this is g w news live from berlin the u.s. and iran stepping back from the brink. the american people. should be extremely grateful and happy no americans were harmed. in last night's attack by the iranian regime. u.s.

president promises more sanctions but says he wants peace not war with iran and word those airstrikes by iran last night in iraq the only retaliation also coming up more than 170 people killed when the ukrainian passenger plane crashes near tehran airport all passengers and crew aboard the plane when it went down shortly after takeoff and a nice on a boss carlo a school gets out in his 1st public appearance since escaping from japan he chooses what he calls been dick to individuals of conspiring to smear him leaving him no choice but to fully. go off it's good to have you with us tonight u.s. president to try. saying that iran appears to be standing down in its confrontation

with the united states he spoke earlier today at the white house after iran launched a missile attack on military bases housing u.s. troops in iraq last night iran had claimed that at least 80 americans had been killed but says that wives were. a crucial and highly anticipated moment no americans were harmed in last night's attack by the iranian regime. we suffered ok. all of our soldiers are safe and orderly minimal damage was sustained and our military bases are donald trump confirming no troops were injured or killed in iran's missile attack meant there was no need to escalate tensions between the 2 countries. it's all about the iranian state television had earlier claimed missiles

fired by iran's forces had killed 80 u.s. soldiers at the i an al assad air base in iraq. the attack was an act of revenge for the killing of top military commander general qassim still in my knee the move has been widely welcomed across iran. crowds chanting death to america as iran's supreme leader ayatollah ali how many tell them their message has been delivered. ah. a slice was delivered last night but what is important is that the seditious presence of american. in the region should be and it fits better. they want to even. the country's foreign minister also spoke out. that we've said very

clearly that if the united states takes any action it on beauty respond accordingly and we would respond in a very harsh way but proportionately united stunnel trumpet did promise further action but in form of economic sanctions military confrontation it appears has been events had for now and for coverage of that tonight i'm joined in washington by our washington bureau chief alexander naaman and here the big table with me is tyson barker he is a transatlantic analyst at the aspen institute germany here in berlin to both of you welcome i'm going to let me start with you the u.s. president saying that iran is standing down that the escalation is over. is that true and do people around president talk do you think they believe him. well i think it's true for now president trump made it clear in his remarks that to

you ask is not. thinking about using military force to retaliate instead the u.s. will impose economic sanctions on the regime in iran and i do think that this is the administration's decision however we also have to say that president trump also made clear what his expectations are he wants tehran to abandon its nuclear weapons program he wants tehran to stop supporting terrorism and the region and he wants tehran to refrain from any further provocations and he made clear that you ask will not hesitate to act if american lives are at risk is. one of the there's really nothing new there but what about from the iranian side what struck me is that we had the iranian foreign minister saying we've acted we

acted in a proportional way and it's over that's the retaliation we've seen in a long time well you know what we're really talking about here are some 2 to 3 episodes we're talking about the killing of the money we're talking about the the attack on the bases yesterday and we're talking about the attack on the base that killed an american contractor on the 27th as well as the embassy storming by iraqi protesters linked to iran but really this is a longer story that involves attacks on saudi oil refineries the threat to close down the strait of hormuz the shoot down of a drone so there have been a lot of incidents and then of course what we're seeing right now with the iraqis saying that they might consider forcing the americans to withdraw a troop presence so if we focus too narrowly just on the question of military deescalate. which i think more see we're seeing a relaxation of the military escalation for now but that's starting to move as as

was mentioned into the economic front with the united states putting more sanctions on iran and into the political front with iran exercising its influence on the iraqi government there are new things today that we heard alexandra from the president was that he wants more nato in the middle east that's kind of a turnaround for the u.s. president do we know what that means. well it was quite interesting to listen to him how he was trying to reach oh it's to your ass allies in europe to now nato allies because he has withdrawn from the iran nuclear deal even though he is still developing to do anything that it's necessary to prevent iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon so he we don't have any details on how he's what

he's goal with our cooperation with nato in the region we know that presidents try to convince that they should take more responsibility in the region because he would like eventually to bring you ass troops back home and we also know that he is come instead of you ass has nothing to win by staying in the region all right i was in a phenomenon washington alexander thank you very much. let's talk also a belt what we heard from the president today he wants more naidu right in the middle east and he also wants. the iran nuclear deal he wants it killed yeah he wants all the other 5 that are preserving b j c p a way which has been their primary message during this whole time one is the escalation on all fronts to the europeans at least have condemned iran in their actions and so the money and 3 anything to do to preserve the j c p

