jason rezaian, welcome to hardtalk. this is the briefing, i‘m victoria fritz. our top story: atan at an emergency summit in brussels, you lived in iran forfive years the eu agrees to extend the brexit eu leaders have agreed to another deadline until the end jason rezaian, welcome to hardtalk. you lived in iran for five years at the time of your arrest. how unexpected was it? thanks for having of october — but there‘s extension to brexit. this time until the end of october. me on. it was quite unexpected. i still widespread frustration. had been living and working there for five years with full state task urged the eu to not waste any please, do not waste this time. permission. there had been moments more time. where i thought my safety was voting is taking place despite talks dragging in the first stage of the indian late into the evening — general election — potentially compromised but i thought that we were passed that the british pm says she still wants the biggest democratic poll ever held. era. 50 initial an earlier withdrawalfor the uk — an estimated 900 million people are eligible to vote. but how will westminster react? the first week's polling will take place in 20 states but we have a duty as politicians to across the country. astronomers have taken find a way to fulfil the democratic the first ever image suspicions on their part?” of a black hole. suspicions on their part? i think position of the referendum, deliver so. suspicions on their part? i think so. during the years i worked there it measures a0 billion kilometres across, there was periods of tumbled within three million times brexit and move our country forward. the size of the earth. there was periods of tumbled within the society. at certain points nothing is more pressing for more scientists are calling it an ‘absolute monster‘ — larger that the size of our entire solar system. journalistic potentials had been it was photographed by a network taken away. i always accepted that vital. ——0r of eight telescopes across the world. nothing is more pressing for more vital. ——or more vital. this might happen to me but i never expected it actually would. can you give us an idea of what the experience was like? you are heading

now on bbc news, hardtalk. out of your apartment on the way to a party? my wife and i were dressed up a party? my wife and i were dressed upfora a party? my wife and i were dressed up for a surprise birthday party for my mother—in—law. we were three days away from heading home to the united states for a few months of what i hello and welcome to hardtalk. i'm shaun ley. like to think was well deserved the united states says iran's revolutionary guard corps rest. as we were leaving the ‘promotes terrorism as a tool of state craft‘. it's the first time the us has apartment we went down in the labelled another nation's military elevator into the garage where taxis as a terrorist organisation. jason rezaian was seized from his home without warning, would pick us up and there was a man interrogated, standing there with a gun as the tried and convicted door open. pointed at your head? at my head. said my name, worked his on vague charges in tehran. way into the elevator with two other he was held for 544 days before a deal was done to release him in 2016. security guards with him, forced their way up into our apartment and he is now banned from iran for life. thatis their way up into our apartment and that is when our ordeal began. i but is the trump administration right to see maximum pressure 00:01:47,215 --> 2147483051:37:38,322 as the only way to 2147483051:37:38,322 --> 4294966103:13:29,430 affect change in iran? think you cannot know what is about one fold in front of you in such a chaotic scene. i thought to myself that this was a mistake, that it would not last, that it would be resolved quickly. but the visceral

feardid resolved quickly. but the visceral fear did not really penetrate my mind forafew fear did not really penetrate my mind for a few days. and on that point, the property was ransacked and you were taken away. it is a surreal image you painting your book about your time surreal image you painting your book about yourtime in surreal image you painting your book about your time in captivity of you and your wife surrounded by armed men wearing medical masks, a woman inafull men wearing medical masks, a woman in a full body cover and everybody else going about their normal evening business. their normal evening businesslj their normal evening business. i had not seen a scene like that in iran before but obviously the people in oui’ before but obviously the people in our neighbourhood had been conditioned. they had seen this, having lived their entire life under an authoritarian state. they were used to such scenes and they knew to not get involved. for me that was one more reminder that the

sentimental picture that some of us have built up in our own mind about a place can disappear in an instant. you were a foreign journalist and an american journalist and an american journalist working for, according to the uranian government, a propaganda organ. did you not think you would have a run in at a time? — make the -- iranian. —— iranian. they need hostile forces to report from the country. they do blackout in the west. and at that moment they needed it more than ever and the doors were open to more foreign reporters then there had been at any point in the first 35 years of the regime. in an

interview earlier this year you described it as a moment of incredible hope, 2008, that 0bama yes we can. . incredible hope, 2008, that 0bama yes we can.. i felt like i had a green light and if i did not hightail it we run it would never happen again. there had been multiple moments like that. when i first moved there in 2009, that was one moment. and then the real election, that happened injune 2009 and that hope was deflated quickly. soi and that hope was deflated quickly. so i wonder if it should have been such a surprise to you? however positively you were, it was self—deception. positively you were, it was self-deception. i spent so much time reading the signs, going back and forth and following the rules to the letter of the law. when i was told i could not work in the country i did not work in the country. at the point of my arrest five years into

