see with the transition a john you the armand sultan qaboos been side outside die is at the age of 79 amman's defense counsel has met to discuss who could take over could be said no children and didn't publicly name a successor hell of and i missed on the a teo and this is al-jazeera live from doha are also coming up the u.s. hits a wrong with north sanctions one of the commandos targeted has brushed them off as symbolic and very seeing begins fair elections that are expected to keep taiwan's

pro independents lead a in power much to the annoyance of chaya now the middle east's longest drilling monarch armand sultan qaboos been side outside has died aged 793 days of mourning have been declared on the process has begun to choose who will take over could be you said no children and never public you name just successor he's credited with modernizing the gulf country and mediation between rivals in a volatile region rob matheson looks back at as life bin saeed al saeed was an only son born in 1942 a life of royal privilege and to a father he would overthrow 30 years later what he did basically is modernizing the country opening the country to outsiders and thirdly looking at the domestic politics and try to move on to state formation where building is institutions and

related elements sort unco boss was educated in oman and then at a private school in the u.k. before graduating from sandhurst military academy and serving in the british army for several months on his return to a man in 1966 his determination to modernize his country is said to have been ignored by his father. 4 years later backed by the british sultan qaboos sees the throne he was immediately plunged into his 1st crisis an uprising by communists and go far in the south of a man who wanted independence it took a further 6 years before the fighting ended with the man being supported by forces from britain jordan and iran. a man's links with iran as well as its foreign policy of maintaining good relations with other neighboring countries have made it one of the main negotiators in the gulf

a man basically rely on it is on understanding of geopolitics. being realistic and also maintain his own legacy of being you know the oldest state. experience in the gulf as a whole that flexible foreign policy has been controversial in october $2800.00 sort on caboose met israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu in the omani capital muscat the meeting dismayed critics who said arab states should not be hosting israeli leaders until peace was established between israel and the palestinians a man's. modern minister said his country was simply facilitating efforts towards negotiations. had rarely been seen in public since he went through lengthy medical treatment in germany in 2015 he was are married and had neither children nor siblings and he did not publicly name a successor the foreign policy already was i would say dynamic broad matic

and also open to. the idea of engaging with the international community and that the true dimension make make me believe that we should not expect a major change now the world waits to see who will replace a man who modernized his small gulf nation and maintained a delicate balance of loyalties in an often unstable region as well as reaction is felt throughout the region we have been salah that's the capital of a man's neighbor yemen but 1st let's talk to us and by christian terran for us as it does seem that iran has always felt they had a friend in iran undercovers a state ship how was he being remembered that. well he did have a very close relationship for a number of years even historically even before. before iran became islamic

republic of iran in the 1970 s. when i'm on faced a marxist rebellion in the south iran then ruled by the shard dispatched 4000 soldiers 700 irena soldiers died then a man has never really forgotten that amount hasn't remain mainly neutral in the region during the iran iraq war between 180988 there were secret talks held between iran and iraq in moscow now though nothing became of those that helped reduce the mistrust between the 2 countries and a man supported a united nations resolution asking for a cease fire and if i could just list some of the mediation that omar has done. with iran and for iran so the me in 1900 mediated between iran and egypt in 2007 between u.k. and iran in 200-2009 the united states dispatched a high level delegation to muscat so to discuss nuclear cooperation with iran in

2013 there were secret talks between the united states and iran in oman over iran's nuclear program which led to the 2015 nuclear agreement now we know from former u.s. diplomats that online approached the united states to start those talks to say that there was a possibility of talks between the 2 countries and on one very much said to the united states that try and look at the region from an iranian perspective we've had issues of u.s. hikers been detained in iran and a minor mediated the release of those and also for iranian nationals held in the united states and i'm on mediated the release of those iranians so they've had a very close relationship just back in april last year there was a joint military naval military exercise. the strait of hormuz and of course the 2 countries share the narrowest point between the 2 countries in the strait of hormuz