a way in that's been pursued particularly strong out of brussels. those are pretty big ask from the europeans in particular and of course he wasn't very specific in what he meant when he said he wants a greater nato presence in the middle east but this president has a pattern of being very frank and somewhat aggressive in his requests from nato which doesn't always land well with the european public appears to do. what we have is iran and the united states say showing they don't want to take it any further but also digging their heels into their positions and maybe even demanding more of each other which means nato and the european union are put in an even possibly more impossible situation than they were just 24 hours ago right i mean let's say that they're convenient parallel truce taking place right now i mean we have the most stark example of that is the iranian government has said that there were 80 american or casualties of american terrorists which could be

americans or he's working with the americans the americans have said there are none i think that evidence is that there are non but obviously both sides are playing to the narrative that they want to create and that's convenient for both sides because it's simple sides interest right now but it's really hard to see this leading in the mid term to iraq relaxation of tensions both in the region and with europe it's a very good it's a very good points we're still waiting to find out what the fallout if the for the fallout from the attack that we just saw if that is over because time will tell types of barker with the aspen institute in germany thank you thanks. well more than 170 people have died after a ukrainian passenger jet crashed in iran it is not yet clear what caused the plane to go down the ukraine international airlines jet was on its way from iran capital tehran to kiya ukraine's president bush to muse olinsky has broken off

a foreign visit to return to kiev because of the crash the president says ukraine will be sending a search and rescue team to iran tonight. a field of burning debris lights up the sky the a tour on. the apparent remnants of the ukraine international airlines flight that crashed shortly after takeoff from the iranian capital through about who was a bush. iranian t.v. stations are the 1st to broadcast images of the crash including this mobile phone video which appears to show the plane going down. it's daybreak that reveals the extent of the destruction and the human toll. the plane was carrying 167 passengers and 9 crew members from several different countries mainly iran and canada. was that the last year that i could have that much nobody survived all the

passengers by day no doubt that that. at the international airport in kiev the arrivals board lists the flight that would never arrive. people here are distraught that this man thinks his son was in fact on the plane with the ship yes most of. my son is a senior flight attendant. iranian and ukrainian officials have both blamed mechanical problems for the crash but the airline says it's still trying to determine the cause. a statement by ukraine international airlines said the plane was one of the best in its fleet and that the aircraft had passed a safety check just 2 days earlier. as iranians mourn another tragedy ukraine's president and others have warned against speculating about a potential link to the current flare up in iran u.s. tensions however current events are very much on people's minds.

are when you know they didn't i was watching the news of the reunions hitting us pieces with missiles after 10 minutes i heard a massive explosion and all the hoses started to shake there was fire everywhere at 1st i thought the americans have fired missiles and i went into the basement to take shelter so did i phones as an infant. and a few hours after the crash the ukrainian embassy in iran released a statement saying the crash was not a result of terrorism that statement was later redacted. as investigators search for answers a number of airlines have suspended flights over iranian airspace and on the ground emergency workers are getting on with the grim task of recovering the dead. a bizarre tragedy for more on that we want to talk now to steven wright he's an aviation expert professor professor of aircraft systems at temple university in finland it's going to have you on the program you know we heard there in the story that initially the ukrainian embassy in iran had put alge in its release that the

accident was not caused by terrorism and then terrorism was amid from that release what do you make of that i think they were traction if the state. could have been. trying to see the bigger picture. because i don't know if we had the that the military action from iran against. the bases in iraq which were being. occupied by the american forces and when you then have. a civil aviation croft calm down you could understand the. the the cautiousness decide not i don't think it's this it's something quite different and i'm sure in hindsight as they didn't post about what they've said that perhaps thought well maybe we've been

a bit forward thinking maybe we need to have a few more facts before making these these very powerful statements because it would it would be an incredible coincidence if the plane goes down at the same time you've got these air strikes taking place. but what do we know about the safety of this aircraft i mean this was not an aircraft that we would say yeah maybe you know maybe it did crash because of mechanical error right. that's possible the 75. $73700.00 it's a mature aircraft it was launched in the around the year 2000. member big launch because i went to see it at farnborough and it brings quite a lot of new technology and in the years that following of the manufacturing effort and if my quite a lot it's got a really good safety record so again it's a bit quick to say it's this aircraft that it's go i checkered history because it

