live from moscow this is our t. top stories now past the hour the launch of julia surges very own interview show here on our t.v. causes controversy with the premier edition lauded and low for the choice of guest the first person the we can expand to talk to was has been a leader but his first interview with an international channel in six years. for it is a smiling us soldiers posing next to forty parts of dead afghan suicide bombers emerge in the latest in a series of scandals involving american troops pictures of fueling concerns over the leadership and discipline of u.s. forces in afghanistan. and russia accuses armed opposition in syria provoking

violence and undermining the un brokered cease fire claims were prompted by reports of the free syrian army is using refugee camps in turkey as safe havens to plan assaults on regime troops. but you have to take the moment but with more news stories in full and half an hour from now including other developments in the meantime as promised all of the people of al discusses the strained relations between israel and iran weighing the odds of peace in the region. well the british science. markets weiner scandal. find out what's really happening to the global economy comes a report on r.t. . can. start.

to. flow in welcome across a computer all about locking away from the brain can the u.s. and its allies put a stop to the downward diplomatic spiral with iran and seek ways out of the current deadlock more talks are scheduled next month in baghdad the u.s. has called the latest talks a positive first step and the europeans have described it as constructive and promising what is different this time around and is war still an option. can. still. to cross talk the twists and turns of u.s. iranian relations i'm joined by army center in washington he's a writer for commentary magazine also in washington we have jamie abdo she is director of the iran program at the middle east institute in washington and in

beirut we go to mohammad marandi he is professor at the university of toronto right crosstalk rosen if i mean you guys can jump in anytime you want and i very much encourage it jamie and in washington if i go to you first. there's been some good sounds coming out of the latest round some talks what's different this time and what are the major stakes on both sides because we've seen this year in and year out and we've never got any kind of resolution that matter of fact we just have more and more sanctions and more and more talk of war against iran why israel and by the united states and its allies what's different this time. what's different this time is the political environment you know as we saw from these talks there was no concrete results really i mean we're still at the status quo but president obama achieved what he wanted to achieve which was to make sure that the tension isn't escalating i mean the last thing that he wants is any sort of possible military confrontation before the election with the iranians got is they've got

they they're now able to buy time until baghdad if not after baghdad and so i think and the europeans as well so i think that everyone at this point aside from the israelis were trying to buy time and this is why i think we saw prime minister netanyahu voice very in his dismay and he said that iran as he put it got freebies because in his view they got a pass and so and i think that that's a fair characterization of what happened ok i want to be when we get to crossfire going out to let me hear the other side professor marandi in beirut just kicking the can down the road is this is especially what we just heard. although it's possibly a case it depends really on the west the iranians from the very start have said that they want to pursue the rioters a sovereign country within the framework of the n.p.t. they've never wanted to go a step further than then p t nor will they accept anything less as we all know the

a this by being heavily biased towards the west of borders dominated by western powers it's not a democratic party a new head of the i.a.e.a. is definitely in the pocket of the united states as the wiki leaks documents are clearly revealed but despite that they have never found any evidence whatsoever that iran's nuclear program is anything but peaceful and the recent reports who was severely flawed as many nuclear inspectors former inspectors have pointed out but if western countries are willing to accept iran's rights as an independent country then i think the issue will and can be resolved ok armory where you think about all this here a lot of people will say is that the iranians are coming to the new good let me say with western media saying you indians are coming to the negotiating table with their tail between their legs because the sanctions are finally biting do you buy that. sanctions are biting i don't know if the arraign ins are coming to the table

with their tails between their legs certainly what we just heard from the professor would indicate the opposite that the reins are insisting on the same thing they've always insisted and that's the reason why if i can correct jenny a little bit it's not the case that everybody got what is what they wanted except the israelis the saudis for instance let their media off the leash over the weekend including one notable editorial that blasted the obama administration and president obama specifically for overwhelming i have a tail and the reason that they are freaked out is the same reason that everybody else is freaked out which is that it's not true that the i.a.e.a. has never found evidence of any rain weapons program the i.a.e.a. has identified ongoing enrichment at the conference so he which can't be done which is it has no purpose except weaponization that i have and that i've identified high explosive tests at parchin which are designed to test nuclear warheads that have identified the blueprints for missiles and for parts that can only be related to