that strategic waterway is only 33 kilometers so iran holds of more of the sort of very close to their heart and more and has represented iran in cases with the embassies have been closed in such as the united kingdom and canada said by their speaking to us from tehran thank you i said well now let's go to mohammed our lots have been yemen's capital and mahmoud we've been hearing there about the mediation efforts that kabila is and participated in in the region he also was very much the quite diplomat when it came to trying to end the war and yemen talk us through how he is now regarded in santa. yes. the late sultan. been side has played a major role in bringing to the negotiating table the warring sides. including the whole fees and also the international governments he has also facilitated in the some of the problems that faced yemeni especially with the saudi improves the

blockade and ban on some international airport facility to be a fly the medical flights and also the diplomatic flights so they are the whole of these and all other politicians who want to travel outside of the account tree used to travel from sunup to oman saw the their all the has been played during the last 5 year years by our mind there is is admired by many people here in yemen especially that the almighty policy of friends or and also an enemy to man has also held on man to thrive become a recovery and also to have a good relationship with its neighbors the. current developments in the region also the continuation of the war between the saudi quality of the whole fees or would have also an impact in the development of after the aftermath of the death of the whole time of kabul especially many people hold that the. kabul

says. would continue in the marshall for seoul time cobbles and also continue the mediation that has started by the sultan himself will so. many also experiment a suspect there are expect that the successor will face difficult difficulties specially with the saudi arabia's talents to pave its way for the oil pipeline thaw the yemeni territories to their arab sea. more than one who. the. club has faced many difficulties with saudi arabia even though that he's continued his policy of a neutral but such problem close the close there are many many challenges that will with cool could have started a war with the with saudi arabia with such a terms even though the tribes that have been backed by the saudi arabia field

nodded to give saudi arabia domination a number which is in the border and would be. there for us in sinai yemen's capital thank you manners or a man's defense council that's made up of the heads of the armed forces and other security officials has convened members of the whale family to choose a successor they have 3 days to settle on who should take over and if they fail to do this there then turned to sultan qaboos his choice of successor he wrote this in 2 identical sealed letters there are 2 of them in case one of them gets lost now that individual will then be revealed by muskrats royal court before taking the throne. well joining us here in doha is much to barry who is director of the gulf studies center at castle university let's start with his legacy when he took over there were less than 10 kilometers of paved roads in oman and now we're seeing hospital universities how is he being remembered today. i think there are many

people who will be remembered the leader who basically put together a modern and basically when it comes to the state for mission state building. when it comes to the institution formation when it comes to the infrastructure when it comes including you know health service adjudication including you know focusing on a human being and trying to build the human capacity in the last 50 years and i think all americans were remember this will remember what kind of man so drunk i was because of that but despite his popularity much of that there were protests in amman jaring arab spring spring not not city large ones but they were protests and there has been a crackdown. you know the arab spring with actually determine in mid of 2011 and there were there were some demonstrations in salalah i think also

on muscat and almost the mistaken we'll focus on some requested for more reform actually and for more salary increase in all of this and i think the government also tackled them using all of their tools just to calm down the situation and that was cause at that time criticism from human rights organizations and has there been subsequent criticism because some even though there is protest when necessary directed at him and there have been well i guess several wars i think i think the roland family and including zlatan they were clear on that because they actually dismissed a lot of senior officials cabinets and and actually. blaming them for not doing their job properly and any criticism from human rights or aggressive focus on some legislation when it comes to the the right for them the straight the right the freedom of speech the freedom for assembly and all of this and. it seems also the

authorities. have responded to that and they have their own justification for some of the for the some of those are just asians but it's again the whole the whole development of a man in the last 10 years approved to to show that there is a serious leadership which basically managed to avoid you know push the country out of any bad that i'm a fixation on well going beyond the borders where we were listening to our correspondents there tell us about how his mediation efforts almost made him on a kind of switzerland of the middle east a kind of neutral party a space for mediation and we've obviously seen heightened tensions in that region you know his family and how is his death likely to affect things you know interestingly in 2008 he has an interview certain couples with one of the arabic newspaper and he was asked about you know what a man is doing and he said very simple we have no problem with anyone and we don't

