tiziana. iran appears to be standing down. donald trump seeks to dial down tensions with iran and wants europe to take on a bigger role in the middle east. iran's president says the real revenge this as a nation of its top general will be to push america out of the region. hello and welcome peter w. watching al-jazeera live from our headquarters here and also coming up questions remain over the course the crash of an aircraft in iran 176 people were killed including dozens of canadians. want to express my deepest condolences to those who are mourning the loss of a loved one. also ahead 5 years in the making and finally opening the russia stands

to benefit from a new gas pipeline through turkey. top story the u.s. president on will trump says iran appears to be standing after a series of air strikes on iraqi military bases hosting u.s. forces the strikes were in retaliation for the assassination of the top iranian commander qassam siller money he was killed in a u.s. drone strike in baghdad on friday mr trump said he'll be imposing new sanctions on tehran until it changes its behavior white house correspondent kimberly whole kit with the latest. with the u.s. and iran edging dangerously close to war president donald trump proclaimed that tehran appears to be standing down truck gave no indication that the united states intends to strike back hours after riding in missile attacks on 2 bases used by the

u.s. military in iraq. we suffered no casualties all of our soldiers are safe and orderly minimal damage was sustained at our military bases it was a stark contrast to the president's threats of retaliation without hesitation that have dominated his twitter feed in recent days instead flanked by top advisors and generals trump made a surprising suggestion that members of nato to become much more involved in the middle east process it was an astonishing claim from a president who once called nato obsolete he also encouraged u.s. partners and allies to abandon the j c p a way an agreement put in place in 2050 and by world powers to live it iran's nuclear program we must all work together toward making a deal with the rain that makes the world

a safer and more peaceful place however trouble didn't ounce new sanctions would be coming without giving specifics he also left open the possibility of diplomacy speaking directly to iran's leaders he insisted the united states desires for iran a great future one that you deserve one of prosperity at home in harmony with the nations of the world the united states is ready to embrace peace. with all who seek it but missing from the president's speech evidence that the u.s. killing of iranian general qassam solomonic was justified and necessary to prevent an imminent attack on americans it's evidence opposition democrats are demanding from the trumpet ministration also absent a clear strategy something the administration has promised to provide in closed door briefings on wednesday to members of congress including top republicans iran

didn't just taken off ramp it took a u. turn because they know they have no capability to fight against america at least based on the presentation that was made. that it does not meet what i consider to be a threat but if president trump chooses to respond by sending even more soldiers to the middle east he breaks a major campaign promise to pull the united states out of what he once called it's for ever wars can really help at al-jazeera the white house not to washington to my colleague john hendren so john just walk us through the main takeaway here. well peter the president said that iran was standing down from this conflict but it also seems that the president and his administration were also gratefully stepping back from the brink of a confrontation that could have been very costly both sides in this confrontation said they did not want a war and it seems that after this attack by the iranians which did not result in

any casualties and there are reports that that's deliberate that they deliberately did not target where individuals were after that this seems to have subsided for now but this conflict keeps re erupting we have reporting by the way that not only were the iranians possibly strategically not targeting individuals at those sprawling bases but that also the u.s. had warning hours ahead of time and everyone was wearing their armor kit they were hunkered down in pretty designated places nevertheless after that strike you had a lot of criticism of the trumpet ministration because that strike came in in retaliation of course to the killing of custom sulaimani and the administration went to congress and reported to members of congress has been really was discussing in that story what their evidence was and most democrats seemed to walk away saying there was no evidence of an imminent threat and there were even

a couple republicans who felt the same way one of them was mike lee and this is what he had to say. i had hoped and expected to receive more information outlining the legal factual and moral justification for the attack that was left somewhat unsatisfied on that front which i would add it was probably the worst briefing i've seen at least on a military issue in the 9 years i've served in the united states senate. what i found so distressing about that briefing was that one of the messages we received from the briefers was do not debate do not discuss the issue of the appropriateness of further miller military intervention against iran. and that if you do you'll be emboldening iran is he also laying the foundations there when he was soaking up the iran nuclear deal going back 2015 clearly he wants old european countries to say yes we'll leave too we agree with you mr trump is

a bad deal is dead and buried but clearly there are several european countries who think there's still something in there that we could build a framework around that's right trump was lobbying to russia the e.u. russia the united kingdom france and germany saying they should get out of this agreement and he should come up with a new agreement with them that would allow iran to in his words prosper the administration is somewhat at odds with the european governments because they still want to help iran a little economically whereas the president today announced new sanctions and those would theoretically target a broader array of financial institutions and people but they would be largely symbolic a lot of analysts are saying the reason for that is that the u.s. has already levied so many sanctions against iran the u.s. and other countries that there are even secondary sanctions so that would prevent another country from doing business with those sanctioned entities in iran to they can't simply launder the money and the president has been squeezing the

