breaking news this hour a ukrainian passenger plane has crashed near a tehran airport with fears all 180 people on board and build came down minutes after takeoff with reports claiming it suffered technical problems. in the. meanwhile just hours before in neighboring iraq true american military bases are hit by dozens of air strikes as ground response to the killing of a top general was assassinated and a u.s. drone strike last week. it's not looking for a war with washington at. all as well about how donald trump responds to the

attacks saying he will make a statement later today previously the u.s. president threatened to destroy it multiple during insights that in cultural long if you run retaliated in any way. watching our 2 international bring you your live news update from our studio here in moscow welcome to the program we start with our breaking news this hour ukrainian passenger plane has crashed near tehran airport reports suggest the boeing 737 came down minutes after takeoff now this in the studio here with us all the latest what do we know so far well we don't know too much there's not too much official information available as a news when it's just it was after the tragedy but we have seen some pictures from the site. pay. and

a very grim picture i should say everything that can be seen on the photos like for instance the ones that you're looking at right now it's also part of our studio. our studio plasmas here as well the only show essentially charred debris of the plane and it kind of gives you a glimpse of the scale of the destruction it seems that the plane was completely destroyed in this video you're looking at right now it allegedly shows the moment as the plane was going down and judging by these pictures i mean if they are confirmed to be to be what they are said they are then you can see that the plane apparently that the boat boeing caught fire it was already on fire as it was going down so the investigation will have to look into what might have caused that again if that video is confirmed to be the plane going down now as for the numbers again no official figures but so far we've seen reports that at least $167.00 passengers

were on board plus an unspecified number of crew members the iranian state television and the rainy and red cross and. the chances of finding survivors on the crash site are extremely low and we're looking at these pictures i have to say the photos from the crash site i have to say that the chances of those well that this is an optimistic outlook extremely extremely low anyway will be following this story throughout the day as the rescue the rescuers are conducting their operations just outside of tehran and i will be bringing you up to speed of course an investigation will surely be launched already and search and rescue teams are at that site right now are it is a ghost town of thank you for staying across the latest for us on that. the reports of the plane crash coming just hours after iran's fired dozens of ballistic missiles at 2 u.s. military bases in. iranian military is calling the move

a revenge for the death of its top general custom salmoni who was killed in a u.s. drone strike last week. about a good academic. was . the more we cross live now to our viewers middle east correspondent paula flair paula are the us any room on the edge of war. it certainly would seem that way we have received confirmation from the pentagon that one of its bases the base not far from baghdad was hit they say that there were no american casualties but there is still conflicting reports as to whether one or any iraqi soldiers have been killed so we're waiting for confirmation on that there was a 2nd american base in the north of the country in a bill that was targeted but those rockets actually landed in an empty field nearby at the same time the pentagon confirming that the attacks come from iraq and more

than 12 ballistic missiles and as i say no americans killed now we're waiting of course to see the response from the united states but at the same time the region itself has now gone into a state of major and the we have heard a lot of reaction starting to come from iran they say that they will take and ought to take all the proportionate mage's against any $38.00 all 3 it's all use of force and that is expressed in the data to the u.n. secretary general at the same time we have heard from the telecommunications minister of iran and he has tweeted in terms of the united states get the hell out of here the country's foreign minister zarif has made the point that iran is taking these actions in retaliation for the american strike on side a that killed the top evading in general and at the same time that iran is not seeking any kind of. iran to concluded

proportionate measures in self-defense under article $51.00 a few and charter targets in base from which coordinate attack against our citizens and senior officials were launched we do not seek escalation or war but will defend ourselves against any aggression. now the radio revolutionary guards corps has issued a statement in which it says that these actions because it is time to fulfill its promise it took immediate responsibility for the strikes and it has called the united states the great satan threatening that if the united states or any of its allies in the region and it mentions by name particularly israel respond it will retaliate in force. in response to the terrorist operations of the american invaders and the vicious assassination of the heroic commander of the kids force the islamic revolutionary guard corps of iran successfully carried out operation martyrs sunni money we warned the great satan the arrogant american regime that any

