iran fires more than a dozen ballistic missiles at 2 iraqi bases which host u.s. forces. the one down in jordan this is our 0 live from doha also coming up iran's supreme leader calls the missile attack a slap in the face for the u.s. and says he must leave the region. and the burial has finally taken place for the iranian commander awesomest in the money who's assassination spot this latest escalation. and ukrainian plane crashes moments after takeoff and iran's capital

killing $170.00. well we begin with perhaps the most serious direct confrontation between iran and the u.s. in decades iran has fired more than a dozen missiles to iraqi bases hosting u.s. forces in retaliation for the killing of them so the money iranian military is warning of further strikes if the u.s. response but iran's foreign minister says he doesn't want war in a moment we'll have reaction from the u.s. and right across the middle east but 1st rob mustn't begins our coverage. this is iran's promised response to the u.s. assassination of top iranian general high seems on the money ballistic missiles soaring into the night sky their targets to iraqi military bases housing thousands of u.s. soldiers iranians are taking the credit to hit back. directly they wouldn't

even leave their proxies to deliver the message that they're americans it's kind of saving faith order for them because killing soleimani is it's an insult from the americans to iranian establishment to iranian a state as all and therefore i think you're ronnie and has to retaliate on twitter this was us president donald trump's response all is well he's added casualties and damage are being assessed and said so far so good he's also said the u.s. has the most powerful and well equipped military anywhere in the world by far the question is whether that military will be used to retaliate against these attacks u.s. troops are based at the side air base in iraq one of the 2 targets hit by iranian missiles ever since president trying to scuttle the. there has been to.

escalation and that either side can afford to give it its own look weak the leaders of both sides have committed to this escalation and it's hard to see how how it gets you know where they operate i don't want the u.s. says it's killing of. the leader of iran's elite revolutionary guard in an air strike was in response to an attack in iraq in which a u.s. contract died and through which the u.s. blames iran. and iran huge crowds have been in mourning and demanding revenge for solem of his death an immediate diplomatic solution to the crisis seems unlikely both sides have to be really true gauge and diplomacy and right now i i fear that i do not see that i do not see either side the iranian or the american will. to do

the things necessary to engage in the homeless if. iran wants u.s. forces to permanently leave the gulf region and it says there will be a harsh response to any further u.s. retaliation rob matheson al-jazeera. so let's show you exactly where those are rainy and strikes took place 2 iraqi bases were hit one of them is in a bill that's in iraq's semi autonomous kurdish region the other one is in western iraq's anbar province it's called the main base iraq says $22.00 missiles were fired in total and that there were no iraqi casualties well we have a team of correspondents monitoring all the latest developments in a fault in iraq's capital. we'll have more on president trump's reaction but 1st let's go straight to our sebag who is live for us in tehran the iranian capital said it was a rather sobering speech from the supreme leader had some brainy lengthy praise for custom silliman he didn't. yes he did got some for

the money was a friend of his but also you have to address this because this myside attack is the retaliation that he the i.d.c. commanders and the people have been talking about is that what the people in the streets have been demanding now gotten so the money was the 2nd most popular figure in this country he was seen as a patriot he was seen as someone that fought isis and prevented them from reaching the borders of iran and now the supreme leader ayatollah khomeini's speeches are not usually carried live but this one was he had a theological message for the followers and many of them were holding pictures up of course and so the money he had these words to say today. i will let you down today we are armed the nation of iran is equipped today against the bullies of the world madam will last night we slap the us on the face when it comes

to confrontation military actions of this kind are not enough what is important is the corrupt presence of the united states in this region must come to an end they brought war and hostility and deception and destruction to this region wherever they go this happens they are still insisting that this corruption this destructiveness should be imposed on iran. and also we understand that the iranian president hassan rouhani has also been talking what's he been saying. well he's also been coming out with some strong words he said that the united states cut off the hand of god and so the money but iran was cut off their feet and make sure that the u.s. is ousted from the region now this is something that's been echoed from military commanders here from the people in the streets asking for revenge but as far as iran is concerned this is the end of the matter as long as the united states does