$440000000000.00 economy of iran since pulling out of that nuclear deal in 2015 and it seems to be working to some extent that economy is expected to shrink by 9.5 percent and inflation looks to be nearing 30 percent john good to talk to us have a thank you very much i said bakes in tehran with reaction from there. president rouhani has had some strong words for the united states he said the united states should know if they commit another crime even if it is a threat that they would receive a decisive action from the armed forces also we've had. enough for many speaking the rare live broadcast you see there recorded and then put out on state t.v. but you have to live broadcast to speaking to followers he said that yesterday's missile attack was a slap in the face for the united states but military action alone wasn't enough on

the u.s. presence in that we needed to end but we've also had response to what the nato secretary general secretary general who condemned iran's missile strikes against u.s. forces divides reached the foreign minister said that those those attacks were an eagle and he said that the nato had been nothing in the region except for destruction and instability but also the foreign office spokesman has said that the nato had become a tool to justify u.s. u.s. crimes and terrorism so we're still having some very strong language come out from iran despite donald trump saying. that iran is standing down iran also released video footage showing them assembling the missiles and those missile strikes and again they're trying to appease public opinion here people have been out in the streets over the last few days asking for revenge over the assassination of qassam

so the money al-jazeera is jonah hill is in london and says donald trump used a speech to give nato powers addressing done for what he considers the muted response to the killing of qassam sort of money. remember donald trump has a fairly checkered history with nato ones calling it obsolete now apparently supporting it but frequently railing against its members calling them to take on a greater share of the burden a greater share of the cost for their own defense and the collective coffers of nato now i think he will see nato alongside european powers as having disappointed the administration might compare the secretary of state said as much in failing to full throated lee support the actions last week against custom solomonic. an opportunity i think in this address to give everyone a sort of dressing down here a bit of naming and shaming and in nato as case presumably as i said to take up some of the burden in iraq opening the door for the u.s.

possibly to draw down its forces there something we know donald trump is keen to do and something of course that we also know that the iraqi parliament at least he's keen for him to do blood loss to be heard in the iraqi capital baghdad on wednesday night 3 rockets fell inside the heavily fortified green zone which houses government buildings and foreign missions causing fire according to iraqi police sources. the other major story we're following out of iran this hour the crash of that ukrainian passenger plane it was a boeing 737 that went down shortly after takeoff from tehran killing all 176 passengers and crew among them 63 canadians need barca has more. the passengers and crew of flight p.s. 752 didn't stand a chance. minutes after takeoff the ukrainian international airlines flight from tehran to kiev went down in a city suburb. recovery teams pick through what's left of the plane from people's

lives. most of the dead are rainy and more than 60 canadians were also killed many reported the students returning from vacation. the boeing 737800 was less than 4 years old and had been recently serviced. video and social media shows a light hurtling to the ground and then a fireball. iranian officials say there was no distress call as you can insult me fortunately it didn't question the reason into area but the wreckage has scarce it around the gardens of villas within a large radius nobody has survived. the arrivals board bears the grim news. this mother and father had been waiting for their son to arrive may seem to be my son is a senior flight attendant my daughter called at 615 this morning to say that in the us they were reporting that a plane had crashed

a ukrainian international airlines plane. ukraine's now canceled all flights over iran the country's embassy in tehran initially blamed engine failure for the crash to remove the statement was useful widely approaching we made our decision to suspend all the activities of all ukrainian of the asian companies in raining airspace until the causes of this tragedy become clear. the crash comes amid heightened tensions across the region following a u.s. drone strike that killed top iranian general has a money in a sign of worsening ties iran's civil aviation authority says it will not give the black box flight recorder to u.s. plane make a boeing for analysis it's not clear which country iran will send the box to. the safety audit and it had no accidents whatsoever so there they really do there's a very very good airline but i do believe it will be mechanical or possibly it

