i. the palestinian president. ministrations middle east peace. security council. marks the 40th anniversary of the islamic revolution with a strong. future. program. is going to go thanks for joining us on the program. welcome to this hour. the president. has formally rejected donald trump's middle east peace plan was

addressing the u.n. security council where he described the plan as a reward for occupation as the details. palestinian leader mahmoud abbas spoke before the 15 member body that leads the united nations and made his case about why palestine is rejecting the proposal put forward by the white house and israel take a listen. i have come to you to call for a just peace on behalf of the palestinians i have come to you today to reaffirm the palestinian position which rejects the israeli american proposal this is supported by the results of meetings of the arab league the organization of islamic cooperation and the african union they who concluded that this plan must be completely rejected that's in addition to statements by the e.u. russia china japan and others. now abbas did mention he was open to negotiations with israel as long as the negotiations were sponsored by what is referred to as the international quartet united states the un russia and the

european union now the israeli representative got up and spoke and indicated that israel feels that in the past negotiations with palestinians have been unsuccessful here's what we heard from the israeli representative president abbas few the to be plugged. if you do this to negotiate even interested in finding a balance to do the conflict. mr president. let's not beat around the bush. peace would not be made of longer than the. vision the. only when he steps down. in the move fooled now according to the plan that was put forward jerusalem would remain israel's undivided capital and the united states claims it would double palestine's territory and that $50000000000.00 would be invested into

a palestinian state now those are the claims put forward about what would go on and what would take place under this deal. however though we have heard a lot of optimism and positive statements about it from u.s. leaders as well as israeli leaders we have not heard anything positive about it from palestinians in fact in addition to negative statements about it from palestinian leaders there have been some pretty intense clashes take a listen my vision presents a win win opportunity for both sides. was. a realistic 2 state solution that resolves the risks of palestinian statehood to the israel's security. i'm going to have to. it's a great plan prue's room. it's a great plan for peace. already

on the very day when this u.n. security council meeting was taking place there were clashes taking place on the west bank between palestinians and israeli security forces near the palestinian city of ramallah there was conflict at this point there were jewish settlements there was tear gas dispersed against palestinian protesters rocks were thrown quite a heated and intense exchange a lot of injuries took place it seems that this proposed peace plan is not leading to peace and stability in the middle shaath a senior political adviser to my would have biassed says the palestinian president is ready to negotiate with israel but only under international supervision. it is totally unacceptable it's it's not. a deal a deal if somebody is something that each party of 2 parties get something and be

something this is not a deal this is an attempt to liquidate the palestinian problem give it a big part of our land in the west bank to israel. maybe israel responsible force our security whatever. with us. and take over all of the east jerusalem and stop giving any rights to the refugees this is a crime against the palestinian people there is nothing government really focused on our best to accept this is he spoke today in the security council he was very clear. i am i want peace based on a 2 state solution i want to negotiate directly with israel not through america i want the quartet which includes russia and the green union and the united nations and the united states but i will not submit to be knighted states and make it the

sole oh not of this peace process because it is totally biased with israelis. president has revealed it is a ministrations made contact with islamist leaders in his country's conflict stricken north and in the deadly violence that's been sweeping missa held region. check out his admission to french journalist shortly after paris said it will send $600.00 extra troops the west africa so that the minsky has the details. president kater in that interview said no stone could be left unturned when it came to the search for peace and an end to the bloodshed. it is my duty and my mission to do everything possible so that one way or another we can achieve some sort of peace because the number of deaths in the sahara is increasing exponentially and i believe that it is time that certain avenues were explored this

is as tensions have been mounting particularly over the last 2 months up bloodshed has been ratcheting up. the as well as you're aware there is a heavy french a presence of military in the sawhill region so the idea that mali's president and its government is now talking to the c.g. hard as puts in question what perhaps those french troops are doing to guarantee

