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i am announcing today that the united states will withdraw from the iran nuclear deal. donald trump pulls out of an agreement he described as defective to its core and imposes the highest level of sanctions against iran. i'm mariam waze in london you're watching al-jazeera has been a media reaction from the iranian media has an iranian says his government will bypass washington and negotiate with the deals european signatories reaction to from france's emanuel macron the president was a champion of the deal and says he regrets the u.s. decision. u.s. president donald trump has announced he's pulling the united states out of the iranian

deal calling the two thousand and fifteen agreement defective to its core trump said the disastrous deal was an embarrassment for the u.s. says that he would be imposing the highest level of sanctions against iran i am announcing today that the united states will withdraw from the iran nuclear deal in a few moments i will sign a presidential memorandum to begin reinstating u.s. nuclear sanctions on the a reining in regime we will be instituting the highest level of economic sanction any nation that help saran in its quest for nuclear weapons could also be strongly sanctioned by the united states america will not be held hostage to nuclear blackmail we will not allow american cities to be threatened with

destruction and we will not allow a regime the chance death to america to gain access to the most deadly weapons on earth. well iran's president has and rouhani says his country has fulfilled its commitments under the deal. they've done nothing except put empty signatures on pieces of paper without doing anything about it the iranian mission on the other hand has agreed to everything and accomplished all its responsibilities we had some duties based on that agreement and we have delivered all of them but today we can see which is the country that doesn't respect international agreements we've done nothing wrong is not acceptable that the u.s. is pulling out. former us president barack obama has called trump's decision to withdraw from the iran nuclear deal misguided and a serious mistake let's go live then to the white house and our correspondent kimberly how caisson as the reaction there in washington continues to come in we

now have the response of a former u.s. president barack obama who successfully negotiated the iran nuclear deal why does he think trump's decision is a mistake. well i think that there is the strong feeling particularly among democratic politicians the united states that it wasn't a perfect agreement but it was working that this was the best option for limiting iran's nuclear activity in terms of trying to inspect the enrichment that was taking place capping that and also making sure that there wasn't this ability or momentum to move forward towards constructing that the greatest fear and that is a nuclear bomb so this is the feeling and this is a feeling that is coming not just from the former president barack obama but the former secretary of state john kerry who of course was instrumental in those negotiations and t. top democratic lawmakers but certainly this is something that the administration is countering when they say that they believe this still was flawed it was not working

that there is the need there to reimpose sanctions put in place those sanctions immediately that were lifted as a result of the twenty fifteen deal the argument that we are hearing over and over is that because they feel that the agreement didn't go far enough to address what they continue to repeat is iran's mulayam activities that's the term they keep using the line activities in the middle east the broader middle east and so the argument now is that my pump aoe the u.s. secretary of state will work with the european allies the very ones that pleaded donald trump not to withdraw from this agreement to address these broader issues. how is this going to impact congress because you have democrat no democratic no make that a very critical of trump's decision but there are also some republicans who are defending it. right top the speaker of the house paul ryan the top republican in that chamber expressing publicly in a statement that he is disappointed with the president and his decision saying that

he had hoped that there would be allowing for european allies more time to fix the deal just as donald trump had expressed his desire in january but certainly he respects the president's right he says to hold iran accountable but that's not how top democrats particularly chuck schumer in the u.s. senate feels in fact the real fear among top democrats in that upper chamber is that this really harms u.s. relationships with key u.s. allies there are no reports that iran has violated the agreement and to me the greatest worries from iran are not right now the nuclear side but rather what they're doing in syria what they're doing to arm hezbollah with rockets what they're doing with i.c.b.m.'s and to me the right thing to do would have been to try and come up with our allies with an agreement on those issues and let the nuclear part of this continue as is because it's not being violated in any way by

dividing our allies and i've just heard the president said he would impose secondary sanctions on european and asian allies you're making it harder to go after hezbollah you're making it harder to go after raney in activities that are really dangerous and you're probably making it harder to come to a north korea deal. other top democrats in the u.s. congress are fearful that what this is done is essentially eroded place of leadership that the united states had for so long in the world isolating in the words of nancy pelosi a top democratic lawmaker in the house of representatives that isolates america not iran but i think dianne feinstein a top democratic senator also articulated a point that is being underscored by a number of members of congress and that is that there may be a political aspect to this decision by donald trump as well calling this a strategic mistake to essentially for donald trump fulfill

