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>> announcer: this is cnn breaking news. >> hello and welcome, everyone. we are following breaking news. height ined tensions in the middle east, and new threats from the u.s. president. i'm rosemary church. >> and i'm george howell. welcome to viewers here in the united states and around the world. the consequence of the u.s. killing an iranian kidnappeder a commander and far reaching. here's where things stand no. >> thousands of people are in the streets of teheran mourning the death of qassem soleimani. in an exclusive interview, the military advisor to the supreme leader, said the response will be against military sites. >> iran also taking another step back from the 2015 nuclear deal. it announced that it will abandon limitations on enriching uranium. teheran will continue to cooperate, though, with the nuclear watch -- u.n. watch dog. >> president donald trump reiterated his threat to target

iranian cultural sites if teheran retaliates for the strike. attacking cultural strikes could be considered a war crime. >> and the iraqi parliament is calling on the u.s. and other foreign forces to get out, to leave the country. in response, the u.s. president threatened sanctions against iraq if troops are forced to withdraw. he said the troops wouldn't leave unless baghdad reimburses, pays for it, washington for an air base there. >> and cnn is covering this story with our correspondents around the world. jumanna karachi is in baghdad. >> and comments that soleimani was in baghdad to talks about de-escalating tensions between baghdad and iran. >> and fred is in teheran.

so, fred, as you mentioned, you are there. we can see covering soleimani's funeral. what's expected to happen this hour and what are mourners saying about the killing of their country's general? >> reporter: hi there, rosemary. first of all, the turnout for this morning's ceremony has been tremendous. by the way, the people here just broke out into chants "death to america" as i was starting to speak. it happened here intermittently. so it's a giant crowd that's turned out here. they are obviously grieving a great deal, in a great deal of pain. also there is that call for revenge we are hearing from a lot of people. saying fast revenge and harsh revenge. clearly a lot of anger as well. i want to pan around a little bit. you can see the crowds are absolutely gigantic.

red flags at the location a couple minutes ago. the people have been literally waiting since the early morning hours to come out and pay their respects. as you can see very clearly right now, to display their anger at the united states, and specifically the trump administration, they're very angry at president trump for the targeted killing of qassem soleimani and glaring revenge, the political and religious leaders have as well. the ceremony happened only 200 yards in that direction. iran's supreme leader, he was close to qassem soleimani. he's one of the people who said that there would be revenge against the united states. of course, we heard targets. as you can see, this crowd very much riled up, very angry, very angry at the united states.

this is obviously just one of several events that's taken place over the past soleimani's in iran early yesterday, and pretty much in every location that the body has been brought to scenes like this one, massive amounts of people lining the street, big display from anger. the crowd appears to be much bigger than even the religious leaders here in this country would have thought qassem soleimani, controversial internationally. they are more religious than moderate and secular people. this is someone who did have a great deal of support among many people here in iran, rosemary. >> absolutely. fred pleitkin, senior correspondent reporting from

teheran. we could barely hear him, of course, above the anger there from many mourners gathered on the streets in teheran. many thanks again. >> the u.s. house speaker nancy pelosi has her own plan to avoid further conflict. she plans to introduce a war powers resolution designed to limit the president's military actions regarding iran. here's what pelosi said in a letter to democratic members of congress. it reads this. the resolution, quote, reasserts congress's long-established oversight responsibilities by mandating that if no further congressional action is taken, the administration's military hostilities with regards to iran cease within 30 days. this comes as mr. trump threatened to put sanctions on iran if it kicks u.s. troops out. he also repeated a threat to iran. sarah westwood explains. >> reporter: president trump returned to washington on sunday night against the backdrop of uncertainty surrounding his senate trial and chaos in the

middle east after the president decided at his mar-a-lago resort to take out the commander of iran's security and intelligence services. and on saturday, the president threatened to hit iranian cultural sites if iran struck any american or any american asset. that threat has sparked a backlash among critics. but the president doubled down on that threat as he headed back to washington on air force one. i want to read you part of what he told reporters during that conversation. "they're allowed to kill our people. they're allowed to torture and maim our people. they're allowed to use road side bombs and blow up our people and we're not allowed to touch their cultural site? it doesn't work that way." now, democrats for their part have expressed skepticism that the intelligence the administration cited as the reason for taking out this iranian leader was urgent enough to warrant this level of military action. democrats have also expressed concern that the administration has thought through the implications of this move. take a listen. >> i really worry that the

