a short while ago they arrived in alaska, next they fly to washington. the white house hailed the move a "positive gesture of goodwill" ahead of a planned summit between president trump and the north's leader, kimjong—un. president trump has warned iran of severe consequences if it restarts its nuclear programme. other world leaders are trying to save the programme. iran says there's only a limited opportunity to do so. the us may reimpose tough sanctions as soon as next week. the former malaysian prime minister mahathir mohamad has made a stunning political comeback, winning a general election against the party that has held power for more than 60 years. he said he now wanted to restore the rule of law. the result is being described as a political earthquake. it is liz30am. you up—to—date on the

headlines. now on bbc news, hardtalk. welcome to hardtalk. i'm at stephen sackur. donald trump has blown a superpower sized hole in the international agreement designed to curb their run‘s nuclear ambitions. the us has given up on carrot and stick diplomacy with tehran in favour of, well, just stick. what our? the other signatories to the nuclear deal i tried to keep it alive, but ominously in the middle east tension is rising. most particularly between israel and iran. my guest is israel's deputy foreign minister tzipi hotovely. how close are we to a major middle east conflict? tzipi hotovely in jerusalem.

tzipi hotovely injerusalem. welcome to hardtalk. very happy to be with you stop io to hardtalk. very happy to be with you stop iq and the israeli government desperately wanted donald trump to walk away from the nuclear deal with iraq, and that isjust what he has done. are you feeling very satisfied right now? we are very satisfied right now? we are very happy about it. and of course we congratulate the american president for making this bold decision. we assure the world is a much better place today. after america will reinstate the sanctions over the iranian regime. i think for a long while our prime minister was very clear about this message. this deal is not stopping iran from reaching nuclear weapons, it is

actually paving the path of iran to reach a nuclear arsenal. this is what has changed from yesterday. from yesterday, the iranian regime will be under american sanctions. the entire international economic system will change, and eventually the iranian regime will have to change what it wants to do, either to get into those international middle east adventures, keep on spreading terror, or to keep the economic system of iran and take ca re of economic system of iran and take care of the people. i think that this dilemma is now into the iranian regime and we are very pleased that the american leadership was showing to the iranian regime that we won't let them just to go directly to a nuclear bomb. you know the phrase be careful what you wish for? it seems to me it may be relevant in this case for you. you have, and the israeli government, have so closely you yourself to a president in washington who right now is looking

seriously internationally isolated on this iran issue. are you sure thatis on this iran issue. are you sure that is why is? first of all, the american leadership, you know, they are making their decisions according to the information they haven't according to the fact that, you know, before donald trump was elected he said this was a bad deal. he said in a very clear voice to the international community and to all his friends in europe, that he would change it. so it is notjust a matter of taking care of israel. this is a matter of taking care of the security of the world, the entire western society, and of course the security of the united states. i understand that. but my point is about diplomatic isolation. donald trump made his decision. within hours we had the government of the uk, france, and germany, declaring that as far as they were concerned the agreement still stands and it is working. we know the same view is held in moscow and beijing as well. to put it frankly, it is

just donald trump and his administration, plus your government, plus the saudis and some governments in the gulf, who think that walking away from this agreement is wise. nobody else does. well, let me rephrase that. we are talking about the biggest economic country, the biggest economic power of the world, which is the united states of america. and we are talking about europe which will very soon had to make a decision as to whether they prefer the tehran market or the american market. with respect, we are not really talking about everyone in the united states. barack obama about everyone in the united states. ba rack obama has about everyone in the united states. barack obama has said that what has happened is deeply unwise and dangers. to be specific, it is the trump administration, people like john bolton and the president himself, who think this is wise. many in america think it is extremely dangerous. well, first of all, unfortunately, some people in the international community felt that the best way to prevent from

north korea to reach nuclear power was through international agreement. as you know, this has failed. we don't want to have been on screen experian —— east verema began with a more dangerous regime as this one. this is why i think for the long—term the american leadership has made the right choice and history will remember that as the right choice that will prevent from tehran to reach nuclear power.l specific point on the timeline here, it is interesting that a few days before donald trump announced his final decision, your prime minister, mr netanyahu, final decision, your prime minister, mr neta nyahu, chose final decision, your prime minister, mr netanyahu, chose to make a very dramatic presentation with powerpoint which he said was based on thousands of pages of leaked documentation, which a secret services had filched from a secret bunker in tehran, which he said gave us bunker in tehran, which he said gave us extraordinary new information about the military nuclear programme being run by the iranian government.

