Amb. Ron Dermer: Trump has changed trajectory of Middle East

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Amb. Ron Dermer: Trump has changed trajectory of Middle East

Israeli Ambassador to the U.S. Ron Dermer joins 'Your World' with reaction to President Trump's Iran deal decision, insight on how crude oil prices will be affected.

This is a rush transcript from "Your World," May 9, 2018. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.

NEIL CAVUTO, HOST: This is the scene right now.

These aren't protesters in Iran yelling out "Death to America," burning our flag. These are government officials. These are their top leaders ranting about the United States backing away from this deal.

Reaction now from Israeli Ambassador to the United Nations -- or United States -- I apologize -- Ron Dermer.

Ambassador, good to have you.

What did you think of that reaction? They're not happy.

RON DERMER, ISRAELI AMBASSADOR TO THE UNITED STATES: Well, the Iranian leadership have been burning American flags for 38, 39 years.

So that's not new. They have been at war with the United States since then. They took over your embassy when that regime came into power. They're responsible for the blowing up of your embassies. They have -- because of their actions, they have supported those who have murdered hundreds of Americans.

They have supported Hezbollah in blowing up the Marine barracks about 35 years ago. So they have been in a constant war with the United States. That hasn't changed. So, that really is not news for me.

The big news is that President Trump has actually changed the whole trajectory, I think, of the Middle East. And that's our hope, because this deal, Neil, put us on cruise control heading over a cliff, because it doesn't really block Iran's path to the bomb. It ultimately paves it.

And by removing all of the sanctions on the Iranian regime, billions of dollars were pouring in Iranian coffers. And they were using it to fuel their war machine throughout the Middle East, in Iraq, in Syria, in Lebanon and in Yemen.

So this is a big shift in policy. And we're very grateful for the president for standing up and for courageously making the decision he made yesterday.

CAVUTO: All right, that might be so, but so far, the other five nations that signed on to this, including Britain and Germany and France and Russia and China, have all said they're going to stick with the agreement as it stands.

Now, that might just all be posturing. But what do you think of that, if it's just the United States that now has to act unilaterally?

DERMER: Well, first of all, I take note that your allies in the region, both Israel and some of the leading powers in the Arab world, we're both opposed to this deal. And we both publicly supported President Trump's decision.

And I think that should count for something, because we were the guinea pigs.

CAVUTO: No, but you're quite right about that. Not a single nation in the Middle East signed onto this. But go ahead.

DERMER: That's right.

And we were the guinea pigs in this failed experiment. So imagine that you were doing a deal with North Korea, and the Japanese and the South Koreans were totally opposed to it, but the British, the French and the Germans were happy with the deal.

Look, we're the ones who paid the consequences for this deal. We were told three years ago that this deal would make the region safer. It's made the region far more dangerous. We were told that it was going to push further away.

It actually has brought war closer, literally to our borders. So we're very grateful for the news. The Arab parties are grateful for the news. And I think, as the U.S. ratchets up economic pressures, I don't think German banks are going to choose to do business with Iran, rather than the American banking system.

And I don't think French oil companies will choose to do business with Iran over getting access to American markets. So I think the president has it within his power to unite a lot of parties to this deal.

Maybe people don't want to go there, but I think he has the leverage to force them over to his side.

CAVUTO: You might be right. Right now, they are universally against what he is doing. But that could change, to your point.

But let me ask you a little bit about what was going on. Oil prices were rocketing today, Ambassador, on the belief that this going to add to more tensions, tighten supply in the market, especially if Iranian oil is knocked off the market, a good chunk of it. I think it's 2.5 million barrels a day.

And it's going to boomerang on everyone. What do you think?

DERMER: Well, you know prices have been rising about 50 percent over the last couple of years.

CAVUTO: True enough.

DERMER: They have been relatively low, which has actually hidden the dire consequences of this deal, because as oil prices go up, if they would have gone up to where they were three or four years ago, much -- much more money would be going into the Iranian coffers.

This deal, Neil, under this deal, Iran is allowed to sell oil. When the restrictions were in place, when the sanctions were in place, Iran was selling about a million barrels a day. Because of this deal, they're now selling over 2.5 million barrels a day.

That's an extra 1.5 million barrels a day. At $70 a barrel, that's over $100 million a day, $3 billion a month, $35 billion a year.

Now, I would love to tell you that all that money is going to establish a G.I. Bill returning members of the Revolutionary Guard. But instead it's using it to fuel this war machine.

So there's no question that if you do not have a change, as more money pours into the coffers, as they increase oil production, that's going to be very dangerous for the region.

What I think will happen, to your point and your question, is, I think that the Saudis and others can actually increase their capacity. And they could fill those needs, and ultimately supply and demand will settle where it is.

You do not need Iran to be selling their oil. You can constrict Iran's oil sales. I think that's good for the region. I think it's good for America. And it may be good for people in Texas as well.

CAVUTO: All right, we will have to watch.

Ambassador, thank you for taking the time. We appreciate it.

DERMER: Thank you.

CAVUTO: All right.

END

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