are the fuel to the fire and that was how he defined basically the man you're all basically i think the mediation effort it was. 2 things helped a man to be mediator when the legacy of a man or a man is the longest state in the gulf it has more than 140 years that that's a good experience of statehood the 2nd one is actually you know the style of leadership of bunker was himself and the way how he put it out to put to better the state i think that helped him his experience being you know graduate from sandhurst that helped him a lot and actually also you know being an open country because a man when you speak about a man was open to all nationalities for what more than 100 years and that basically made the country the political culture of the country more open accepting the others and i think this is the future of politics and. foreign policy and i think

that the. decision makers to behave like this and not to be what it. being mediator and the role in a lot of conflicts are some very very big shoes to fill damages wary from cashing in a massive thank you for joining us again here in al-jazeera. well to other news now and the u.s. has imposed additional sanctions on iran and retaliation for the iranian missile attack on u.s. forces in iraq they target iran's manufacturing and mining industries as well as 8 senior officials white house correspondent candy reports. already americans are under attack whether we're tensions between the united states and iran still escalating on friday the u.s. secretary of state and treasury secretary and oust more sections against iran in retaliation for its attack on iraq the military bases used by u.s. troops the president has been very clear we will continue to apply economic

sanctions until iran stops its terrorist activities and commit that it would never have nuclear weapons the sanctions target of iran steel iron trade construction mining and textile industries are also saying sins against 8 senior iranian officials the trumpet ministration says are responsible for spreading violence throughout the broader middle east. but how boring over the trump administration are questions about last week's killing of iranian general counsel of army assassination the white house says was necessary to save american lives without offering proof the threat was imminent this was going to happen. and american lives were at risk and we would have been called fully negligent as the chairman the joint chiefs of staff said we would have been culpably negligent and we now recommended the president that he take this action a custom so the money. the sanctions come as the u.s.

is odds with iraq over the future of its soldiers in that country or solo mahdi was killed the killing has fueled calls for the americans to leave roughly $5000.00 troops are made as part of the global coalition to defeat eisel on friday the iraqi government said it wants a u.s. delegation to visit iraq to plan for a withdrawal but the u.s. says it's not pulling out as times change and we get to a place where we can deliver upon what i believe the president believes is a right structure with fewer resources dedicated to that mission we will do so. pump ale says any delegation sent to iraq will be for the purpose of discussing strategic partnerships like increasing the role of nato with the region and idea u.s. president donald trump announced this week a nato delegation visited the state department to discuss that prospect of working to develop a plan which will get burden sharing right in the region as well despite once

calling nato obsolete president trump says nato now must be expanded to include middle east nations to reduce tensions and to assist in the fight against eisel it's an issue he insists is an international problem can't really help it al jazeera the white house now canadian government officials are poised to travel to iran to deal with the aftermath of ukrainian aircraft in tehran which killed $57.00 of its citizens they say there's evidence suggesting that the plane was brought down by an iranian missile a claim the terror on denies but canada's foreign minister says they're still waiting for visas for their crash investigation team. for repeat our call for a full and general and vista geisha we have a team of officials from global affairs canada and the transportation safety board in place in ankara in turkey to date the iranians have issued

2 visas and we expect the other visas will be granted soon so we can begin providing consular services help with the advent of fixation of the victims and obviously participate in the investigation while iran has given ukraine access to the black box flight recorders the telepaths one day on reports and vesa gators are hoping these black boxes will provide answers on what caused the ukrainian plane to crash into iran shortly after takeoff killing all 176 passengers on board the u.s. has shared its until with ukraine and the country's foreign minister says iran is cooperating he said especially compared to the other team has gained access to the black boxes 1st we plan to begin reconstruction of the conversations before the crash we also have access to the records of dispatches of the flight control center at tehran airport and our pilots. the u.s.

canada and other western governments say the plane was brought down by in a rainy and misfile probably by mistake iran has denied responsibility but international pressure is mounting and now nato is looking into the investigation the plane may have been down the body iranian air defenses systems that's exactly why we need a photo we know it's the geisha and that's exactly why we need to establish all the facts. iran has though the plane had mechanical problems it has invited international experts from france ukraine canada and the u.s. to examine the wreckage and what it could reveal about the crash possibly a little pulse of sailed right at the end of the recording that would be indicative of a ball morning explosion and looking the other way around the wreckage would be looking for holes in the wreckage that might be caused by something exploding outside or something exploding inside. shortly before the plane crash iran launched missiles

