steve, it's a visual face in the familiar bass, dorman, directorial style review as loved it and hated it. now cinema goes can decide and that's it. you're all up to date. stay 2. now for a documentary, looking at the decades of tension between around the us and israel friend golf will have more headlines at the top of the hour. i'm nicole really from me and the entire team here in our berlin newsroom. thank you so much for your company. today, [000:00:00;00] with leonardo da vinci's, mysterious masterpiece. so that is perhaps the greatest leonardo masterpiece of the

collection of the louvre. it is the virgin of the rocks. was there another symbolic meaning to this beautiful painting that perhaps we just don't understand today? the search for answers starts july 7th on d, w. ah, ah, ah, this is the story of the war that dares not speak its name. a war that started over 40 years ago, but has never officially been declared axis of even the war between iran on the one side and the united states and israel on the other, his both ideological and strategic. a conflict that stirs up passions, resentment, and hatred,

and word ever to delayed the entire middle east would be effected very possibly triggering a new global conflict. to understand this potential return of barbaric violence, we must go back in time to unravel the tangled threats of tragedy and seek the elusive truths behind the dogmas and the certainties. and tell this story, ah ah. with

a february 27th, 1991. the american army had just inflicted a bloody defeat on iraq following the invasion of kuwait 6 months earlier. although the big winner in this 1st gulf war, little did washington know that it had triggered a process in iran that would soon shake up the entire middle east. away it liberated iraq's army is defeated. our military objectives are met for president george h. w bush. the liberation of kuwait was only the 1st stage of a much more ambitious policy. he wanted to build a new middle east. after the victory in iraq, he sought to make the persian gulf whose oil wealth made it particularly strategic

region. more secure for american interests. but to achieve his goal, bush 1st needed to resolve the israeli, palestinian conflict threatening the stability of the entire middle east. the process was launched with a peace conference in madrid in his efforts to impose his pox americana on the gulf. president bush invited any one with any potential influence on the arab israeli conflict. got up with them. you may know some europeans were the soviets, with leaders of the ma grip and the middle east. all attended. russell created that national swimming. only one country was missing the islamic republic of iran. the visceral answer for why iran was not invited is the hangover from the hostage

taking it's still with us today. ah, hatred of iran for the 979 hostage thing that is behind us policy today. more than anybody thinks or believes is a part of every moment of every thought about iran at the time of consideration was given to us making the conferences universal as possible of but i can't recall that any thought was given to inviting the radians i'd states was the sole superpower, the big satan, and the conference was going to involve making peace with the little satan, with israel ah, in tehran, eroni, new leaders did not accept their country being outlawed since ho manney's. death in

1989 to figures in the islamic revolution had ruled the country. i itala ali hum, a name was the new supreme leader, a loyal follower of his predecessor, he was unbending in his refusal to compromise. hashmi ross son johnny was president of the republic. a wealthy businessman, he too, was very close to the former supreme leader. he was a pragmatist and a realist. both men opted for benevolent neutrality towards the americans during the gulf war. dirani ins did help the united states against saddam hussein. ah, in that war they open up a child communication. they allow the u. s. to use iranian airspace. the ronnie as did this, and as a way of quietly supporting the united states. and they thought that after the war

they would be rewarded for it and the reward would just be inclusion most importantly, the bankrupt and devastated as la mc republic desperately needed to emerge from its isolation. iran was still reeling from the interminable war against iraq. between 198019888 devastating conflict that left 500000 dead and deeply traumatized the country. the regime almost collapsed, moving forward, as well as protecting its borders. iran desperately needed to modernize brafton jones priority was rebuilding because he thought, and i think it was right, the most important thing is rebuilding to ravish economy. so he began with normalizing relations with any one who that he could. he began talking about normalizing relationships with united states that time delaware to

a school fault in iraq. one will say, don't trust americans, they are cheating, they're lying, and they would deceive you and the other legs have son john himself said, you're not going to lose anything. we will show all goodwill. if they don't, then everybody in this country and beyond, they would know americans, are they guilty part not the radiance i, for iranian leaders, the madrid conference was proof that the americans were in no way seeking a fall in relation with this pox americana based on arab israeli reconciliation be turned against them and their interest i think a conclusion they may have drawn from the sailor to be included and madrid is not