has and it's a good plane and as long as it's going to go really if the foam is really really well hence its popularity. but you as an aviation security experts knowing that this aircraft has a good safety record it does make it even more difficult then to say that the crash happening at the same time as a military attack in the same area it makes it more difficult to say that it was probably a coincidence would you agree with that. well i wouldn't say it's the bit that i don't agree with is it's in the same area because terrans a long life from the border and i'm sure that the iranians are going to be sending missiles from the capital city. across a significant land mass of the rod and then into iraq to that hit the american go by. what i would say is that you're right there is a series of coincidences maintenance potentially could be

a factor however what's really unusual way or is that we've got some video of what we can say. is something that still flying and he's burning and then there's the catastrophic crash at the very end and what's really unusual for me as a an expert in this field is to know that the data that would be coming from the aircraft father modus transponder this tells you all sorts of things like which way it's flying how fast and so on it stopped and it stopped quite rapidly off about 3 minutes into the flight and then the plane crash there often so the question is why did it stop and why didn't the pilots if there was a maintenance problem and a significant maintenance problem why did the pilots press the transmit button on the control column and tell where traffic control hi guys we've got a problem we're returning for an immediate landing and we're declaring an emergency

that you know if it's an engine fire likewise professional pilots practice this every 6 months it's not a once it's an unusual event this is stuff that they do so regularly i mean it sounds like you could be describing their catastrophic. mechanical failure or if you're looking at the timeline there possible sabotage. i think we have we have to have a completely open mind now the good news is that the aircraft has been recovered old grammont of the aircraft being recovered they know exactly where it is they've also got a digital flight data recorder and the cockpit voice recorder that's been the cockpit so those can be analyzed and watched the iranians won't be doing that analysis themselves they can bring in an external agency to do that and i suspect it's going to pay someone a lot the french there and you drew organization the b. i use the accident investigation organization in france they're brilliant at this

they've done a very reputable. and the right the residues if it was i sabotage act let's say. something untoward perhaps something suggesting terrorism then there will be resit years on the fuselage which they can detect quite rapidly yeah ok well i know that many people will be waiting for those clues to be analyzed stephen writes we appreciate your insights tonight thank you. well we've got breaking news that is coming in britain's prince harry and his american born wife are saying that they will step back from their duties as senior members of the british royal family prince marian magen have just returned from a 6 week stay in canada and his statement they say that they will continue to support the queen but they wish to become financially independent and balance their

time this is a big change year balance their time between britain and north america. are here some of the other stories now that are making headlines around the world european commission president. was in london for talks on breaks it today and she told prime minister boris johnson that it's unrealistic to expect a post breaks that trade deal by the end of the year the u.k. is due to leave the european union at the end of this month. russia's president vladimir putin has made his turkish counterpart richard eyre the one to inaugurate a new gas pipeline the turks stream pipeline opens up a new export route for russian gas to turkey and europe meeting followed surprise visit for christmas to syria and earthquake has rattled iran's only nuclear power plant the 4.9 magnitude tremor struck early wednesday closed to

the city of borge on it killed it could be felt say some 55 kilometers away at the fukushima nuclear site. well here's a reminder of the top stories that we are following for you u.s. president would trump has said that no american or iraqi personnel were harmed in the iranian missile attack on u.s. bases in iraq last night iran had claimed that there had been at least 80 casualties trump says that iran appeared to be standing down and its confrontation with the united states. and for more now we want to bring in the german parliamentarian european hard he is also the foreign policy spokesman for the c.d.u. that the conservative party for the german chancellor angela merkel has started going to have you on the program today i want to get your read on what we have

heard today from the u.s. president that basically in the span of 48 hours we've gone from in of the brink of war to things being ok. the biggest fear we had after the attack on this general on friday which was an unselfish america on a question of from iran against american troops in iraq the biggest fear was that this led to it might lead to the new escalation. i'm happy to hear from the u.s. president that he will not solve the attacks the record as the missile attacks from that night from iran against american troops in iraq with new. attacks from his side this say's that probably we can can hinder the u.s. collation on a military base but unfortunately the 2 other negative effects of that force have what happened on friday morning 1st the decision of so your occupier meant to ask