a campaign promise to his supporters all right thank you very much kimberly how kit with all the latest from the white house diplomatic editor james maze is live for us from u.n. headquarters in new york and james can really just referring that to concern in washington that this is going to increase u.s. isolation on the wall stage how is this going to impact the order of business there at the u.n. where we have seen the u.s. clashing with the country so many times on the security council. well it's an odd dynamic where now on this particular issue you've got russia on the side of the u.s. is key allies and the u.s. very much isolated the european allies certainly saying publicly that they believe that they can keep this deal going but i do think it for faces very big challenges going forward one of the issues is the one that you just heard kimberly mentioned

the idea of secondary sanctions if the u.s. administration goes ahead as it says it is and puts all the sanctions back in place some of them would end up being secondary sanctions on other countries and their companies european and elsewhere for doing business in iran and already this has been raised by the brand new trump administration ambassador to germany rick grinnell on twitter says german companies doing business in iran should wind down their operations immediately that this is going to mean that the u.s. is going to be coming up against its allies and of course there's another problem going forward the whole benefit to iran of the iran deal was the economic benefits it's bourse if if those companies from other countries can't do business with iran iran will not get the economic benefits and then that is likely to encourage the iranians to completely pull out of this deal and restart their nuclear program and mean that diplomacy slides away and we look towards yet more military conflict in

the middle east what about the wider consequences for diplomacy this decision comes at a time when the child administration is trying to track a tackle the nuclei ization on the korean peninsula how does this affect the the u.s. position and their credibility in trying to achieve that. well i think it makes it potentially more difficult because north korea wants to come up with a binding deal with the u.s. not just on its nuclear program but it wants a guarantee that they'll no never be any regime change they'll be a sort of norm aggression deal with the united states and many diplomats here are saying would you really trust the united states now after you've seen president trump tear off a deal that the u.s. was central in negotiating its interesting that might prompt the u.s. secretary of state is now on his way again to north korea so far north korea is

getting these talks with the trumpet ministration having given absolutely nothing in return and north korea actually has a nuclear capability whereas iran actually gave its efforts to get one up during the nuclear deal we may perhaps i think see the first concession from the north korean side in the coming hours there is speculation that secretary of state pompei wouldn't be going back to pyongyang without getting something and remember there are still three u.s. citizens held prisoner by north korea all right thank you very much a diplomatic editor james bays at united nations let's head to tehran now as a bus driver is standing by and saying just a touch on a point that james is making now about the possibility of secondary sanctions it had a stark warning from john bolton about european businesses or indeed any country or business that is involved with iran needing to get out what does the decision that trying has made to day need for iran.

well iranian leaders were right from the start who said the very reason they begin talks with western nations. and with the u.n. security council members to come to the nuclear agreement was because they wanted to promote dialogue as a way to avoid any conflict and so. what the what the president would present doesn't what he said in a speech was that they weren't willing to give up on the deal that the united states pulling out did not mean the end of an agreement that very much was a benchmark of president hassan rouhani is. a success as president it's what helped him win reelection in his last election campaign so they're not ready to give up on it but he did say that the success of the deal staying in it means that the european partners now have to step up foreign minister zarif recently tweeted that

he will be carrying out the orders of its president that he will attempt to negotiate a broader solution with other signatories to the agreement and if there is able to come up with something that helps iran enjoy the benefits that it had signed up to when it signed the deal in the first place then they would remain in the deal but it is very difficult to see how with this sort of secondary sanctions european companies and european governments as well as asian companies and asian governments that iran is hoping it can lean on at this time we will continue to do business with iran it's a very difficult thing to avoid and it's unclear that. there will be an ability to find a diplomatic way out of this. this encouraging. kind of shifting dynamic in iranian politics could we or are we seeing more agreement between president has and ronnie and his more conservative opponents.