targeting the u.s. military in iraq western leaders believe iran's air defense forces likely on high alert made a mistake and mistook the ukrainian commercial plane for a possible counterattack but some ukrainian and russian lawmakers have said that's just one theory redraw so little the people would know there are all sorts of a teams to quickly blame this accident to iran i believe it's unacceptable to speak out on the so quickly. a plane crash that's turned into an international investigation that could complicate the regional tensions even further katia llopis with a yawn al-jazeera. now the u.n. security council has voted to renew an operation to deliver aid to syria but the number of border crossings involved and the length of the program have been hogged it's about to get a james bays explains why going to order. the vote came just hours before the security council authorization allowing

a to be delivered across the borders into syria was jus to expire or russia had taken things to the brink and in the end it got its way this vote means the number of crossing points will now be reduced from 4 to 2 angering the us in the u.k. who had no choice but to abstain they could have use their veto but that would have stopped all cross border a deliver is this day is potentially want to the sat is because it is the 1st time this is security council member has chosen to play politics with humanitarian assistance and on seine play politics with the u.n. and humanitarian assistance this in doing that rush here is playing dice with the lives the syrian people in the northeast negotiations have been underway for weeks and right up until the vote u.s. ambassador kelly craft took personal charge of her country's efforts meeting with

every other member of the council and in effort to persuade them it has the russian federation that vetoed a compromised proposal on december 20th and has sensed work tirelessly to divide the council the only reasonable conclusion to draw from these actions is that the russians actively triumphantly support the assad regime's to start its opposition it's estimated that one of the to border crossing is now at no longer authorized to operate a row beer in the iraq was responsible for bringing in aid for up to 1300000 people some of them will still get aid through our the roots according to humanitarian organizations though others will not james pays out as era at the united nations now people are voting in taiwan's presidential and parliamentary elections it's seen as a choice between moving closer to china or continuing to resist beijing's push for

reunification you're watching live pictures now of taipei when opinion polls suggest that current president sign when who is pro independence will win a 2nd term well let's go to scott who is in the capital for us it's got to as a polling station what's turned out looking like today. turnout is looking pretty good you know the as usual the spike in numbers really you were right at the beginning of the polling day that was about 8 am local time about 3 hours ago over 3 hours ago we have 5 more hours to go where the elementary school right in downtown taipei now as you mention you know this is an election yes to elect a new president yes to elect the parliament but it's also much more than that when you look at both sides the opposition as well as the ruling party who support each side it is about much more than that it is about the relationship with china the opposition sees the growing closer to china is critical because the economy here is so very much tied to the mainland but you look on the other side as you mentioned

that's much more about independence so a very very important election to the 19000000 eligible voters here in taiwan scott i imagine beijing's watching very very closely indeed what kinds of consequences could this fight have. it will be very exciting to see you know you know as you mentioned sign when the acted the current president is ahead in the polls now if that continues with her ruling taiwan you'll probably see a lot more of what we've been seeing over the last year or so there and that is a lot of pressure strong arm tactics from beijing on taiwan there's really not much direct communication from the top in china to the top here in taiwan that has been one of the tactics of chinese president xi jinping you'll probably see more military activity you know there have been a lot of navy vessels chinese navy navy vessels that circle around taiwan that's been stepped up over the last several months year we'll probably see more of that it's on when is again aleck to the president but then also it'll be interesting to

see elsewhere you know one thing that china has been doing over the last several months maybe 2 years up to 2 years and that is going after the nations that recognize taiwan as a sovereign nation. china has been going after those nations and warning them to their side so those nations that recognize taiwan have been steadily going down we could see that step up as well scott highly watching that very trust in taipei we'll be checking back in with him les said thank you scott now the mediterranean island nation of multi is about to get a new prime minister joseph muscat announced his resignation last month over his connection to people accused of killing a channel last need barker reports from the capital the latter it is forever sama and baltar but a shadow looms over the mediterranean island allegations of crime and corruption in big business and high office and now people want change. journalist a blogger deathly coward like elisia delved deep and ended up dead killed by