everybody who's looked at what mr netanyahu everybody who's looked at what mr neta nyahu has said everybody who's looked at what mr netanyahu has said nb power when he presented has reached the conclusion that there was nothing new in what he said —— andy powell 20 presented. can you tell me what was new in that israeli government presentation? yes, of course. because the most important thing, when you are having such an international agreement, with the iranian regime, it is based on the idea that the iranians are giving up the idea of reaching nuclear power. when we exposed to the world, when our prime minister exposed to the world this nuclear archive, it was very clear that iranian was waiting until the day after this agreement would expire. they had all the information, all the intelligence, all the facilities, and all the ingredients to have nuclear power. this is exactly what israel was claiming for many years, that the iranians are lying, they are cheating, they are misleading the international community and eventually they did

not give... forgive me, but i did ask what was actually knew in terms of substance. we have known, thanks to the iaea and intelligence released by the united states that the iranians ran a covert nuclear programme. it substantially ended 2003. bits and pieces continued until 2007 and bit more until 2009. since then it has been dormant, on the shelf. we know that and the iaea is absolutely adamant that the agreement reached in 2015 was ensuring, ensuring that iran stuck to the latter and the spirit of the agreement drawn up with the international community. so what was the point of that powerpoint presentation? i think the point was to show to the world that this regime is very serious about its intentions. it never gave up the dream of having nuclear power. let's

talk about the problems. the problems in this agreement was very few and we were very clear about what should be fixed in this agreement in order to prevent from iraq to reach nuclear power. the first thing is the sunset clause —— iran. after a certain amount of time iran. after a certain amount of time iran will have the ability to run nt nuclear abilities without having any restrictions from the international community, this was the first mistake... that is not a secret clause. that is in the agreement. barack obama and his team worked on it for years. they believed it was the right thing to do along with the uk, the germans, the french, the russians, and the chinese. it was understood that there were time limits on the agreement, but nonetheless it was seen by the international community as the best way of curbing iran's ambitions. i wa nt way of curbing iran's ambitions. i want you to tell me one specific area, one scientific initiated —— initiative taken by the iranians which proves they were breaking that

agreement. seriously? we are talking about a regime that has rocket programmes that can get all the way to europe. we are talking about a regime that maybe instability in the middle east are something... neither point you just made is anything to do with the agreement. we are talking about spreading terrorism. that is the problem. the agreement didn't cover all those issues. the agreement gave iran the financial abilities to keep on spreading terror. terron is something that costs a lot of money. you have just veered off talking about iran's nuclear programme. yes, you can talk about matt —— what iran is doing in yemen or what it is doing with hezbollah. you can talk about that, but it is nothing to do with limiting, curbing, halting iran's specific nuclear programme. of course the fact that iran had financial abilities to sponsor those terror activities is coming from the

fa ct terror activities is coming from the fact the agreement gave the financial system in iran air to breathe. minister combet is interesting to me that you and mr netanyahu interesting to me that you and mr neta nyahu were cheering interesting to me that you and mr netanyahu were cheering this agreement by mr trump. i think were so pleased with mr trump's decision inside iran? the only thing i know is we care about the security of our nation and the security of the western civilisation... do you know who welcomed this move by donald trump in iran? it was the hardliners. it was the leader of the revolution guards who said "i congratulate and see as a good deed this vicious donald trump withdrawal from the international agreement." the hardliners in iran are delighted. you see... if you choose to believe the lie is then it is your choice. i prefer to listen to my intelligent people, to the people that actually give all the proofs