not retaliate iran says that they reacted to a specific assassination of general gus and so the money so they were root responding to the united states but if the united states retaliates with escalate the revolutionary guard have issued a warning to. assad sort of that we have to just jump in there because. they're waiting for a minister is talking now let's listen to what he has to say it dominates our mutual the military action the military measures by iran would have taken place. as our leader said this was a slap on their face to revenge will be the expulsion of explosions from the region . said. that united states takes any action here on view to respond accordingly and

we will respond in a very harsh way but proportionately. yes. as i told you yesterday it is up to the united states to now come to its senses and stop its adventurism in this region. well we did not start this process of escalation day united states waged an economic war against iran the united states has to come to its senses the presence of iranian people in the streets of many cities unprecedented in the history a sea of humanity has to bring to the united states to its senses that if it wants to deal with this people it has to deal with these people based on respect not based on threat and not based on sanctions. in. europe

can play a useful role by informing the united states of the serious error in their analysis that they should stop listening to clowns that they should base their policy based on realities and not some evolutions of some clowns who have ambitions of threat. how much work outs got them back to care. when again it's an ignorance are combined it becomes a very dangerous stomper has people around him who are have combined both. ignorance and arrogance and the result has been these mistakes. and we hope that the lesson that has been given to them by the randian nation. we are indebted to the people they came up. to with their presence

they showed that the slow money. was a unifying a unifying force in our people and this free unified force should show it to the americans or they have been mistaken so far yet. there are reports that no americans are going to live there about iraq is it because i do not have the statistics the military authorities with are now and this is the stakes what is clear is that we have attacked. and america can military base in the region from which. attack on you no celeb money took place. this was legitimated

target from the point of the national law this is a legitimate right of self-defense against a terrorist act a terrorist a military act we did our legitimate action we took our legitimate measures. we have given them our message just through. so you're watching live pictures there of the iranian foreign minister mohammad zarif there talking to the assembled press after a cabinet meeting in the iranian capital tehran he said it's up to the u.s. to stop its adventurism in the area he said iran didn't start this latest escalation he said that the people the iranian people have shown that qassam so the money was a unifying force that's been in but assad begun joins us from the iranian capital

said so jihad zarif talking there but let's talk about the tweet he sent out earlier after the strike saying in fact was a rather diplomatic response wasn't it saying that this was a single proportionate response underpinned by the u.n. charter and that this response is now concluded so do you think as far as the iranians are concerned thats it. yes as long as the united states don't retaliate and that's what the company that's what divides the reef that's where rouhani president rouhani are all same but as far as they're concerned this is over they've drawn a line in the sand this saying to the united states ok you killed our general we struck your bases let's you know let's both save face and it's actually giving president donald trump a way act but if the united states retaliate then the revolutionary guard have warned countries in the region the host united states bases that if attack is

launched against iran from those bases those countries become a target they've also warned israel they say that they do not see a difference between israel and the united states as a threat of bringing israel into the conflict but although the united states has overwhelming firepower we can't forget that iran has the ability to change the face of the middle east they have militias they have proxies in the region in iraq in yemen the hutu rebels in yemen in syria and hizbullah in lebanon ball that divides reach that if the united states retaliate iran would have to respond but proportionally that this could escalate into a full scale war if the united states takes action military action against iran or to assad beg in the iranian capital i said thank you and in another development the u.s. federal aviation authority has banned u.s. airlines from flying in the airspace above iraq iran and the gulf of amman it says there's a potential for miscalculation or mis identification let's bring in gabler zomba

who joins us live now from washington d.c. so we heard earlier on from the iran's supreme leader let's talk about president trump's response because a rather curious tweet the president saying that all is well so what can you read into that tweet saying perhaps a pause and a possible off from here for the americans to defuse this crisis. yeah there is certainly a pause because that tweet by president trump was really the only statement we've gotten from anyone in high levels of the federal government and could course president trump response to these missile attacks we have not heard from the secretary of state we've not heard directly from the secretary of defense either and trump it was rumored that he was going to address the nation late on tuesday evening that ultimately did not happen it was just this trump it was kind of peculiar trumpery as you saw in the story we aired it said it all is well and basically saying i will be making