well there are two schools of thought on this the supreme leader himself said at the time that these talks began that he didn't feel that they would work out because the united states is not a reliable negotiating partner hard line clerics as well as military hawks within iran this doubtless meant has said over and over again that the rouhani government was trying to carry out essentially a fool's errand by negotiating this deal in the first place but what we're seeing is very much a closing of ranks a sort of sealed mentality taking over iran's been here before it's been under sanctions before it's been isolated economically and militarily in the past and if trump has accomplished anything it may be uniting the different groups in iran to speak out as one voice at least on the issue of relations with the united states while rouhani has been criticized this government has been criticized for the lack of success of the uniquely deal to deliver economic relief to the iranian people we've seen in recent days it is from within the military establishment and from

within members of parliament in iran speak out in support of the iranian government speak out in support of rouhani and speak out in support of iran iran's participation in the deal its fulfillment of all the tenets of the agreement and really agree with rouhani is message that the responsibility for the deal beginning to fray and possibly falling apart completely that responsibility rests on the shoulders of the trunk white house thanks very much from tehran. with the reaction there i'm joined now in the studio by our senior political analyst. and some marwan how would you describe the the magnitude of this decision we've had from president trump today could this signal a kind of turning point in their strategy or sort of transfer the mideast. of course without exaggeration i think generally speaking the the aquas fear here

reminds me of the eve of the iraq war back in two thousand and three when iraq was accused of harboring chemical weapons what kinds of mass destructions secret facilities that it wasn't on the ring its agreements and that there is a regime that supports fetter that's destabilizing force in the middle east and so on so forth very similar to the lack of language was we are hearing today and i get the feeling that we are in similar circumstance now that doesn't mean we're going to war it's war but it does mean that we are. at a crossroads where confrontations a number of confrontations are possible one between the united states and iran to between israel and sly saudi arabia and iran and we've seen from the green light being given to israel to attack a rainy and other facilities within syria i think sooner rather than later iran

will will respond and i think the possibility of confrontation between iran and israel potentially with saudi arabia is is there third there is the possibility of confrontation slash tensions between european allies and the united states now that the united states has totally discounted their opinion and has just threatened them in the words of present trump with sanctions if they continue to deal with iran so imagine european construction company oil company and all kinds of other companies now are going to be sanctioned by the united states because they deal with iran according to a deal that the united states signed back in two thousand and fifteen so there are a number of possible confrontations last but not least the one against china and russia is also coming because i think china russia insists that they are going to continue with the deal what would happen then. the u.s. is that will president trump has said repeatedly that he dislikes this deal because

it does nothing to tackle iran's malign meddling activities in the region that it wasn't intended to achieve that directly how is he going to choose to move against this in some way if in so many ways by the way it was the french president mccrone who all paved the way for not trump to underline and sort of defy his position on those non-nuclear issues such as iran's ballistic missile program iran's regional activities and so on and so forth because it was the french president to intervene and said let's keep that the as it is and let's open these other gateways you know into new deals in us far as ballistic missiles and so forth are concerned and i think iran is apparently or was against that but now what we hear from president rouhani is he is willing to talk to the europeans just to you know to see

if there is a way out of the impasse i don't think you could bridge today. the iranian position and the american position because what president from is demanding is still to iranian surrender of its sovereignty over its interests and of its original role because when he says we would have to have the right to inspect everywhere anytime in iran and see it as a violation of the something he and for the trump of ministration it's it's a zero sum game they don't want to give any concessions to the iranians ultimately what does what is the knock on effect of this in the middle east how much more instability could we see we are certainly beyond the nuclear deal i mean i would suggest to everyone to stop talking about the nuclear deal this is no longer about the nuclear now we're talking about the united states versus iran in the middle east we're talking about a new american doctrine an overarching strategy in dealing with the middle east

that hinges on american hostility towards iran and perhaps vice versa and in so many ways this is going to allow israel to to escalate against iran it's giving the green light for saudi arabia to escalate against iran and i think the so many ways in a sphere as. all eyes in the region i mean look at it has been a law in lebanon just basically sort of defied its position in the lebanese elections no to my lucky and popular mobilization iraq are sort of defying their own position in the iraqi elections this week and certainly the hope is in yemen as well as bashar assad regime and they are a militias in syria are making huge progress so all in all iran is making move major major you know expansion of its own influence of those of its allies in the region it has no interest or for direct confrontation with the united states but on the ground if the united states is going to try to contain slash confront iran and