actions the president took will get us into what he calls another endless war in the middle east. he promised we wouldn't have that, and i think we're closer to that now because of his actions. >> reporter: meanwhile, the future of the president's impeachment trial in the senate remains in a state of limbo while the president was at his resort for nearly two weeks surrounding the holidays, he was asking advisors and aides who were with him who should represent him during that senate trial. white house officials have not been able to make concrete decision biz what that strategy should look like. just who should play the exact top roles because speaker pelosi hasn't yet made a move. sarah westwood, cnn, the white house. >> sarah westwood, thank you. from washington now to the iraqi capital, you man a karachi, live in baghdad at this hour. people angry about the targeted killing on iraqi soil.

now there is a mush push to see soldiers kicked out of iraq. >> reporter: george, the iraqi parliament did vote yesterday putting the ball in the court of the iraqi government telling them they need to work now to get foreign forces, coalition forces, out of iraq. we saw the iraqi prime minister in a very shocking stunning move where you have the prime minister in parliament making an argument for why foreign forces should leave iraq, the same forces they requested to come and assist them a few years ago. as we heard from the prime minister, he gave the background to reaching this situation, this decision, saying that over the past few months, tensions have been rising between iran and the united states. this proxy war has been playing out here in iraq. and now with this recent unprecedented escalation, you know, they're really concerned that iraq is going to be caught in the middle, the battle ground for any sort of confrontation is

going to be here in iraq. and the only way they could see to prevent this from happening is by asking foreign forces to leave. he said there could be other options like looking at some sort of an agreement with the u.s. forces with coalition forces to limit their movements here, to kind of regulate their mission. but he says considering the current situation, the threat levels here, iraqi security forces are not going to be able to protect them, to protect their bases. so they're only left with this really difficult decision to make and choice, and that is to ask them to leave. now, there are, you know, questions about how this is all going to happen. this is a caretaker government. some logistics and procedural issues they're going to need to work with. but, of course, most importantly, george, are the repercussions of a decision like this when iraq is going to ask foreign forces to leave, basically handing a major victory to the iranians who for years have wanted nothing more

than seeing the united states and its troops out of iraq. and then there is isis that, of course, has been defeated territorially here, but the group is still active. it is still present. it still has the ability to reemerge. when you have such a chaotic situation like this, this is fertile ground for this group to reemerge. a lot of concerns about that, especially after we heard from the u.s.-led coalition saying they're halting their operations against isis to focus on protecting their forces here on the ground, george. >> that is significant when you think about the resurgence, the regrouping of isis there in the region. jumanna, at the same time, saudi arabia which also has a border, really depends upon those u.s. forces just across. here's the other question. given the fact that the vote has taken place, as you pointed out, given the fact the president is

promising sanctions against iraq if, indeed, troops are forced to leave that country, look, it's 10:00 in the morning there. are you hearing any reaction from people as they learn this news? >> reporter: we're going to wait and see now, reaction, as people are waking up to this news, to this statement from the u.s. president. you know, george, i was talking to some members of parliament following that vote. all of them are describing the u.s. president as not understanding iraq. they're saying the united states, after spending 16 years in this country, still does not understand iraq. and the iraqi people. now, when it comes to that statement from the president, it's actually quite stunning when it begins with saying that, you know, they can't ask u.s. forces to leave this country and threatening sanctions against iraq if it does so. first of all, this is not an occupied force. this is a force that has been

invited by the iraqee government. people will be angered by statements like this one that has disregard for iraqi forces. threatening them with sanctions and telling them there are going to be sanctions like they've never seen before. this is a country that suffered so much in the '90s for decades under the u.n. i-imposed sanctions where thousands of lives were lost, attributed to the sanctions that stopped the import -- that limited the import of food and medicine. people have really suffered here. so to tell them that they will see sanctions like they've never seen before is only going to create and increase anti-american sentiments that we are seeing reemerge again here, george. >> as you point out, a u.s. ally. jumanna que ranch