a nuclear program which is why everybody is in the region is for it that it might be true although i don't think it is that the reins and the europeans are being genuine when they say that they believe that progress is being made the americans for instance were against the location of the talks in turkey and in fact got blasted even by u.s. media for pretending otherwise but even if that's the case it's undeniable that the region is freaked out and that the region thinks that the talks were failure. that's an interesting thing and i mean are talks going to go anywhere i mean as i started out you know is this just kicking the can down the road because it looks like you know both sides can get something out of it what is the level of trust between the sides here. well i think that there is the level of trust hasn't really increased since the last round which was a year and a half ago approximately but i think that you know one issue that i think there was

an interesting article published in the wall street journal which talked about all the issues that were discussed in istanbul and i think that if that whether the talks fail or not invalid dad is going to depend upon or whether i should say a concrete result will develop will depend upon for example if the issue of uranium enrichment is discussed and what both parties can agree to be the level of enrichment. uranium mines are now enriching at twenty percent this is something that the five plus one said they would never agree to and we have seen over time that the iranian government has moved the bar i mean if you look at what the west said they would not accept a year and a half ago or two years it two years ago iran has already created what we could call facts on the ground so they've already moved the bar beyond what the west said initially it was well it was not willing to accept and i think that that has been the iranian strategy all along so now we're going to see in baghdad if the west can

stick to its guns and say ok we never agree that you would could richard twenty percent is there a compromise and i think that that's going to be one of the key issues that's going to determine a if there is any real result to come from the meeting and b. if if if the parties are actually going to reach some sort of compromise visibility and be rude what do you think about that because it seems like you know success is only determined by what united states wants and its allies and i would do rahm wants. yes i mean there are a number of issues that i would like to point out and that is the first of all the united states nor its western allies are in a position to dictate terms to iran iran is an independent sovereign country and it will pursue its rights within the framework of international law iran is not so dear a or this or jordan or some other client regime of the united states they will stand firm and they will take it will pursue its rights but with regards to what i said

earlier i repeat it's obvious that there's never been any evidence whatsoever that iran's nuclear program is ever been anything but peaceful and i'll just cite one example that was stated before and that is the four do plants in your column before do plant was only built to produce enrich uranium because of the constant threat of attack on iranian installations in other words since the new towns installations were being threatened by the israelis in americans illegally and in you know these that this is a form of terrorism to constantly threaten the country they built it for do plan to protect the people who work there because they're after all out there after all human beings they have families and therefore to plant is under i.a.e.a. supervision it has cameras there that work twenty four hours a day seven days a week and the permanent inspectors of the i.a.e.a. can visit before two plants regularly another point that i'd like to make is that

the iranians from the very start didn't even want to produce uranium at twenty percent they wanted to imported from abroad western countries were trying to use this tool to put pressure on iran by preventing iran from having the fuel iranians needed the fuel for the teheran reactor for cancer patients they produce medical isotopes there so what they meant what the western powers were basically doing with what they were using cancer patients as hostage. the iranians after the declaration where the united states before the declaration itself had accepted according to obama's letter to the brazilian president he accepted the framework of what was actually a will ultimately scientists in the run declaration immediately afterwards he backed away and went for new sanctions so the u.s. has lost credibility the united states president is discredited and the iranians only then produce enrich uranium at twenty percent and are now putting a fuel into the tehran reactor so the cancer patients could survive only when you

think about that it sounds pretty peaceful there but we have plenty of people in western media and western capitals that want war ok i mean we keep hearing that this is the last chance the last chance before a war this is you even you know how we even get that he'll bomb administration go right ahead that's why on the program my friend i have to correct you i don't i don't think that i don't think that it's fair to characterize the western a in the western capitals as driving to war in fact if there's a criticism of them it's that for instance in the face of two now two i.e. reports identifying weaponization work in iran they've gone out of their way to dismiss those and to find other explanations in the same way the professor is doing in lebanon and i don't think that it's fair to characterize contra the rest of the international community's consensus the fordo facility as being merely peaceful in fact the kind of enrichment activity that it's designed to do and capable of doing

goes well beyond the need for medical isotopes but even if it was true it wouldn't explain all of the other every all of the other evidence of weapon ization high explosive words playing around with neutron igniters playing around with getting caught with blueprints that are specific to nuclear work you walk into a architectural office and you see blueprints for a building and you see them playing around with parts for a building and you see them pouring the materials outside the window to create a building and then you turn around and. you say are you building a building in there like now we're just playing around with these in case we want to build a building it's not credible they're devoting my doubt of time and frankly i think suffering a lot of sanctions any bits go geneve go ahead jump in. i'm very raises a central point which is. i mean mr marandi is not being all that forthcoming i mean the arayan all right i'm going to snow we're going to go to a great anybody will have to be our chance to react to everyone after our short

break we'll continue our discussion on the latest the ramped up state park. and just start. if you want. something. like he's been these. thousands of meters of choice. the love of. god he's a funny man. but dangerous even to those who keep it at

a distance. sigrid laboratory. was able to build the world's most sophisticated. mission to teach. is why you should care. welcome back to. your mind you were talking about the what's the latest gauge their ass. kicked.