further malice or mobilization will result in a more painful response. now we're also hearing from iran that should israel take any action it will activate hizbollah and israel has been particularly concerned since last friday that he ran it will use its proxies in the region these include hamas. the israeli southern border by gaza and his plenty of the israeli northern border of lebanon and in that respect israeli troops have been on high alert along both those borders for the past few days as of yet no official reaction from the israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu no doubt he is being briefed and he has held meetings with his top security process so the situation at the moment extremely tense here in the region but all eyes will be on the united states to see what if any response trump and i'll take. part to his post there reporting live from tel aviv thank you. the u.s. federal aviation agency has banned all u.s. flights are but the persian gulf over security concerns previously trump threaten

to strike 52 iranian site if it retaliated in any way except for washington's response has been somewhat muted with donald trump tweeting so far so good ole is well missiles launched from iran a 2 military bases located in iraq assessment of casualties and damage is taking place now so far so good we have the most powerful and well equipped military anywhere in the world by far i will be making a statement to morrow morning well we have a tweet from donald trump it begins with the phrase all is well followed by a statement that there is an assessment going on of the casualties and the damage done to us bases as a result of the attack by the iranian missiles furthermore we do have the white house saying that trump has been briefed on the situation and it we have this point it's expected that down trump will speak to the media regarding the events tomorrow

this is what we heard from the white house we are aware of the reports of attacks and u.s. facilities in the rock the president has been briefed and is monitoring the situation closely and consulting with his national security team now the response from members of the u.s. congress has been quite different depending on which party they are in we have nancy pelosi the leader of the democrats in the house of representatives speaking about the events and saying that trumps unnecessary escalation seems to have something to do with these events where we have marco rubio a republican and a conservative speaking in support of donald trump and criticizing nancy pelosi for her criticisms of the president and the moments in which these missiles have been fired this is the exchange we saw on social media. closely monitoring the situation phone bombing star getting u.s. troops in iraq we must ensure the safety of our service members including and needless provocations from the administration and demanding that iran sees its

violence american world cannot afford war iran is now officially calling for americans to turn on each of the the time will come to debate u.s. policy tonight's american and allied troops have come into direct attack by nation state and americans must come together to support and protect them and respond appropriately may god protect and watch over our troops stationed in iraq my thoughts are with them and with their last ones i condemn iran's attacks which targets you ask coalition and iraqi military personnel in the strongest terms i'm monitoring the situation in iraq closely and praying for our men and women in uniform the iranian regime has made a grave miscalculation by launching his attacks among trump supporters the decision to kill qassam solomonic is being celebrated as a heroic act an act against terrorism however among many democrats though they have not much good to say about qassam solid money they seem to however argue that this was an unnecessary escalation that put american lives at risk so many democratic

voices seem to be speaking up and saying that donald trump could possibly be escalating to a war with iran and didn't consult the u.s. congress on that matter so there seems to be some pretty solid divisions about how to assess the recent events between the usa and iran at this time people are waiting to hear what trump will say when he does speak to the media as the new day comes in the united states. another consequence of the assassination came from iraqi m.p.'s who voted on sunday to expel foreign forces from their country then war in iraq to brace itself for heavy sanctions if it kicked his troops out earlier on tuesday the iranian parliament unanimously passed a bill classifying the u.s. armed forces as a terror organization tensions in the middle east have soared sense the start of 2020.

don't you. think if you.

mean all these are pictures from the state funeral obviously a major general is buried and his hometown and there's been an outpouring of grief across iran with all money is killing viewed as the death of a national hero as he will attract a vast crowd of mourners at least $56.00 people were killed after being crushed in the crowd during tuesday's funeral procession for 2 decades all monica served as the commander of iran's comes forces which is the external wing of the islamic revolutionary guard who played a crucial role in the runs military decision making process and helped expand iran's role in the middle east. for more analysis we can now across live to political analysts honorable check for more now is this a proportional to the top response do you think. i think it is and actually i believe that. exist sizing great restraint considering. the importance

of 0 in general salim ali and. great popularity or great admiration insurance program from the millions of people in iran there was a great grief and also outrage coming from all our cities and villages. around and i think the leadership of the country actually exercise great restraint by hitting 2 military bases in u.s. military bases in iraq over 'd a limited amount of rockets what was actually described by donald. in a very light manner so i think yes proportion definitely at the same

time we have iran's saying that they're not seeking any sort of war and that this was an act of self-defense that track so far yes they are. 'd it's not in their interests in the something in the interest of anyone in the middle east that there will be a great escalation on the other hand you know standing farm and there are very important movements but i now all over the middle east not only not only in the you know on the owner in iraq as you know the syrian. forces are moving closer to the border to. the left the city of. president putin visit in damascus. as well are in lebanon. all pledging can support for

