berlin, coming up after a short break doc film takes a look at decades of tensions between the united states and around on the spicer and for me in the entire news team here. thanks for watching. the green fed that you feel worried about the planet? me to on the old hosting the on the green fence, both cost and to me it's clear remains to change. join me for a deep dive into the green transformation for me, for you all the plans with blue

with 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 escalate 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 threads of tragedy and seek the elusive roots behind the dogmas and the certainties. and tell this story.

ah ah, with . with lou yes, 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. kuwait is 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 a particularly strategic region. more secure for american interests. ah, 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 that up with you mean or so? europeans were the soviets, leaders of the ma grip and the middle east, all attended. rational treated that's enough, was who i mean 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 1979 hostage thing that is behind us policy the day more than anybody thinks or believes. it's all 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 iranians. 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, iran's new leaders did not accept their country being outlawed since home manney's death in 1989, 2 figures in the islamic revolution had ruled the country. i itala ali, hama, nay. 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 and 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 iran in air space. the iranians did this on as a way of quietly supporting the united states. and they thought that after the award they would be rewarded for it. and the reward would just be inclusion most importantly, the bankrupt and devastated islamic republic desperately needed to emerge from its isolation. iran was still reeling from the interminable war against iraq, between 19801988,

but 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's priority was rebuilding because he thought, and i think it was right, the most important thing is rebuilding to ravish economy. so he began her normalizing relations with any one who that he could who began talking about normalizing religions around with united states that time delaware to a school fault in iran. one will say, don't trust americans, they are cheating, they're lying. and they would deceive you. and the other legs of 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 the 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 failure to be included in madrid is not just that they may not be able to trust us. i don't think they had 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 sat on a d. yo have asian that he man that they can meet at you under? no. am that that man that i know about ready to get on? i'm the gathers not her eat, hobble hughley beach, me. 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 what the says, oh, i grew up 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 bala, 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 shy 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 in 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 swab. shake mosacco. 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 over 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, i need mozilla mccullough. ah. rather than kidnapping was, 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 bolo, more dna corner sick pool from an intelligence point of view. bliss strike was

unquestionably a success. but from a strategic point of view, it was a disaster back about making a decision like that. emily, there are no words for it after death. i suppose i told was basically a mess. they, he shall and, or if miss are go before his elimination, there was no discussion about whether or not we should do it. no. and what the consequence is, my think, di my year, my much more we owe it when i'm sure everyone had agreed low, but no one considered the consequences of the action. bunny o'neill, it will be, i told them, look, it may provoke a terrorist attack overseas, which you have to go up. there may be consequence. they don't you go? no, no, no, was the response for them? no. ah!

a month later, on march 17th 1992, a car bomb exploded in front of the israeli embassy. in 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 his bola and turan to miss sally's assassination. it's leesville little do yield, league obey and the little i can't speak for any one 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 masai led to dozens of jews killed in argentina? lag on my sheds, perhaps the she a 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 you meant don't sash luke of until you la mckay, who car vom, it was decisive or cover. but there it initiated something new and our relationship with has belong at thy huts and in our relationship with it's anita iran. by allah . they've been annual event because in actual fact we had directly hand iran but got no bear and so force held up. ah, israeli intelligence then learned that the situation had potential to deteriorate even further. not only was iran weaponized hezbollah, 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 israeli history of a born in jerusalem in 1922 robin was a veteran of the war of independence in 1948. then as cheap 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. why, 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 ish, my yo, have embarked 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 pra 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 and israeli settler, committed a massacre and have long further tragedies followed extremists from every side. did their level best to thwart the peace process for them. yeah, it was a godsend for turan. 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 israel east after chic and israel is not ready to accept the rights of palestinian 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. iran was now ready to accept ah, above all, for harmony, 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 for the set up of international debo. and in addition, iran dry 2 made it 3 jip ability, conventional and non conventional. the specter of an iran armed with weapons of mass destruction and the missiles to the liver, them haunts, 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 to iran 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 bit, 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 will win it 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 neil 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 the afghan opposition. i may clear that i thought i needed to talk to iran. ah, that as part of my responsibilities and a 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. oh,

it streamers group. it had victimized has are of the shia minority in afghanistan. giovanni's themselves on was went to war with afghanistan in 1998 after the taliban . it struck the iranian consulate in missouri, shareef, and killed roughly 10, yvonne and diplomats and a journalist. so the ronnie's 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 troops backed and assisted by iran. ah, the most pressing concern now was to build a new app, janice dan, in early december, 2001. an international conference chair by washington got underway and bonn, germany, bringing together all the afghan factions here again to iran, 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 dial all a guy 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 iran would be a policy agenda item on the national security council 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. mr baker, 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 arming 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. ah, b. 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. honestly, when the united states invaded afghanistan and then and 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 terran 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 via 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

fairly 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 von 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 comprehensive. and i've been spending a lot of time thinking about what that would be at flow to those ideas. i created some political readiness in toronto for 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 its 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 hominy 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. today,

i want to extend my very best wishes to all were celebrating, no ruse around the world. and i hope that you enjoy the special time of year with friends and family. then sick 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 burst and 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 don, 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 clearly from everything that the priority that the president gave to iran that he did show this was a national security issue. he did feel that iran with a nuclear bomb was a threat to the region perhaps 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 aaron's uranium enrichment facilities without washington's consent. did he not sail e holy ford gum tree?

israel was prepared to act without american backing the blue. they have never concealed that opposition to an operation like this, the court. they regarded it as damaging oxen will bomb that. i remember discussions with bush and then obama louise, one to one cell, and also sometimes with a security advises you oh, 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 law, not even to our closest allies. we would take out decisions in full sovereignty, according to our own considerations, abuse you grew 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 the $80000000.00. 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 guy, even if we managed to destroy certain facilities, it would not solve the problems. they would merely dismantle the coalition established by obama. but he just obama 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 long 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. we are reaching an agreement that is not perfect, put anybody, but it is both we could accomplish and it is an important achievement for all of us today could have been the end of hope on this issue. but now we are starting 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 more isolated than ever. ah, 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 today that the united states will withdraw from the a ran nuclear deal. this decision by president trump marked the beginning of a new phase in the long history of relations between iran on 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, i see here in art lovers died, jakarta, what can artist do to help people and the government? are you using google glass? you did it with in 30 minutes on d. w. ah,

the dirtiest rivers in europe. flow through the u. k. the accusation, privatization of and completely outdated infrastructure. a truly dirty reality in the united kingdom. focus on europe in 90 minutes on d. w. ah no. da vinci's, mysterious masterpiece. oh, it's perhaps the greatest leonardo masterpiece and the collection of the louvre. and no, it is not them on a lease. it is the virgin of the rocks. was there another symbolic meaning to this beautiful painting that perhaps we just don't understand? the search for answers starts july summit on p w. hi

oh. this is d w. news live from berlin. disaster in afghanistan, rescue teams race to get aid to survive as a day after a powerful earthquake lived, a 1000 people did and many more injured. also coming up, ukrainian president vladimir lensky urges allies, the st. more heavy weapons faster. he wants that moscow is trying to destroy the don basses russian troops closing on key cities in the bridge. ah.