jumanna karachi, thank you for the reporting. >> it doesn't matter what you look like from the middle east to europe, it seems allies and rivals are calling for both sides to de-escalate tensions. and just a short time ago, this joint statement came from british prime minister boris johnson, french president emmanuel macron, and german chancellor angela merkel. it says in part, we call on all parties to exercise utmost restraint and responsibility. the current cycle of violence in iraq must be stopped. and our national diplomatic editor is in riyadh. he joins us now live. nick, world leaders calling for de-escalation of tension. and in the midst of this, iraq's caretaker prime minister is suggesting that soleimani was actually in baghdad to help de-escalate tension between iran and the saudis. what more are you learning about that? >> the saudis have been vocal publicly in the past few years

in particular saying iran should cease and desist. what the saudis see is expansion throughout the region by using proxies, giving them missiles, ballistic missiles, giving them to the houthis and yemen. saudi has been calling on iran to stop this. back channels, however, to de-escalate. i think we get a sense that those have been going on, particularly if you look at the saudi oil attacks in september last year. two terminals hit, more than half of the country's oil output halted because of these sophisticated drone and missile attacks. but the saudis stopped short of saying publicly what they believe privately that this attack was not only inspired by iran, but using iranian

equipment, but took up from iranian soil. and the reason they didn't go public and make these very strong accusations publicly -- although they brought international partners in to see the evidence for themselves. that was supported by britt, by british, by americans. they chose to rather than go face to face with iran and escalate the situation, to deal with it behind the scenes and back channels. while we don't know what the content of the saudis said to the prime ministiraqi prime min. you certainly understand in this region here there is no desire for escalation. everyone would lose and that's a major concern and a concern today, the saudi number 3, ben salman, deputy defense minister will be meeting with secretary of state mike pompeo in washington a little later today.

>> nick, how much influence will this call from world leaders to exercise restraint and responsibility, likely have on the next move taken by president trump and by iran, and what might it anything in terms of what britain france, germany would do next should this tension escalate? >> there are so many calls going on and statements being made. that joint statement by britain, france and germany has a component of a message to iran, a component to the white house as well. the french, germans and british are telling the united states that they understand what's at stake for the united states here and the threat that it's been under, that its forces have taken from iranian-backed proxies in iraq. there is an absolute understanding there. but also there is desire to --

telling them to de-escalate, telling the iranians to de-escalate, too. telling the iranians to get in compliance with multinational ethnic deal iran signed up for in 2015. there is a real effort here to send this coordinated message, and then there is a separate phone calls that happened from the french president yesterday for the iraqi prime minister, talking about the international coalition that's in iraq to fight isis and how that's shaped going forward. all the leaders are using direct channels to try to influence, try to bring the temperature down, try to see a way forward other than relying on president trump and his very blunt and forceful messaging to iraq additional sanctions to iran. they're trying to use direct contacts to bring the temperature down. the iranian foreign minister has

been invited by the european foreign affairs chief to brussels, having a north atlantic council meeting in brussels. there is a huge amount of work being done to kword nalt and to send clear and precise messages. >> very diplomatic editor nick robinson in riyadh, saudi arabia. many thanks to you. well, as tens of thousands of mourners take to the streets in iran, we look at how the u.n.'s top general could play out in the election politics. >> the scenes live in teheran. plus the latest on what america's top diplomat has been telling cnn about the death of qassem soleimani. stay with us. . you make time... when you can. but sometimes life gets in the way, and that stubborn fat just won't go away. coolsculpting takes you further. a non-surgical treatment that targets, freezes, and eliminates treated fat cells for good. discuss coolsculpting with your doctor.

