Former Lebanese Interior Minister Marwan Charbel said in a June 14, 2019 interview on INEWS TV (Lebanon) that the U.S. and other countries that manufacture arms use Arab lands as the testing grounds for their weapons by selling the weapons to Arabs, who in turn use them on other Arabs. He claimed that Iran is "needed" by America more than anybody else and that the U.S. has an interest in keeping tensions in the region high. He criticized the Arab countries for having "forgotten" that Israel is the enemy and for considering Iran to be an enemy. Charbel also said that America will not allow Iran to be attacked or destroyed and that it will not allow the Israeli-Palestinian conflict to be resolved because it knows that Israel will directly control it if Israel gets "comfortable." He also claimed that the U.S. invaded Iraq in order to enable Iran to enter Iraq in the future. Charbel further added that America's "dream" is for the entire world to be destroyed except for Israel and that Israel wants every religious sect in the Middle East to have its own country with which it can make agreements.
Marwan Charbel: "Unfortunately, the foreign countries and the countries that manufacture weapons test [their weapons] on us. The Arab countries are their only testing grounds.
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"Iran is needed by America more than anyone else."
Interviewer: "Iran is needed by America?"
Marwan Charbel: "Yes, that is correct."
Interviewer: "Why?"
Marwan Charbel: "In order to extort money from the Gulf countries."
Interview: "So the more tensions increase, the more weapons deals they sign."
Marwan Charbel: "Today, all the Gulf countries and many Arab countries see Iran as a terrorist state and as an enemy. These countries have forgotten that Israel is an enemy, and it's Iran now.
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"The U.S. will not allow Iran to be attacked or destroyed, because this way it can continue using Iran as a scarecrow. It will also not allow the Palestinian issue to be solved, because Israel is uncomfortable when the situation is like it is today. When Israel is comfortable, and when there will be a Palestinian state and an Israeli state, the U.S. will be ruled for ages by an Israeli president, or by somebody else that is 100% loyal to Israel. That's why America wants the current conflict to continue. They can take Iran's money while Israel needs the U.S. at a time that the U.S. does not need Israel. When Israel is comfortable and when there will be two states – Israel and Palestine – the first, final, and absolute ruler in America will be Israeli."
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Marwan Charbel: "Why did [America] go into Iraq? If they were scared of Iran... An eight-year was fought between Iraq and Iran and we thought Saddam defeated Iran, right? The U.S. entered Iraq in order to enable Iran to enter Iraq."
Interviewer: "So what they did enabled this."
Marwan Charbel: "I really don't understand their policy. Their main policy, the headline. Even if the entire world is destroyed and only Israel is left... This would be a dream for America.
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"Israel did not succeed in its agreements with the Arab regimes. Tomorrow, a new Abdel Nasser will come, and he will take the Camp David Accord and tear it in half, and he will say: 'Attack them, oh Arabs!' They dream about an alliance with the Arab nations, but not as the Arab nations are today. They dream about having separate alliances with the Christians, with the Druze, with the Shiites, with the Sunnis, and so forth, so that every sect has its own country."