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DERMOT MURNAGHAN: Now there will be no deal with the West by tomorrow’s nuclear deadline, that was the message from Iran today as nations gathered for final talks in Vienna, so what does an agreement or indeed the lack of it even if temporarily, mean for stability in the region?  I am joined now by His Royal Highness Prince Hassan of Jordan who is the uncle of the current King and a board member of the Nuclear Threat Initiative.  A very good morning to you, Prince Hassan.  This of course is the key to a lot of issues in the region but just the narrow focus on the nuclear issue first and foremost, what do you think this means?  Do you think a deal will eventually be done?

PRINCE HASSAN:  Rescheduling until March of the discussion of centrifuges and the discussion of beneficiation for peaceful purposes is of course another extension but I do believe it is a technical extension and I do believe that, I don't know whether Mr Steinmeier turned up yesterday or not but he did say that he was interested in progress that was being made so you will find that both Secretary Kerry and the Europeans are very keen on getting a deal with Iran and on the broader context I am sure you have many questions to ask me.

DM: I do indeed but just staying with that for the moment, in the overall context do you believe that the west and particularly the United States, should take the Iranians at face value?  That their interest in further developing nuclear technology is purely peaceful and purely civilian?

PRINCE HASSAN:  Well I think Iran is a swing country in West Asia, between West Asia and East Asia, in terms of oil supply.  I think that this is essential in the context of 45 million Egyptians about to migrate from the Nile Delta region by 2030 and 45 million Iranians about to migrate so that’s 90 million people on the march by 2030 largely because of sanctions, largely because of the lack of any capacity to desalinate and large because we don’t have a regional community of water and energy for the human environment which could serve all, so 90 million migrants, over and above that another 20 million displaced by war, the region is being sectarianized and I don't think the region is manageable anymore.

DM: Okay but just on the issue of the nuclear ambitions, Iran solely wants the power, the capability to develop nuclear energy but not nuclear warheads.  Iran has argued that well, we know the Israeli’s have those capabilities, we need this kind of thing to defend ourselves.

PRINCE HASSAN:  Well anything that destroys, God forbid, Israeli or Palestinian targets destroys us as well so I have no reason to be arguing an Iranian case for armament.  I am going to Teheran on the 9th December for an international conference yet again on religion and violence and it seems to me that they are interested in getting into the international debate.  

DM: It has been said that the progress that has been made in these talks has been in part because the United States have taken the pressure off, taken their foot off the neck a little bit on this because of course of dealing with ISIL, ISIS, Islamic State in the region, they need Iran’s help.  

PRINCE HASSAN: Well it is all about Guantanamo, Basra, Qurbani, it’s all about what’s happening in Palestine, let’s face it and I don't think there is any leverage in Palestine at the present time politically and possibly they feel that dealing with Iran might be a more sensible way of preserving the integrity of Iraq because if we break up into Judeistan and Shiastan and Sunnistan, let’s face it the region is basically destined for thirty years war.  

DM: What is your analysis of dealing with Islamic State, of defeating it militarily?  Can that be done without the United States and others, including Britain, putting boots on the ground?

PRINCE HASSAN: According to the terrorism index the international interventions in the five countries I believe it is, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Syria, Iraq and Nigeria, have not succeeded terribly well and I want to say that putting boots on the ground has to be part of a new regional focus on regional stabilisation but if we are talking about regime change, I don't think that is going to go anywhere.  It seems that the military are convinced of the importance of putting boots on the ground but I am also convinced of the need for the Gulf States to put together a regional development bank for reconstruction and development, for making arms, international universal arms a way of putting a smile on the faces of all the dispossessed and for the United Nations to make an appeal for justice for all, at all levels.  That means political, economic and civil society.

DM: A last thought on sad events over recent weeks I suppose in Jerusalem, both east and west.  We’ve often talked, you and I, about a settlement, some two state settlement taking place between Israel and the Palestinians.  It seems further and further away doesn’t it?

PRINCE HASSAN:  Well with the deliberate pogroms taking place, the last of which sadly was this killing of the rabbis in the synagogue in Jerusalem, Freund in the Jerusalem Post has described it as such, I would say that this tit for tat, eye for an eye, destruction of mosques, destruction of synagogues, destruction of worshippers, requires a special status for Jerusalem and there I think the issue is no longer Palestinian/Israeli, it is a universal issue.  Here we are approaching Christmas with all sorts of commercialisation, what about a little bit of sincerity about Jerusalem consciousness and about the management of holy spaces that have described in Jerusalem, that is what is needed.  I think it is important for Mecca, I think it’s important for Najaf, I think it’s important for distancing religion from all of these political parties that are using religion as a [inaudible].

DM: Your royal highness,  I really appreciate you coming in to share your thoughts with us, Prince Hassan of Jordan there.  

PRINCE HASSAN:  Thank you very much.