this is d.w. news live from berlin the commander of iran's revolutionary guard is accepted full responsibility for shooting down a ukrainian passenger plane iran says the aircraft was brought down by an accident last wednesday top 3rd floor near a sensitive military site all 176 people on board were killed we have the latest from tehran. plus people from iran to europe and canada grief for those who were killed in the crash families and friends who lost loved ones unite in their shock will hear more about the victims and the communities mourning their loss. loss of

german chancellor angela merkel meets with russian president vladimir putin in moscow the true leaders have several significant points of just fuse box can they find common ground on the middle east and the rising tensions in the region. i'm sorry great welcome to the program the commander of iran's revolutionary god is excepted 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 and it's blaming human error after the plane flew near a sensitive military site 176 people were killed in the crash to run 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 in the reunion missile attack on the ukrainian passenger plane finally after days of vehement denial iran's military admitted its guilt 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. you know. when i became 'd certain that this incident had happened i really wished death for myself . i wished i had died or not seen such an incident 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. comedian 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 this is compulsory it's 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 this.

well it was a very strong or the chris conference. interview says arias this there was really all christendom to the extent of all the responsibility for the tragic incident he apologize to the i r g c obey all the decisions made by the coffers of the scheldt over the incident there are already been reports of resignation but i heard that they have declined are ready to resign. or now it is rejected by high 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 after 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. the shows have. informed of all and he lay there said that the contras general stuff of armed forces. and the people who knew about it decided not to declare that 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 a report boy. to see if you had to force news agency oh no more can be said for our reza you just mentioned the investigation how will all of this in effect that's investigation the international investigation taking place at the moment. well of course now everything's clear 'd there will be no more 'd or to do on the.

list they are going to. get there it was intentional if you don't like what they were. which is of course not true because it was so. good to talk to journalists reza has day in tehran thank you well let's cross now to finland and speak to steven wright who is professor of systems at temple university there good to talk to you professor they can you explain why the ukrainian passenger why this plane that had a 9 flight path could be confused with a hostile target. actually. the the military should not obviously there i'm personally location i'm the thing that i find remarkable is that the military. did so close to

a very large commercial apple tehran and what's particularly confusing for myself is iran itself geographically is a really big city that surrounded by mountains the airport is located away from the hills because planes don't occupy. in that sort of general location so they're full why do you put a missile battery so close to an international apple it's not very clear for the by . the strategic purpose of especially as it civilian and linus taking off and landing what about the air force why wasn't the airport closed is that something dutch would or should normally happen in a situation of the heightened tensions that we're seeing between iran and the u.s. . you know normally if you're going to have a conflict of some soul and you're going to try to supply problems. that the country that you're going to overfly they would normally issue some sort of alert

these would be going out to flight crew so that you can then brief it's important to note that when an aircraft wants to fly from this point to that point before the crews go to work they have to report in and work out how they're going to fly they're going to fly from this point to that point and over this country so if there's a conflict taking place for instance when there was the gulf war. taken place previously airlines make sure that they didn't over fly these areas where you know that there's going to be trouble so they're flying around it and they would need to plan this by carrying extra fuel so again it seems really unusual that space wasn't closed if they were anticipating such major problems all right steven wright professor of. finance temple university thank you very much professor. now to some of the other stories making news around the world today and taiwan's

per independence president iran has been reelected by a landslide margin side won 57 percent of the far showing strong support for her tough stance against china in her victory speech she warned beijing that taiwan would not be influenced by threats. and several 1000 people have marched through scotland's largest city glasgow to show support for independence nationalist hope to hold a referendum might this year only the scotland should break away from the united kingdom britain's decision to leave the euro has increased support for scottish independence. germany's chancellor angela merkel is in moscow today for talks with russian president vladimir putin the 2 leaders are expected to discuss heightened tensions in the middle east following the recent us iran conflict young going factional war in libya is also high on the agenda with germany concern libya could become the 2nd syria the 2 leaders met last month in paris to push for

a cease fire in little eastern ukraine. for more analysis on merkel's visit let's bring in de w's emily show when in moscow hi emily and here in the studio correspondent thomas barrie thomas will start with you there were very complimentary words coming from the spokesman today he said russia was indispensable in solving political conflicts what is it that merkel is seeking from . i think. particularly interested in is trying to find out ways in which. to help deescalate the situation in the middle east given the fact that russia plays a very important role in the region given the fact that russia has been trying to have a stronger foothold in the region for some time now given the fact that russia has good contacts to iran for example to libya to syria we saw for example the very near putin was in. only a few days ago and as such that's something that germany clearly sees that russia

plays a very important role in the middle east and germany can try and see or find ways in which it could understand exactly what russia could do why germany and why not for example france or why not other european countries i would say that probably because germany and russia have strong links in particular because of the 2 leaders i'm going to merkel knows that imputing very well that i mean putting speaks german i've never called speaks russian and they've both been in power for a very long time so even though data not see eye to eye on some issues they do have a working relationship and that's a working relationship that they had for a very long time emily will cross to us thomas's merkel is seeking putin's influence a clarification of russia's role in deescalating these tensions how how is this being viewed in the kremlin. well that certainly plays into the kremlin's hands put in for a long time now has been kind of trying to portray russia as a key player in the middle east and he's also been trying to take on

a kind of mediator role in the middle east and we've seen that kind of in the run up to these talks as well just this week. the mayor putin was actually in syria he met with syrian president bashar assad he met with the turkish president he's also been making a series of calls to various leaders in the region calling for peace in libya but he does need kind of partners in supporting him in that role as a mediator he's looking for legitimacy with americal and looking to present a united front particularly in the face of kind of the increasingly. unpredictable policies coming from the u.s. russia has certainly been trying to portray the u.s. as an unreliable and reckless partner when it comes to iran when it comes to the killing of rain in general so the money when it comes to the u.s. leaving the iran nuclear deal and russia is kind of trying to bring germany closer

closer to it and kind of pull it away from the u.s. because it's a good point emily's making thomas today someone had written previously germany and russia had been divided by ukraine but now united by trump unpredictability what do you have to say one element in which they're probably united nuclear deal both countries defending the need to maintain the iran nuclear deal as much as possible if you clearly see what i've been saying german foreign minister for example clearly stated that the german policy is to defend the iran nuclear deal as long as there is no all the alternatives are we hearing from senior lawmakers in the board for example from my spot to you is that maybe germany should also try to consider whether that idea by president. donald trump trying to find a big deal with iran which not only focuses on iran's nuclear ambitions but also for example in the role that iran plays the region. you know may cause at least

i've been trying to say that germany should consider and i do expect that to be something that will discuss with our thomas political correspondent thank you and in moscow emily show when thank you very much both of you. and just a reminder now about top story iran has admitted to shooting down a ukrainian passenger plane iranian state t.v. says the aircraft was pulled down by accident tough troops near the sensitive military side 176 people were killed. you're watching and you know when you news coming up a look at how african art is influencing autists in the west that's the 2nd part of the documentary africa rising next year on to talk with you don't forget you can get all the latest news information when i website d w told kong and you can follow us on twitter. unchartered.

it's all happening good job it is coming. your link to news from africa the world to your link to exception the stories and discussions between you and we'll come to the day of his after coming program tonight from funny germany from the news an easy time i would say do deputed come.