this is the w. news live from berlin fears of confrontation grow as president donald trump repeats the u.s. claims that iran carried out attacks in the gulf of oman he says these black and white images of raining forces prove that terror on set off explosions on 2 oil tankers yesterday iran is calling the u.s. accusations alarming and drawn also coming out. the women's walkout in switzerland and a nationwide strike to demand

a quality women want more time and more risk that as more pain. on the gulf really good to have you with us he was president donald trump says he wants to get around back to the negotiating table as soon as possible washington has blamed terror on for yesterday's attacks on 2 oil tankers in the gulf of oman tensions have been high since trump told the u.s. out of the international nuclear pact on iran last year the u.s. military has released a video that it says supports its claims about the tanker attacks a terror on says the allegations are baseless. smoke billows from a stricken ship but these are a smoking gun the u.s. says iran was behind attacks on 2 oil tankers in the goals of oman. this

is the estimate is based on intelligence the weapons used the level of expertise needed to execute the operation recent similar rate in attacks on shipping and the fact that no proxy group operating in the area has the resources and proficiency to act with such a high degree of sophistication the u.s. military has released photographs that it says shows damage and a limpet mine on one of the tankers it's also published a video purporting to show iran's revolutionary guard removing an unexploded mine the incident was sparked early on thursday when a fire broke out on a norwegian oil tanker following explosions how is later a 2nd tank a japanese owned also radioed for help the crew said they saw a flying object hit the ship before hearing a blast the ships had passed through the strait of hormuz a strategically important waterway which carries

a 5th of all global oil supplies. that. iran has rejected the u.s. accusations and says its navy came to the aid of one of the ships. iranian state t.v. broadcast images of the rescue crew members iran's foreign minister said the incidents were suspicious leaders from around the world expressed alarm human facts must be established and responsibilities gratified. and they feel that is something the world cannot afford is a major confrontation in the gulf region. as a reminder of the potential for the incident to escalate globally iran's president hassan rouhani has met with russia's vladimir putin and they stressed the country's close economic and security ties with russia earlier cautioned against rushing to judgment against iran. it's just weeks since the u.s. blamed iran for

a series of attacks on 4 other ships in the same region those full details have yet to be released iran has also rejected those accusations. earlier we spoke to trita parsi the founder of the national iranian american council and washington d.c. the organization lobbies for better relations between the u.s. and iran and strongly supports the iran nuclear deal we asked him 1st what he made of the video released by the u.s. military well i think the socket captain is coming out with a completely different story reinforces the fact that we simply do not have enough information right now to make any judgments perhaps it was the iranians perhaps it wasn't what we actually need some hard evidence is if you itself frankly does not seem to be able to prove anything for instance if we assume that iran is actually didn't do it but they were there and they were helping some of this it was get off the boat we know that for a fact they so had on that in

a minute it would make sense for them to remove it because it would actually pose a risk to their own safety moreover perhaps they were suspicious of other countries potentially being behind this and they wanted to take this as evidence we don't know that it could also be that they were behind it and they wanted to remove evidence video in and of itself does not add any new knowledge to this and it makes it even more problematic when the council actually comes out and says that mines really had nothing to do with it but rather it was something from the air because on this ship iran maintained an offense saying there is no factual evidence who is around planing for what happened. well the iranians are making the case that this was a false flag that this is done either by and saudis the u.a.e. or united states itself trying to pin the blame when he ran in order to be able to escalate tensions towards war and challenge that exist in all busy of this is that

i mean there are signs frankly seems to have a tremendous amount of credibility in the white house right now you have a serial liar as a president you have a serial fabricator as national security advisor who played a critical role in luring the united states into the iraq war so one would have to be very careful not to take their words at face value in saudi arabia u.a.e. you have 2 countries and for a very long time have been pushing the united states to go to war with iran so they too clearly have a motive and then on the other hand you have the iranians who for many years actually have threatened to close off their all shipping in the persian gulf if their own oil could not be still so young plenty of party is that how plenty of motives and you also have played your part is that i actually don't have a tremendous amount of credibility which all reinforces the need to actually get evidence before any conclusions are drawn where do you think going from here.

