Former deputy Jordanian prime minister Mamdouh al-Abadi called for Iran, Egypt, and Saudi Arabia to become nuclear powers in public comments on Saturday.

The comments came during a symposium about the recent Saudi-Iranian reconciliation agreement at the Middle East Media and Policy Studies Institute.

Abadi argued for Jordan to restore relations with Iran and send an ambassador to Tehran immediately, since Jordan’s reason for cutting relations in the first place had been the 2016 attack on the Saudi embassy in Tehran.

He claimed the Jordanian street responded “positively” to Saudi-Iranian normalization, and a number of Jordanian politicians were demanding that Jordan join in.

But “some voices close to Jordan’s decision-makers” doubted the Saudi-Iranian agreement and hoped against its success, Abadi said, “as if they were indirect spokesmen for the state that was shocked by this agreement, America.”

Abadi argued that Jordanian openness to the agreement would have a positive impact on relations with Syrian and Iraq, and smooth out the process of importing Iraqi oil. He claimed that U.S. sanctions on Syria under the Caesar Act have affected Jordan the most.

The former deputy prime minister wondered why the Jordanian media criticizes Iran so harshly, when Iran took up the Palestinian flag after the 1979 revolution and supported the struggles in Gaza and Lebanon.

He also took aim at the recent visit of U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin to the region. Abadi argued that if Jordan is a real ally and partner, then the United States should send the secretary of the treasury or commerce, since Jordan’s problems are economic and not security issues.

As for the $1.5 billion in U.S. aid, Abadi pointed out that $600 million goes into the Jordanian budget, while the rest is distributed through NGOs and gets “thrown away on the side of the road.”

In response to questions, Abadi said that he wished Iran would become a nuclear state, and that Saudi Arabia and Egypt would as well. Israel has already had nuclear weapons for 60 years without having fingers pointed at it, he noted.