she wants to be asking the questions and so we traded places each took the microphone will we find peace how can we make the violence stop when will i be able to return home. iran's revolutionary guards accept responsibility for the downing of a ukrainian airline that killed a 176 people. are you watching al-jazeera live from our global headquarters in doha and for also coming up on modern more insult on cobbles son long time ruler known for promoting peace in an unstable region the transition of power has been swift oman's new rule of promises to continue his late cause and sponsor of peace plus. i'm nicholas

corcoran going to be so in the words law enforcement agency described as africa's 1st norco states join us next as we follow an unseen or cortical prediction inside the capital international airports. thank you very much for joining us a senior commander with iran's revolutionary guard has accepted full responsibility for the downing of a ukrainian airliner that killed all 176 people on board commander i'm iraq. says it was brought down by accident by a short range missile soon after takeoff from tehran on wednesday it was the same night iran launch missiles at iraqi bases housing u.s. troops. as a lot of. those in our aviation services who were denying responsibility they were

saying this based on their findings and i repeat they are not to blame it is us who are to blame the plane was on its way it did not have any error or mistake everyone worked very well efficiently it was us who made a mistake and we are responsible we should accept responsibility and accountability this was a very small missile and that's why the plane had the time to sort of land and to crash it did not explode straight away so they were not aware i do not know to defend them so our military forces neither the i was aware about it but we are regretful and we also are in pain and we share the pain of those families who lost their loved ones so basically this happened due to the heinous activities of americans that night we were ready to confront in any way there was a prediction that anything could have happened because there were so many airplanes in the air some aircrafts and fighter jets there was

a possibility for missiles to fire at us so we were ready unfortunately because of a very small decision made by an individual this tragedy happened our let's bring in our correspondent in tehran. the commander of the revolutionary guard air force apologizing and taking full responsibility for the ukrainian pain crash talk assault prices explanation and the details of how events unfolded. well it is very much painted a picture that iran was on a war footing that donald trump had threatened $52.00 sites in iran that iran had reserved retaliated to the assassination of general qassam so the money's on the evening or early hours of the morning iran have fired missiles into iraq at u.s. targets he says that iran is expecting the possibility of war that they will heighten tensions on the battery operator had been sent to this location in iran

and he had been informed that there was a cruise missile and he should have made contact with superiors before firing the rockets he waited for 10 seconds or 10 seconds to make that decision but for some reason. because of defense purposes or a network been busy he was able to make communication and he made that decision to fire a rocket and he said that he made a bad decision and that it was a mistake the commanders very regretful he said i wish i was dead and i didn't have to see such circumstances and that the that the shoulder all the blame saying that the aviation authority isn't to blame but that doesn't explain some of the language that has come out from the iran of the last few days denials you had of the aviation authority saying that he was scientifically impossible and in logic of that he was hit by a missile and from statements from the government calling the united states saying

that they were lying and that this was psychological warfare he said the commander that this was the fault of the revolutionary guard and the revolutionary guard alone he insisted on this even though he said that they had requested a no fly zone but that request was denied for some reason less silly excepting for responsibility i wonder how this will be received by iranians because even though he's accepting responsibility it would seem that they were failures on many levels . absolutely iranians right now are very angry and the shock that this has happened this is the images really through some of the statements that came out from the government the government spokesperson of the had said that the united states and its friends were sort of rubbing salt in the wounds of the families of the victims the foreign ministry spokesperson. had said that the foreign media western media were engaging in suspicious propaganda

they call this lies they said that this was false rumors and the head of the aviation authority here had said that this was not true there was no way that it was shot down by a missile that people here are very skeptical they took so long for iran to exploit accept responsibility for the revolution god is saying that it's their fault that they shoulder the burden but the head of the judiciary has asked the armed forces for any information and data that they have in regards to this attack because they want to hold people accountable and the president hassan rouhani has said that this should be a thorough investigation to find out how this happened and individuals prosecuted if necessary so there's still a lot of anger here inside iran is deeply embarrassing for iran internally but also internationally after saying that the west was making these allegations up but also