well i'm hoping that there would be some form of u.n. investigation that actually would be able to get to the bottom of this but also recognizing that as long as the united states is pursuing this maximum pressure campaign against you wrong as long as it continues to violate a nuclear deal and punish countries like germany and others for trying to abide by the nuclear deal there is likely going to be a lot of tensions in the region if we want to tensions to resolve as trump himself says that he wants to go back to the negotiating table when the positive negotiating table is actually very simple start respecting the nuclear deal and then build new negotiations on top of it what trump is doing is that he's ruining and wrecking all previous agreements and then wants others to how really come to the negotiating table to meet him even though he has completely destroyed his own credibility by going after these existing negotiating deals and frankly violating u.n. security council resolutions trader party president of the national iranian

american council in washington thanks for your insight. let's now take a look at some of the other stories making news around the world interpol says that one of the alleged ringleaders of a deadly attack in sri lanka has been arrested in the middle east and deported the organization also said 4 other people were extradited to sri lanka in connection to the case the attacks took place in a poll when islamist militants killed more than 250 people on the island. and saddam the ruling military council has admitted that security forces committed violations when they broke up a protest camp last week over 100 people were killed in the capital khartoum and across the country in a crackdown on demonstrators protesters want the military to step aside and allow a civilian government to take over. francis says the world needs a radical energy transition and has appealed to climate change deniers to accept

science this came in a meeting with oil company executives at the vatican pope francis has a history of ecological advocacy in 2015 he wrote a church document on protecting the environment. women across what's your land are on a 24 hour strike for greater equality it's been nearly 30 years since the last such protest and demonstrators say too little has changed today women in switzerland to earn 20 percent less than men and it was only 28 years ago that the last swiss canton was forced to grant women the right to vote. purple stands for pirating or at least it does in switzerland today at midnight hundreds of women and those gathered for the line few launch of a new nationwide strike aimed to tie lighting switzerland's failure to defend the rights of women and families. really really did take order to use in trying to the constitution but real effective quality doesn't exist for women that i want to set

them up that is we have so many claims and so many reasons. this large popular protest by women was because despite all of these laws we have really attained equality. back in 1901 the 1st women strike in the alpine nation made history when half a 1000000 women rallied to call for gender equality. but 30 years on thousands of swiss women from all walks of life are again downing tools in protest . they say despite its high living standards switzerland still falls short of the mark when it comes to putting women on the level playing field with men. when it says often we are really behind european neighbors when it comes to ensuring that women are able to do their jobs whether it's school hours a very high cost of day care no paternity leave the. activists hope this new powerful wave of discontent will force policymakers to put issues affecting half

the population back into focus. now the vote to elect a mayor doesn't usually attract much attention on the world stage but here in germany the eastern city of gurlitz is under close scrutiny center right on the border with poland it's a popular tourist destination what's attracting interest now is that for the 1st time in germany a candidate representing the far right party could be elected mayor other parties have joined forces to try and prevent that. is a bust a former police officer and member of the far right populist party the a if he is running for mayor of gurlitz he's well liked around town and has already won the 1st round of voting that got a lot of people worried. you don't have to be scared to leave just look around at the people here at the stairs and you can talk to anyone

or not because i have 6 were just regular conservative citizens guns more moderate conservative liberal but my. any gurlitz residents disagree they're worried about their city's reputation gurlitz with its beautiful old town attracts many tourists it also has attracted hollywood directors some movies have even been filmed here whole till all know martin feeds is worried about how his city will be perceived and s.o.c. ation of tourist businesses has written an open letter expressing its concern over the a if he counted it although they didn't explicitly name him or his party. shorn . those. who've been told we're worried that visitors may be scared off if certain parties get the upper hand when. we feel this way because we've been listening to how visitors are reacting to the current elections it too and for. businesses think that if the a 15 moves into the town hall the number

of tourists may fall at the moment 300000 visitors a year stop by gurlitz. for the 1st time in a if tea party member could become mayor of a german city that could send a powerful message to the rest of the country that's why political parties here in gurlitz are working together trying to prevent that. the man who has profited most from the current political unrest to supposing condit octavian or so. he's lived in gurlitz for 30 years nevertheless his opponents accuse the native for a minute of not being a true gurnet but now the left and greens are also supporting him show no goodness what is going to really be old are looking to gurlitz as a guide for how to deal with the future should we remain open or to learn. proposes you before you know. there's more at stake here than just who wins the mayoral election has become

a symbol of whether or not the far right is translating its popularity into political power not just in this city but across eastern germany. to the women's world cup now the 1st of today's matches former champions japan have secured a 21 victory over scotland japan went in front when mana. lashed this early shot over scottish xander truly afterwards. doubled her team's leave from the penalty spot a misplaced pass and the 88th minute offered scotland alain chance which lay mcclellan hammered home but it wasn't enough scotland are bottom of group d. and blokes who we heading for an early exit from the tournament. you're watching news coming up next on business africa kenya is one of africa's fastest growing economies and now it's eager to borrow cash for its infrastructure at the same time it's budgeting to cut debt we take

a closer look at the kenya conundrum. stay with us for this that and much more on business africa with want to jones i'll be back at the top of the hour thanks for tuning in to. where i come from we have to fight for a free press and was born and raised in a military dictatorship and just want to be shadow and if you newspapers when official information has attorneys i have work on the streets of many can trust and their slogans are always the same 14 social inequality a lack of the freedom of the press and corruption with on the phone.