its allies this is going to mean an all out. the war and having alien if in europe russia and china there's going to be less and less room for a serious diplomatic or global coalition towards a more. you know calming of the souls if you are in the region so really we are a an impasse slash course sword for morse to mission so it's stuck in a quiet dangerous risky stalemate right now and you point to iranian gains in the region but could that the problems in obstacles ahead in the theaters of war whether it be. iraq or in syria or in lebanon as a result of an emboldened israel with perhaps coordination with the saudis alongside you know on the one hand we have this autumn and go visit in saudi arabia that is really going on for fledged hundred plus billion dollars of arms to saudi arabia forty billion dollars of deals towards izard sun under the obama news source

i think also in the trump camp there is talk about. beefing up american naval presence in the persian gulf and the east in the three it means the fifth and the sixth fleet we're talking about covert operations even inside iran potentially or against iran's our allies in iraq and syria we're talking about expanding the drones programs in the middle east against iran and its allies so all in all we're really talking about an overall you know outright confrontation throughout the region with iran potentially because we're talking about what does this really mean to all of that is this what if it's a will but we are certainly now closer to those sort of scenarios than we where yesterday our senior political analyst marwan bashara thank you very much and speaking of reaction in the region but continuing to get that with the israeli prime minister benjamin not benjamin netanyahu speaking out and of course he was

always a critic an opponent of the iran nuclear deal and immediately applauded president trump's decision to pull out israel fully supports president trump's bold decision today to reject the disastrous nuclear deal with the terrorist resume in to iran israel is opposed the nuclear deal from the start because we said that rather than blocking iran's bathroom the deal actually paves the runs to an entire arsenal of nuclear bombs and this within a few years time the removal of sanctions under the do has already produced disastrous results the deal didn't push war further away it actually brought it closer and it's going to harry force the injuries lemon just listening to ness and yahoo that voicing his satisfaction with president trump's decision though there is a discrepancy between his view of iran the senior members of his military and

security establishment. that's right there have been retired intelligence officials military officials even the chief of the israeli army and self just a couple of months ago was saying that the iran deal did seem to be working and for all its faults it's that it could prevent an iranian nuclear weapon for another decade or so so yes there is divergence here just as there is in the united states there's been indications from the u.s. secretary of defense james mattis saying that the language of the iran deal was predicated on the idea that iran was lying well in donald trump's speech he made a big deal of the fact that iran he said had lied citing the language used by israel's prime minister benjamin netanyahu in his own speech along with all of the video presentation that came last week and so in tonight's speech benjamin

netanyahu struck a pretty somber tone in terms of how he was addressing both the people here in hebrew and the wider world in english but he will be celebrating tonight because this is something which he's lobbied for for a very long time both to the obama administration when that didn't work to u.s. congress and now finally has a u.s. president on his side over this key as he sees it security issue in the region and how do you how do you gauge the way in which netanyahu government views the situation outside of israel perhaps in syria in lebanon do you sense that there could be more of a confrontation even if it's an indirect one with iran's allies on the ground in those places. well it seems it could be pretty direct even as of tonight there was just in the minutes after the speech from donald trump there

were reports of explosions in south west and southwest of the mascot's rather near kids where where there is thought to be or known to be an iranian military base there are reports that a convoy may have been targeted the syrian state media is saying that syrian and the aircraft missiles targeted incoming israeli missiles no confirmation as they usually isn't from israel as to the origin of that strike but this would be if it were an israeli strike one of many many more than a hundred over the course of the syrian civil war and it is something that we've come to see regularly because because benjamin netanyahu says of the threat posed by iranian military activity within syria indeed in the run up to the

speech from donald trump there were warnings given to israelis in northern israel saying that the public shelters should be opened and that the israeli army was preparing for any potential for a syria for is ready sorry for an iranian response from syria to a strike that was carried out just over a week ago so already we're seeing. kinetic action just in the in the minutes after this speech from the on from and i thanks very much from jerusalem harry fossett well also reaction across the globe to this u.s. withdrawal here payne union's foreign affairs chief federico greeny saying the deal is working and lou will continue to stick to it. the nuclear deal with iran is crucial for the security of the region of europe of the entire woods as long as it continues to implement its nuclear related commitments as it is doing so far the

