00:00Mr. Boulos, thank you for joining us on Euronews.
00:03The Middle East appears to be entering a potentially another dangerous phase.
00:09Some are suggesting there is another risk of escalation.
00:13What do you think on that? Where do you stand?
00:16Look, President Trump is the president of peace.
00:20He's a man of peace.
00:22We know that he's the only president, at least in recent history,
00:27but definitely in the world that has solved eight conflicts and eight wars so far,
00:33and he's working on the ninth and the tenth.
00:35So he's a man of peace.
00:37He's a man who ended wars and achieved peace,
00:41especially if you look at the Pakistan-India conflict.
00:45Just talk to them, and they will tell you that what President Trump was able to achieve
00:50saved them at least probably four or five million lives.
00:55So we have full trust in President Trump.
01:00I think the world and the region definitely has full trust in him
01:05and in his aim to achieving peace.
01:08Now, as for the region, definitely there's always been conflicts around this region.
01:15And with regards to what's happening currently,
01:19he's been very clear regarding the nuclear power.
01:22So he's been very, very clear on that Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon.
01:28Now, he's giving negotiations and talks a chance.
01:32He's been extremely patient.
01:34And we hope that ultimately peace will prevail.
01:39You mentioned there that the world has trust in President Trump.
01:43However, you know, how would you describe his relationship with the Arab world today
01:48when you have countries like the UAE and also Qatar who have come out and said
01:53that the U.S. is not really enough for their security?
01:57Look, the President has an excellent relationship with the Arab world
02:01and specifically those countries that you mentioned,
02:04including also the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and Egypt and Jordan and all the others.
02:10These are true partners.
02:13They are true allies.
02:15And he has an excellent relationship, including a personal relationship with them
02:20and an excellent rapport and chemistry with these leaders.
02:24He talks about it all the time.
02:26And he's continuously coordinating with them.
02:28He's in touch with them continuously.
02:30And the two countries, I mean, at the bilateral level as well,
02:35there are coordinations happening at all sorts of different levels
02:42and departments within our administration.
02:45So I can assure you that it's working out quite well, just like any good partners.
02:52What are you advising, Mr. President, in terms of ensuring stability in the region moving forwards?
03:00Look, I mean, it's very important to, I mean, somebody had to tackle and had to address this nuclear issue.
03:07As President Trump has said repeatedly, there is no way we can allow Iran to have a nuclear weapon.
03:13Just imagine a world, just imagine this region with a nuclear weapon, just imagine that for a moment.
03:22So he's firm on that, and he's determined, and we are in full support of his vision.
03:32And so are his partners in the region.
03:36Nobody wants war.
03:37What do you think President Trump's ultimate ambition and, you know, his ultimate objective in the Middle East?
03:45What is that?
03:46He wants stability, he wants peace, and he's been talking about that since his first term.
03:52He was the first president to achieve four Abraham Accords during his first term.
03:58And he's, I mean, if it, I mean, if it wasn't for the re-election campaign, there were many more
04:07that were ready, lined up, and ready to sign the Abraham Accords.
04:13Unfortunately, we know what happened in the 2020 elections.
04:15So in his second term now, he's been working towards achieving that, but definitely there's this issue which has to
04:24be dealt with once and for all.
04:27We do believe that this should be addressed soon, and then we can go back to our peace initiatives.
04:33But as we speak, I mean, in addition to the Abraham Accords, we're working on a number of peace initiatives
04:40all over the world, on the African continent, in North Africa.
04:45I mean, look at Sudan.
04:46Sudan today is the world's biggest humanitarian catastrophe.
04:51And President Trump spoke clearly about that.
04:55He wants this war to end.
04:57He wants it to end quickly.
04:59We cannot allow the Sudanese people to continue to suffer.
05:03Thirty-five million Sudanese today are in dire need of aid.
05:07Twenty-five million of them are living in famine-like conditions.
05:12And I can tell you that the United States remains today the single largest humanitarian contributor in Sudan.
05:21From the beginning of this war, to date, we've contributed more than $3 billion in humanitarian aid.
05:29And that's the only support we provide as humanitarian.
05:33We definitely don't provide any other support except working towards achieving peace.
05:40And by the other support, I mean referring to the arms embargo that we're working on now at the UN
05:46Security Council, which we mentioned earlier.
05:48I wanted to move it on.
05:49Obviously, you have the ear of the president.
05:52What do you think, if anything, that the Middle East gets wrong about him?
