Q&A: Musk the trilionaire, the two-state solution and is Trump cashing in?

**Jamie Rubin** (0:02)
This is a global production.

**Christiane Amanpour** (0:05)
It just seems to be might makes right in every corner of Trump's endeavour. There's fires, there's fire bombings, there's attacks, even on human beings. And very often, the IDF, i.e. the army and the police, the Israeli police, either stand by or they enable this violence.

**Jamie Rubin** (0:23)
If Elon Musk had put all the energy he put into making SpaceX, into fixing the federal government, I would have been his biggest fan.

**Christiane Amanpour** (0:31)
These companies do not regulate or police themselves. If they did, we wouldn't be in this conundrum here.

**Jamie Rubin** (0:38)
The world is a dangerous place, unfortunately, and anything could happen.

**Christiane Amanpour** (0:47)
Hello everybody and welcome to the Q&A episode of The Ex Files with me, Christiane Amanpour.

**Jamie Rubin** (0:53)
And Jamie Rubin here in New York.

**Christiane Amanpour** (0:55)
And being from London, I would just like to say we really love to hear all your questions. So let's get started. And before we just do, I just want to say that as we speak, we're about to know what the text of the memorandum of understanding to end the war on Iran by Israel and the United States, what that actually says on Friday. Allegedly, there's going to be a signing ceremony in Geneva. So the Strait of Hormuz has to be open. The American blockade has to end. That's what President Trump said.
And the nuclear issue will be dealt in the second or third phase. Now, others are sending out bits and bobs that they think is in it, probably coming from the Iranians, who knows. But some of the more extraordinary ones to me, if they're true, is that the United States essentially pledges to respect the sovereignty of, quote, the Islamic Republic of Iran, i.e. this is what Iran wanted. It want to make sure that there's never any war against it again. So if this is a clause, it's a pretty big win for Iran. Then it will get billions of dollars in frozen assets released according to this particular suggested points that were released, and it will get something like $300 billion in reconstruction aid. Apparently, a lot of that from the Gulf States, which I find, again, extraordinary since Iran whacked them but good during this war. So we don't really know for sure, but that's some of the stuff that is floating around. I guess we'll know better on Friday.
Jamie, you want to take the first question and answer?

**Jamie Rubin** (2:24)
Let's go right into it. Amy on email asks, why do you think the US has avoided any major domestic terrorist attacks during the current conflict with Iran? Could policies such as tighter border controls and increased immigration enforcement have played a role or are other factors more important? Well, I think we need to remember that Al Qaeda and Iran are two different entities. Al Qaeda, the Sunni extremist group, was the one that attacked the United States, and their offshoots, these Sunni extremist groups, are the ones that have been responsible for other such attacks. The only one that I know Iran tried in the United States was a famous incident where they allegedly paid somebody to blow up the restaurant in Washington where the Saudi ambassador was going to be at lunch, and they got caught and that never happened. So I guess part of the answer to the question is I don't think Iran has had a policy or a capability over these years to attack the United States, inside the United States. I think they probably saw that as a step too far. In a couple of cases, they did a few things, as I mentioned. But I think the questioner is right.
Since 9-11, since all of these incidents, we've learned how to do a better job of protecting ourselves against domestic terrorist incidents. And all of the things we have to go through, all of the pains in the necks at the airports and border controls, and all of those things that have changed our lives. I mean, remember, we didn't used to have to do any of that stuff 20, 30 years ago. Well, I guess it's not 20 anymore, 30 years ago.
And that has made enforcement of our border safer and made it harder. And I guess the FBI and the others do work very, very hard, and they do uncover plots. But I think we have to remember that the world is a dangerous place, unfortunately, and anything could happen as long as we have this kind of chaos in the world.

**Christiane Amanpour** (4:28)
And Jamie, you mentioned the attempt on the Saudi ambassador. Aren't people also saying, and I mean, I'm sort of yanking it out of some memory hole here, that one of the attempts on Trump's life was Iran orchestrated or there was some Iran angle to it? They haven't found anything, I don't think, but that was something that they were talking about.