european union will remain committed to the continued and effective implementation of the nuclear deal. well the british prime minister trees amaze as the u.k. edges all sides to remain committed to the iran nuclear deal as full implementation and to act in a spirit of responsibility french president emanuel says he's disappointed but ready to work on a new deal with iran he tweeted france germany and the u.k. regret the u.s. decision to leave the g c p o a the nuclear nonproliferation regime is at stake we will work collectively on a broader framework covering nuclear activity the post two thousand and twenty five period ballistic activity and stability in the middle east notably syria yemen and iraq well the french president has been discussing iran and donald trump's decision in a phone call with the german chancellor angela merkel and the prime minister to resume a so trying to coordinate on this let's get the latest from attash a butler who is in paris so what more do we know about these conversations and how

europe is trying to formulate a plan that means they can implement this deal. well i think it's no surprise at the french president has been speaking to his german and british counterparts they have been talking all along this process before donald trump's announcement and now since that and what we've been saying by european leaders is really they've been rallying around presenting very much a united front and that is that they are determined to maintain the iran deal as far as they're concerned the e.u. france germany britain just some of those countries they really want to continue working with iran and preserving this this deal you heard there earlier from fredericka more green a greenie the e.u. foreign policy chief and do not ask the council you counsel president has also said the leaders would be meeting in brussels next week to discuss what next to discuss

whether or not they can formulate some sort of other plan now the thing is that will be perhaps very difficult the will is certainly there iran says that it's willing to but you'll have to see exactly what they come up with and there are also other questions when donald trump said that he's going to impose economic sanctions what will that mean for european countries we know for example that france has billions of dollars worth of trade now with tehran ever since sanctions were lifted back in twenty sixteen and also leaders will have to ask themselves the question what sort of partner can the united states be for european nations we've seen the u.s. pull out of the climate deal at the end of last year and now the iran nuclear deal so how reliable can donald trump in washington be as a partner for europe all right thanks very much ashley butler with the latest from paris and of course there is much more right here on our web site al-jazeera dot com.

our top story this hour u.s. president donald trump has decided to withdraw from the iran nuclear agreement saying the deal is defective at its core and will lead to an arms race in the middle east is also warn that you will impose the highest level of economic sanctions possible i am announcing today that the united states will withdraw from the iran nuclear deal in a few moments i will sign a presidential memorandum to begin reinstating u.s. nuclear sanctions on the a reigning in regime we will be instituting the highest level of economic sanction any nation that helps saran in its quest for nuclear weapons could also be strongly sanctioned by the united states. iran's president as an

rouhani says his country has fulfilled its commitments under the deal. they've done nothing except put empty signatures on pieces of paper without doing anything about it the iranian mission on the other hand has agreed to everything and accomplished all its responsibilities we had some duties based on that agreement and we have delivered all of them but today we can see which is the country that doesn't respect international agreements we've done nothing wrong is not acceptable that the u.s. is pulling out all in all the stories we're covering the north korean leader kim jong un has pledged his continued commitment to denuclearization ahead of an expected summit with u.s. president donald trump can made those comments during a meeting with his chinese counterpart xi jinping in the northern chinese port city of diane is their second meeting in recent weeks following kim's visit to beijing in march. and celebrations are taking place in a menial and often you cope the man who led weeks of protests was chosen as the new

prime minister appointment on cheese day caps off a peaceful revolution driven by weeks of mass protests against corruption in the republic russian president vladimir putin is welcomed the news saying he's looking forward to continuing friendly relations now today with all of the headlines inside story is coming up next on al-jazeera but then we will have a news hour and about twenty five minutes time to join me then by now voting for hezbollah the result of the general election in lebanon on the power of the party the shiite muslim group supported by iran is already influential in lebanon so will more power complicate the complex politics of the middle east this is inside story.

