‘ say that it shows the rockets they say that it shows the rockets that were launched at al—asad but of course at the moment it is the middle of the night. it is very difficult to confirm whether that is indeed that particular base. two bases that have been targeted. going back to the ballistic missiles. the pentagon are saying it is ballistic missiles and we have an expert saying they are less accurate than other forms of potential missiles which could potentially suggest that casualty figures could be quite high in terms of amongst the iraqis in that base as well which could be deeply worrying. that they haven't been specifically targeting the americans if they haven't got the type of missiles that are not pinpoint accurate. the scale and damage are critical. they are critical to the impact and the

message that tehran wants to send. if tehran have made some targeted, pinpoint strikes, it is effectively saying, we had to do some ink. if it isa saying, we had to do some ink. if it is a larger, more wide spells —— widescale strike that has potentially caused american casualties, we don't know about any of those figures, that will dictate how the white house response. we know that donald trump has been briefed in the white house and we know that the head of the department of defence mark esper has gone along with the secretary of state mike pompeo. there are a lot of reports among american media and white house correspondence that potentially president trump is preparing to address the nation in the coming hours. we haven't got that fully confirmed yet but an awful lot of chatter that that might be imminent at some point. what munitions and the scale of these are strikes that tehran has carried out is critical for the next few minutes and hours and possibly days as well and tehran has warned against any aggression in

response. it says that the us would get a crushing reply and it has warned against any american allies being involved in any american response and the iranians revolution regard in a statement suggested and advised the united states to withdraw its troops from the region to prevent the killing of american soldiers. one thing that is noticeable is we haven't heard from donald trump. he hasn't been tweeting. given how vocal he has been after the death of some solar may need, —— has some solid right now, sole —— silence on twitter. qasam soleimani. only a few hours ago, he was in the oval office hosting the greek premier and says if iran does something they

shouldn't be doing, they will suffer the consequences and very strongly stop nothing at the moment. we know that he has been briefed and he is monitoring the situation. we know he is meeting key members of his administration. we know the pentagon is trying to assess the scale of damage to its base and all of that will be feeding into the president. i think the silence is notable. all of the information he is taking in at the moment will dictate how america response. we know in past days the united states have had up to 52 sites that could target any rani the to back in this, what could bea rani the to back in this, what could be a tit—for—tat retaliatory strikes. —— in iran. american correspondence covering the white house says the president is preparing to address the nation at the moment but no confirmation from the moment but no confirmation from the white house itself stop we should expect a reply in the coming hours. thank you so much for the time being. you can imagine the

white house, lots and lots of activity there as all of those various meetings are organised as the president is being briefed. somebody who knows a lot about this isa somebody who knows a lot about this is a former american intelligence officer and adviser to general david petraeus in iraq. i spoke to him and he shared his knowledge on what is happening. are there any us killed or us injured? because that changes everything. i would also argue that this attack in erbil on a base that we have used in the past to go after targets like bagdhadi and also isis targets is symbolic, in that both bases send a message, not only to the us but to our sunni allies and our kurdish allies in northern iraq, and the person whojust replaced qasem soleimani, his name is esmail ghaani he is known for putting down protests in norhtern iran,

basically executing all the military—aged males of kurdish descent, down to the age of io—year—olds, in order to send a message to the dissenters. to put down the dissent and the protests going across the shia crescent from iran to iraq to lebanon. absolutely crucial to say at the moment when it comes to casualties we don't have any information on that. it is the middle of the night local time in iraq so it is difficult to tell what kind of damage that is stopping but when it comes to the attacks themselves, they have happened just hours after the funeral of qasem soleimani. are you surprised how quickly this retaliation has escalated 7 they hinted that no attack would happen until qasem soleimani was buried. there was a 72 hour morning process.

we saw that with the funeral processions across iraq and iran. but any attack had to come from iran in order to save face. whether or not they used accurate, guided missiles to ensure that they don't hit the side the americans were on, because so far all the casualties were iraqi on these bases. if they intentionally used precision guided missiles do not hit americans but to still send a message, they are asking us for a face—saving gesture. zarif said as much when he said, we could do more, we are going to hit military targets but we do want you not to respond. this is basically our response to what you did to qasem soleimani. so this could be a praying mantis scenario. we destroyed a significant part of the iranian navy and it stopped.