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recapping our top story, the escalating fallout from the u.s. killing of iran's top military commander, we're looking at live aerial shots here. mourners, thousands of them gathered in the streets in teheran there in the wake of the death of qassem soleimani in iran. teheran announced it will abandon the limitations on enriching uranium in the 2015

nuclear deal. the military advisor to iran's supreme leader vowed his country will retaliate by striking u.s. military sites. now, president trump repeated his threat to target iranian cultural sites if there is any retaliation. and he threatened sanctions against iraq if u.s. troops are expelled from that country. >> again, those live images from teheran, we'll continue to monitor at 10:24 there. these images that are coming across as people go to the streets angry about this u.s. action. the u.s. secretary of state mike pompeo is defending the president's actions against iran. pompeo saying that it has made americans, he says, safer in the middle east despite the fact that the u.s. embassy in baghdad is warning americans to get out, to leave. our jake tapper asked pompeo about that. here's their exchange. >> i keep coming back to the fact you keep saying it's safer

now even at the same time that the u.s. government is telling all americans to leave iraq. i mean, again, i understand the idea that in the long term -- >> you don't seem to understand that. you know, oftentimes i've heard you say, jake, america thinks about just the moment, doesn't think about the long term strategic implications. >> i don't know that i've said that about america. i've certainly said that about the leaders of this country. >> yes, sir. this administration is thinking about exactly that. we are setting the conditions for successful and safe america, prosperous america at home, secure america abroad. this is our middle east strategy, this is what we've done in iraq, and pushing back against the republic of iran. we will not stray from that course, jake. >> let's focus now on how this is playing out in terms of u.s. domestic politics, especially at a time when we have both the pending trump impeachment trial and, of course, the presidential election later this year. and for that we are joined by

jacob with the london school of economics foreign policy think tank ideas. thanks so much for being with us. >> good morning. >> so, as calls across the globe grow louder for de-escalation of tensions between the united states and iran, some critics of the united states suggest that president trump ordered last friday's drone strike against soleimani in baghdad in an effort to distract from his impeachment woes. what's your reaction to that suggestion? >> i think it's had that effect, at least in the short term. whether or not that was the intent, certainly the conversation over the weekend has been almost exclusively about foreign policy and as regards domestic politics there's been a sudden shift. foreign policy hasn't really been a topic of great precedence in the democratic presidential primary just yet. but all of a sudden the candidates are being forced to have detailed answers of how they would manage tensions with iran. it certainly changed the conversation whether or not that

was the intent. of course, as we've seen the last few years, the news cycle moves quickly and the question of timing of further events, how long it takes iran to retaliate, what format retaliation takes, retaliation that makes its way into the consciousness of americans, the degree to whether this is a game-changing event or another in the long series of sudden shocks over the last few years. >> right. and, of course, at this stage iran is saying any retaliation would be confined to some sort of military, u.s. military interest. we'll continue to monitor that, of course. i did want to ask you what impact president trump's decision to have soleimani killed will likely have on the next step for the senate on mr. trump's impeachment trial. >> well, the senate trial has been stalled over a dispute between nancy pelosi and mitch mcconnell about what rules the trial will take, whether

witnesses will be called, who will be allowed to summon witnesses as well. pelosi refused to send the articles of impeachment over to the senate until she gets favorable concessions from mcconnell. so there is a stalemate. and it's not entirely clear from the outside when that stalemate will be resolved. so, again, it's a question of timing that we don't really have the answer to. obviously if the impeachment trial begins at a time when there is a lull in tensions between iran and the u.s., it will immediately resume being the item that everyone in the senate has to respond to. and it throws a wrench into the proceedings of the democratic primary debate because a number of the leading candidates are members of the u.s. senate would have to attend the trial and that could be complicated for bernie sanders and elizabeth warren in particular. >> right. and meantime, democrats very angry that they were not consulted before this targeted drone attack on soleimani. should they have been consulteds on a strike like this? and what will likely become the war powers resolution that house speaker nancy pelosi plans to

introduce regarding trump's military actions regarding iran? >> the issue is less consultation than notification. the president should have notified the gang of eight, the bipartisan gang of leaders in the house and senate as a matter of standard practice. but as we've seen a lot of things, standard practice is not as rigid as we thought it was. it's not as defined as we thought it was, so e didn't do that. he then on twitter announced that he was giving notification after, of course, the entire world knew that it happened, which seems more like rubbing salt in the wound than like compliance with the spirit of the applicable regulations. whether there is any real fallout from that, i don't know. i think the house will almost certainly pass a war powers resolution. and the senate, it's a bit hard to tell because there are some republican senators like rand paul who are more -- who have more sort of strident views on the balance of power, war power between the congress and the presidency. but it is still a republican