that actually give all the proofs that show that the iranian regime, ona that show that the iranian regime, on a very simple fact, is actually keeping on the work in order to be the most dangerous power in the world at the moment. and we, just yesterday, by this very brave american decision, this aggression could have stopped and would be something that the international community will stop. i am that i am sure that the european leaders will very soon adjust the reality. the things we are hearing from europe will change very soon. things we are hearing from europe will change very soonlj things we are hearing from europe will change very soon. i use and you wa nt to will change very soon. i use and you want to hear the americans put severe secondary sanctions on any european businesses that continued to do their trade and business with iran? i think mr trump was clear about this yesterday. there will be difficulties in relations between your government and those usually regarded as partners, friends in europe. they are great partners. i

met the french foreign minister a few weeks ago and also the german foreign minister. they are all leaders of the western world, european leaders. they understand our security concerns. and they will have to adjust to the fact that there is a new game in town after president trump's decision. yesterday it seems the israelis, your government, hit new targets inside syria. it is reported by the syrian observatory for human rights that an attack on an iranian facility south of damascus killed at least 15, including at least eight iranians, that follows the april seven attack, which there was little doubt was conducted by your forces, even though your government hasn't acknowledged it. what is going on here? first of all, we are never proving any specific military activity. israel has been accused for so many things around the world. the only thing i can say to you, on

a very clear policy matter, our prime minister said a few times, we are not going to let iran to let a military base in syria. we see this iranian intention time after time. we see a small army that is growing into a big army. the intentions of the iranians are very clear, to colonise syria under the military force of the rhine. we do not want that to happen. —— of iran. we will do what any other sovereign country will do. we will protect our borders. but this is pre-emptive. you are launching strikes against iranian military targets inside syria. the iranians would say they are there simply at the invitation of the assad government to help president assad shore up his regime inside the country. the danger is this will spiral very quickly into a direct military confrontation between you and iran. we are

understanding peace. since israel was established its very clear the only military activities we take is just in order to defend our citizens. i think it's very clear, our message to tehran is stay away from syria and we'll do everything we can to protect our borders and our citizens. i think the question should be actually targeted to the entire international community, what is going to be done about the syrian colonisation by iran and the fact that iran is now being military active in syria ? that iran is now being military active in syria? minister, that's precisely the point, you say it's a simple message, the message to run is stay away from syria but forget it about it, syria... the iranian presence in syria is a reality but the question is what you're going to do about it. a minister in your government a couple of days ago said this," if assad allows iran to turn

syria into a military vanguard against us and to attack us from syrian territory, he should know that would be the end of him, the end of the assad regime, his blood would be forfeit. is that you're feeling too? most of the time i follow the instructions of my prime minister and other ministers in my government, but i think again, you need to stick to our security interests. our security interest is to make sure that iran won't build a military force in syria and we will do everything in order to prevent that, in order to protect our people, that simple. assad gets it... of course it's much more complicated on a military base but it's simple on a policy issue. complicated on a military base but it's simple on a policy issuelj complicated on a military base but it's simple on a policy issue. i get that but your message to the iranian government is if the iranian buildup in syria continues, assad will be targeted? we didn't say that, i didn't hear the prime minister said that. the important thing for us...