ok journeymen in washington you said you disagreed with professor marandi and they would not like to give you a chance to say that what your disagreement is and i confess marandi to respond so go right ahead. ok i think that the central point that i'm raised raising is what really you know president obama has been talking about all of these months which is that our ronnie is capable of weaponization ok the reason that the not with the sort of explanation the united states is given for it which is different from the israeli position and the plane upon which they disagree is the israelis believe that now that they are capable of weaponized that's the reason to stop iran the united states says yes they're capable of weaponize ng but they haven't made the political decision to create a nuclear bomb so i think that what he is not telling us is is is that yes at the moment perhaps the program is being used for peaceful purposes but that

doesn't mean that there isn't the potential there to weaponize and that's actually omri central point which is that obviously if you have all the materials to build a building but you just are telling people you're not building a building that may be true but that doesn't mean that ultimately that's not your intention and so i think that that's where the united states and the israelis differ i was just in is a row about a month ago that's the way it was explained to me and so i think that we have to be clear here about what iran is doing at the moment and what its potential is good fishmonger would you like to react to that. well and again a couple of things one is that. some of the things that one of the guests was saying that accusations leveled at iran are basically based upon a single a laptop i suppose of laptop that the americans claim that they discovered that belonged to iran and they say that all this evidence is inside that laptop this was

many years ago by the way and one computer file and that laptop the iranians said in response to the american accusations all these accusations that have been leveled against iran. can be resolved why don't the why doesn't the united states hand over the laptop to the i.a.e.a. and have them give it to computer experts to see if it's authentic americans have refused and that is it's obvious why they refuse because it's a fraud the laptop is full of inconsistent claims and they refuse to give it because they know that if computer experts look at it byte by byte they'll figure out that this was fabricated by western powers or the israelis with regards to iran having capacity or the capability to build a nuclear weapon well then why doesn't the united states bomb brazil why doesn't it bomb japan they should bomb of these countries because all these countries therefore based upon this calculation have the capacity to answer not really early

in the countries are iran i mean that's not really a valid argument here in iraq and iran is iran insult and the united states oh and in fact you can because you run as an independent sovereign country in fact contrary to the claim made earlier that the international community is united on the run it is not the nonaligned movement which consists of three states of the country of the world supporting iran but in the west the nonaligned movement in other words the majority of the world do not are not considered as the international community the international community is all these are western countries they represent us and they are the ones who make good decisions. in their eyes the rioters are not going to accept that the iranians are working with the frame within the framework of the of international law and they will continue to do so those countries that are not working within the framework of international law are those countries that are threatening iran with a military attack which is barbaric those countries were to place an embargo on the iranian central bank in order to prevent iran from even importing rice that is

barbaric that is inhuman those countries that are forcing third countries from from not purchasing iranian oil they want to describe to destroy the iranian economy theoretically they've been able to do so but it shows that western countries are one handy here who are. mr marandi if iran's government is as civilized and legitimate as you claim then why do you have a president that at least your government claims was democratically elected who continues to threaten countries around the world particularly israel i mean i learned something very important when i was in israel when she seems awful as well i never really have believed and i think he went on for about five minutes. president ahmadinejad has repeatedly since he was elected threatened to wipe israel off the map and i'm not saying i'm not here to say this is a good thing or a bad but if you if you are trying to claim that your government is civilized

then how do you explain the rhetoric that's been coming from president ahmadinejad's mouth since two thousand and five. and you can react to that really quickly go ahead real quick. sure yes i mean it's been ruined i mean imagine if someone ever says it's two against one of the programs so the professor has to defend himself that's only fair go ahead professor marandi and then i'll go to. president who i didn't vote for and i do not have anything to do with never said that he will attack or destroy israel he said israel must cease to exist as a political entity and the willful mistranslation in the west of what he said is clear to all he said basically that this has always been iranian policy that israel as an apartheid state must cease to exist just as apartheid south africa ceased to exist and nothing more and nothing less the iranians believe the palace is on the