senate and i think they are still inclined to defer to the presidency while donald trump holds it on matters like this. so it may not even land on the president's desk. >> all right. jacob with the london school of economics foreign policy think tank ideas, thank you so very much. >> at this hour we have been reporting tens of thousands of supporters paying their respects to qassem soleimani as the united states braces for a potential response from iran over the killing of its top general. the news continues after the break. any says they can save you these. in fact, if you had a dollar for every time they said it, you'd have a lot of dollars. which makes it hard to believe, especially coming from a talking lizard. pip, pip, cheerio! look, all i, dennis quaid, know is that esurance is built to save you dollars without skimping on service. and when they save, you save. the only way to know how much is to get a quote. chances are you'll save time, paperwork, and yes, dollars. when insurance is affordable, it's surprisingly painless.

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welcome back to cnn's continuing coverage of the escalating crisis in the middle east. we are looking at these live aerial pictures of supporters

there in teheran in iran, and they are supporting and paying their respects to qassem soleimani, iran's top general who was killed by a drone strike by the united states. they are angry. they are out on the streets. they are calling "death to america" and they want their message heard by the rest of the world. >> and, rosemary, from every city that we've seen, it seems these protesters -- there are more and more each time. tens of thousands of people, as you pointed out there, in the capital city of teheran. we continue to monitor what's happening there. among other developments, the u.s. president donald trump is threatening sanctions on iraq if american troops are told to leave that country. iraq's parliament on sunday called for u.s. and other foreign troops to leave. this in response to friday's killing of an iranian's top general. qassem soleimani, by u.s. drone

strike. let's turn to ronan bergmann. ronan is one of israel's lead investigative journalists, also the book "rise and kill first, the secret history of israel's targeted assassinations." joining us live this hour. it's good to have you. >> hi, thank you. >> ronan, so, given that the threats coming from iran that military sites could be targeted for retaliation by iran, how concerned are people there in israel that it, too, could be dragged into this mess? >> well, it is listening carefully to the rhetoric used by the iranian regime as well as by hassan, as well as the secretary-general of the iranian proxy lebanon, hezbollah. they are mentioning only american targets for the time being. they said they are not talking about the american people, but only the american army who was behind the assassination of

qassem soleimani. so the assessment now in israel is that at least for the time being, israel is not part of this game of retaliation and revenge, and israel will not be targeted by iran. iran would not try or want to open another front with israel. yet the israeli embassies and jewish centers all over the world were put on high alert as well as the israeli air force. we know of times in the past where the quds force, the force commanded by the late soleimani, a sifrt assisted hezbollah, targeting jewish synagogues and other places all over the world. these places should be guarded. however, the israeli assessment is that iran will try to retaliate and fiercefully

against american targets. the supreme leader of iran, eye a ayatolla khomeini said they will revenge. i would expect iran to retaliate. i wouldn't expect them to retaliate in missiles or using classical warfare because this would just play into the hands of america, striking back. but they can use many of their proxies. the proxies that the late soleimani has developed and nurtured and established and worked with throughout the world in order to attack american embassies or representations all over the globe. >> ronan, i want to ask this question. it really goes to the heart of the book that you wrote. but, look, we know this targeted

attack at the baghdad airport. the reaction from it so far has been widespread. the ramifications still yet to be seen. what is your take on the u.s. decision to take this action? >> well, the use of targeted assassinations, targeted killing is under question all the time. is it beneficial? is it effective? does it make the world a better place the next day? or is it ethically and morally justified, which is at the core of my book rise and kill first. i think that the jenna something, the general conclusion of, of my research is that sometimes when it's done as an overall policy, it's part of an ongoing strike against the enemy and it's part of a strategy that targeted killing could be a solution. and sometimes prevent war, prevent taking civilian lives when you target one person. the question is what would president trump do if the