my relationship living in place it was literally on the day that my press credentials had been extended for one year that my wife and i were hauled to prison. that goes to show that there are competing centres of powers and one did not like what i was doing. and of course yes there are competing powers in this complicated state. but you did say that you were part of the growing trend of journalists that you were part of the growing trend ofjournalists doing a reverse migration, half knowingly putting ourselves in precarious and essential positions. it happens in iran, it happens in egypt, turkey, parts of africa, pakistan there are a long list of countries where this is the case. the reality is we have to make a decision on whether or not we need coverage from these places. i follow the camp that believes we do. what did they accuse you of? they accused me of first being the

head of the cia station in tehran which was as ridiculous a claim to me as it sounds right now. fluttering in a way that i don't physically think i fit the bill based on film representations of top spies. but over time it became that i was trying to engineer the overthrow of the islamic republic through creating more friendly ties between the us and iran. i don't think there was an actual law i was accused of breaking but they were vague they were vague about the point of your conviction right up to it. that convention was still never given to me in the form of a sentence or anything. so there was no day in court? there were multiple daysin no day in court? there were multiple days in court. and on on the last one thejudge who days in court. and on on the last one the judge who was known as the

judge of death, the hanging judge for signing over 600 death warrants during his tenure said to me that you will be back in one week for resentencing. it has been five years andi resentencing. it has been five years and i have not seen him. still waiting to hear from and i have not seen him. still waiting to hearfrom him. let's pick up waiting to hearfrom him. let's pick up then on the allegation that the station chief in tehran. have you ever been approached by the cia? not once. in my normal day—to—day work asa once. in my normal day—to—day work as a journalist i meet diplomats and officials from a variety of countries as we all do, but i was never approached to work full is not entirely surprising that they did not take it at face value, is it? you have to go back and look at the words of the minister of intelligence at the time, very long into my imprisonment, about 13 months then, he was asked on iranian state television programme what he thought of the case against me. state television programme what he thought of the case against mem was a competing intelligence service

that arrested me so he said he should not be asked that. he said he thought that the us no longer sends journalists to do intelligence gathering. they have much better ways. i think you can make any case out of the circumstances of the fact that i was in the country. from a sceptical, perhaps paranoid state to say he is an american with only connections to this country, he lives in a nice flat, he doesn't attend press conferences he feels... as he said it became a landing zone for americans in iran. notjust americans. but, look... compared to the behaviour of a conventional journalist they might think... i think that is the behaviour of conventional journalist everywhere.

you were held in solitary confinement and threatened with the removal of your limbs. you were well aware of the number of resinous who we re aware of the number of resinous who were being executed not farfrom number of prisoners. not far from yourself. —— i make the case that i was tortured relentlessly from day one. what would they say to you? you had an interesting relationship that developed over time. it isn't classic good cop bad cop. —— it is a classic. and when you are in a tightly sealed vacuum it is hard to make sense of what is going on. firstly they cut you off from reality. they make you malleable in the process. and spending 20 or more hours a day in solitary confinement, you have a deep need for human connection with whoever is put in front of you. did they use your wife against you is to mark the use the

lack of my wife's presence against me. i had no idea of her whereabouts. you heard from her... i had already been changed into prison close, why are you not in prison clothes. it was a scary thing to not know where she was. as it turned out she was probably only a couple hundred metres away. but she was also going through a similar set of interrogations and threats from top she was there for ten weeks but you we re she was there for ten weeks but you were there for much longer. correct. and what is striking about the book is the moments of unintended humour in how you were treated at one point your interrogator rings your mother and decides that that wasn't a good idea. apparently in the scheme of negotiations, secretaryjohn idea. apparently in the scheme of negotiations, secretary john kerry was making a constant effort to bring myself and other americans

detained in iran home. and he told the foreign minister that he needed to do something, to create some sort of hope for these families that there will be a reunion. so on thanksgiving in november 201m was told that i could call my mother. and i said why... is this my last rites? is this the end estimate they said no, it is your mother's is an american holiday today and we've been told that you have to congratulate your mother on the source wishes occasion. so they dialled her up and handed me the phone and i talk to my mum and my mum was adamant, put me on the phone. i want to talk some sense into these guys. my mum is tough. and they were unused to that. at one point when you were taken into custody you were asked whether the ha ndcuffs custody you were asked whether the handcuffs were too tight. yes. this was one of those moments of almost

comic, incredibly hard to believe that they would ask me. did you think they were too tight?|j that they would ask me. did you think they were too tight? i thought ifi think they were too tight? i thought if i said they were too tight they would tighten them further. it was strange. they were constantly trying to paint themselves as less evil than they are made out to be in the international consciousness and b, than western powers. in your view then, to kind of eco donald trump's view on monday, this is a country thatis view on monday, this is a country that is elevating its terrorism to statecraft. it uses the tools that one counts as terrorist tools not the least including hostagetaking. one counts as terrorist tools not the least including hostagetakinglj don't think there is a nation with a

