Asked if Iran and Israel could ever have direct negotiations with each other, he replied: "Why not? The Iranians are not our enemies. We have nothing against Iran. The great king of Iran was the first Zionist in the world. King Cyrus called for the Jewish people in Iran to go and settle in Israel and build a second [temple] "That was 3,000 years ago. So I don't have any hatred to the Iranians."