a statement tomorrow morning meeting later on wednesday morning and that is pretty much it trump is really facing a question now and a big big decision he has already said previously that if iran struck any military assets u.s. military assets in the region the u.s. would strike back well now iran has struck u.s. interests in the region with these 2 bases there were some troops or at no u.s. troops apparently were killed however now trump pesticide am i going to follow through am i going to strike back at iran again or not was this a beer anough attack by iran to warn another u.s. response or not those are the big questions and we just simply don't have the answers to that yet until we hear more from trump. later on wednesday now just i need to just mention briefly the pentagon is not confirming any sort of reports yet on how many missiles hit the bases any sort of damage assessment all of that is

happening now we have heard some numbers from the iraqi government officials but so far the pentagon is keeping very quiet on this they're assessing everything we expect to hear more on the damage to the base bases on wednesday and that will be critical i will say to see if any. military assets from the us were damaged or hit at all that might play into any sort of american response going forward as you say we're still waiting then the battle damage assessment going forward but what is interesting and significant is that both u.s. secular state might pump a i am the defense secretary marcus said look they're seeking a diplomatic solution and don't want to escalate this crisis so where are we now with an a diplomatic effort to try and cool this whole thing down here we have not heard a lot from many officials since these missile strikes occurred we heard from some

congress people basically as it was happening saying you know we're watching this closely we hope everyone is safe but in terms of where this goes from here we haven't heard from a lot of people clearly though president trump does have some options now it's just a matter of will he take those options he's going to be hearing 2 different things on one side is going to be hearing from people saying this is the chance to deescalate the situation now is the opportunity to take this off ramp to maybe pursue some sort of diplomatic avenues on the other side he's going to hear from hawks people that consider this an opportunity to strike back at iran one of those people is going to be republican senator lindsey graham he spoke late tuesday evening and this is what he had to say listen carefully the missiles were launched from iran at targets inside of iraq housing u.s. military personnel the president has all the authority needs under article 2 the

respond and hiring spawns is yet to be determined but he has that authority to respond it was an act of war by regime for the last 40 years spent a cancer in the middle east when they say they want to destroy israel they're not kidding they're the largest state sponsor of terrorism. so that's some of the advice trump is getting from very close allies and it's now up to the president to decide where this goes from here deborah is on the line for us there from washington d.c. thank you let's cross over now to the iraqi capital baghdad and joins so manifold in so many so we haven't heard any official response yet from the iraqi government but how will officials in baghdad where you are be assessing their reign in the response do you think. well so far we've only had a very factual statement from the joint operations command saying that there were in total $22.00 missiles that were fired by iran in direction of 2 bases where

u.s. personnel are stationed 17 of those rockets hit either last airbase in western anbar province and the remaining 5 hits near an air base not actually striking it but hitting in the surrounding fields now we understand those 17 rockets that were fired and i said all fell inside the coalition headquarters but as we mentioned before the u.s. is still assessing the material damage and there are no reports of u.s. casualties and the statement also said from the joint operations command there were no iraqi forces harmed in this latest attack now of course this is a very significant event here because we haven't really previously had iran firing such missiles onto iraqi territory we did have over a dozen different rocket attacks of the past 2 months targeting such bases but these rocket attacks were mostly attributed to groups such as hezbollah brigades

which form part of the iranian backed popular mobilization forces here in iraq and of course there has been a lot of concern that these groups were acting on the behest of to iran now what remains to be seen is how the iraqi government will react will they condemn these attacks which are also a violation of iraqi sovereignty just like the u.s. strike that killed soleimani and i will mark the hundreds and we have seen a very strong condemnation of those u.s. strikes coming out of the government followed by calls by parliament for the withdrawal of foreign troops from iraq so of course there will be some pressure on the iraqi government to mount a proportional response perhaps also condom condemning these attacks perhaps also taking measures to. to reign in some of the allies of iran here inside iraq but all that remains to be seen and perhaps many feel that this is highly unlikely because throughout their response to the latest crisis we have seen the iraqi