branch that is a good idea. within the branch there are units that are practising terrorism as statecraft without a doubt. whether it is the syrian forces, those in yemen or iraq or the intelligence wing which is essentially a hostagetaking organisation. that is what they do. but that doesn't, in your view, necessarily delegitimise the whole state. look, i'm not here to say whether the state of the islamic republic is legitimate or not. the dealings of dozens of countries with tehran fortifies that. for better or for worse. it has been a long time. i. for worse. it has been a long time. i, like many others, would like to see a secular democratic future for that country. i just don't think that country. i just don't think that strangling them into submission is the way we're going to get there. how big a problem is that this is a country with so many local power, the elected president, supreme

leader, parliament, the revolutionary guards, the courts, this is a hydra headed state. of course. there is a case to be made that that is an opportunity for the outside world that we can exploit. pitting one group against the other. but i think the bigger problem is that not having a real window into that not having a real window into that society and is, by iran's own fault in many ways, it makes it harder to know who we can talk to them if we can talk to, and what, ultimately, thereafter. having ditched at the nuclear deal, negotiated in part by the president but —— barack 0bama who gave that opening for you and gave you the sense that this is the right time as an american to go to iran, do you think president trump is right that really maximum pressure is the only thing left, screwing down the economy and through these kinds of designations the only way you're going to reshape iran?|j designations the only way you're

going to reshape iran? i don't think that that's true. why not? well, we ratcheted up the sanctions one needs to to the point where we renegotiated it. whether or not people... crosstalk it was effective at that point. everybody signed on the bottom line went about their business. that america says we're going to take the ball and go home, we don't like it. if the united states of america can't stand an international agreement that it signs, what good is our word? so i wonder, will the british government or the european union, will china and russia get on board if we are to try and negotiate a new deal with iran? it doesn't seem a new deal with iran? it doesn't seem like it to me. there is quite a good argument for saying that while the nuclear deal may have dealt with one part, one element of iran's one part, one element of iran‘s threats,‘ is, to the rest of the region and beyond, they had ignored big issues of using roxa groups, for

example, to intervene in other countries, whether syria or other places —— proxy groups. countries, whether syria or other places -- proxy groups. they went in fully aware that they were negotiating a deal over a contested nuclear programme. and i think, in my conversations with people who we re my conversations with people who were involved in those negotiations, on the american side, on the breezy side, and on the eu side, each have said that we did not see this as a solution to all of our problems, we saw it as an opening, that if we are able to properly... —— british side. this is the biggest issue. stopping a hostile government from getting a nuclear weapon. what‘s bigger than that? mike pompeo, on monday, after the announcement from president trump, so that there could be no peace and security in the middle east without weakening iran‘s revolutionary guards core. that is the secretary of state‘s opinion. i think that weakening the gazcorp

would be an ideal outcome. i think they are emboldened by this move —— guard call. you are one of these people who is in this strange netherworld of being a dual citizen and the iranian government takes a very specific view of dual citizens. it ignores your other citizenship and says you are iranian. until it is time to... you were, your father had left iran 50 years ago. 50 years before you went. so your connection is historic for your family, that you were treated as though you are a member of the iranian state. you are not the only one, the british iranian woman, started herfourth yearin iranian woman, started herfourth year in detention. it is shocking to me, the day in 2016, just a couple of months after my release, that i heard about her detention, i was

immediately concerned, but assumed that her situation would and more quickly. she has got a young child. it's quickly. she has got a young child. it‘s obvious that she is not doing any activity that is against the state of iran. what didn‘t even have anything to do with iran. but, u nfortu nately, anything to do with iran. but, unfortunately, i don‘t think enough is being done here to get her out. i will say that foreign secretary jeremy hunt seems to be doing and saying all the right things on this g illow saying all the right things on this gillow case, unlike his predecessor. yes, we will pass on that —— particular case. 0n yes, we will pass on that —— particular case. on that question, you were released as a result of a deal, as you have said yourself, don‘t quite know what form those negotiations took but you believe that was the case. because, of course, there was a prisoner swap and some us iranians who were facing sanctions, you were flown home. although you are now banned for life. is that deal the only way she is going to get out? yes. i don't