gays there is a skill ation so yes 'd proportionate response. measures response both in the same time in the middle east is somehow coming closer together in the defiance against the united states aggressions and danger of the united states further retaliation against. the region you call that a measured response that you predict that iran would respond in this way yes actually there are several possibilities how it would respond i didn't. dissipate that i didn't think that it would be iraq iack surely the us military installations on the iraqi soil i thought more of 'd attacks on the united arab emirates or saudi arabia but definitely it was going to be military bases of

the united states in the region the biggest one of course the biggest air force base. there are because since so the arabia and the united arab emirates the 'd killing of in general so amounted to place 'd outside of baghdad so obviously the launching of the commanders 'd in there are the most to retaliate precisely where the killing took took place after the strikes taloqan tweeted always while far so good why do you think that sort of laid back town rather than a confrontational one we usually see from him. you know they're all playing it down i was watching american networks online and if you would show the forks news for example they are talking about the tackle for. iran on the against you know it doesn't even mention in the headlines on the u.s.

military installations i think. trump is shocked they didn't expect that the contrail would be that you know and who dared to retaliate. i think that he's basically. used to brutalize the counter a solo over the war hold the bolivia or be venezuela or be it on itself. you know receiving any response from these countries so we don't retaliate should prove these countries so this must wash up for him definitely and i think that i think that this is. this is a good lesson for him. yes he's trying to play down as do the. several america that's works for him for the time being. earlier before the attack we heard truong saying that he was going to hit 52 iranian sites if iran retaliated

and now this laidback town like we were just discussing but he did say he's going to make a statement in the coming hours so what do you think we might hear from him. look. really unpredictable and know that makes him extremely dangerous actually we don't know what to expect from him but i think he probably have some military advisers who are telling him at this moment to further escalate the situation with iran would be extremely foolish. this. time it's a very powerful missile system in place actually hit. targets from from israel to so the arabia to. most mentioned before the united. if. it is going to so-called to

retaliate and especially if it hits the cultural targets as he. was threatening in food breach of all. malls and international malls. or that he have to. ringback very there are consequences. is. what was done. to its. very popular very powerful leader generously money and. so if their own funds to escalate the situation i think the united states is going to be told to listen to her on. the islamic revolutionary guard corps has said and it's telegram channel reportedly

that if iranian territory is bombed it will target cities in the united arab emirates and in israel should those sort of threats be taken seriously. precisely yes it's going to happen there is there is no point the u.s. reached a point of no return by attacking the independent country you know and by attacking actually people of war the independent country on the territory of the country it occupies which is iraq and 'd you know there's going to definitely use its own force but also its allies in the region and there are many. just. imagine there is there is not only it out anymore there is a big part of the iraqi. military which is siding with the riches on the same side . that is led by the on that is there is syria of course and yemen

and others so if the u.s. is going to escalate the situation there is going to be a war although tired of middle east political analysts on travel technic you for your time and your comments today. thank you. we now go back to our breaking news story of the plane crash in iran a ukrainian airlines jet came down minutes after takeoff or the reports there are no survivors are not joining in the city again by i.q. seekers down there for all the latest of course this is still early on and not much is clear but what can you tell us at this point. excuse me very little official information available so far what we have seen some pictures from the crash site now as you've rightly pointed out it did crash not crash land but full on crashed shortly after takeoff to the southwest of the ukrainian capital to to iran and you can look at the pictures we're showing you right now this is the site and

apparently this is what it looks like and these pictures alone they give very little hope to finding any survivors there's also a statement by the red crescent international international organization they were the ones to 1st published the pictures from the from the crash site and they're saying the hopes they are confirming the worst fear is saying that the hopes of finding any survivors extremely low and according to the information that is available right now there are of been at least 170 people on board apparently 164 passengers and some. unspecified number of crew members there was a now this was a flight that to call very shortly after the american to the american flight control agency declared all basically banned all american airlines to fly over the ring in territories so there was already the air space was there was at least