iranians indeed retaliate? we saw that president trump has not done anything against iran after iran took down the drone -- the drone over international waters after iran hit many times since last may, american airlines, like the strike against the saudi oil facilities of aramco. now, if trump would stand to his word and, indeed, take fierce actions against iran, then it's one thing. if trump would only satisfy himself with that one assassination, then the whole alliance that he tried to build against them would fall apart because countries like saudi arabia or united arab emirates would see they don't have a back up from america. and maybe try to find channels to iran for some kind of reconciliation. that would put the middle east in a further -- far more deteriorated violence. >> ronan, we will see where this goes. there are a lot of possibilities

for sure. again, ronan bergmann, investigative journalist and the author of the book "rise and kill first, the secret history of israel's targeted assassinations." thank you again for your time. >> thank you. thank you so much. >> new details are emerging on a deadly terror attack in kenya. the target, american troops. we will have reaction from the u.s. military. we're back with that in just a moment. you leave it to me. i'll get your taxes in an ok place. what? just as soon as my audit's over, this gets my undivided attention. you take a lot of trips to the caymans, phil? pretty great, right? oh phil's legally dead. fell off a boat. going by denis now. celery. long story. what do we got here. oh. not going to want to see this. i don't think this is going to work. just ok is not ok. at&t has america's best network, now with our best plans, at our best prices, starting at $35 a line for 4 lines. new from at&t

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an attack on the military base in kenya has claimed the lives of three americans. the al qaeda affiliate al-shabaab has taken responsibility for the attack at a kenyan military base used by u.s. special operations forces. general steven townsend issued a statement on behalf of the u.s. africa command. >> that statement reads as follows. quote, as we honor their

sacrifice, let's also harden our resolve alongside our african and international partners. we will pursue those responsible for the attack and al-shabaab who seeks to harm americans and u.s. interests. it goes son to say, we remain committed to preventing al-shabaab from maintaining a safe haven to plan attacks in africa against the u.s. homeland, east africa and international partners. >> reporter: in a brazen pre-dawna tack, the affiliated terror group al-shabaab attacked the air field very near where united states troops of the u.s. africa command train their african partners. camp simba. what we know now is one united states serviceman and two contractors for the department of defense were killed in that attack. u.s. africa command also tells

us that two further contractors were injured and at the moment they are stable and are being evacuated. now, the county sits on the edge of the indian ocean. it used to be a very popular tourist place. it's also unesco world heritage site. unfortunately, its proximity to the somali border means it's prone to al-shabaab attacks. kenyan defense forces say they p propelled with the u.s. forces. they found ak-47s and things of that nature. furthermore, several aircraft at this base were damaged according to the u.s. africa command to some degree, including six contractor operated civilian aircraft. we also know that they were also fixed wing and rotary types of aircraft. now, why has this happened? al-shabaab has been ramping up

their attacks. remember last week they attacked a suicide truck bomb which killed over 85 somalis in the capital mogadishu. the response of the united states africa command and the somali partners was to strike at several bases for al-shabaab. indeed al-shabaab despite these attacks, drone attacks are a menace in this place. it's regional, not just kenya. in kenya as well. just last year, january 15th, 2019, they hit a hotel here in kenya's capital nairobi, killing 21 people. everyone is baffled at the moment about how this attack could have happened. and, of course, we do not yet know if there were any kenyan defense force casualties. but the menace of al-shabaab remains. farai sevenzo, nairobi. >> farai, thank you. we are following the situation in australia. officials there trying to make

the most of a small window of opportunity. cnn is live there as mass evacuations are underway. bush fires raging on. remember, you have the hilton app. can the hilton app help us win? hey, hey-we're all winners with the hilton price match guarantee, alright? man, you guys are adorable! alright, let's go find your coach, come on! book with the hilton app. expect better. expect hilton.

