this is news live from berlin tensions rise in the persian gulf saudi arabia and the united arab emirates claims out of tours of attack their oil tankers this is the u.s. warns iran could be trafficking maritime traffic also coming up philip you know voters head to the polls was crucial senate seats up for grabs in the country's midterms a strong result could boost the president. and his hardline war on drugs. i'm

brian thomas thanks so much for joining us saudi arabia has condemned an alleged sabotage attack against commercial tankers in the gulf as a dangerous threat to navigation and international security the united arab emirates says that 4 commercial vessels were hit by what it described as sabotage attacks near the port city of food gyro that's off its eastern coast the saudi energy minister says 2 of the wooden kingdom's oil tankers were among the targets these alleged incidents come as the u.s. warned that iran or its proxies could be targeting maritime traffic in the region iran has called for a probe into who's responsible. i'll miss the heightened tensions between tehran and washington the focus of a meeting of foreign ministers in brussels has shifted to iran the block is determined to keep the iran nuclear deal alive after washington withdrew from the pact and reimposed. sanctions on tehran the u.s.

is urging the you to walk away from the deal your secretary of state bank might pump aoe was reportedly making a surprise stopover in brussels but the diplomatic chief says there are no concrete plans to meet with a top u.s. diplomat. so the pressure is on for the remaining signatories of the nuclear deal to convince iran to adhere to the agreement the e.u.'s top diplomat meeting her counterparts in brussels in an attempt to salvage the iran nuclear deal it has been and continues to be for us a key element of military federation an appreciation of the global ian in the region so we'll continue to support it as much as we can with all our instruments and all our political will this is very well known i think both in washington and in put on under the 2050 nuclear deal around agreed to let the international atomic energy agency monitor its nuclear facilities and enrich uranium only for civilian

purposes in return economic sanctions on the country were lifted. the international atomic energy agency says iran has been meeting its side of the bargain but the u.s. withdrew from the deal last year and reinstated sanctions now iran is threatening to enrich its uranium closer to weapons grade levels. but if these countries return to the table within 60 days and we reach agreement on oil sales and banking then we will uphold our side of the nuclear deal him. with everything else on the table including upcoming european parliamentary elections that leaves little room for the block to maneuver. some developments on this fast moving story with did. brussels terry what are you hearing is mark pompei all set for talks with asean counterparts today and if so what can we expect. well brian might pompei was

definitely arriving in brussels but i've spoken with both sides just a short time ago and the logistics are still to be worked out as to whether he'll actually have a meeting with foreign policy. or britain france or germany the other signatories to the iran deal and how that might be worked out he was warned in advance that they have a packed schedule today but obviously the e.u. side would not like him him to come here and to send him off without speaking to him so i think that. the e.u. side most. people are going to try to make time for him but it's not clear yet when that would be i understand that he is not expected to address the full foreign ministers meeting that will be taking place today but perhaps. a short bilateral on this side but again these plans are changing minute to minute and nobody is able to pin that down yet ok well what we do know is that the e.u.

foreign ministers do want to talk today about the iran nuclear deal how it could be salvaged we heard the iranian foreign minister in our piece focusing in on on banking and oil sales these are important discussions are there. absolutely and iran was always going to be part of the agenda today it just wasn't expected to take center stage they really do have a pact a pact today they're talking about libya as well which is another really crucial issue but on iran last week tensions got a lot higher because iran issued an ultimatum to the e.u. that said look either you stand up to the united states and you. do or oil deals with us you continue trading with us you boost our economy despite the threat of sanctions from washington or we're going to start moving back toward enrichment of uranium the e.u. said look we're not dealing with any ultimatums but they are in a very tough spot 60 days is not a lot of time to get this special purpose vehicle that they're working on up and running which is expected to allow transfers between the e.u.

and iran without invoking u.s. sanctions there is really a lot and or way and the e.u. side feels like it's done everything it can as fast as it can to help iran and if tehran's not satisfied that really puts federica mcgreevey and britain france and germany in a tough spot if iran starts to re and rich the u.s. will have been proven right that it can't be trusted in a deal that it never plans to give up nuclear weapons so really very tough diplomacy going on right now terry the background of these talks are of course crucial not only is pump a 0 in brussels but now we're getting reports of possible sabotage of gulf oil shipping that is the u.s. deploys a growing number of powerful military assets to the region and its relations the theory with tehran how concerned is there right now. i think they're very concerned because again if iran were found to be responsible for the sabotage or its proxies

that again is one of the if things that the united states has used as a reason to pull out of the nuclear deal saying it wasn't strong enough that it didn't rain in iran's other malevolent activities in the region and therefore they shouldn't be getting and any of the benefits under the nuclear deal i have not seen anyone claim responsibility for these attacks yet but the u.s. is definitely stepping up its military presence in the region which iran says is then a provocation it is really a tense time in the strait of hormuz which is you know a major major oil shipping route and everyone's watching very nervously not just because of the nuclear deal but because of the threat of military escalation on the ground there and thanks so much for that update from brussels. we're going to check in now some of the other stories making news this hour u.s. president trump has defended his tariff policy after imposing punitive duties on $200000000000.00 worth of chinese imports on twitter he wrote we are right where we