think you can ever expect the iranian regime, especially when it ta kes a iranian regime, especially when it takes a foreign national and especially when the foreign national isa especially when the foreign national is a dual national, you can‘t expect them to do the right thing. there is no precedent of them doing the right thing on one of these cases. so as abhorrent as hostagetaking is, especially when it is a state doing this, if our citizens, rights, safety a nd this, if our citizens, rights, safety and ultimately freedom matter, i western governments responsible government have to get involved. so jeremy hunt has to find a way. what the american government is doing, the british government on this case says we have to go alone on this. it is too important. that's what i believe. a few months after jamal khashoggi, who wrote for your paper, who you met and started to talk to, was killed and dismembered inside the saudi consulate, you

talked about it in the magazine, it isa talked about it in the magazine, it is a more treacherous situation for people like you, dual nationals, and journalists. the support structures by governments of free societies are just not doing theirjobs, they are deficient. and that is scary. here. that‘s the reality of the situation. ina that‘s the reality of the situation. in a moment when there is more violent reprehensible aggressive action taken towards members of the press around the world ‘s than at any point in modern history, you would hope that the president of the united states, the leader of the free world, would be the voice of reason on this and also the strongest supporter of our first amendment, our right to expression. that‘s not happening. instead, he has been relighting the worst possible behaviour, whether it‘s in saudi arabia, the philippines, turkey, many other places.|j saudi arabia, the philippines, turkey, many other places. i should make clear, jamal khashoggi was not

a dual iranian, he was a dual saudi arabian citizen. 0n a dual iranian, he was a dual saudi arabian citizen. on your experience than, you have been out for some time, but how have you been affected long—term by that long period as a guest of the iranian government? the lingering effect is, i wonder if they‘ll ever go away. i‘m very anxious when i travel to new places. i have to plan much more in advance. i‘m not immune from nightmares of my experience. it‘s difficult. and i don‘t think that i can undo those things. but i will say that over timea things. but i will say that over time a little voice inside my head has become more recognisable to me. and that‘s comforting. has become more recognisable to me. and that's comforting. and your wife? she is dealing with it. she is living in a new society. she never lived in the united states before. she is iranian. she is iranian. she lived her whole life in tehran. we have built a good life for ourselves

in the united states was not but it is not the life we would have chosen for ourselves if we had all choice in the matter. but you have changed. how long do you think before iran changes? iran has been changing for many years. it continues to change. but i would like to see happen is that the iranian people are able to reach their goal, which i think is a free up more representative form of government. i would like also to see the western powers, especially the united states, don‘t get anywhere that progress. and i think that some of our moves in washington are hamstring the efforts towards a free society and getting anyway of iranian civil society in their search for more freedoms. jason rezaian, 544 days in an iranian president, thank you very much for being on hardtalk. it was a pleasure. thank you.

hello, no sign of spring warmth in the immediate forecast. in fact, the weekend is looking a bit colder. we‘ll take a look at that in just a moment. first of all, how‘s thursday is shaping up and talking about cold weather, a widespread frost to begin the day but a fine day ahead for most places with some sunny spells. high pressure in control at the moment. that is blocking weather systems from coming away from the atlantic. also blocking milder air from coming our way as well because the flow of air around the high—pressure is bringing in this chilly breeze from the east and the chilly air with blue showing up as thursday begins, so widespread frost away from northern scotland and along north sea coasts. either the breeze or more cloud will hold temperatures just above freezing but there will be a good deal of sunshine in the day ahead. for some of us, not as much as we had on wednesday. parts of eastern england will see some more cloud around. the weak weather front close to northern scotland with cloud,

a bit of patchy rain, maybe later in the day, the odd heavy shower is possible and plenty of cloud moving into northern ireland. it is an easterly breeze, for most of us it is light and will pick up over the weekend. along that easterly breeze, with the cloud coming in towards north sea coasts and the flow of air coming in from the sea, this is where we are just into single figures. elsewhere, the range of 10—12. it still doesn‘t feel too bad at this time of year if you have some sunshine. as we go through the night into friday morning, some areas of cloud around, some clear spells but the clearer weather isn‘t as widespread so the frost isn‘t as widespread going into friday morning. just pockets more especially into parts of scotland and north—east england so temperatures a little bit higher as friday begins. and then on friday, it looks like there will be a bit more cloud around generally while most places will be staying dry, parts of scotland, maybe towards the north—east, could see a passing shower. the cloud increasing across east anglia and into south—east england, you could pick up a few showers here later in the day. temperatures still pegged back into single figures along north sea coasts and generally feeling a bit cooler on friday. the cooling trend continues further into the weekend. a battle taking place between low pressure in the atlantic trying to move in with milder air.

the colder air from high pressure holding it at bay, though, over the weekend. so it is going to stay mainly settled over the weekend. so no rain showing up on the charts here but notice the temperatures edging down a degree or so and the breeze picking up as well. around that area of high pressure, a stronger wind. dry for most, occasional sunshine, cloudier then by sunday but a windier picture, especially in the west, and it is going to feel chilly in that wind.