this questions about how this happened why were things not grounded why was the no fly zone over there are in fact all of iran especially when you were expecting the united states to retaliate so there's still many unanswered questions indeed thank you very much for the moment outside big life for a scene tehran let's further analyze these latest developments now and bring in our senior political analyst marwan bashar marwan very good to have you with us this events and this tragic tragic incident couldn't have come at a worse time for iran i mean you have a failed nuclear deal the assassination. the revolutionary guard top commander kasim salem money on a me on the verge of collapse 1st of all what do you make of how they've handled this this latest crisis the way the way they have responded were clearly admitting it sooner than later is very important other events happen with other countries and this and they decided just to. postpone as much as possible so i got to be

embarrassed by it i think it was smart. there is a more embarrassing initially saying that you know we had nothing to do with pointing the fingers at the americans and now they have to walk back they have to walk back it's better to walk back now than just simply to be under pressure under scrutiny and criticism for months and months to come if you look at it this is really more or less an international issue with canada ukraine and other people including the united states everyone getting involved in concerns in iran it's very difficult to escape the responsibility but to take it on earlier than later but as you said it is unfortunate that it's happening while a number of other issues are happening and yet i would say even and i must say even for the victim's families it's important there is a closure at least at this point in time there's a responsibility we know what's what and now some measures need to be taken what

measures for a deal expect iran to take do you think there's going to be a fallout politically within iran well there are some rumors about some people quitting or signing even has several honey there's of course a talk about the responsibility going up the chain who is responsible is there a political responsibility or near volution to go the responsibility or will there be a judicial process going on within the country and of course there is the idea of the compensation the official apology and so on so forth and so there's a number of things that now needs to happen but clearly as i said the fact that sapling earlier the leader is good for everyone you mention president hassan rouhani. a year and a half left in office. you know you wonder whether he can survive all these crises whether it's a spain crash in fair nuclear. class and so the money how can he survive them in this $1.00 and a half years ago or what is he going to have to do to regain the upper hand if

there are 2 issues one issue is it depends how many still thinks of him as useful as a window to the world as an important figure that can speak better more moderately the good cop bad cop division of labor within the area leadership so if i don't have anyone sent to stay there probably more reasons from just the 2nd and i think this is something that we don't address enough because simply it does not make good images i think most iranians are not happy with what's going on as you are should have seen protests recently and more than that as you were saying earlier i don't think people want to live a life of death of a cult of death i don't think they want to remain after 4 decades of confrontation and world war or more of the same i don't think they want to see their economy. go down 1015 percent more in 2020 and i don't think a lot of people are happy with the way things are going with the direction of the

country but we don't necessarily see all of them there's a silent majority or at least a societal half of the society if not majority i would say a majority if is their own their own have their voice heard and i think they could be heard during elections i think hasan rowhani might still be. a popular leader of sorts because i think renews do want a peaceful solution to the problem of course a lot of people do blame him and zarif for the failure of the nuclear deal with all due you know this whole bit of that we told you the americans you cannot trust a month or so forth and present trump is enforcing that trend in iran by really not being trustworthy on that question of america's commitment to the nuclear deal the american said impose new sanctions on iraq. following you know their targeting of these u.s. bases in iraq in response so past them so a man is assassination of course you know with this admission from tehran of guilt of responsibility in the downing of this ukrainian jet what further actions do you

anticipate the americans will take if any well i think just by the mere fact that they took that decision and we saw secretary of state in secular treasury together in a press conference addressing the issue of the sanctions on hiking the sanctions and so forth is of course an escalation yes and that's why i think it's important what is it we're going to hear this afternoon from chancellor merkel and president putin who are meeting to talk about iran and why is that important because look. the same situation the same factors that led us to the tragic few days including the downing of the plane remain sure even if we did pull out of the you know away from the brink of war between iran and the united states the in the escalation of the sanctions and so on so forth and the threatening by iran that they will do something could lead us again to more of the same situation that we saw the last few days unless a 3rd party comes home intervenes and try to be all about leverage because right

now the europeans are all but silent the nuclear deal is all but dead that's why it's interesting that merkel's meeting put of course is a transitional leader at this point in time her days are. numbered but that's more to the reason that gives her more more latitude if you will to talk to speak her mind to putin about what can you up and russia do today because that's all remember why you took my doesn't have much of a leverage i think putin does have leverage with the iranians both putin and you'll do have leverage with some leverage with the americans and i think if only one is able to do something about calming the tensions and taking away the reasons why we got to the crash in the 1st place it would be europeans the russians working together again as i said we will see with this in this afternoon if they

