this is detail beginning to slide from berlin the commander of iran's revolutionary guard has accepted full responsibility for shooting down a ukrainian passenger plane iran says the aircraft was brought down by accident last wednesday after it flew near a sensitive military site all 176 people on board were killed and we'll have the latest from tehran. plus russia's course to play a greater role on the global stage we take a look at president vladimir putin's goals and ambitions as he makes for told some saturday in moscow with the german chancellor.

great welcome to the program the commander of iran's revolutionary guard has accepted full responsibility for the downing of a ukrainian passenger jet on wednesday iran says the firing of the missile at the plane was a mistake blaming human error after the plane reportedly flew near a sensitive military site 176 people were killed in the crash tehran had previously denied claims from the u.s. and canada that it was responsible. an explosion in the sky this mobile phone footage was one factor that led western countries to suspect an iranian missile attack on the ukrainian passenger plane finally after days of vehement denial iran admitted its guilt the military was 1st saying that with armed

forces on the highest level of alert the ukrainian international airlines flight had appeared to fly like a hostile target near a sensitive military site politicians followed human error had caused the missile to be fired iran's foreign minister tweeted meanwhile the country's president hassan rouhani called the attack a disastrous mistake their boat faced comes after iran maintained that's a technical fault had been to blame for the crash even after u.s. canadian and british intelligence concluded that the surface to air missile had caused the tragedy. of. canada in particular has paid a high price for the recent saber rattling between iran and the u.s. this vigil in toronto was $1.00 of dozens across the country that paid tribute to the $57.00 canadian citizens many of them university students and researchers who

were among the dead. people that were on the plane they were young they were academics they were engineers as his compatriots mourned canadian prime minister justin trudeau called for justice for the families of the victims and said he expects the full cooperation of iran. let's cross now to tehran and speak to journalists there good to see you are iran's revolutionary guards have now taken responsibility for this crash is there going to be any fallout over these. well it was a very strong or the 1st conference the interview says are. there it was really all christendom to the extent of all the responsibility for the tragic incident he apologize to the i r g c would obey all the decisions made by the coffers of the scheldt over the incident there already been reports of resignation but i heard that they have

declined are ready to resign. or now it is rejected by higher ranking officials as i understand and you've also tweeted supreme leader ronnie wasn't made aware of the cause of the crash until friday that was 2 days asta did officials keep him in the dock well the g.c. commander said on wednesday morning shortly after the tragic incident he informed the contras officials but he did not specify what we. have to see informed of all and he lay there said that the contras general stuff of armed forces is current and the people who knew about it decided not to declare the issue until further investigation is conducted on the incident so i have heard

that the president of this did not know about it until friday and the leader was also informed on the same day according to the report boy. do you see a few here to force news agency oh no more can be said for our reza you just mentioned the investigation how will all of these in effect that investigation the international investigation taking place at the moment. well of course now there are things we're. 'd you know more 'd or to do on. a list they are going to miss a good either it was intentional or like what they were to show. which is of course not true because. so. good to talk to journalists reza has stay in tehran thank you. from always joined now by david stern here in studio

. correspondent in kiev ukraine hi david what's been the reaction from the government there on iran admitting that it did shoot down the plane it says by mistake well yes a very sudden turn of events for the ukrainians just yesterday they were saying that they weren't going to jump to any conclusions they were going to go through all of the evidence make their own judgments and that they weren't going to rush now of course we have the admission from the iranians and the ukrainians have been very fast also to issue their own statement in fact the president is a lenski just shortly after the news broke issued his 2 statements one in ukrainian the other in english the english one was on twitter i could it was very short i can give you the highlights here he said this morning brings the truth but at the same time he said ukraine insist on a full admission of guilt and this would include injuring iran to bring those responsible to justice return the bodies pay compensation and issue an official

apology but at the same time the insist they emphasize that the investigation must be full open continue without delays or any obstacles so obviously for the ukrainians the story continues to a degree david you've just outlined some of ukraine's demands they what can you crying do if there is demand not yet. well indeed it's a good question we are expecting to hear from the president again in a few hours he will make a video address after he speaks to his iranian counterpart in fact so we'll maybe have a little bit of light on that but yesterday the foreign minister of idea held a news conference and he spoke about legal steps that they could take now he emphasized of course at the time that they weren't reaching any conclusions that they had not but if in fact it did turn out that a missile had brought down the jet that they would work with their international