a car bomb in 2070 near her home her son matthew heard the blast when my model of the house and a few minutes into i heard the blast i knew straight away the office was a car bomb so i ran a lot of the. i saw the fire i saw the smoke. while there was absolutely nothing else with his arm this criminal organization has taken control over every single lever of the state and he's using it to fire off my mother as though she were our conferees greeter sending me. 3 men arrested in connection with the murder awaiting trial last november 1 of multis richest businessman you're going fenech was arrested and charged with being an accomplice to the killing he denies involvement fenech implicated the multis prime minister's chief of staff keith schembri as a coconspirator schembri was interrogated by police and released without charge he

later resigned. revelations led to rare protests demanding prime minister joseph muskets immediate resignation many think his office had a hand in the journalist death. premise which must cut bowed to public pressure and step down kick starting a race to replace him former health minister chris furness the clear favorite for a few expect he'll be able to cure bolter of its political ills i don't think there will be overnight change with regards to all structural issues i think the new leader which will be eventually been your prime minister of more than. a loner will not be able and i don't i don't think there is even the will to change all this. for the final address to supporters on friday joseph muscat says he took the decision to resign for unity to win over hate recent scandals have led to a political awakening here and also the my protest against the labor party yes sure

it remains really huge and enthusiastic and may suppose there is a myth that most i have something like the image crisis on a global stage the question is was the change of leader will really make a difference in the european union's watching the crisis in its smallest member state closely it's accused baltar of allowing dirty money to flow into europe using the island as a back door multi could lose a huge voting rights if its next leader doesn't bring crime under control leave park al-jazeera the letter. northern islands main political parties have agreed to a power sharing deal just 3 years of deadlock the announcement means northern ireland will once again have a government devolved from the rest of the u.k. in the last coalition government collapsed in a disagreement about a green energy scheme that then lay so why isn't that long standing differences bug areas environment minister has been charged with deliberate mismanagement over

the draining of a reservoir which led to severe water rationing. could face 80 is in jail for allowing industrial uses to drain the dam which is the only source of drinking water for the city of panic prosecutors say that ignored repeated warnings that the dam was depleted. and again this is al jazeera and these are the headlines sultan qaboos bin side of sides was ruled a month since 1970 has died what's believed to have been a long illness he was 79 there has been intense speculation for years about who will replace him because he never officially named a successor well the process to do so is already underway with a month's powerful defense counsel convening council members will be called upon if the sultan's family members agree on a successor within 3 days said begg is in tehran and has more on the relationship

between amman and iran. divided very close relationship for a number of years even historically even before. before iran became islamic republic of iran in the 1970s when a modern faced a marxist rebellion in the south of iran been ruled by the shah dispatched 4000 soldiers to 700 soldiers died in amman has never really forgotten that one has remained neutral in the region. washington has announced a new wave of sanctions on iran and the latest escalation following a u.s. airstrike that killed a top iranian general they'll target the steel and iron industry is costing tyrone billions of $1.08 senior officials have also been sanctioned and canada's foreign minister says a team of experts are waiting to for visas to join the investigation and when ukrainian plane crash which killed $57.00 of its citizens several countries say there's evidence suggesting the plane was brought down by iranian missile

a claim that terror on denies the u.n. security council has voted to renew a 6 year long cross border operation delivering aid to millions of syrians but the number of border crossings involved and the 9th of the operation have been hard to avoid a veto by russia and people are voting in taiwan's presidential and parliamentary elections you're watching live pictures now from taipei it's being seen as a choice between moving closer to china or continuing to resist beijing's push for reunification opinion polls suggest that current president saying when he was pro independence will win a 2nd term and a bomb has killed at least 15 people in a mosque during friday prayers and pakistan another $22.00 people were injured after that explosion inquests. well next up it's one i want to. talk to al jazeera we were told to get to the uk because through all the ration has this been addressed by tokyo we listen to what these the proposal of spain for. we meet

with global news makers and talk about the stories that matter to 0. made a new identity. this is the name for you. my job put forth their immigration law any age and therefore the us to a lot of them. he's known as the doctor. told how made up you know we're him. and he's helped criminals and terrorists move freely across the border. often to deadly effect. a white ahmadiyya mauled by one caught on kong. what i wanted east follows the hunt for them after a forger.