"I am waiting for the meeting between Sheikh Saad Hariri and Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah. After that, If the party saw that a meeting with me is useful, then I wouldn't mind," Jumblatt told As Safir daily in an interview published Thursday.
Asked if doors were not closed for such a meeting, Jumblatt said: "In politics there is nothing closed."
The leader of the Progressive Socialist Party denied that he would soon hold talks with Head of the Loyalty to the Resistance Bloc MP Mohammed Raad at Minister Talal Arslan's residence.
"We don't want to discuss issues that we would later talk about at the national dialogue table," Jumblatt said.
When asked why he criticized a visit to Iran by Free Patriotic Movement leader Michel Aoun, Jumblatt said: "I want Lebanon to stay out of axes whether be it Western or Eastern."
He said he was ready for dialogue with Iran if the Islamic Republic took the initiative. But the agenda according to Jumblatt should include "the truce with Israel, implementation of the Taef Accord, the defense strategy, the excellent relations with Syria and if they (Iranians) wished to provide aid then this should take place only through the Lebanese state."
Jumblatt, however, refused to apologize to the Assad regime.
"I know the Syrian regime very well since the days of (former President) Hafez Assad...They want me to apologize and this is out of the question," Jumblatt told As Safir.
But he vowed not to interfere in Syria's internal affairs, saying: "Let the Syrian people decide the type of leadership that suits them."
When asked if he made a mistake when he called for toppling the Syrian regime, Jumblatt said: "I wasn't mistaken and I am not regretful. But the international community preferred this regime" because it doesn't want chaos in Syria.
"This is not the first time and it won't be the last that democratic regimes prefer dictatorships," he added.
He said the March 14 alliance asked the help of the West in the issue of the international tribunal only.
"When the Syrian army went out of Lebanon, it wasn't the Americans or the French who took it out. It was the Lebanese people through the big March 14 demonstration," Jumblatt told his interviewer.
The PSP leader said the Americans succeeded only in helping to establish the international tribunal that would try ex-Premier Rafik Hariri's suspected assassins.
"If the new U.S. administration does not make calculations, we would head to total economic and political chaos. I foresee chaos in Afghanistan and Pakistan and maybe in Iraq," he said.
When asked if the U.S. was taking advantage of the March 14 forces to achieve its own interests, Jumblatt said: "Our only demand was the court and I believe we finally got it."
About the upcoming parliamentary elections, Jumblatt said that all March 14 forces should enter into an alliance away from party politics.
He told As Safir that he would deal with the opposition based on dialogue and participation if the March 14 coalition wins the elections.
Asked if the alliance would grant the opposition again veto power in the new cabinet, Jumblatt said: "In a democratic system, there is nothing called one-third (veto power). Sensitive and strategic issues such as Hezbollah's weapons" should be dealt with through dialogue even if there was no Hezbollah minister in the government.
Tags: Hezbollah, Lebanon, source: Naharnet, Syria, Ya Libnan