have an initiative of sorts to resolve the issue it'll certainly be interesting to see what comes out of those talks between protein and medical marijuana as always thank you very much thanks for getting giving us your view here allison move on to other world news and oman has declared 3 days of mourning after the death of its leader sultan qaboos bin side outside the region's long as ruling monarch died after a long illness said the age of 79 his cover cousin hyphen been taric outside has been softening as its successor promising to continue the foreign policy which has made the gulf countries such an important regional mediator and a few moments matheson will look back on life and legacy but 1st sat iraq reports on a dramatic day of transition in amman. a year 200. in. the announcements of salt on kabul says death came on state t.v. . the man who ruled amman for 50 years had been unwell for a number of years 3 days of national mourning and now underway in amman and

a number of regional countries. his funeral has already been held in the capital muscat. and just hours after the announcement of his death his family had already chosen his successor. haitham been taught at a site sultan kabul says cousin in true monny form his swearing in is the new sultan was a smooth and quick transition site has already served as culture minister and was made in charge of the country's 2040 vision development programme where. we will remain guided by the late sometimes wisdom and will preserve and embark on the achievements he made this is what we are adamant to do to follow in his footsteps with respect to international relations we will follow the same course and embrace foreign policies based on peaceful coexistence this alton is a man's paramount decision maker and also holds the positions of prime minister

supreme commander of the armed forces minister of defense finance and foreign affairs he was holding a very important position about heritage which has to deal with the identity of a man as a country and maintaining the the unity and in the culture us with the very man i would in a man context that's very important also being the secretary of foreign affairs ministry that's also important because he was the person who knows exactly what are the files the country are dealing with so. haitham been been they move their money flag will be flown at half mast for the 40 day islamic period of mourning this transition is a crucial moment for the country so mad to see if that hammer that highly with many waiting to see if hate them aside will continue cobbles his legacy as a negotiator and peacemaker in a volatile region so i don't hide at al-jazeera. 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 sultan co 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 seize the throne he was immediately plunged into his 1st crisis an uprising by communists in though 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. are 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 that flexible foreign policy has

been controversial in october 2800 sultan qaboos 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 foreign minister said his country was simply facilitating efforts towards negotiations. so had rarely been seen in public since he went through lengthy medical treatment in germany in 2015 he was unmarried and had neither children nor siblings and he did not publicly name a successor. well let's take a closer look at oman's new soltan hyphen been terra garside a prominent member of the ruling family he graduated from oxford university in the u.k. and completed postgraduate studies at the university of cambridge prior to his inauguration assault on he was the minister of heritage and culture for 18 years

a 65 year old was also head of the division 2040 committee helping to develop a man's economic and social strategy i want to bring in. covered this region extensively forester talk more about where oman is headed under this new leadership we heard from the new assault on a short time ago talking about continuity what is going to be the message what's the message 1st of all of this transition with seen a quick transition from what is a man trying to tell the world and on money the want to to dispel any concerns by the international community that there must be some uncertainty or instability in the country after the death of sultan couples the man who ruled the country says $970.00 says we will honor his legacy and we will follow in his footsteps which means that we women tend to neutrality over a man will not interfere in the domestic affairs of the country and we will try to offer the same mediating initiatives that we did in the past in different parts of

the worlds in the the of there were also instrumental to the talks between the americas and the iranians the pave the way for the landmark 2015 nuclear deal but he also mentioned the challenges facing his country and i think by that he means that he will have to take decisions in the near future about diversifying the economy and this is one of the main assets of of the new sort of because of his economic background has been the church person of the vision 2040 who wants to open up society who wants to lure more tourists into the country and he wants to tell the omanis that is about time to think about alternatives of the. because the 2 major assets gas and oil are dwindling in a moment this expressway has the lowest g.d.p. in this part of the world so some challenges domestically what about regionally and internationally as he said oman have this phrase as being one of the few neutral if