was he wrong, was it an empty threat? i'm not a spokesman for other ministers, i'm speaking for myself and i'm trying to be very faithful to the policy lines of my government. i think that we should stick to the security idea of israel where we are quite threatened by the fa ct where we are quite threatened by the fact that syria today is a collapsed state, the fact that it doesn't have real leadership, and again it's been controlled on a very serious way by the iranians and we're doing everything we can do to prevent the damage it can cause to our citizens. deputy foreign minister, not as dean you to comment as an individual, i'm asking you to comment on behalf of the foreign ministry. —— asking you. asa the foreign ministry. —— asking you. as a spokeswoman for the foreign

ministry, are you telling me that is wrong? i'm telling you that israel will do everything in order to protect its borders and in order to prevent from iran to build a military base in syria. i think it's very clear... the thing is, benjamin netanyahu, very clear... the thing is, benjamin neta nyahu, your very clear... the thing is, benjamin netanyahu, your prime minister, is in moscow today talking to the russians, how will the russians feel about israel sending a message that basically says if the iranians continue to peddle their influence and military in syria, we will bring down the assad regime, a regime the russians have poured my knee, men and material into for the last, what, six years or so? -- money. we have a very close co—ordination with the russians. as you can see, the prime minister has vary intimate security talks with president putin and they understand our security needs and i think the world should understand also that in this complex area and region, whenever our

activity is not underground, as a democratic country that really cares about the future of the region, what we get instead is militia, terror organisations like isis, hezbollah and hamas so we need to be very careful by working on the stability of the region, and this is what we'd be doing for the last ten years, at least since prime minister netanyahu has been back in the political arena. let me summarise it in one sentence, our neutral threat is the iranian regime and of course they felt very close to us about going against the iranian deal and we co—operate and we do whatever it ta kes co—operate and we do whatever it takes in order to make sure we won't find ourselves in a position that iran gets back to original hagemann

and needs and it gets nuclear power. —— hegemony. we have a mutual interest in this and we co—operate in order to prevent that. that's been made plain by your chief of staff, who talked about the exchanging of information, including intelligence information, in order to deal with iran but to get that level of cooperation with saudi arabia and you can't afford to embarrass them, deeply embarrassed them, on otherfronts, particularly i'm talking about the palestinian front. but minister, you seem to have gone out of your way to make a situation that's very difficult for the saudis to work with israel, in particular on the issue of jerusalem. you have talked about dreaming of the day when the star of david, the israeli flag, over the temple mount. that is something that is utterly acceptable to the saudis, why did you say it? first of all the government of israel is clear about keeping the status quo on the temple

mount and keeping the status quo on the temple mountandi keeping the status quo on the temple mount and i think for everyone that knows the history ofjerusalem, no one is doubting history, except the palestinians who have this very strange habit to rewrite history. hang on, hang on, to get this straight, you say that you want to see the israeli flag flying in that little piece of land in the old city ofjerusalem, which little piece of land in the old city of jerusalem, which houses little piece of land in the old city ofjerusalem, which houses the third most holy shrines in all of israel, the dome of the rock, the al—aqsa mosque, and you want to see the israeli flag flying their? first of all, this is the first holiest place to the jewish world all, this is the first holiest place to thejewish world and you must remember that. as you just mentioned, mecca is the first one to the muslims and temple mount is the first one for the jews. that makes your position not inflammatory and makes it acceptable? i'm saying the government policy is very clear, we wa nt to government policy is very clear, we want to keep the status quo on temple mount. temple mount today under israeli sovereignty is the

safest place for all religions to go and come up and worship and i think this is the way it should be. u nfortu nately, this is the way it should be. unfortunately, under other controls, jews couldn't go up to temple mount, which is the holiest place in the jewish world. i think it's very clear for us today that the fact the embassy is going to move to jerusalem, another very good decision of president trump, is part of understanding in the arab world that we're not going to change history. history speaks about 3000 yea rs of history. history speaks about 3000 years of connection from thejewish world to jerusalem since years of connection from thejewish world tojerusalem since israel established, jerusalem was its capital. it's about time for the international community to follow up reality. whatever your claims about what history gives you as you're right, israel has to abide by international norms and judicial process , international norms and judicial process, doesn't it? let me tell you something about international norms. we're almost out of time and i want