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in australia. that's where deadly bush fires have claimed the lives of 24 people since september. the conditions there are difficult. you can see how the poor visibility is making it difficult for even military, the helicopters to fly through these orange-red skies during this mass evacuation mission. we are also seeing widespread destruction of homes and livelihoods. on the ground there, take a look at this image here. firefighters shot this video as they drove through the flames there. conditions, though, eased up in some regions on sunday, but officials warn that it will likely get much worse in the coming days. >> and andrew stephens joins us now from the national capital cambera. the prime minister has come under pressure for the devastating fires in his country. now he appears to be changing his view on climate change. what's he saying now and is there any understanding on his part regarding the role carbon

emissions are playing in all this? >> reporter: well, i think there are two very distinct questions as you suggest there, rosemary. yes, scott morrison, the australian prime minister does admit there is climate change, there is global warming. and he has said, he said it in the last 12 hours or so, he has always said there was global warming. what he hasn't said, at least publicly, is that there is a clear link between climate change, global warming and emissions, manmade emissions. remember, scott morrison was voted in very much on a -- the back of people who work in the fossil fuel industry and the coal industry in particular, in the gas industry. so he does have a constituency there. but he is, without doubt, out of step with pretty much everyone else in the western world. australia was seen as a pariah, the recent madrid conference, the cop25, because it refused to back away from some

controversial new -- controversial old levels of measuring carbon emissions, which has given australia a very easy ride. a lot of countries are have trying to say they're strapped, the australians said no. there is bemusement, astonishment even, while australia was burning, the government was actually trying to pull back on any significant contribution to climate change as far as emissions are going. it's not only scott morrison facing issues on that front. there has been an outcry about his whole handling of this issue. he's appeared and many commentators have said he looks disinterested. he had a disastrous fatal opportunity with a who lost everything in a fire at the weekend. he tried to shake her hand. she said she would only shake her hand if he promised more money for the fires. he turned and walked away from that.

he's in a difficult position at the moment. he announced, rosemary, today, a $2 billion fund for bush fire recovery. obviously the government hoping that's going to go some way towards assuaging the anger being felt here in australia. there's no doubt he has made many, many missteps in recent days. and australians have really taken notice. >> yeah, and australians were not willing to give them his photo opportunity in any instances there. andrew stephens reporting from camber, many thanks to you. >> let's bring in meteorologist pedram javaheri. pedram. >> look at the pattern here. in fact, seeing some improving conditions over the next couple of days as we have a shot of showers across places such as sydney the next several days. potentially the five to seven days. sunday high is 43 degrees celsius. that's 109 degrees fahrenheit, dropping down to 24 on monday afternoon, or about 75 degrees fahrenheit. so a significant drop in

temperatures in the cool est run of weather since december 24rd across sydney in particular. beginning to see a bit of a marine influence. the latest update within the last hour has brought the total number of active bush fires across not only new south wales, but pretoria put together. that number was close to 200 about one hour ago. just about 150 at this hour. certainly seen some immediate improving conditions across the region. the front here with, again, an additional shot of marine influence here will give us on shore flow. keeping temperatures relevant tifrmly cool compared to what we've seen in recent days. through friday and saturday. you look carefully in sydney. we have windy weather and potentially another warm up comfrey. at least five, six of the next seven days introduce a shot of showers, and also just slightly below average temperatures which are to the middle 20 celsius. climate owe logically we are working 0 to a wetter trend.

february, march into april does introduce a better chance for wet weather across this region. rain imagery, speaking to andrew last hour, he said rainfall essential was heavy at times across portions of new south wales. that is certainly going to be good news over the next cup many of days. look at this, though. nearly 6 million hectares of land consumed for the american audience, that is the combination of the states of maryland, delaware and new jersey put together. that is the amount of land that has been consumed in australia in a matter of a couple of months. certainly a big story developing across that region, guys. >> this is highly significant. we'll continue to follow it. pedram, thank you. and thank you for being with us this hour for newsroom. i'm george howell. >> and i'm rosemary church. we will, of course, be back with another hour of news in just a moment. you are watching cnn. do stay with us. let's be honest, every insurance company says

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cambe >> announcer: this is cnn breaking news. >> we are following the breaking news this hour. heightened tensions in the middle east and new threats from the u.s. president. i'm george howell. >> and i'm rosemary church. welcome to our viewers here in the united states. and, of course, all around the world. u.s. allies are calling for restraint and a de-escalation as the consequence of the u.s. killing of a top iranian commander mount. >> take a look here. massive crowds that came together in the capital of iran, teheran. people mourning the death of qassem soleimani and to call for revenge