hello and welcome to the program on. corruption power cuts rubbish piling up on the streets and looking after huge numbers of refugees from syria just some of the challenges facing politicians in lebanon's newly elected parliament sunday's parliamentary election was the first in nine years and hezbollah was the winner the shiite muslim party with the military wing which is backed by iran want to small majority in parliament and dealt a blow to prime minister saad how do you see who supported by predominantly sunni saudi arabia how do these expected to form the next government despite his movement losing a third of its seats it remains the largest sunni bloc in parliament we'll hear from our guests in a moment but first is in a hole the reports from beirut. there was a clear winner at eleven on election day. hezbollah and its political allies won the majority of seats in parliament it's being seen by some as a victory for iran the shiite group is backed by iran it's the only lebanese party

that has an armed wing and its electoral gains further empowers it politically hezbollah's leader called for cooperation. and. before the poll i stressed that there is a reality in lebanon and that is that no one can eliminate the other even if we have disagreements we want political stability we need to cooperate. the general elections was a loss for lebanon's prime minister saddle had a no longer heads the largest bloc in the legislature but he still retains the majority of seats allocated to seventy muslims how did he faced opposition from within his own community some accused him of being too lenient with hezbollah which is fighting in neighboring syria when asked if he plans to change that approach the prime minister said the focus should be on development and improving the lebanese economy. i disagree with them on many

issues and will continue to disagree with them but what do i told the lebanese people. working on services like electricity water roads and instead focus on political challenge levanon can't handle political crises. clearly indicating his willingness to continue working with his political rivals he has led a national unity government since late two thousand and sixteen a cabinet that includes members of hezbollah. and the last election in two thousand and nine it was the pro western approach saudi alliance headed by saddle that won the majority of seats in parliament since then iran's influence has been growing not just here in lebanon but across the region and it has been at the expense of saudi arabia. saudi arabia used to play a major role in lebanese politics. for the better. i would be arabia was busy with other conflicts in the region like yemen the war there is a priority for riyadh. saudi arabia was aware that there are laws in lebanon where

nor longer united and they couldn't be a force to confront hezbollah but. the ground for iraq. for now however there is little indication that lebanon is heading towards political instability lebanese politicians are talking about putting their differences aside and now that the election is over. beirut. hezbollah is a shiite muslim political party in lebanon with a military wing the islamic revolutionary guard corps in eat on the help form has been ledger in lebanon civil war in the one nine hundred eighty s. hezbollah published its political manifesto or open letter in one thousand nine hundred five outlining israel and the u.s. as the enemy but if accord that ended the lebanese civil war in one thousand nine call for the disarmament of militias fighters were allowed to keep their weapons

when hezbollah rebranded itself as what it called an islamic resistance fighting israel's occupation after israeli forces withdrew from lebanon eighteen years ago hezbollah refused to disarm and continue to strengthen its military wing has bella successfully participated in national elections for the first time in one thousand nine hundred two and started to play an active role in lebanese politics when lebanese government leaders moved to shut down his bellows private telecommunications network in two thousand and eight it responded by fighting sunni groups and seizing much of the capital beirut western states israel and many arab countries designate hezbollah as a terrorist organization it sent thousands of fighters to syria to fight for syrian president bashar assad has but as involvement in syria's civil war has provoked criticism and sharp and sectarian tensions in lebanon let's bring in our guests joining us in beirut there retired general in the lebanese army in doha ibrahim from a hot he's an associate professor in international conflict resolution at the doha institute for graduate studies and also in beta would come out who was named

founder of the center of american strategic studies a warm welcome to you all now kemet i want to ask you first how big a loss was this for south how did he and his future block and why was his showing so poor and his stronghold areas. of course he lost one third of his collision it's a major loss for his coalition but in the hand levanon is built on consensus and i'm sure maybe the political process going forward will find a place for him and maybe he return as a prime minister of lebanon with accommodation for certain points that the highlights maybe the importance of the resistance again and importance of a real. plan for the economic condition and lebanon and light of the major deficit that we have in lebanon and the corruption that we have and lebanon so i'll end in total yes he lost influence and probably gives.

a way for rethinking the whole election law that was enacted very fast and was not actually well liked by the lebanese people because very large turnout for and came out for this election and it was one of the factors contributing to mr how do you or showing this time a sense amongst his muslim supporters in lebanon that he wasn't doing enough to counter hezbollah. first of all i think. mr how did by maintaining good his aliens with a particular group of the president and by. let's say. limit limitation and. limited corporation with him with his former ally in fourteen or marsh i think. people the sunni people they they have no longer

confidence in the choices so for that they are not there they were not very very motivated to go and to the elections and to elect mr heavy and meanwhile they don't have other choices for that we see this low voter turnout and i think also where there is this confidence. between misunderstanding all saw between for example mr hariri and the blood understood. where we see in the elections there there where there was no cooperation between then and i think. between so how do you really and mr brumby see in. that decline you know all of the all of the others the political groups let mr how do you the big a lot and. that's what mr john blart. told.