government steer closer to iran and basically basically take the position off tehran in its statements or to some other fault in there from baghdad someone to thank you. well the iraqi militia commander killed in the same air strike us cost him some the money has been buried in the job hundreds of mourners gathered for the funeral of $100.00 is in of the prayer raney and hezbollah brigades part of iraq's popular mobilization forces fighting against isis when the group was behind the recent us embassy protests in baghdad as well as an attack on an american military base that killed a civilian contractor let's bring in sultan barack outreach director of the center for conflict and humanitarian studies at the doha institute he joins me live on set here so tom good to have you back i mean what's your assessment of the iranian response because it seems they specifically fired guided missiles at iraqi targets and were very careful not to hit u.s. assets or kill u.s. soldiers so is this an escalation or of

a very clever iranian retaliation well as i think it is the latter it's the objective is to retaliate they were left in a very difficult position they had to do something that they could not just forget about what happened tens of deaths as a nation and for me it really reminds me of trump's response back in april 2017 if you remember when the syrians he drew a red line about to use use of chemical weapons and then he had to launch all these . on the air base in china. and then we found out that the base was had been emptied in fact and it was probably kind of almost maybe new agreed that this would be a face saving exercise and now we move into the 2nd phase so let's just quickly talk about iraq here because baghdad is now caught in the middle of this fight between the u.s. and iran let's remind our viewers was killed an iraqi soil iraqi bases suffered this retaliatory attack from the iranians so how difficult

a position is iraq in now while the they are in a very difficult position but also this offers them a great opportunity to recapture their sovereignty once and for all now since 2003 . the iraqi parliament has already called with with majority 174 to one for all foreign forces to leave iraq and at the time of course they were targeting the americans but now that the iranians are also used. as a stage to retaliate i suspect the call will now apply to all by all the soldiers and just hang on there for a 2nd will you because we just go now. you commissioner ursula bundle and you've been talking about there in a response let's listen to what she has to. offer transparent and energy on neighborhood and migration but also the economic development the stepping ization and the reconstruction the european union is doing in this area european union is

dedicated fira and very much engaged in this area and therefore its voice is heard . we will look comprehensively at the internal and external dimension of this issue to ensure that we act as if actively as possible. as you know i am now on my way to london and i shall meet prime minister boris johnson itself to no one and of course the situation in iran and iraq will also be a topic it is in our mutual interest to build a new partnership between the european union and the united kingdom one that will be enabling us to defend and strengthen our interest both from an economic and security point of view and i would like to and over the floor now to the interview. i think you're going to match and i'm pretty don't allow me to

start by join you made condolences to the families of the victims of the tragic crash of the ukrainian plane tonight you know. now on the topic of these morning media. to stress that the recent developments in iran and iraq on the whole region are extremely worrying and we have had that if not for discussion at the college about what the commission can do one thing is clear the current situation what the risk there 1st for the fires years and also has implications for the border work of the coalition delays the rocket attack on air bases in iraq used by us and equally 2 forces among them he dupion forces are yet another example of a skull a should increase confrontation it is on no one interest to turn up this tide of

violence even further. as an immediate next step i have convened an extraordinary meeting with the foreign affairs council for this friday you have to leave question 1st with the 20 still 28 member state and we would discuss what if we are in unity can do to shorten the medium and long term to have to stop the lies in the region. we have been talking to the police also on the situation as you said madame president called the g c b o 8 which is today more important than ever before this the only place where we can stay together with russia to talk a little bit after the regime about many issues and race that we are facing is one of the full support of the nonproliferation and regional security are you by to be done by brussels maybe we need to. you know the 2 together an ideal

situation of these agreements which would have been union has put a lot of effort in order to maintain it after the withdrawal of the united states i am in touch with all participants it's called the mater to keep the unity of the group of european countries represented in the should be a way. the import of the full implementation by all parties. i want to do says this trump support for the brutally brushless. we have enhanced you know the through feta situation in libya and now jumping from one crisis to another deviates closer to us doesn't take the risk of nuclear proliferation of confrontation but there may be facing a watershed point situation is very dangerous yesterday you had planned to go to leave to go there with your formulas for european countries germany france italy