just that they may not be able to trust us. i don't think they have much trust to begin with. i think it's the conclusion that they drew, that if they're not problematic enough, they will be ignored. if they have the power to be able to show that they can create problems than the us, we have to deal with them. you are like what? and what did i tell you it had on a d. yo have asian that he man that i can meet at you under? no. am that bad man, that other battery the get on? i'm niggers not hurt if hobble hughley beach ne, ah, did ayatollah homei decided to act 2 weeks before madrid. he organized his own conference, dedicated to supporting palestine. ah, the supreme leader managed to bring together the representatives of some 60

movements from very diverse, ideological, or religious backgrounds in attendance were revolutionaries, nationalists, and islamists. a oh, with oh, all of them expressed a rejection of american domination in the middle east. rejection of the occupation of palestine and rejection of the state of israel. ah, here behind the scenes at the conference close links between the lebanese has bullock, the palestinian islamist, hamas, and islamic jihad began to be forged, giving rise to what tehran would later call the axis of resistance.

ah this axis very quickly became a target for the united states and israel ah, the shiite community and the southern suburbs of the lebanese capital was in morning at least 50000, turned out to mourn the death of their leader. shake abbas masai, the secretary general of hezbollah, up a key figure at the terrace conference had died the previous day along with his wife and son killed by the israeli army. israel had never before eliminated such

a prominent leader within the shiite organization. there was no question good our capacity to defend ourselves and their capacity to attack us. i have changed dramatically. we will be able to defend ourselves better. they will be able to hit us not as effectively because the organizing brain has been removed. so what exactly happened in early 1992, based with the kidnapping of its soldiers in southern lebanon, israel decided to seize key members of hezbollah. ha, to carry out a prisoner swapping shake. massage. it was a prime target. on february 16th military intelligence was informed that the shiite leader was about to drive to a village in southern lebanon to attend the ceremony. they decided to happen, followed by surveillance drowns. he arrived in the early afternoon according to plan. oblivious to the fact that his every movement was

being monitored by israeli intelligence. the honey, my wish we knew we had high level information, which would allow us to strike at our objective shall move. sorry about that. i will give good. there was no need to wait 3 or 4 months ago, and i sent as much to the chief of staff ah, hold a shave, a new materials mccully. ah. rather than kidnapping miss sally uri soggy, advocated eliminating him. another opportunity was unlikely to arise for a long time. he argued, now was the time to strike. a helicopter took off with orders to kill the shiite leader. as soon as he left the ceremony. shortly before 4 pm, mo sally's mercedes was engulfed in flames. the shake, his wife and son were killed instantly.

ah, the israeli army appeared to have gained the upper hand over his bola more the image corner sick pool from an intelligence point of view. bill strike was unquestionably a success. but from a strategic point of view, it was a disaster back about making a decision like that. i had merely, there are no words for it after death, i suppose i told was basically a mess it, he shall or if miss are go before his elimination. there was no discussion about whether or not we should do it. no. and what the consequences might think a di my year my much more will your will i'm sure everyone had agreed low, but no one considered the consequences of the action money available. i told them,

look, it may provoke a terrorist attack overseas. if you have to go up, there may be consequence said, oh god, no no, no, was the response of them. a month later on march 17th 1992, a car bomb exploded in front of the israeli embassy and argentina 28 people were killed with 250 injured islamic jihad claimed responsibility for the attack. but in israel many sought as a direct response from hezbollah. and turan to miss sally's assassination if leesville little to yield league obey and the little too i can't speak for anyone else. but i had misgivings about the whole thing they beheld deem let's read

and i know what we were doing. i looked toilet. had i properly assessed the risk benefit ratio given that the elimination of mu, sorry, led to dozens of jews killed in argentina. lag on my shed. perhaps the shia devil had become even more fearsome. co 5th make no mistake, but they didn't want peace go a lot. but sometimes you can hasten things when you don't intend to study themes and they take on a dynamic you never intended because believe met. don't sasha luke. of until you la mckay who caviar it was decisive or cover, but there it initiated something you and i relationship with has belong at that. and in our relationship with its ada iran by la v. been then we'll event because in actual fact we had directly hand iran but got no better. so force had, ah, israeli intelligence then learned that the situation had potential to deteriorate

even further. not only was iran weapon ising has bhalla, it was planning to develop nuclear weapons. if israel failed to react, it was no exaggeration to think that the country's very existence might be at stake . one man was determined to thwart this threat. the new is really prime minister yitzhak rabin, when he came to power in june 1992, a few weeks after the attack and argentina he had already made is really history of a born in jerusalem. in 1922 robin was a veteran of the war of independence in 1948. then as chief of the general staff of the id f, he oversaw israel's victory and the 6th day war in june 1967th, which gave it control over east jerusalem. the west bank, gaza and the golan heights,

faced with the prospect of an iranian nuclear bomb robin shows an unconventional strategy. israel had to reach an understanding with the palestinians. this would make it easier for israel to protect itself against iran bliss. it wasn't a historic and enduring image. after months of secret negotiations, robin agreed to the oslo accords at the white house with the man he had always called a terrorist. p l. o leader, yasser arafat one for the 1st time since the creation of the state of israel. a genuine peace process was underway between the israelis and palestinians, the children of abraham, the descendants of isaac and ishmael. have an ard together on a bold journey together to day with all our hearts and all our souls.