want to be with china the president accuses beijing over nagy on commitments in trade talks. swedish prosecutors are expected to decide today whether to reinvestigate rape charges against wiki leaks founder julian assange. is that the allegations in that case which was dropped and 2017 requests to renew the probe was filed last month the same day the song was arrested in london. lithuania's presidential election is headed for a runoff after the 1st round economist and political novice just honest now swayed off a face off against a former conservative finance minister and rita natalya in a run off on may the 26th. and voters in the philippines have been casting their ballots and mid-term elections many see this vote as a referendum on president rugby go to charity and his controversial war on drugs the most crucial races for half the seats in the $24.00 member senate which she territories expected to fill with political allies chambers considered

a check on his political dominance a senate majority would allow him to restore capital punishment and change the constitution. ok for more let's bring in richard he darian he's the author of the rise of do terror and a political scientist in the know or thanks so much for joining us i'm al much. how important are these elections they can you tell us that for detect. yeah i would actually argue that this is the most important election in a generation at least in the philippines i mean the philippines is an american style democracy there. are definitely a referendum on the incumbent president and unlike in the united states presidents do not have an option for reelection but only have a single term for 6 years so this is in many ways question whether the filipino people are going to reaffirm the 2006 elections which again similar to what happened in britain and united states was

a protest vote or are the filipinas going to put a brake on president increasing. and that's why you selection is important the 2nd reason why this election is very important is because it will determine the composition of the senate which has acted as a quasar on the president's war. including his proposal for institution of the death penalty reduction of criminal liability h. to only 9 years old and of course. for constitutional change. supermajority in the senate all those proposals were struck down by the previous and the question is whether he gets enough support in the incoming senate and lastly of course this election is also important because it is also where we're going to see who are going to be the like. various. presidents once they said they could face possible jail or possible accountability for things that the president is also looking at choosing his next depending on

performance of certain people in this election ok so this is a very clear choice. for voters now took office 3 years ago when he took office he promised to shake up filipino politics his war on drugs has of course been controversy all let's take a look at that. in his inaugural address roderigo due care to a vow to wage war against drug dealers and users a wave of extra judicial killings followed with thousands of executions in the years since it was blunt when he discussed the policy. of. hitler massacred 3000000 jews. we have $3000000.00 drug addicts it would be a pleasure to slaughter them. that brutal talk spurred international condemnation but seem to india him to other rule breaking populist politicians. we can agree to make you concede. that 1.2 tears even serenaded

us president donald trump. but even as he embraced the us president to tear to announced a realignment towards china and russia. allergic to criticism to territory has denounced and even defunded human rights organizations who have slammed his policies he's put journalists and press freedom groups on his enemies list. but despite the popular appeal of his law and order rhetoric it's bread and butter issues that maybe do tear his greatest liability in these elections what is necessary. and it's not there we are working but. the yugoslav. is. probably disobeying what he's actually still do tear to his grip on power seems secure and with a one term limit in place on his presidency he's widely seen as grooming his

daughter sarah to take the reins after the next presidential vote in 2022 to ensure his legs. in the latest poll suggest that continues to enjoy the backing a very large segments of the electorate. richard what's behind this popularity and well it's really a confluence of manufactories we don't have time to go into details but 2 things stand out the 1st thing is according to the pew survey recently only 15 percent of filipinos showed categorical commitment to democracy that means i for some the filipinos are either conditional democrats or they're very comfortable with authoritarian tyrion type of leaders so do take this very much into the guys we've just taken over the philippines and a 2nd reason is what the late philosopher for me to be called calls of action you know many people in the philippines do not agree with his methods they may not agree with the results of his action but they like the fact that he's at least

doing something and that's one of the reasons why he's very very popular and may likely remain to well into the end of his presidency. richard thanks very much for that richard viguerie and an expert on terror today and a novelist who's written about it thanks very much for being with us. sketches of sports and tennis now novak djokovic claimed his 33rd masters title after sweeping suffer losses since a pos at the madrid open had a blistering start racing into an early lead his opponent rarely threatening but things got tight in the 2nd set. to ever kept his composure to seal a 6364 when you know rivals rough an adult record of masters titles french open begins in just 2. lewis hamilton has taken the lead in the formula one drivers championship after winning the spanish grand prix in barcelona hamilton the start of the race in 2nd place but over took his mercedes

team mate. early on to cross the finish line 1st. 3rd victory of the new season the mercedes drivers have finished 1st and 2nd in all 5 races so far. this is 11 is live from berlin i'm brian thomas for the entire news team thanks so much for joining us. here at what's coming up in the bundesliga plenty to talk about here. is one take a look at what all that means for the table of course.