i'm kasia madera with bbc world news. our top story. us congress has voted to condemn president trump's racist tweets. several republicans backed the motion, following his recent attacks on four democratic congress—women. he says they "hate" america, and "can leave if they want to". mr trump insists he doesn't have "a racist bone in his body". it's 50 years since the apollo 11 crew blasted off from florida on their mission to put the first man on the moon. events to mark the launch are taking place across the us. and the remarkable story of a set of conjoined twins has caught people's attention online. safa and marwa from pakistan, were bornjoined at the head. the bbc was given exclusive access as doctors in london succesfully separated the two sisters. they are recovering. that's all from me. stay with bbc world news. now on bbc news, zeinab badawi speaks to iran's foreign minister

javad zarif on hardtalk. there welcome to hardtalk, with me zeinab badawi in new york. my guest in this rare interview is the foreign ministerfor in this rare interview is the foreign minister for iran, javad zarif, who is here on a visit. tensions between iran and the us are ona tensions between iran and the us are on a historic high. trump said he was ten minutes away from war with iran following tensions in the gulf. can they save the historic nuclear deal after president trump unilaterally withdrew from it?

foreign ministerjavad zarif, welcome to hardtalk. the british foreign secretary, jeremy hunt, says there is a small but closing window to save the nuclear deal agreed in 2015 between iran and the world powers. is he right? i think he is right, but there is committed determination on all sides to save this deal, iran has done its part of the deal and it is necessary for the rest of the world, and the europeans to also take action. they've made very nice state and is, but state m e nts very nice state and is, but statements do not provide economic benefits for iran —— very nice statements. let's see about the uk position about withdrawal from the deal last year, so kim darroch, who step down as ambassador to

washington, said donald trump has an incoherent and chaotic approach to iran, engaging in diplomatic vandalism because it is president obama's deal. what extent have these lea ks affected obama's deal. what extent have these leaks affected the dynamics and all of this? has it made iran feel encouraged to try and exploit differences between the us and europe? we believed that this deal is in the national community's interest —— international, it doesn't matter whether the previous administration in the united states negotiated this deal, this is a deal that was negotiated by the united states. as you know, in the international community, you don't recognise this or the other government, you recognise the country and the government of that country. we did recognise this with the government of the united states and they should abide by their commitment. there wasn't a

revolution in the us, last i checked, so i think it is for president trump, the best deal possible. i believe president trump is being advised by people who are not interested in promoting peace, but interested in advancing an agenda that they had. sticking with the european point, do you feel emboldened now to try to exploit the differences between europe and the us? i mean, the europeans have said consistently it was a matter of huge regret that united states withdrew unilaterally from the nuclear deal. i believe it's important to make that statement but at the same time it's important to basically invest in what europeans believe is a security document for them and a security document for them and a security agreement for them. you cannot make any gains without basically making the necessary investment and i think that is what is lacking. we have invested in the nuclear deal, more than talk. we

have done things on the ground. the europeans are not prepared to do things on the ground. they are willing to make statements. the us sanctions on iran, the europeans cannot buy american oil? why not? it's going to affect their companies. if the europeans, the chinese, the japanese, try all of them do not allow the united states to bully them into abiding by its decisions, with the united states be able to destroy the global economy and put sanctions on all of them? shall, total, opec? in this regard, this demand by the united states, which is illegal, unlawful. your top —— a top adviser says the deal could be saved if there was us compliance but this is not a likely proposition. so the europeans' position is to try and strengthen

what they call this framework which the sanctions could to some extent be circumvented, allowing around to receive humanitarian aid and medicines which are exempt under the us sanctions —— allowing iran was that you want to accept us predominance in the global economy, even to your own detriment? u nfortu nately even to your own detriment? unfortunately this is what they are saying and i don't think in this way they can resolve this crisis or any crisis. europeans and the rest of the global community strong enough to withstand this. there is no need to withstand this. there is no need to train circumvented, but, if they wa nt to to train circumvented, but, if they want to circumvented through istecs, we have to see whether if there is any actual benefit for the iranian people. you see, people are dying from cancer. people are dying from — kids are dying from tv. people are