we bid them shallow salon peace awe thanks. he shook hands with arafat. robin was also thinking of her on the country. he would be able to better per backed himself up. now that piece with the palestinians had become possible. 3 weeks later, however, a bus exploded near in israeli settlement in the west bank. hamas claimed responsibility then an israeli settler, committed a massacre in hebron. further tragedies followed extremists from every side,

did their level best to thwart the peace process. avoid them yet. it was a godsend for to wrong. it was time to get back into the game and challenge israel strategy it on has never been in the favor of peace process. i tell you very openly, very frankly, very sincerely because from the day one iran believe is laid is after cheating. and israel is not ready to accept the rights of press. iran was convinced from the day one and since 100 percent was convinced. this is a plot to kill the tie and to kill delicious. and the dreams and the rights of palestinians, you know,

was no threat the to accept ah, above all, for how many the success of the oslo accords would have signaled the victory of a regional order dominated by the united states and israel. one that finally solve the palestinian question, but relegated iran to a supporting role. so to reestablish his country as a key player, the supreme leader decided that the covenant sealed during the terran conference of october 1990. 1 must be translated into action. to that end, he stepped up support for the palestinian islamist movements, hamas, and islamic jihad. iran is responsible. where is the outer extreme islamic groups vose the set up of international devil? and in addition, iran rise debate who made it 3 gip ability,

conventional and non conventional. the specter of an iran armed with weapons of mass destruction and the missiles to deliver them. hans, not only israel, but the entire middle east, and ultimately all the rest of us as well. the united states. and i believe all the western nations have an overriding interest in containing the threat posed by iraq to prevent iran from financing terrorism and developing nuclear weapons. washington imposed economic sanctions. the prelude to a total embargo with the aim of isolating the country, bringing it to its knees and rendering it harmless. ah, however, it would not be terran behind the tragedy that was soon to strike at the very heart

of the united states. a tragedy with such symbolic and political significance, it would usher in a new era for the entire middle east. ah, it was the most audacious and deadly attack in the history of terrorism. ah ah, based with nearly 3000 casualties, it was clear to the united states that its real enemy was not the shia islamism of

iran and has bola so much as the sunni radicalism embodied by al qaeda and its saudi bourne leader, osama bin laden president george w bush elected the previous year, had no choice but to take decisive action. we will not only deal with those who dare attack america. we will, we will deal with those who harbor them and feed them. and house them make no mistake about it. underneath our underneath our tears is the strong determination of america to win this warp. and we were when the president fixed the objective to overthrow the taliban regime in afghanistan,

which for many years had provided sanctuary. support and funding to al qaeda. secretary of state colin powell was tasked with preparing the ground before the offensive having served as chairman of the joint chiefs of staff during the 1st gulf war. and as a moderate in an administration full of neal conservative hawks, he understood that his country needed to act with the help of an unexpected partner . i was asked by a colin powell, a secretary of state to take on responsibilities initially for working with the iranian opposition. ah, to form a, a successor come to the taliban. i recognized that i needed to talk to the countries that had been supporting you for the afghan opposition. i may clear that i thought i needed to talk to iran. um, as part of my responsibilities and colon pal agreed.

the united states seeking help from iran. it sworn enemy but as well as sharing a nearly 1000 kilometer long border with afghanistan, the islamic republic was the ideal ally to bring down the taliban regime. taliban was an anti iranian anti shia a free mas group. it had picked him. eyes has already a shia minority in afghanistan. giovanni's themselves on was went to war with afghanistan in 1998 after natalia bonnie struck the iranian consulate in missouri, shareef, and kill yvonne in diplomats and a journalist. so he wanted have deep animosity and enmity with the tall.