united kingdom finally it was not possible do today. because you do ation there instead you had a meeting in brussels and we have a way to put it so you're watching live pictures there coming from brussels the e.u. representative for foreign affairs and security policy just borrow from tell us and also you can underline that giving their response to. the iranian retaliation earlier this morning let's bring him back sultan barak out again sultan so we've seen the europeans respond what do you think the u.s. reaction is likely to be and we saw this rather curious tweet from president from saying that all is well but let me ask you do you think this is now a pause in the escalation are we now seeing this off ramp that many people are talking about well i think you have to keep in mind that within the u.s. they're split as to whether the action of trying was a legitimate in the 1st place in terms of that says sedition or even necessary to keep the issues ongoing in the middle east now or i suspect there will be again the

the same spirit will play out as they work up in the united states those who think this is an opportunity to really have a go at iran and there will be supported by lobbies including those who advocate on behalf of israel and united states and those who think this may be an opportunity to draw a line and start to talk sense to damien's in the sense that they now have to. as far as as possible and now maybe. we can move forward a lot depends on the damage assessment that may come out i suspect and so far we've had no reports whether there be casualties or not but if there are american soldiers killed the response will be very different from if this happened to be just a physical damage. as it's sort of what about other regional players like the saudis the american israel and the iranians are threatened by them threaten to hit haifa if this escalates but surely those countries don't want to get caught up in

a wider regional conflagration nor they don't and ironically saudi arabia united arab emirates have over the last few hours changed their position quite a bit they now come across as the sons of moderation one thing to talk diplomacy there must be a solution for the gulf security and so on were not only a few weeks ago they were really calling for american intervention and i. i think really the fact that now iran demonstrated its ability to reach those positions that they have the willing and if pushed they will fire those missiles and just say publicly. could be a target is. let's just squeeze in one more question before you go is there still room is there still time for diplomacy i mean what kind of diplomatic pathway do you see in terms of any if it can take the temperature out of this thing i think there is and there is no escaping some. particular thing micron maybe will step in

and try and mediate between the 2 sides the you the germans in particular within the you have really come out on the side of nicest a little bit prematurely right from the very beginning of this as a nation and the u.k. given its ties to the united states now have really chosen to keep quiet we haven't heard any particular just result and just very quickly about 30 seconds what happens next. i hope that there will not be further retaliation from the u.s. i think i hope that the damage to the bases does not translate to killing many american soldiers. such that this could be the crisis that we all needed in order to start addressing the bigger crisis in the bigger discussion in the region sort of thank you very much indeed. well if you're just joining us let's just quickly recap what's happened in the last few hours iran has fired more than a dozen ballistic missiles to iraqi air bases that host american forces iran has

said it was in retaliation to the assassination of the iranian general qassam so the money or let's remind you he was killed in a u.s. drone strike last friday. well in terms of response the u.s. president has reacted to the strikes on twitter saying and i quote all is well missiles launched from iran to military bases located in iraq assessment of casualties and damage is taking place now so far so good is what he had to say and the other breaking news out of iran 176 people have been killed in a plane crash outside of the capital tehran the ukraine international airline flight went down shortly after takeoff ukraine's embassy in tehran says the plane suffered engine failure and there's no suggestion this is linked with other events in iran all right well the news continues here on al-jazeera after street station thanks for watching. we were told that between russia has this been addressed by turkey we listen what is the proposal. for

a couple and here we meet with global news makers and talk about the stories that matter. i'm femi oke a in your industry we are week into the new year and he has studied office and thankfully as we ended 2019 today we'll be joined by a special going to face is to break down the past and a look ahead at what's to come and we want you to be part of this show share your thoughts on twitter a story as we enter the 4th year of the term presidency we're continuing to see a rise of hate not just against muslims but a whole range of different groups of people and as sad as it is to see all this you've lost the single breath of hope you've seen muslims being much more visible in the media and in business and in politics and in ways that people can see that

we're contributing members of this community so what i really hope for in 2020 is that we can.