razor's when the rains can and when they're ready to leave. the muslims must be able to get our side ok when we go here a little but gradually reduce we can state israel and that's what. that's what they mean when they call israel or to bomb states that israel must cease to exist that peace and harmony has a range of thing when the iranian state whoever said that no i want a world of good in a world in a one day in a world of google i would advise you to tell viewers of this program that the iranians have not refer to israel as a one bomb and two bombs as well you can also hear you can only hear that you come on your show you want to do one of the nonsense on google all right jenny food let me go back to you no no no here come on you guys this is let's go back to the topic of the program geneva if i go back to you in washington if you think that the west has been asking for too many preconditions in dealing with iran in its nuclear program yes i think that. that there have

been preconditions and there has been an attitude by the west that iran needs to do x. y. or z. or there won't be negotiations and i think that this is why the negotiations have not progressed and let me say also that i wrote extensively about the tehran declaration this is the declaration that mr marandi referred to earlier that was brokered between brazil and turkey and i agree it was a huge mistake for the united states to go for sanctions and not try to work within the framework of this agreement because at that time this allowed iran to say faced it could have been a way to open negotiations but i'd like to also be referred to and return to another point which is that if mohamed to me were president today of iran we wouldn't be having this conversation and there wouldn't be a threat of war there wouldn't be so you know ryan government has to be accountable

for its rhetoric you know when when mohamed haha to me who was a president a reformist president trying to improve relations with the west trying to improve relations with countries around the world i lived in iran during his presidency there was a completely different atmosphere and attitude toward a wrong so you can't i mean you have to acknowledge that the government's rhetoric and its behavior is somewhat responsible for the reaction by by western states ok i mean if i could do you i mean the next set of talks are going to be in baghdad which i think is kind of really a very interesting we have to get moving on here i think it's very interesting that the night the talks will be in baghdad because that's basically turned into a rainy and satellites after the mess the united states and its allies have created there i mean the irony of it all i mean you have baghdad that is you know they they actually genuflect to iran because they don't have the same kind of differences that they had before i mean this is again you know western media like to show that iran is really struggling but actually it's really its influence in the region is

quite substantial and the americans have made that possible because of its ill fated war in iraq. well i mean i know we have discussed this point before on this program and i'm not sure that it's directly relevant to the question of the talks in baghdad i don't think that iranian soft power is you know as you know i don't think iranian soft power is as expensive as you believe it is i think that they're losing allies more quickly than they're gaining them and i think that they're i mean the hell out of a region in which they need to avoid alienating power for neighbors but even if that wasn't true i agree with you that the u.s. wants top of the u.s. and its allies arguably expect the talks and back view the talks in baghdad with even greater hesitation than they view them in turkey precisely because of those locales in our power parted ways with geneva on the question of the degree to which he ran has ever been amenable to engagement even to a grand bargain it seems that even during the carter years even during the years when there was talk of a so-called dialogue of civilizations there were elements from the supreme leader

on down that would have prevented it and it prevented whenever it had a chance of success and i think the reason for that is indicated by iran's behavior which is a grand these behaviors hey we were rapidly running on or. rather the running out of time for a summer and it sounds like you know you know the west could engage the soviet union it could engage communist china but you know something's wrong with the rand that's what you keep hearing you know you can't negotiate with the iranians but how do you react to that because that's what we hear all the time it's because that's because it's because basically the iranians are not going to go down on their knees and the west is not used to that and in fact ironically contrary to what contrary to what your other guest was saying you ron is gaining allies and what you see right now is that many countries are now beginning to break away from the west and you see that for example in the formation of the brics but also i want to go back to what was said about president qahtani during president and his era when the

united states attacked afghanistan and the iranians condemned what happened in new york and they actually help the. knighted states get rid of then and the taliban in afghanistan immediately afterwards the united states called iran an axis of evil and i would also like to remind you that the person who actually restarted the iranian nuclear program at the end of his term in office was president hard to me and the reason why he did it was because iran halted its nuclear program for two years and it allowed intrusive inspections through the additional protocol infirmary an international raid will be when all run out of time fascinating discussion we go on for another hour for sure many thanks to my guest today in washington and in beirut and thanks to our viewers for watching us here already see you next time and remember. you can. still. if you

want. home.