ah. the 1st american bombardments fell on afghanistan on october 7th, 2001 operation enduring freedom had begun. with a month later, the northern alliance, the main coalition, opposing the taliban to cobble with the help of american truth, backed and assisted by iran. ah, the most pressing concern now was to build a new afghan, a stand in early december, 2001. an international conference chair by washington got underway in bonn, germany, bringing together all the afghan factions here again to ron, sought to play

a central role. and it was iranian delegate mohammed serif who managed to obtain a compromise from the afghan factions for the establishment of an interim government, as well as the wording of a final declaration. iran was jubilant. 10 years on they had avenged their band from the madrid conference proving that given the opportunity they could play a stabilizing role on the international scene. proving too that they did not deserve the sanctions weighing down their economy. iranian so told me they were interested in a broader dialogue. i said i wasn't authorized to talk about anything but afghanistan, but i would pass her interest to law. the message went nowhere and post 911 america. the advantage was firmly with the neoconservatives vice president dick cheney and defense secretary donald rumsfeld,

for whom the collaboration with iran was only a tactical and thus temporary arrangement. dick cheney and rumsfeld took over the process every time a run would be a policy agenda item on the national security council's list, the trainee would make sure it came off. so by making the system dysfunctional and by not having a discussion on or on, there never was the decision was by default we don't talk to evil. which is what dick cheney said. mister speaker, the devil then was iran. but it was also north korea and especially saddam hussein's iraq states like

these and their terrorist allies constitute an axis of evil, farming to threaten the peace of the world. by seeking weapons of mass destruction, these regimes pose a grave and growing danger. the united states of america will not permit the world's most dangerous regimes to threaten us with the world's most destructive weapons. with his axis of evil speech, bush definitively closed the door on any rapprochement with iran. awe. by may 1st 2003. the 1st objective had been achieved by crushing saddam hussein's regime george w bush put an end to the campaign initiated by his father in 1991. during the 1st

gulf war he basked in the victory among his troops. nothing it seemed could stand in his way. obviously, when the united states invaded afghanistan and then it invaded iraq under false pretences. and after lying about weapons of mass destruction in iraq and lying about a relationship between saddam hussein and al qaeda. the iranians were concerned that the united states would try to destabilize iran or invade the country. ah ah, 3 days after the american victory in iraq to iran took a staggering initiative,

an initiative with the potential to change everything in the middle east here at the state department in washington. a fax arrived to buy an intermediary, tim goldman, the swiss ambassador into iran. he had been representing the interests of the united states in iran since the closure of its embassy in 1979. the document seemed barely credible. it proposed talks on the links with hamas and islamic jihad, the disarmament of hezbollah, law and weapons of mass destruction. in return, iran sought the lifting of sanctions recognition of its role in the region and access to western technologies. in particular, civilian nuclear power. washington ponder the implications. why would the supreme leader hitherto so inflexible suddenly support such a move? i think there were people in the morning system that had come to the conclusion

that the small steps had not led to anything. and that the only way to break the deadlock was to do something big comprehends that had been spending a lot of time thinking about what that would be had floated those ideas. i created some political readiness in toronto for it but at the state department, where the collaboration with iran on afghanistan had been established. nobody was prepared to take the documents submitted by the swiss diplomat seriously after it's exclusion from the madrid conference and the discourse on the axis of evil for turan. this new refusal to engage in dialogue was proof that washington was still bent on effecting regime change in iran. so in order to protect the islamic republic, ayatollah homei made

a radical decision. he decided to intensify and press ahead with the uranium enrichment program. and in doing so, acquire nuclear weapons as soon as possible. so today i want to extend my very best wishes to all worse celebrating no ruse around the world. and i hope that you enjoy the special time of year with friends and family. then one man decided to improve relations between his country and her aunt law, mac barely 3 months after taking office. the president barack obama addressed iran directly on the occasion of the persian new year. it was a 1st in the history of the 2 countries. we know that you are great civilization and your accomplishments have earned the respect of the united states and the world . the new president was the antithesis of his predecessor, a staunch democrat,

who had been opposed to the invasion of iraq in 2003. he believed in multilateralism and in the force of diplomacy to prevent iran from acquiring nuclear weapons. he also believed that israel should be prevented from ever attacking turan, if that happened, he believed the entire middle east would sink into chaos. it is clear lease from everything that the priority that the president gave to iran that he did feel this was a national security issue. he did feel that iran with a nuclear bomb was a threat to the region perhaps to, to europe, to the u. s. but benjamin netanyahu was skeptical about obama's military option in the event of failed negotiations in his eyes, the american president knew nothing about the middle east, while he, himself was an experienced leader coming from a very conservative zionist background. and the former head of an elite commando