might possibly be a terrorist act it's too hard to tell at this stage the crash is a major setback for boeing but struggled to regain trust after the grounding of its 737 max and craft following 2 fatal accuracies within 5 months. the boeing 737 is one of the most popular aircraft in the sky with a good safety record investigators must now determine how and why so many lives ended here. al-jazeera. well the canadian prime minister just in gave a news conference about the crash just a few hours ago he said canada does expect to have a role in the investigation ukrainian airlines plane just landed in toronto from kiev according to the airline there are $138.00 passengers who weren't on that flight because they died in the crash this song or day comes in the wake of deeply concerning events in iraq canada condemns the missile attacks launched by iran

last night. i am relieved as are all canadians that all personnel deployed in iraq are safe. since canada is seeking more on says from the investigation canada has a large and rather influential or rainy and canadian community let's not forget that more than half of the passengers on that plane or bound for this country 63 of them full blown canadian citizens others may have been on their way to citizenship or students researchers working here as student on student visas or work visas so this is not something the government can take very lightly least of all because it's a tragedy for so many canadian families communities universities businesses we're hearing of all sorts of reports from around the country the people who die the canadians who died in this they were real estate agents dentists there were 2 married engine nearing professors from the university of alberta in edmonton in the

west of canada they and their 2 young daughters died these stories are emerging in the media so the government is very keenly aware it needs to get to the bottom of this justin trudeau said that they weren't ruling out anything when they were looking into this they offered canada's help with the investigation they called repeatedly and firmly for a thorough investigation and when asked about iran's refusal to submit the black box to boeing or u.s. authorities mr trudeau said he hoped that other countries perhaps ukraine or italy would involve canada in their aspect of the investigation were they to become involved he did say however it's an iranian led investigation and they're going to be reaching out to the iranians to talk about it that's a little difficult because canada and iran don't have diplomatic relations they're broken off in 2012 by a previous government but mr trudeau said they can work through allies and eventually direct with the iranian government they seem determined to get to the bottom of this bring some sort of closure to those people who are grieving. still

to come here on al-jazeera. i should have never been arrested in the 1st place on the run form and dissembles colace go in says he fled japan because he was the victim of a conspiracy. hello again welcome back to international weather forecast well here in northern parts of japan still see some snow but for southern japan it is going to be the rain that will and by the time we get towards thursday we do have that system that is now pulling away so just a few showers left over tokyo though it is going to be a cloudy day with the time for a few about 15 in as we go towards friday a little bit better but the temperatures are coming down to about 11 degrees there here across china southeastern china it is going to be the rain widespread rain across much of the area extending all the way over here toward shanghai for you it

is going to be about 10 degrees there and it is going to be some snow in the higher elevations across parts of the central areas well for the philippines not looking too bad we are seeing a few more showers down here across much of the south manila partly cloudy conditions at 30 degrees there it is going to be some very heavy rain now down here across parts of jakarta that is going to start to make its way a little bit more towards the north as we go towards friday thailand though you are looking quite nice we do expect to see bangkok with a temperature of $34.00 degrees there and we have had some rain across parts of india mostly to the north mostly over here towards the east as well that will start to edge way as we go towards the next couple of days a few scattered showers for kolkata but as we go towards the south it is going to be partly cloudy for tonight with a temperature of 30. the story of a british italian man experiencing life close up in a palestinian refugee camp in beirut it's. coming face to face with the daily

lives of its residents some of whom have lived there for 70 years but he's been there a few jomo sold his life it's not been on the show 7 days in beirut. an al-jazeera. welcome back you're watching al-jazeera i'm peter dhabi these are the top stories u.s. president donald trump says iran appears to be standing down but still promised to impose further economic sanctions on tehran he was speaking several hours after iran launched more than a dozen missiles at air bases in iraq which host u.s.