dying from ms —— dying from tb, because there is a very limited area of pharmaceuticals that we cannot produce in iran and the united states says they are exempt, but, financial transactions in order to purchase them are not exempt. of course, the americans say they are exempt, that they are not. you've given the european 60 days again until early to amber to try and come up until early to amber to try and come up with some kind of way to mitigate this —— until september, this impact of sanctions on the iranian... we haven't given an ultimatum, what we did, foran entire haven't given an ultimatum, what we did, for an entire year, they asked us did, for an entire year, they asked us for a few weeks. we gave them 60 weeks. then we started, based on the agreement, not outside the agreement, not outside the agreement, united states has walked out of the agreement, use the mechanism within the agreement in order to show them that they need to come back to the agreement and

implemented. we are giving anyone any ultimatums, we're just implementing what we told them very transparently, that these will be the steps that we will take. under the steps that we will take. under the nuclear deal, iran is only allowed to enrich its uranium to 3.67, we now know that you are enriching uranium beyond that to around 4.5, so why do this? it doesn't help the europeans make your case, does it? to the americans? we implemented the agreement fully, the iea made 15 reports from the beginning, five of them after the us deposit withdrawal and all of them indicated iran was revealing its commitments fully. unfortunately, the europeans could not take advantage of these and just cracked their feet. it won't happen again. iran isa their feet. it won't happen again. iran is a country with an old

civilisation. for us, the dignity of oui’ civilisation. for us, the dignity of our people is extremely important. why enrich the uranium, foreign minister, president rouhani said our enrichment levels will be as much as necessary and as much as we need. the europeans they know parcel compliance is acceptable. the europeans cannot say parcel compliance whether it is acceptable 01’ compliance whether it is acceptable or not, it is the deal itself. paragraph 36 of the deal says iran will decide if we are not satisfied with the implementation of the deal by the other side, we can take some measures within the deal. that is in order to keep the deal surviving, to keep it from going totally dead. so, will you continue to enrich levels of uranium? this deal was written based on total mistrust. neither side trusted the other side. that is why we put everything in black and

white. very clearly stated that if we don't comply, what they can take. if we are the initial because of the deal, they can take measures. if they are the initial breakers of the deal, they can also take measures. so you've got to allay fears, haven't you, foreign minister? iranians, according the british foreign secretary, jeremy hunt, he has said that this year around is a year away from developing a nuclear bomb —— iran is a year away. year away from developing a nuclear bomb -- iran is a year away. if we wa nted bomb -- iran is a year away. if we wanted to build a bomb, we could have built a bomb a long time ago. we don't want to build a bomb because we believe a nuclear bomb will not augment our security. but, if the europeans are serious about a nuclear weapons free middle east, there is somewhere else they need to be looking at, and that is israel where they have at least 200 nuclear warheads. president trump said quite recently he was ten minutes away from wall with iran over the

shooting down of the unmanned us drone over what americans as was international waters and what the french president, emanuel macron, agrees with. do you accept that the us doesn't want war?|j agrees with. do you accept that the us doesn't want war? i accept that president trump doesn't want war, but i know there are people in his administration were crazy for war — thirst for war. john bolton, the national security advisor. .. thirst for war. john bolton, the national security advisor. . ij thirst for war. john bolton, the national security advisor. .. i don't think i need to mention president trump, ithink think i need to mention president trump, i think he has mentioned... how likely do you think engagement with iran and america is? it's cold the persian gulf for a reason. we haveis the persian gulf for a reason. we have is 1500 miles of coast with the persian gulf —— called, we are protecting our territorial waters and if this drone had been shot in

international waters, over international waters, over international airspace, why do we have to pick up the pieces? as i told you, the americans and supported by president macron, it happened over international waters. were they there? that's what we told them, were you there? we were there. tensions in the gulf, we've seen recent tensions about the norwegian and japanese registered oil tankers which you have said iran had nothing to do with, the attacks on those tankers. but the suspicion is by the united states and united kingdom and others that iran was involved stop we've also seen the recent tensions between britain and iran over the seizure of grace one, your vessel, what do you think the possibility of you stumbling into an accidental war

in the gulf are? again, it's the power is engulfed because it is next to our borders —— it's the persian gulf, iran has protected, iran has maintained the security of freedom of navigation in the persian gulf and the strait of hormuz for millennia and we will continue to do that. we are a major power in that region. those who have come to our region. those who have come to our region have not — come to the persian gulf and brought their naval vessels to the persian gulf are not helping secure this body of waters. what do you think is the possibility 01’ what do you think is the possibility or the likelihood of stumbling into some conflict? of course there is a possibility of an accident but we cannot believe —— leave our own neighbourhood. those outside have to decide why are they in that neighbourhood and whether that presence in the neighbourhood is helping stability and security in that neighbourhood. how high do you think the possibility of an accidental war... ? think the possibility of an accidental war. . . ? as president