yesterday during a short speech he said that that is the least of the secular faces of many p.m.a. to binny's people is not up to the how do you the two to to decline this this this agreement and to decline the authorities of the position of the prime minister ibrahim you heard there talking a lot about the political forces in lebanon on about alliances that have to be made based on what you are seeing now do you believe that sad how do you as prime ministership is under threat or do you think that he will continue in that role. well thank you i think what my colleagues in beirut mentioned are important factors that could explain his loss in this election but it's not only about the domestic factors actually that is an important regional factor here that. that happened

affected this election which is actually that had he was significantly undermined in his latest crisis with saudi arabia i mean how do you see he delivered his resignation from the other and then he withdrew his resignation and then we don't know what happened and then the french president had to mediate or intervene to. have him leave riyadh so this all actually as a leader this significantly undermined how d.d. and to question his leadership as a sunni lead that and live in them what explains this actually is that how do you the last five seats in tripoli in the north and has sunni. place for his sunni rivals mikati for them are exploited minister one the nearly that in the north actually won four seats so this is

undermining his political leadership was a major fact that i think that explains what happened to him now with that he's going to secure his or keep his job his political future now in lebanon all of this is going to. end there i think for the time being we're going to see him continuing but again with much less power than used to be in the past for the simple reason one is that he still has about twenty one seats and the bottom and so he still considered the second part the. you know because of the also the lebanese inaction drawl. lol that sunni prime minister will have to be in this position so i think for the time being it's possible that we see him continuing but. unfortunately with more of a compromise was on the mind position compared to what he had in the past ok kemeny

brought him there was just really highlighting how delicate how fragile the political balance is in really has been for such a long time in lebanon so what is the immediate result of these election what does it do to that fragile balance. well actually this is a leveler is build and consensus no matter what the results will be and the and the lebanese has to come and have to sit on on the table and that's probably what we heard from everybody was from the prime minister of the speaker of the parliament or from the leader of hezbollah or from brazil everybody has to come to the table and they have to look forward because we have a lot of issues that has to be addressed and has to be addressed immediately we don't have a lot of time because the economy and the debt clock is ticking on lebanon so any delay and forming a government or playing politics at this time it will not really sat very well with

the lebanese economy because the issue really at this time when you have a debt close to eighty one billion dollars and you have interest on the debt and you have a huge deficit and you have a very weak economy and you want to give a good picture to the international community in light of that commitment to help lebanon economically so i need to lay in forming a government that was not such very well with the lebanese and was not such very well for the future of lebanon said that i think there is certain issues that has to be dealt with and i think probably the formation of the government probably will hang on couple it's you who's come to hold certain position within the government especially the finance ministry i think it's going to be an issue. probably if it doesn't resolve quickly it probably will delay the formation of the

government ok khalid we're talking about the economy the economy in lebanon has been a dire condition for a while now and one of the things that was really campaigned upon one of the issues . in the run up to this election was that was trying to get the economy into a better. place and clearly government officials there wanted to encourage much more people to come out and cast a vote at the end of the day it was less than fifty percent why is that is it a lack of faith in the politicians is it the new electoral law that people found very confusing or is it a lot more than that as well. no first of all i think it's there's a mistrust between the lebanese people that have been the citizens and the politicians this is the first second. the lebanese people there to ride this this political class and they believe that nothing will be changing even if they will they will have and you a parliament everybody knows that even the this in new military member of

parliament they are they are they are coming from. the same political parties of the same political political groups so they don't believe that something interesting will be changing a second i think the issue of hezbollah nobody nobody believes their president. will be ready with his with his ally mean that the president of the republic they would be able to meet the challenges and the programs that mr hardy and the president bush before for example with this. political loss of loss of president of prime minister how for example he will be able to discuss for example the. strategy of defense in lebanon i mean here how they what is their plan to be discussed how we which can contain