not the only neutral country in a very volatile region a country that has these served as a mediator in various crises how were they able to do that and this doesn't dates you know from a few years this goes back to the 1970 s. and so on how are they able to do it and will the new sort on be able to continue with this role or this is going to be the biggest challenge facing his country is located on the strategic strait of homers you have all this ongoing tension between the americans and the iranians of this post in a position where it has to be a player in whatever outcomes comes in the near future and a disruption to the flow of oil from the strait of hormuz is going to have a catastrophic impact on the supply of oil globally and they will have to do what they did brilliantly which is to narrow the differences between the americans and the iranians they are part of the g.c.c. the g.c.c. has been completely crippled says the 2017 blockade imposed by saudi arabia egypt

and bahrain on qatar in his integration speech he talks about the need to reinvigorate the g.c.c. the arab league he's basically trying to say it's about time to know the differences mend fences between all the countries and set aside the differences the have to fight in this part of the world now will he will he be able to achieve what is this which is basically turning a small country into a key player in the region that's going to be an extremely delicate some big shoes to fill indeed what about when it comes to yemen. has been of course a mediator in that conflict as well but it's a comfort. that still continues 5 years on you know what actions have they taken and what can we expect and of the new leadership because of the history because of the geography the the omanis have huge yemen the neighbor yemen the moho region they have very good relations with the hertha's with the government of

global also has the and with the session is in the middle made it clear from day one of the 2015 military campaign that they're not going to be involved in this to the need for political talks the whole thiis as we speak of massive trust of the omanis and i believe that if you see any push for a political solution in the near future it is not necessarily going to be between the earth is and the saudis or the other hand or the who are these the abilities you will see a woman playing a crucial role because everyone trusts trusts or a man of this is a war that has completely created scars in among the yemenis it would be extremely difficult for any nation in the region to step in and say you know what i can offer a political way out of this crisis it should be coming from a man because of our from the what has not been interfering in this conflict to be interesting to see how it all unfolds thank you very much for that. let's turn to

other world news now and vote counting is underway in taiwan's president show and parliamentary elections see voters seen as a choice between moving closer to china or continuing to resist beijing's push for reunification opinion polls suggest president sighing when who is pro independence is likely to win a 2nd term let's go live to scott hydro who is outside the democratic progressive party's headquarters in taipei the counting has begun and i know there's been celebrations where you are the morning party headquarters tell us about the already results for us. you know the early results these are exit poll figures that the g.d.p. of the ruling party has started to trickle out over the last few hours right now they are saying that there are over $5000000.00 votes and the opposition is 3500000 so obviously a pretty substantial lead there to put into context 4 years ago that she had to be

on the d.v.d. one once they got close to 7000000 now what's going to be interesting because of the importance as you underlined the importance of this election because it's widely viewed as a referendum on i want a relationship with china they're expecting eternal figures to be higher so that means that the number they need to get the cross over and to victory is gone also going to be higher so we're kind of trying to figure out exactly where we are in that interim and obviously as soon as they get to a point where they feel as though they've gained that you'll hear from the incumbent presidents and when she'll come out here and address this very enthusiastic crowd here on the stage behind me scott a talk us through the significance of this election especially in the context of the political crisis we've seen in hong kong the post in recent months against china's influence. it's very insane when you look at just even a year ago here the d.p.p. they were on very shaky political ground sign when was even be consulted by some of

the senior party officials for her not to run for reelection this year what happened in that one year span that really changed things and particularly that was what beijing has been doing to taiwan intimidation the strong arm tactics specifically against her mistress was then in june we saw how beijing handled reacted to the pro-democracy protesters in hong kong that had a direct impact on the people here because i wrote on using says all of the 102 systems holocene so what they saw the taiwanese saw was happening unfolding in hong kong that concern them great. and the d.p.p. is popularity search sideways popularity surge on and i think we're going to see at the end of the night we're going to see that it was taken to the ballot that was taken to election day to day that they were very on the easy with the way the easy way then we will find a way to make sure they could distance themselves a story as it were this way they came from beijing thank you for that scott