trump has said, ten minutes away from war because, had they taken measures against iran, president trump had been told that iran would be taking measures in self defence. what kind of measures would you have taken? i'm not a military man so i'll leave that to the military. we've heard statements from iranians authorities that there would be attacks on allies such as saudi arabia and dubai if there were any military action. we don't take my induction. anybody who is helping the united states and its war against iraq, united states is engaging and economic war against iran. there are other countries with logistical support, reconnaissance, that means they are participating in the war. so that could happen? you could target allies? us allies in the gulf? if there is a war, then i

do not think anybody would be safe in our region. but let us all try to avoid war, we don't need a war. we have gone through eight years of war, a war that was imposed on us with the help of everybody. why not de—escalate the situation? for example, the grace one, you have had a conversation withjeremy hunt, and he said this vessel could be freed if it is not bound for syria. it is that kind of action that the west find provocative. it is piracy plain and simple. there are eu sanctions against buying syrian oil, not against selling oil to syria. going through eu... there are eu sanctions against selling oil to syria from european countries. from european countries, iran is not a

european countries, iran is not a european country. but you are going through gibraltar, that is part of the eu. it is part of international shipping lanes, we are going through that. but we announced from the beginning that this ship was not destined for syria. where was it going then? i am not obliged to tell anybody, this is international freedom of navigation. there was oil on the tanker, obviously, iranian oil, but you won't see where it is going. the tanker is not iranian, it was carrying iranian oil which we had sold, and it was going to a place in the mediterranean other than syria. we made it clear. we know we are under sanctions from the united states, there are objective is to bring our oil service to zero. that is why we will do whatever we can to avoid the us knowing what we are doing. so, was it going onto

perhaps? one more thing. the united kingdom, by taking our ship, perhaps? one more thing. the united kingdom, by taking ourship, by confiscating our ship, is helping the us imposing its illegal oil sanctions against iran. it is nothing about eu sanctions against syria, it is about iran. that is why john bolton thanked great britain for giving them the best fourth of july present possible. you think britain is doing america's bidding? if the uk wants to serve us interests, they should not be talking about trying to preserve... the fact of the matter, as i said, is that your issue over the nuclear deal is with the united states. why not renegotiate? why should we renegotiate? president rouhani said just a few days ago that if the sanctions are lifted then if you over to the sanctions iran will return to the negotiating table. we

did not leave the negotiation table, it was the us who left at. he said, revert your sanctions and they will return... to return... does that mean you will renegotiate? we will not renegotiate. why not? this was the subject of years of negotiations, two years of which we re negotiations, two years of which were intense negotiations. i spent days, months, negotiating this. we spent a lot of time with the united states negotiating this deal, it is about give—and—ta ke. states negotiating this deal, it is about give-and-take. but you have got to break the deadlock, foreign minister. if you allow a bully to bully you into accepting one thing, you will encourage him to bully you into accepting other things. we negotiated this deal, we did what we we re negotiated this deal, we did what we were supposed to do, the us did not do what it was supposed to do. the united states is working on the policy line that what's mine is

mine, what's yours is negotiable. how do you break the deadlock though? mike pompeo, the us secretary of state, has set out some clear issues that he wants addressed as part of any, in america's view, future nuclear deal. the way iran, they say, and britain and the eu support them, destabilising influence through your support for has bhullar, to the tune of $70 million a year, the houthi rebels in yemen, your support for anti—government forces, and you can say that you are not doing any of this, but the americans believe this. how do you go back to the table, discussed this, and say you are accusing us unfairly. how do you go back to the table and discuss it? they left the table, and they are

the ones who are supposed to come back to the table by starting to basically fulfil their own obligations, let's just address the questions you just raised. did we support saddam hussein when he attacked iran? did we support isis? president trump himself said iran is fighting isis. did we bomb the yemenis? was it iran that basically arrested the prime minister of leven on and kept him in prison for three weeks? if the united states is looking for those responsible for maligned behaviour in the region, the united states needs to look at its own allies. are we even present... talk to them about this and say, we will re— open negotiations with a new nuclear deal and meet them and talk about this. president trump has said that i am