the government present out foreign troops from iraq and 2nd this is a live news a literary tea between iran government and you which parts of the people in iran and also iran pro iranian people in iraq the those the 2 negative effects are still. existing and this led to a situation in that we are now weaker in iraq by supporting iraq than we were before friday and this is my position and. unfortunately we have to debate that with our colleagues in the u.s. and other countries i know started you had expected and more retaliation from iranian proxies it is hezbollah we have seen that those do you think the i guess the decision that iraq is now too dangerous is that

a decision that was made to hastily. no i think it was right to take out some of german troops. for a while outof the country we also thinking about to do it. before in the media time also now because we also have to some myside attacks on the facilities and. training mission in iraq is very necessary for the country because the only chance we have is that iraq might become a prosperous and vital state with the capabilities to make sure its own security interest and also that what we have in mind to hinder terrorists to come come up again and we were successful on that way in the last years and hopefully we can continue that but we have to balance security questions towards this but the tical. go in and we will discuss this tomorrow in the foreign affairs committee of

the doj when this talk and the defenses committee of the doj when this talk in the extra meetings we arranged together with our 2 ministers what are you going to do you discuss in terms of u.s. president trying saying he wants more nato in the middle east and today he also said that the j.c.b. away the iran nuclear deal he now wants that once and for all to be history he's asking even more almost impossible things from the europeans isn't it. unfortunately. the president is believing in a strategy of increasing pressure on iran where i think and also a lot of europeans think that it will not be might not be successful because what we need is a consensus between the 5 permanent members of the security council also including russia and china that strategy on the strategy again. iran

a question and iran. capabilities to have a bomb a nuclear bomb and this is only possible on negotiations and not. increasing pressure because russia will never accept that iran is doing something like a particular company to copulate against towards us they will undergo probably. the pressure politic of the president and at the end of the day probably your own will be able to have a nuclear bomb earlier than now with this. bird in the hand which is better to have than 10 birds on the tree we don't have didn't have any thing better than this agreement yet and therefore we have to continue to negotiate on its own i want you to take a listen to part of what the u.s. president said today about the nuclear deal take a listen the time has come for the united kingdom germany france russia

and china to recognize this reality they must now break away from the remnants of the iran deal or j.c. peel away and we must all work together toward making a deal with the rand that makes the world a safer and more peaceful place i mean he's saying let's negotiate something new. the foreign minister here in germany is saying we have to stick with what we already have what do what does germany what de france the u.k. what do you have at your disposal to force or coerce iran to stick with this deal. the president makes a contradiction out of both he says a new negotiation and a new day let's not deal is not possible. as long as we have this as the c.p.o.

and i didn't agree on that i think we can stay to the chief and negotiate on all the other crucial topics we have on the agenda was iran iran is not only planning to have a nuclear bomb they also developing me sides to transport those bombs they are sponsoring terror organizations all over the region they are sponsoring the yemen ball they are attacking israel not only with lip service but also with missiles from hizbullah in live on on their lot off behavior of iran that cannot be accepted and true that i'm sure that also russia and china. is not willing to accept a more aggressive and stronger iran therefore i see a chance to negotiate and i take i would like to take the president by its books at the end of the quote you took that we should to try to have new negotiations and

a new deal and one of the premises for those this is not to skip the cheese he's a monster probably to make it didn't start it this week there were reports that china has offered military assistance to iraq which is a change in the power dynamics in the middle east how do you see that and is there a is there a german plan is there a european plan to deal with an emerging chinese power in the middle east. chinese china is doing that what we expected if there's a wreck you on security issues in the region and this probably might come up in case said 2 u.s. troops will be taken away from iraq then probably china is able to step into that vacuum as i've heard this was

a high ranking delegation of the chinese government was the for the defense minister. going. presenting this this plan. but unfortunately i didn't see a chance for europe to replace us i would like to try and you would tend. probably together with us we can reach continuation of that but we already do in the ante as coalition and in this support for for iraq we were on a good way and we should continue that we should creatures situation probably the iraqi government is accepting again for the american troops in the country and government can probably convince the parliament that under new circumstances it is better to have them in the country than not ok stephen hides the foreign policy spokesperson for the c.d.u. the.