00:00continue on this particular focus and i'm joined by hossam zaki assistant secretary general of the
00:05league of arab states he's also egypt's former ambassador to brazil ambassador thank you so
00:11much for your time i want to start by asking what you think of the address both by the iranian
00:18president and by donald trump uh didn't sound like it was uh very open for negotiation but
00:25what do you make of it well kind of expected we we've heard belligerent talk from both sides before
00:34that continued throughout the this general assembly and at the highest level uh but we also look at
00:42what is happening behind the scenes and it seems that both sides are still talking which is a good
00:49sign uh or which can be a good sign uh taking into consideration uh the experience that we've
00:57all had with such talks sometimes they get somewhere and and some other times they just are a prelude to
01:05a resumption of hostilities so i think both sides need to realize that this kind of course
01:14is hurting uh the region and the world uh more than the region and the world can take and that
01:22the only responsible thing to do uh now will be to focus on the diplomatic uh track and the diplomatic
01:31talks in order to achieve some kind of a sustainable agreement as a former assistant secretary general of the
01:40league of the league of arab states how do you think this is going to be received amongst arab nations
01:45uh we're talking about uh the iranian or or the american or both both in fact right well um as
01:56i said
01:57they are expected and um we've all been uh so much uh accustomed to uh the hard language coming from
02:07both
02:07sides uh by now uh our requests from the iranians are known which is to stop and seize uh their
02:16uh
02:17uh hostile actions their aggressions against uh arab countries and we also uh have a very legitimate
02:26request from the uh u.s side which is uh to give way to uh diplomatic solutions and uh and
02:35uh to allow for
02:37diplomatic solution uh to come about and uh this should not be too difficult uh taking into
02:44consideration that uh all cards are on the table nothing is is being held back now we have seen
02:52qatar and other states trying to mediate but it has been deadlocked for a long time now from your
02:59perspective what would a realistic diplomatic end to this war look like
03:07that's uh it's a it's a kind of a tough question it depends really uh who you're asking this question
03:15too so uh you're asking me and i would tell you uh one a solution that guarantees uh freedom of
03:22navigation
03:23uh throughout uh the strait of hormuz uh freedom of uh the flow of uh of oil uh throughout uh
03:31the
03:32strait of hormuz according to international law and the law of the seas um and of course
03:38uh um uh whatever uh the united states can do in order to alleviate iranian uh concerns vis-a-vis
03:50their
03:51uh their sanctions and uh their financial uh situation uh and that there will be no resumption
04:00of hostilities again our countries in this region especially and the gcc have been hurt tremendously by
04:09this conflict um in particular by the aggression uh the aggressive acts of iran and and that uh needs to
04:18stop because those countries uh need to find their way back to stability uh and to uh uh resuming their
04:30economic activities that they have been following for the past years thank you so much for your time
04:38much appreciated that is hossam zaki he's the former assistant secretary general of the league of arab states
04:45also for
04:46you
04:46you
04:46you