not engaged in military war against iran, iam not engaged in military war against iran, i am engaged not engaged in military war against iran, iam engaged in not engaged in military war against iran, i am engaged in economic war against iran. what does it mean to be engaged in economic war? economic war target civilians. military war targets military personnel, and civilians are sometimes collateral damage. but in economic war target civilians. secretary pompeo has said, we want the iranian people to change their government. so, putting these two together, that means the united states is terrorising iranian people in order to achieve medical objectives. that is the classical definition of terrorism. the americans have said consistently that their goal is not regime change, they want to change iran's behaviour, that is what he has said. iran isa behaviour, that is what he has said. iran is a normal country, the us is not a normal country. what kind of

normal country violates every international agreement? the human rights council, the imf, the world trade organisation... when you give organisations like hezbollah hundreds of millions of dollars,... who said we gave them hundreds of millions of dollars? that is what mike pompeo said. mike pompeo might like to make statements. his allies in our region, saudi arabia, spent $67 billion a year on military equipment. they are bombing the yemenis, are we doing that? they already spent $16 billion last year on the entire military budget. there is the case of the woman nazanin zaghari—ratcliffe, she is in prison, separated from her daughter, and you have talked of a potential prisoner

swap, but you have said that she has gone through due process of law in iran and so forth, but can i ask you this? could she be released soon on compassionate grounds. that is an ideal situation for which i have tried and will continue to try. compassionate grounds? compassionate grounds. let's put it this way. through the legal process, we have people in europe who are being extradited to the us for violating the sanctions that europe does not recognise, that europe does not recognise! i was just recognise, that europe does not recognise! i wasjust asking about nazanin zaghari—ratcliffe, because her health is suffering and it is of great concern, she is on a hunger strike... i am not happy to see a single person in prison and i will do my best to address that. to the maximum of my capacity. i am responsible for the conduct of

foreign affairs of the country and she is an iranian citizen. finally and briefly, what would it take to find a way out of this impasse? some kind of face—saving dealfor you find a way out of this impasse? some kind of face—saving deal for you and iran and the americans to give some impetus to the deadlock we have now? we don't have to have a deadlock, we don't want to embarrass anybody, we believe all we want is what we negotiated and implemented, and then we can go even further. i believe our region has enough real problems, we don't want imaginary problems of. could you renegotiate the deal from scratch with the americans?“ could you renegotiate the deal from scratch with the americans? if you, let me tell you. if you have a wave of new sanctions. i know it is impossible to get a better deal. i know that anybody who was involved, anybody who was in the room will tell you that it is impossible to get a better deal. even if you could

sell some oil to china and india? if there was a way that allowed you to do that, with that a step forward? we will continue to sell our oil, but we will not sell our dignity. foreign ministerjavad zarif, thank you very much for coming on hardtalk. it is true to say that weather does not stop at a country's borders. if we take a look at what happened on sunday here in the uk, south—east england we had some grey and boring skies. a bit of rain around, cold air brought in by the jetstream that reactivated an old weather front to bring that wet weather. yesterday later, that cold air had reached the warm waters

of the mediterranean, with a waterspout in bastia in corsica. we had 13 times the amount of rain they would normally see in the whole month ofjuly falling in one day. right now, severe thunderstorms battering parts of greece. a severe weather warning in place for much of the country, damaging winds and large hail. elsewhere, high pressure holding onto the south—east of the uk, but low pressure spinning in of the atlantic, and increasingly over the next few hours we will see rain turning heavier and steadier in northern ireland, and turning quite damp as well in western scotland. otherwise, dry start to the day. temperatures 10—15. some sunshine for eastern scotland

and northern ireland. through the rest of the day, it will turn wet across western fringes of england in one, the rain getting into scotland, cooler air across the north of the country. some sunshine for the south—east, with high temperatures up to 26 degrees. it could be very slow to clear, but eventually we will get there, and some sunshine follows. on thursday, a day of heavy showers moving into the north and west of the country. on friday, another area of low pressure swinging in off the atlantic, again this will bring some wet weather across northern ireland, western parts of england and were, and perhaps into southern parts of scotland. many of us will see some rain at some point in the day. temperatures a little bit below par for this time of year. as we head into the weekend,

that area of low showers and rain. we could see some rain around as we head into the weekend.

welcome to newsday. i'm kasia madera in london. the headlines: us congress votes to condemn president trump's racist tweets — as emotions run high on capitol hill. donald john trump, by causing such harm to the united states, warrants impeachment, room movement from office and trial. we have lift-off! 50 years after the apollo 11 crew took to the skies — we look back at the moon mission that made history. i'm rico hizon in singapore.