qasem soleimani might have been that praying mantis. it might have been such a huge attack against the regime, because i would argue qasem soleimani was worth more to them than the iranian navy, and this is the response to that and then they stop. but if they have killed americans, that's a wildcard. but they also killed iraqis tonight, and what is baghdad's response to being killed by iranian missiles? any other country would have a response. unfortunately, baghdad's government appeared to be beholden to qasem soleimani's militias and to tehran and that is what it looks like. it is just important to stress that at the moment we do not know of any casualties so we just want to confirm that we don't have anything

confirmed in terms of casualties whether it is iraqi or us forces, so just making that absolutely clear. we do know that the markets have been moving wildly. they have indeed, pretty much since they opened here in asia, japan's nikkei has been down. it fell well over 2% as soon as it opened. we have seen the australian markets as well and i should mentioned that hong kong's hang seng has just should mentioned that hong kong's hang seng hasjust opened should mentioned that hong kong's hang seng has just opened as well and it is down i%. pretty much the earliest reaction we had to all of this were oil prices. of course oil prices are always reacting to any kind of uncertainty or tensions rising in the middle east. we saw oil prices spiking well over 4% to that news. we know that the middle eastis that news. we know that the middle east is where a large amount of the world's oil is produced in saudi arabia, in iraq which also produces a good amount of the world's oil

supply, a good amount of the world's oil supply, so any kind of concerns in that region will impact oil. i should also add that in times of uncertainty like this, investors will flee to things that are considered safe havens, so gold prices, they were spiking earlier and infact prices, they were spiking earlier and in fact we saw them at a high not seen since 2013, would you believe. so gold prices, currencies like the japanese yen are seen as safe havens and that was also rising against the us dollar so we are seeing these asian markets are continuing to react and the expectation is markets in europe, the us when they open later will react and it all hinges on what the us reaction to these attacks might be. reaction coming in thick and fast for the time being, thank you so much for bringing us up to date with the developments on the markets there. we were discussing earlier that it has been interesting that we

haven't actually heard from donald trump. we have been waiting and expecting some kind of address to the nation but actually my colleague gareth has noticed a lot of talk on social media that possibly that is not going to happen. lots of white house correspondence were expecting it but we are hearing from the new york times that he will not be addressing the nation. we know that he is meeting with senior advisers from the department of defence, mike pompeo in the white house at the moment but nothing from the president himself. nothing on twitter, no quotes or comments and we are now not expecting an address to the nation from donald trump. we have had some in the pentagon saying that they will take all necessary measures to protect and defend us personnel, partners, and allies in the region. we have seen response from the pentagon but nothing from the white house or the president himself. when it comes to the discussions on social media, of

course, we haven't heard from the president himself but he is being intensively briefed at the moment. a lot of criticism over his comments previously as to how he talked about targeting cultural sites from iran. a lot of discord briefly, if you would, in the white house. donald trump hello, and welcome to abc news. i'm ros childs. strategy in the middle east has been criticised for yea rs the middle east has been criticised for years —— donald trump's strategy. we have had lots of discord and that seems to be continuing. into such a situation where iran has launched ballistic missile attacks on two airbases and iraq which housed us forces. these are developing situations, we are monitoring them for you.

welcome, you are watching bbc news. now to some of the day's other news stories. a teenager guilty to the manslaughter of a police officer who was dragged along a road by a van. he was killed last august as he investigated a burglary. prosecutors wa nt investigated a burglary. prosecutors want the 18—year—old to be put on trial for want the 18—year—old to be put on trialfor murder. just one month earlier, he had married his partner, and the newlyweds were about to head off on honeymoon. 0n the evening of the 15th of august, harper and a colleague were called to report on a break and. as they investigated, harper got caught under the wheels ofa harper got caught under the wheels of a vehicle, was dragged along the

road, suffered multiple injuries and died. today, henry long, seen here ata died. today, henry long, seen here at a previous hearing, appeared before a judge. when the manslaughter charge was put to him, he replied, i plead guilty, guilty. although henry long has said he is guilty of manslaughter in relation to events here last summer, he has pleaded not guilty to the murder of the police officer. it means he now faces a murder trial in march. two other teenagers, both 17, are due to stand trial with him, charged with killing the 28—year—old police officer. greater manchester police has said more potential victims of the serial rapist reynhard sinaga have come forward following his sentencing. sinaga was jailed for life on monday with a 30 year minimum for 159 sex offences, most of them rapes. he lured men from manchester clubs to his flat where he drugged

and assaulted them. sinaga's father, in a phone call to the bbc, said the family accepts the verdict and his punishment fits his crimes. rebecca long bailey has become the latest labour mp to join the contest to be labour leader. a key member of jeremy corbyn‘s team, she said labour's agenda, during the election campaign, was undersold to the electorate and that the party's failure at the polls had been due to a lack of strategy, rather than issues with its leadership. any leader who leads to a general election defeat needs to take ultimate responsibility. he also set out a radical platform for policy development and developed some of the most exciting and innovative policies that we have seen in a generation. now on bbc news sport today

hello, i'm tulsen tollett and this is sport today, live from the bbc sport centre. coming up on this programme: half way there as manchester city put three past manchester united in the first leg of their league cup semi—final it's a classic in cape town as ben stokes leads england to victory in the second test against south africa. and the dakar rally continues with carlos sainz leading the way in the car category through the saudi arabian desert hello and welcome to the programme where we start with football news and holders manchester city will take a two goal lead into the second leg of the english league cup semi final later this month after they beat manchester united 3—1 at old trafford, and watching was the bbc‘s football correspondentjohn murray. after 45 minutes it look like this semi—final was nearly over. now, at the midway point