not easy.
02:22I think that Europe needs to really to be very clear on the support for Cyprus.
02:27But on the Middle East, it's more like bilateral.
02:31And lastly, Belgium recently seized a suspected Russian shadow fleet tanker.
02:36What will happen with this tanker now?
02:39And does this signify a ramping up of the targeting of Moscow's fleet of vessels?
02:45Yes, we need to really increase pressure on the Putin regime to really get peace negotiations
02:52who are true and who are well-meant.
02:57We don't have that for the moment.
02:59And I think that the only way we can increase pressure is to work on their income,
03:06to work on their oil and gas revenues.
03:08And that means that we need to also tackle on the logistic lines.
03:11And that means that we need to tackle the shadow fleet.
03:14So, yes, we will continue on that pathway.
03:17And do you think that now this conflict in the Middle East,
03:21that it threatens taking the attention away from what is happening in Russia and Ukraine,
03:26which was obviously until about two, three weeks ago the main topic on the EU agenda?
03:31No, I think that the East part of our continent keeps on being number one priority.
03:37Thank you, Minister.
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