forces. last to be heard in baghdad on wednesday night 3 rockets reportedly felt inside the heavily fortified green zone which houses government buildings and foreign missions starting a fire according to iraqi police sources. a ukrainian passenger aircraft has crashed moments after takeoff all 176 people on board were killed the crash isn't being linked tensions across the region. returning to the situation in iran and iraq president trump has asked nato and the e.u. to take a more prominent role in the middle east robert hunter is a former u.s. ambassador to nato he says it's not he's not expecting more from the military alliance. several countries have been involved anyway the british and the french are been engaged in syria and iran and a number of allies in iraq and we have to remember that after 911 the attacks on the united states 1718 years ago every single hour i sent troops so with the

nato forces in afghanistan because people were worried america might worry about afghanistan and not be concerned about about nato in europe so i suspect given what mr stoltenberg said the nato secretary general and half a sentence today there will be an effort to get a bit more nato engagement in the middle east but frankly i don't expect to see it happen in the u.s. mr trump gives ironclad positive statements about the united states loves nato the united states is firmly committed to nato which so far he's not the willing to do nato works to a great extent because virtually all the allies are on the same page they were during the cold war and even today with a couple of outliers turkey being the most important there are certain common ideas common his history common traditions none of that exists in the middle east you're

never going to get all of those countries working together certainly not if you're not prepared to include israel as many of them aren't and certainly not if you don't find a way to depressurize relations with iran and again to get iran and gauged. tokyo prosecutors have tonight accusations from the son's former chief of conspiring with the car company to oust him as leader calls go in made the claims during a 2 and a half hour press conference in lebanon where he maintained his innocence on the charges of financial misconduct against him so you know holder is in beirut with more. it's his 1st public appearance since he jumped bail and escaped from japan the former nissan and renault chief carlos gone arrived in the lebanese capital beirut over a week ago his case has brought international attention many were waiting for the businessman to disclose details of how he reached his country of origin but gone who is facing trial in japan on financial misconduct charges he used

a news conference to reiterate his innocence it is important for me to emphasize that i'm not the above the law and i will come to you for the truth to come out and to have my name be indicated and my reputation restored i did not escape justice. justice. political persecution gone who was detained a number of times in japan was under strict house arrest when he fled he says he did so because he didn't believe he would get a fair trial japan's judicial system has been criticized by human rights groups gone who holds lebanese brazilian and french passports says conditions during his detention were harsh and he was bound to access to lawyers and his family he's believed to have arrived in beirut via istanbul on a private jet turkish media released video they say show him being transferred by vehicle to a 2nd jet turkish authorities have made arrests and international fugitive but

carlos vaughn is not being treated as a criminal by lebanon's or sorties they say he entered the country illegally the caretaker justice minister albury sarhan for lebanon received the interpol red notice and would take the necessary steps but at the same time he stressed lebanon and japan don't have an extradition treaty gone has been summoned for questioning by lebanon state prosecutor and japan's ambassador to lebanon asked for more cooperation but it seems tokyo officials have few options even if the extradition treaty exists the decision to hand over someone is in the hands of the lebanese authorities and they still need to question japan has also issued an arrest warrant for glistens lebanese wife for giving false testimony but gone is a man who has friends in high places and believed to enjoy political cover and. i am proud to be the bunnies. and lebanon is the only country in the world

that stood by my side the businessman turned fugitive doesn't hide his confidence and his words he's ready to stay a long time in lebanon. paid a lot. the former french president nicolas sarkozy will stand trial on corruption and abuse of power charges in october the day by court in paris on weapons day sarkozy is accused of trying to bribe a magistrate with a prestigious job in return for information on a criminal inquiry into his political party in any wrongdoing turkey and russia call for a cease fire in libya to be implemented by this sunday the announcement came shortly after vladimir putin met time birder want to inaugurate a pipeline in istanbul as more. the leaders of turkey and russia use the opening of a major gas pipeline to highlight improved through elations between the 2 countries but destroyed turks stream project that offers an alternative route for russian gas to be delivered to europe via turkey was overshadowed by events elsewhere the s.s.

a nation of an iranian military commander by the us and a missile attack on u.s. bases by iran both strikes taking place in iraq have raised tensions in the region . your. job or a free no one is the strength to pay the further price $1.00 is the right to put the whole region especially iraq into a new circle of fire for the sake of their own interests turkey will do all possible not the region to be drawn in blood and tears flooding may put in sad by overcoming their differences turkey and russia giving a good example. solution we are living in a very difficult time in our decisions we are facing it it's a situation that can fuel tensions but russia and turkey are showing a very different example. but their body language at a meeting earlier in the day made it clear not all is good between the 2 leaders.