some degree of locking the country's airspace at least from the american side now it was a very rapidly developing situation so that flight decided to take off as normal so . it is not clear yet whether or not the downing of the jet whether it's crash is anyhow connected to the events to the to the other events of the night when you run lewis to tell you to or you strikes on the american air bases in iraq again there have been some reports and some suggestions some speculation happens to all connected but of course this is a very serious allegation and accusation and so there's no there's no evidence proof. look pointing to the fact that this could in fact be true so again very few hopes very few hope so far of finding any survivors but again it is a developing developing story and we'll be staying crosser to bring all the latest

r.t. as it goes on and thank you for that. report of the plane crash come just hours after iran far dozens of ballistic missiles at 2 u.s. military bases in iraq the iranian military is calling the move revenge for the death of its top general custom samani who was killed in a u.s. drone strike last week. want to go back to that it. was. the missile strikes happened at exactly the same time of night as the assassination of solomonic 5 days earlier. iran's supreme national security council tweeted this image of the iranian flag an apparent reference to trump's tweet of the u.s. just after the drone strike that killed all money middle east correspondent paul flare have the latest details he had received confirmation from the pentagon that

one of its bases the base not far from baghdad was hit they say that there were no american casualties but there are still conflicting reports as to whether or not any iraqi soldiers have been killed so we're waiting for confirmation on that there was a 2nd american base in the north of the country in a deal that was targeted but those rockets actually landed in an empty field nearby at the same time the pentagon confirming that the attacks come from iraq and more than 12 ballistic missiles and as i say no americans killed now we're waiting of course to see the response from the united states but at the same time the region itself has now gone into a state of major we have heard a lot of reaction starting to come from iran they say that they will take and ought to take all the proportionate mage's against any 3 all 3 it's all use of force and that is expressed in the later to the u.n. secretary general at the same time we have heard from the telecommunications minister of iran and he has tweeted in terms of the united states get the hell out

of here the country's foreign minister zarif has made the point that iran is taking these actions in the asian american strike on side a that killed the top evading in general and at the same time that iran is not seeking any. kind of escalation. iran to concluded proportionate measures in self-defense under article $51.00 of u.n. charter targets in base from which called li armed attack against our citizens and senior officials were launched we do not seek escalation or war but will defend ourselves against any aggression. now the radio revolutionary guards corps has issued a statement in which it says that these actions are because it is time to fulfill its promise to took immediate responsibility for the strikes and it has called the united states the great satan threatening that if the united states or any of its

allies in the region and it mentions by name particularly israel respond it will retaliate in force. in response to the terrorist operations of the american invaders and the vicious assassination of the heroic commander of the kids force the islamic revolutionary guard corps of iran successfully carried out operation martyrs sunni money. we warned the great satan our good american regime that any further mobilization will result in a more painful response. now we're also hearing from iran that should israel take any action it will activate hizbullah and israel has been particularly concerned since last friday that he ran will use its proxies in the region these include hamas. israeli southern border by gaza and his but let me add the israeli northern border of lebanon and in that respect israeli troops have been on high alert along both those borders for the past few days as of yet no official reaction from the israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu no doubt he is being briefed and he has

held meetings with his top security brass so the situation at the moment extremely tense here in the region but all eyes will be on the united states to see what if any response trump will now take the u.s. federal aviation agency has banned all u.s. flights over the persian gulf over security concerns so far washington's response has been somewhat muted but donald trump tweeting so far so good. all is well missiles launched from iran and to military bases located in iraq assessment of casualties and damage is taking place now so far so good we have the most powerful and well equipped military anywhere in the world by far i will be making a statement to morrow morning well we have a tweet from donald trump it begins with the phrase all is well followed by a statement that there is an assessment going on of the casualties and the damage done to us bases as a result of the attack by the iranian missiles furthermore we do have the white

house saying that trump has been briefed on the situation and it we have this point it's expected that down trump will speak to the media regarding the events tomorrow this is what we heard from the white house we are aware of the reports of attacks on u.s. facilities in the iraq the president has been briefed and is monitoring the situation closely and consulting with his national security team now the response from members of the u.s. congress has been quite different depending on which party they are in we have nancy pelosi the leader of the democrats in the house of representatives speaking about the events and saying that trumps unnecessary escalation seems to have something to do with these events where we have marco rubio a republican and a conservative speaking in support of donald trump and criticizing nancy pelosi for her criticisms of the president and the moments in which these missiles have been fired this is the exchange we saw on social media.