you to answer one more question. are you to answer one more question. are you going to let me say something? 40 you going to let me say something? a0 unarmed people shot dead at a fence in gaza without weapons protesting against israel policies, including two children, shot in the head and the neck. do you think that's acceptable? let me fix what you presented as fact. the facts are most of the people that got killed in gaza are people actively part of the hamas terror organisation or the islamichhad terrorist organisation. most are terrorists, most are activists. why should young children get to the fence? think about it. we're talking about the border with the gaza strip. israel is not controlling, in 2005 israel doesn't have settlements in the gaza strip, but look what happened. gaza was should chosen by a terror organisation called hamas. hamas is hostage in the young children, the

young people, abusing them and sending them to the fence after israel was very clear we won't allow people to get close to our border. think about it, why do they have to do that? let me tell you what they do. one human rights lawyer said lethal force against an armed civilians who do not pose a danger is illegal, that's an israeli human rights lawyer, and the international criminal court is now looking into it. this is not an innocent practice, this is a terror activity, very clear terror activity. these people are setting kites on fire and sending them over the border and they're trying to put our cities in flames. this is something very similarto flames. this is something very similar to sending rockets on the other side of the border, it has exactly the same devastating results. i think we should target our criticism to the terrorist activities, not towards israeli democracies and keeping its borders. we have to end it there but minister tzipi hotovely, ithank we have to end it there but minister tzipi hotovely, i thank you very much for being on hardtalk. thank

you, thank you very much. hello. once any early rain clears easternmost parts of england as thursday begins, what follows will be a lot of fine, dry weather. here's the weather front, it's going to drag its heels for a little while on thursday morning across eastern england and elsewhere you can see some fine weather, but a hint of showers following towards the north—west. so whilst many will have a fine day with some sunshine, there is the chance of catching a shower. more especially into parts of scotland, maybe one or two for northern ireland, northern england and north wales. now, for early risers, these are the temperatures. so double figures for the cloud and rain into eastern england. elsewhere into mid—single figures for some spots to begin the day but again, away from eastern england, a fair amount of sunshine

and dry weather to begin with. but those showers will be pushing into scotland on through the morning and if you catch one it could be heavy, maybe a rumble of thunder, one or two for northern ireland, northern england, north wales. by the end of the morning, the last of the rain has cleared away from eastern parts of england, so looking dry for the rest of england. some cloud around, some holes in the cloud allowing sunshine to come through and these temperatures across—the—board now are pretty close to the average for the time of year, so there's a particular warmth out there. heading out and about on thursday evening or coming back from wherever you've been, still a few showers in north—eastern area of scotland and into the northern isles, but they will continue to fade. elsewhere, what showers have built up are continuing to fade away, and the cloud that's developed is going as well, so a lot of dry and sunny weather to end the day. it does mean under clear skies thursday night into friday morning with a ridge of high pressure temperatures drop away even further, low single figures for some on friday morning.

the ridge of high pressure not staying around too long as this weather front starts to push it out of the way on friday, and it means strengthening wind across the uk, particularly close to this rain band coming into northern ireland and feeding outbreaks of rain into west of scotland, parts of wales and south—west england. very slow—moving weather system, though. ahead of that, although some cloud's going to increase, there will be sunny spells but there will be that strengthening south south—easterly wind. the weather front does push on through friday night into saturday, by saturday maybe lingering into north—east scotland with rain at times and maybe showers in eastern england. dry weather elsewhere but further showers pushing into the south and south—west and south—west england, wales and maybe into northern england. catch one of these and it could be heavy and possibly thundery. temperatures haven't changed much but if anything by the time we get into sunday they could go down

a little bit further. bye bye. this is the briefing. i'm sally bundock. our top story: three americans released by north korea are on their way home. they'll be met by president trump within hours. a large explosion and spewing lava at hawaii's kilauea volcano. 2,000 residents have been evacuated. authorities warn more eruptions are likely. from retirement to a remarkable comeback. mahathir mohamad is back as malaysia's prime minister, aged 92. media wars. could comcast swoop in and break up the $52 billion deal between fox and disney? in business