really the weapons of hezbollah. and even. will be a missile how do you they will be able to deploy the lebanese armed forces on the eastern borders and stop the smuggling of arms and people and weapons all these big questions the lebanese people they don't believe they're the new government will be able to solve it or to face it. i think. now that the i don't want to rip you apart but i want to pick out something you were saying and also ask your brother he. i'm about it he's talking about his boat and security of lebanon and i want to ask you a brahim what does this victory by hezbollah mean when it comes to iran's role in lebanon and if it is really consolidated power there. while definitively actually this is a major victory for hezbollah and his allies and this is another

place that's where iran is consolidating its influence in the region and let's keep in mind that we are now seeing this what's called the ultimate deal the saudi israel alliance that's been for them and which them in the core reason of this alliance is confronting iran in the region and in places like lebanon syria yemen and then a lot of places so for the for what we're seeing now actually and this is probably one reason that played really against how d.d. is that with allies like the trump you don't need enemies because that could explain why this that is you know poor. doing overheads in action so i think now we are seeing this whole deal about confronting iran is be and is not making progress in lebanon in one place but also at the same time

let's not overestimate. the readings of this victory or of this gaining of influence addition again evidence for iran because at the end of the day i don't think this is going to affect the region along and the you know the ultimate deal the way that the. united states and saudi arabia is proceeding on the problem but it's a strong sign to show that this is not the goal the whole objective about this sow the american israel alliance is not making progress and it's giving additional support and additional influence for iran in lebanon in a popular voting that's making all this progress at that time when. you're seeing additional discoloration of the threats between lebanon and between hezbollah and israel iran and in syria or in other places so i think this has to be taken into

consideration but to a certain level with what's going on now ok let me go back to you and pick up on what brahimi was saying because israeli officials have been quoted in the past few days saying that the results of these elections essentially prove that there is no distinction between lebanon and hezbollah so what do you think israel might do now i think. lebanon as a button is now the appropriate one. for future confrontation between debian and israel i think iran is that a lot of them are there are satisfied about the resolution seven hundred or one and i think israel now. has no threat from the lebanese from thousand lebanon and hezbollah is satisfied and is pushing forward and to the door to enlarge of his impact and his effort chancy inside the political life in lebanon so

i think there will be no confrontation between lebanon and israel through our our thousand the borders i think syria now is the appropriate place for a confrontation very wide confrontation between iran and israel and between united states and iran and i think that this is there a declaration means nothing for us we heard that since years and you are sure that the seventeen or one is very very appropriate for the peace of not a third in. addition is there a camel let me ask you to pick up on that i want to ask you first hizbollah showing comes at a time of you know really heightened tension between in iran and israel so i want to ask you what you think comes next on that front but i also want to ask you what you think is going to happen with regard to syria and lebanon in light of hezbollah's picture. i think the major issues are probably part of that agenda for

to bring back that usually that they are in lebanon on the syrian refugee to back to syria i think this is going to be. a major issue in the coming in the coming days and in the coming months question looms for a government because there is a division among this issue of how we deal with these as far as hezbollah the security of lebanon i think nothing will change i think that elections probably reinforce the position of hezbollah that his weapon is a theron's and it will can be used only for difference against any israeli aggression i think the situation today of probably will hear a. major announcement from the administration we don't know where this will take us but my understanding of the way i look at it if there is going to be a confrontation between the iranian and the israeli in syria it will not stop in

syria it will be a regional war and love and on will not be will not be out of this confrontation. try to let me ask you how problematic are the results of this election especially for the us which considers hezbollah to be a terrorist group and also for europe in their dealings with lebanon i think. the america administration will be waiting until the formation of the new government and we'll see if. the will be able to do to me it or the promises that he made before to the. president michel and to the president. and. from my point of view i think mr hadley the if he will be called and i think he will be called to form the new government i think he will face many problems starting from what what has

on the yesterday about how the new parliament has brought that to the. resistance and his will and the shia and about the issue of the sort of maybe agree about the ministry of finance that it's. one of the acquired rights of the shiite community and also all the i think another issue will raise up also is about the. relations between lebanon and syria and this point will be a big conflict between mr how dearly and a president down hearted and started by did all started i'm sorry to interrupt you just that we're yes we're just almost out of time i have only have time for one more question and i want to get the last word here to abraham ibrahim of course these elections there was a huge drive to try to get the youth in lebanon to come out and vote to vote for independent lists a vote for independent candidates.