05:58I don't think they get anything wrong about him.
06:00I mean, I travel all over the Middle East and I meet with Middle Eastern leaders and with the people
06:05of the Middle East.
06:06They all love President Trump.
06:08They all love President Trump.
06:10And they support him.
06:13Look at the things that he campaigned for.
06:16Look at his campaign.
06:17And I proudly, I was proudly part, I played a small role in that campaign specifically with Middle Eastern communities
06:26in the United States and Arab communities and Christian communities and Muslim communities and some others and some African communities,
06:38etc.
06:38I work with them and, you know, the United States is quite a diverse country.
06:45And I was honored to be part of his campaign.
06:48So he campaigned on a number of things which nobody disagrees with.
06:51If you look at the social aspect, the values, family values and those principles that are deeply entrenched in Middle
07:02Eastern culture.
07:02So they all fully support, as against the woke culture.
07:05So his campaign was about fighting the woke ideology.
07:11And the Middle Eastern communities fully support that.
07:15Then now, if you, again, go back here, the issue of Iran nuclear weapon, everybody supports that.
07:21Nobody wants to see a bully in the region.
07:25And if you have a nuclear power, if you're a nuclear power, it's way above and beyond being a bully.
07:33It's much more dangerous than that.
07:35As we mentioned, obviously, war and taking that into account.
07:39What impact do you think that is going to have on, you know, midterms elections that are coming up for
07:44President Trump?
07:46The President is campaigning.
07:48He's working very hard.
07:50He's, as usual, he's taking, as he does with every single campaign, and he has done quite a few, very
07:57successfully.
07:59He's taking this very, very seriously.
08:02As you know, just a few days ago, he organized the first ever midterm convention in Dallas.
08:14And it was an extremely successful convention, first of its kind.
08:18It will probably happen now in the future.
08:23Everybody is going to probably follow suit.
08:25But as we speak, he was in North Carolina campaigning.
08:30And he's going from crisscrossing the United States and campaigning, helping candidates, whether for the Senate or the House.
08:40And it's his intention to win these elections.
08:46We all know, based on recent history, we all know how tough midterms can be.
08:54But he's focused and he's determined to win.
08:58Do you think the war has had an impact on that, on that campaign?
09:01Probably not directly.
09:03There are many domestic issues, usually, that are predominantly, you know, in terms of priority with the American vote.
09:13With the average U.S. voter, there are many other domestic priorities.
09:18You're from Lebanon.
09:19You grew up in the U.S.
09:21Your career has been based there.
09:23How does that affect the decisions and the advice that you give within your career?
09:30You know, do you feel that you sit there some days with two hats on?
09:33No, definitely not.
09:34I have only one hat.
09:36And that's the U.S.
09:37I work for the U.S. government.
09:38I'm a U.S. diplomat.
09:40I was born in Lebanon and then moved to the U.S. as a teenager.
09:43And then I worked in West Africa for a very long time.
09:46So definitely this background, this diverse background in Africa and the Middle East and the U.S., of course, helps
09:55considerably with my work as a diplomat.
10:02My work is all about traveling all over these continents and these countries.
10:08I've probably met with close to 50 heads of states or heads of government and foreign ministers and others in
10:19the last year and a half or so.
10:21I'm privileged and honored to work for President Trump and for Secretary Rubio.
10:26And it's the honor of a lifetime to represent the United States and President Trump.
10:31How do you see the conflict that we're seeing across the region ending?
10:37Is it going to end soon?
10:39How do we resolve what is going on?
10:42The president believes that it's going to end soon and he's determined to make it end.
10:49And he's working towards that.
10:51I mean, he's a person who delivers.
10:53And we've all seen President Trump deliver on his promises.
10:57There's no promise that he didn't deliver on, whether it's a campaign promise or any other promise that he made.
11:03And he's sincerely working towards that with an absolutely great team, whether it's the Vice President J.D. Vance or
11:12the Secretary of State and National Security Advisor, Marco Rubio,
11:16and the entire team at Treasury, at the Department of War and all the advisors and special envoys.
11:23And I'm very proud to be part of this great team.
11:26You say soon.
11:27Can you give us a timeline?
11:29That will be for the president to determine.
11:31But we are very hopeful and we are absolutely solidly behind him and behind his leadership.
11:38Mr. Boulos, thank you so much for talking to us on Euronews today.
11:41It was a pleasure to meet you.
11:42Thank you very much.
11:42Thank you so much.
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