unit, he had already led the country 10 years earlier, netanyahu had never wavered in his refusal to compromise on israel's security. he declared himself ready to destroy iran's uranium enrichment facilities, without washington's consent. did you not slee, holy for gum cru? israel was prepared to act without american backing. dimly, they have never concealed that opposition to an operation like this quarter. they regarded it as damaging her claim, obama, but i remember discussions with bush and then obama leave one to one. and also sometimes with a security advisors who i clearly told them that when we reached a critical stage in terms of the security and future of the state of israel and the jewish people. and that we would not delegate responsibility to any one else. although not even to our closest allies, we would take our decisions in full sovereignty according to our own considerations, abuse you glue to love for netanyahu. and

a hood barrack military intervention then, was the only sure way to prevent iran from acquiring the bomb. but before they took action, they needed the approval of key ministers and leading military and intelligence officials to be legitimate. it was imperative that the historic decision to attack iran met with a broad consensus related membership. i thought the military option was wrong, not because it was technically impossible, but because there was no american consensus. we didn't have it support a guy. even if we managed to destroy certain facilities, it would not solve the problem. they would merely dismantle the coalition established by obama, but he just obama bene outnumbered the to his release were forced to back down. oh, bama, however, remained uneasy. if he was to get a deal with iran before netanyahu could convince his cabinet to follow him down the road to war,

he needed to wrestle back control. at the end of 2012, in the utmost secrecy, he entered into direct negotiations with iran. a succession of meetings, both in and out of the public eye ensued an agreement was on the way. ringback thus, on march 3rd 2015, netanyahu made one final attempt to derail the process. he went to washington to address congress and launched into a tirade against the policies of his most loyal ally. it was unprecedented in the history of relations between the 2 countries. ladies and gentlemen, i've come here to do to tell you we don't have to bet the security of the world on the hope that he won will change for the better. we don't have to gamble with our

future and with our children's future. so this deal won't change you on for the better. it will only change the middle east for the worse with. but the israeli leaders maneuver proved to be futile, and his speech changed nothing. obama one the day 4 months later on july 14th 2015, the nuclear agreement was signed to ron was represented by its minister of foreign affairs mohammed. sorry, the man who had cooperated with united states against the taliban in 2001. i believe this is a historic moment the od reaching an agreement. that is not perfectly anybody, but it is both we could accomplish on it is an important achievement for all of us

today could have been the end of hope on this issue. but now we are so thing, a new chapter of hope iran pledged to limit its uranium enrichment program to the production of civilian energy and abandon its quest for nuclear weapons. in return, it would obtain the gradual lifting of the sanctions that were stifling its economy . ah, for the vast majority of iranians, the agreement was a beacon of hope. their country was finally ready to join the global community. mm. for netanyahu, it was a disaster, strengthened and legitimized. the islamic republic was now inescapable in the

middle east. israel was more isolated than ever but this new dynamic between iran in the united states would prove to be short lived. if we do nothing, we know exactly what will happen in just a short period of time. the world's leading state sponsor of terror will be on the cost of acquiring the world's most dangerous weapons. therefore, i am announcing to day that the united states will withdraw from the iran nuclear deal. this decision by president trump marked the beginning of a new phase in the long history of relations between iran and the one side and the united states and israel on the other. since the founding

of the islamic republic in 1979 war has never broken out between washington and terran. but nor has there been any real dialogue. the 2 enemies have repeatedly failed to reconcile their longstanding differences and consider each other as valid counterparts. for its part, israel perceives iran as an increasingly radical and deadly threat until the she a theocracy recognizes the legitimacy of the jewish state. progress will remain impossible. for over 40 years, hostility has been the norm for over 40 years. the same deadly spiral of confrontation and tolerance and hatred with each side set upon destroying the other intent upon opening one front after another and thereby ruling out any possibility of dialogue and peace.

ah, ah ah, ah ah, conflict zone with parish banner de russia and ukraine are taking heavy casualties in the don bus. but has ukraine already lost the east?

my guest this week believes that is likely the case. in burma is a political scientist and founder of the your race, your group, and going to happen and believe the russians have said will at all this and more on this week's conflict zone with 30 minutes on w. great. oh, asia and glovers guide. by vibrating asian cities, 5 a local artist in the unique experience of their craft, joined us for exclusive master classes. with this week on d,

w. mm hm. ah ah, this is d w. news. why? but from berlin tonight in afghanistan, a powerful earthquake has hit the east of the country, visual, say a 1000 people die many more injured, making it the country's deadliest quake in decades. also coming up here in germany,