highlight for a same type a. a verdict is being delivered in guinea-bissau now in the trying of 12 people charged with smuggling 2 tons of cocaine last year the biggest haul in the nation's history the case has highlighted how the tiny west african country has become an international hub for drug trafficking al jazeera is nicholas had joined an anti narcotics operation at the airport in the capital. acting on a tip off from brazil's anti narcotics officers going to be so as police believe pounce injuries on board this flight from lisbon are smuggling cocaine detectives a lever com and his team are looking for 3 individuals one of them is this man wearing a yellow jersey beginning in national from his son who lives in the brazilian city of south polar he doesn't know it yet but he's about to be pulled aside for questioning. where you coming from are you carrying anything illicit drugs who are you visiting here where are you staying detective is already building his case

because she was going to sell these are the products that i have so much because the people who smuggle drugs are often vulnerable and from paul backgrounds but they're not stupid they know it's illegal and there are consequences to their actions but only the night before and as you take sarah lives in sao paulo working in maintenance and earning $256.00 a month he says he's here to visit his family but the police believes he's hiding something so they ousted check his luggage. this is where most seizures take place at the airport but it's often over small quantities just a few grams of cocaine could lead the person that's being stopped 10 to 15 years in prison but most cases go unprosecuted. the united states drugs in foresman agency says guinea-bissau is turning into what it calls a narco state the qs is latin american drug traffickers of bribing state officials to let cocaine destined to europe transit through the country and into the saheli

region where armed groups use the drugs to fund their fighting $75000000.00 worth of cocaine was seized last year some of it hidden in cat food the fast this is a war it's a threat to our country and to the region the traffickers a well organized and well financed it's difficult to fight them as investigators go through take serra's bag a bundle of drugs is found after urine test etc admits to having swallowed 18 packets of drugs $5000.00 worth of cocaine plays in his stomach not the slightest doubt will be for the i'm not skeared i'm doing this for my family i'll be freed. taken into detention at the police station take sarah stripped and searched now under arrest he risks decades in prison yet he seems calm he says this is not his 1st offense has been set free before. the powerful drug cartels are looking after

him because hawk al-jazeera the south carolina there's much more news on our website on al-jazeera dot com the very latest on all of our top stories on their al-jazeera dot com. well again i'm fully back with the headlines on al-jazeera a senior commando with iran's revolutionary guard has accepted responsibility for the downing of a ukrainian airliner which killed all 176 people on board he says it was brought down accidentally by a short range missile soon after takeoff from tehran on wednesday it was the same night iran launch missiles at iraqi bases housing u.s. troops i was a little more gentle about how. those in our aviation services who were denying responsibility they were saying this based on their findings and i repeat they are

not to blame it is us who are to blame the plane was on its way it did not have any error or mistake everyone worked very well efficiently it was us who made a mistake and we are responsible we should accept responsibility and accountability . oman has declared 3 days of mourning after the death of its smallest sultan cobbles bin side outside they 79 year old died after a long illness he was lauded for modernizing the gulf country and mediating between rival in a volatile region so tom cable says cousin has now been sworn in as a man's new leader been tarik onsides has pledged to maintain the mates old times policies of peace and non interference. see if we don't know you we remain guided by the late sultans wisdom going forward we will preserve and embark on the achievements he made this is what you are adamant to do to follow in his footsteps with respect to international relations will follow in the same

course set out by the late sultan we will embrace foreign policies based on peaceful coexistence without any interference in domestic affairs of other states we will continue as we always did during the lifetime of sultan qaboos. and the vote counting is underway in taiwan's president szell and parliamentary elections the election is seen as a choice between moving closer to china or continuing to resist space. suggests president in one who is pro independence is likely to win a 2nd term with about 56 percent of the votes there are say with headlines on al-jazeera coming up next year it's talk to al-jazeera to stay with us. the latest news as it breaks this push by season is far from over but it's caused so much devastation across

a stray. detail coverage campaigners say for the hundreds of children and teenagers the sleeping on the streets of paris and feel as journalism senators are preparing for a briefing on the u.s. military strike and whatever response it may bring. obviously. the middle east peace process is a term that's been used by world leaders time and time again it refers to efforts made by the international community to end the israeli palestinian conflict. one of the most significant events of the past 50 years is the oslo accords a set of agreements that were 1st signed in 1993 by the governments of israel and the palestine liberation organization to put in place a series of procedures based on un resolutions for the eventual goal of an

independent palestinian state and to oversee this agreement the un established the office of the special coordinator.