behind the smiles and handshakes there are some big differences between the 2 nations russia on opposing sides of the war say we are. not listening to the sensory. both nations confronting each other face to face. turkey has accused russian mercenaries of fighting alongside general holly for hafta u.s. launch an offensive on the libyan capital tripoli after a meeting in istanbul put an end to one urged all parties involved in the war in libya to commit to a cease fire starting on january 12th so a peace process can take place but for the syrian city of it lip there was no such call hundreds of thousands of syrians have been displaced in the past 2 weeks alone after russian and syrian troops increase their operations in the last rebel held province while the turkish president has raised concerns about the influx of refugees he did not get a commitment from put in to stop the fighting there stop fasten al-jazeera istanbul

well instead of arsons report touched on russia and turkey have launched a pipeline project which will help funnel gas to europe but allows moscow to bypass ukraine the turks stream pipeline starts in the southern russian town of anapa and runs more than 100 kilometers deep on the black sea to the turkish ton of half of that will be delivered to southern europe servicing up to 3 percent of the use current needs russia are already supplies about 40 percent of europe's gas is important because it helps russia bypass supply lines through ukraine which faces losing billions in gas transit fees the $2.00 countries have been in conflict since 2014. spain's socialist leader pedro sanchez has been sworn in as prime minister the day after he narrowly secured backing for the country's 1st coalition government in decades he's expected to announce his cabinet next week if they include all members from his coalition partners the anti austerity far left when it

us for the most movement. the new leader of the european commission has warned the u.k. it's brics that negotiations deadline will make a comprehensive trade deal with the e.u. possible o'sullivan the lion was speaking at a meeting with the prime minister boris johnson in downing street on the line says the deadline should be extended beyond december 2020 the more divergent it is the more distant the partnership will be and without an extension of the transition period beyond 2020 you can objects expect to agree on every single aspect of our new partnership we will have to prioritise prince harry and his wife the duchess of sussex make a markle have announced they're stepping back from senior roles within britain's royal family they also said they're going to work to become financially independent british media are reporting no other royals were consulted buckingham palace

official said the news was disappointing prince harry has previously his out of court he's called racist media coverage of his wife. this is al jazeera these are the top stories the u.s. president donald trump says iran quotes appears to be standing down but still promised to impose further punitive economic sanctions on tehran he was speaking several hours after iran lost more than a dozen missiles and air bases in iraq which host u.s. forces john hendren is in washington he says the trumpet ministration are relieved the situation has not escalated further. the president thread that iran was standing down from this conflict but it also seems that the president and his administration were also gratefully stepping back from the brink of a confrontation that could have been very costly both sides in this confrontation

said they did not want a war and it seems that after this attack by the iranians which did not result in any casualties and there are reports that that deliberate that they deliberately did not target where individuals were after that this seems to have subsided for now but this conflict keeps re erupting through blood loss to be heard in baghdad on wednesday night 3 rockets are reported to fall in inside baghdad's heavily fortified green zone which houses government buildings and foreign missions causing a fire as according to iraqi police sources investigates is looking into the cause of the crash of a 2 cranium passenger aircraft in iran it happened moments after takeoff all 176 people on board were killed. the former french president nicolas sarkozy will stand trial on corruption and abuse of power charges in october he's accused of trying to bribe a magistrate in return for information on

a criminal inquiry into his political party he denies any wrongdoing turkey and russia are calling for all warring parties in libya to reach a ceasefire by sunday ankara is deploying troops to support the internationally recognized government in tripoli to help in their fight against the wall or talisa huffed of now on monday his forces reach the center of the strategic coastal city of. the statement on a cease fire in libya was issued after the turkish and russian presidents meant to inaugurate a pipeline in istanbul it's known as the tuck stream one used on the web site will see you soon after inside story by.

u.s. targets in iran's size of the rise of missile. iraq units of bases hosting u.s. troops it's to iran's retaliation against the assassination of a money but will this revenge operation stop and might washington strike back this is inside story. hello welcome to the program. there's been much speculation about the scale on target of iran's retaliation to the assassination of its top minister command cost him so they.