allies and partners and possibly even bring this to the united nations and also drew the parallel with the situation with the malaysian airline m.h. 17 which was shot down over ukrainian territory back in 2014 which the ukrainians are also expecting or hoping for a some sort of justice in that incident as well our correspondent in kiev david thank you david now to some of the other stories making news around the world today and polls have closed in taiwan following presidential elections unofficial early results show incumbent president in win in the lead to win a 2nd term democratic progressive party campaigned on protecting taiwan's independence against threats from china. do you say 2 large bushfires have merged forming a massive inferno that crosses state lines in the country's southeast conditions

have eased in recent days allowing 5 is there a chance to conduct a back burning the australian military has sent water trucks water tanks to refuel fire trucks in rural areas. and the oil rich sultanate of amman has a new rule the former culture minister tariq has been sworn in as sultan he replaces his cousin. who died at age 79 after a 50 year reign the new sultan is expected to maintain a month's policy of noninterference in regional affairs. german chancellor angela merkel is in moscow today for talks with russian president vladimir putin the leaders are expected to discuss ukraine and bilateral relations but their talks are also likely to focus on the middle east the russian president has been working to cement his country's influence in the region by presenting himself as a mediator in conflicts let's take

a look now at how putin's role in the region has evolved. lucky near a friend to all at least from the leaders of iran and turkey to israel and syria is presenting himself as a mediator who can be relied on since russia began its military campaign in syria in 2015 the country has become an important player in the region russia joined forces with iran to back the syrian government providing air support. most recently russia and syria have stepped up their bombing campaign in the province the last remaining rebel stronghold and russia's military support has helped prop up syria's president bashar al assad and guaranteed moscow an important geopolitical foothold in the middle east as the u.s. pulls its troops out of syria russia has remained. nasha

forces and our military equipment ok have demonstrated the growing power of the russian army and navy and the high combat capability of its forces she's that russia also condemned the u.s. assassination of the rain ian general cus i'm so rare money this week as reckless and has repeatedly back to ron and it's ongoing confrontation with the us put in consistently criticizes american policy in the middle east he and his tried to present russia as a more reliable partner after us a president tromp decided to pull out of the iran nuclear deal in 2018 you the russian leader has repeatedly said his country would continue to support the agreement well our game should really believes that the only sensible decision as for old participants in the iran nuclear deal to on of their commitments and that is exactly what russia intends to do meet in the blooper this week put in called for a cease fire in libya has well fighting mare has escalated in recent months and although

russia has refused to officially side with one of the warring parties according to media reports russian mercenaries have going on the ground for months supporting general calif a half to are against the u.n. back to libyan government as u.s. influence in the middle east wayne sgt russia is working hard to fill the void well for more analysis on miracles visit to moscow let's bring in de w.'s political correspondent thomas thomas before the meeting merkel's spokesman cited russia has been an important actor on the world stage indispensable in solving political crises what is it that merkel wants from person today in these talks in short to understand what putin could do to try and deescalate the situation in the middle east which soiled and that russia has been trying to gain a stronger foothold in the region to increase its influence and that means that they have and russia has in particular very strong contacts with many countries in the region just think of syria just think of iran and that's something that in

particular wants to listen to what he can do to try and in any way influence those countries now it's interesting to see why and collision in russia why not for example other european leaders and that has to do with the type of relation that germany and russia have had under vladimir putin under chancellor merkel of russia under vladimir putin diving board someone who speaks german who lived in germany and speaks russia russian they have had a very long relationship in the last few years and although there are differences between russia and germany and. i said to have a very strong personal connection something that germany would such need like to use now when it comes to trying to see what russia can do to deescalate in any way the situation in the middle east so a good a good working relationship is going to translate to the 2 countries maybe working more on these issues like this in the future it could be the case but let's not forget that this is not the only topic that they're discussing here there are other issues where germany and russia do not necessarily see eye to eye there are issues

where they can work together they have for example very important economic ties but there are other aspects where maybe they do not see eye to eye ukraine for example being one of those important cases something that they will also be discussing today in moscow both spokespeople from both countries mentioned a long list of topics that they will. discussing so is not only the situation in the middle east it's not only the case of ukraine it's also for example libya where russia has a big influence on what germany would also like to see some sort of solution to the crisis in libya our political correspondent thomas farah thank you thomas. time to bring you up to speed now with our top story ron has admitted to shooting down and ukrainian passenger plane iranian state t.v. says the aircraft was brought down by accident after it flew near a sensitive military site 176 people killed.

up next is the documentary delving into the truth about lying something that scientists suggest a skill also used by many animals you can follow us on twitter at d w news or go to our website w dot com i'm jarid very but i. mean . it's all happening with. joran linked from africa and the world your link to exceptional stories and discussions continue and will come to be diffused after cutting programs night from funny to me from the easy to our website deputed comes to africa join us on facebook. africa.