that security in the region this acknowledgment is pretty uncomfortable given that it comes just weeks after a summit here in france the g. 5 sawhill summit was held in january that was hailed as a success by president he said at the time that the summit was a turning point in founding a solution to the issues in the saw her region when it comes to the insurgency by the hardest and he acknowledged at that summit and he said that this has been acknowledged by other african region as well is that the. the former colonial power was the only guarantee of security on the ground so the idea that mali's government is now talking to the senior harvests in an attempt to find peace will probably raise some eyebrows here in france especially given that french soldiers as macron and put it were paying for the conflict in blood and it's also possibly a slap in the face given that we've just had the announcement that france is to

boost its troops in the region the armed forces minister announcing that that would bring the troop deployment up to around $5100.00 it also comes at a time when there are tensions over the presence of french military the french troops in the region as well there have been protests on the ground across the saw her region of people saying that they're unhappy with the idea of a former colonial power having its troops in the region today and that's something that mack wanted also touched on in that summit in power in the south of france back in january he actually said that there was no problem with french troops being on the ground and he suggested that the tensions were in fact being stood up by what he described as foreign powers the speeches that i've heard in recent weeks a contemptible because they serve other interests be very interested terrorist groups or those of foreign powers who want to see the europeans withdraw because they have their own agendas agendas involving mercenaries the french armies in the

world to promote security and stability but there was no further details to elaborate on that no evidence given by president but this new announcement of this talking with the hardest and also another announcement by the african union that what they need is a homegrown counterterrorism force perhaps suggest french troops aren't exactly that welcome at least in the long term and this could cause some difficulties for president back on here in france he's been under pressure recently to justify that continued military deployment that presence in the and of course now with those increasing troops heading to the area. one car the terror expert we spoke to thinks all options should be on the table when it comes to stabilizing the region. i think everyone should be looked just like you highly mentioned our way of making decent move without consultation with the french press today it seems to be

beat of be told i'll understand that 4000 people have been lost their lives you know india. of course is under a lot of pressure to ensure. it brings this. differential. you know about 5000 wanted all planted to 5100 soldiers on the ground war did. cause you know 4 to one you know soldiers have been lost. since 2002 the french could mean to be quite keen to go to. leave it up please helped to a showdown peace. particularly in mali. iranians are marking the 41st anniversary of the islamic revolution tens of

thousands of rallied in cities across the country to mark the occasion waving iranian flags holding portraits of the founder of these republic or taller khamenei while also chanting anti-american and anti israel you slow grids the main gathering was in toronto central square where defiant president has some rabbani headed the celebrations delivering a speech on the country's ongoing struggles with washington. oh my god that is sadly it was actually in the past 2 years america has put so much pressure on our beloved people and all of our treat all of our exports all of our imports and all of the countries needs to exhaust the patience of our people the americans did not understand the greatness of the iranian people the united states believes it is facing 41 years of civilization no the americans are facing thousands of years of arenas civilization. well today's situation's obviously mired in history here's a quick recap of what exactly led to the islamic revolution in iraq.

let's take a look back at more recent events now and how tensions have escalated between iran and the united states america unilaterally withdrew from a hard brokered nuclear deal that was back in 28 teen and reintroduced sanctions tensions spiked further last month after the assassination by america of rain in general can seem soloman iraq the us operation came in retaliation for an assault on the american embassy in baghdad by integrating militia groups now in response to the killing of general ceremony to run fired missiles at a u.s. military base in iraq that nobody was killed in those strikes shortly after that

a ukrainian passenger plane was accidentally shot down into iran by the revolutionary guard 176 people were killed in that tragedy a president to ruin himself described it as an unforgivable mistake or to get some insight into all this we've got to the university of drums professor sayed mohammed marandi as well as american mideast coalition for democracy chairman john hagee and scott ritter who's a former u.s. marine intelligence officer thanks for joining us all gentlemen great to have you on the program today but right if i can perhaps start with you it's been 41 years obviously since the islamic revolution the country though is pretty far from stable isn't it we've got protests within we've got some pretty tough relations with america and the e.u. outside as well what would have been the biggest factor is the thing that have led to this situation. well the region is unstable but i think by far iran is the most stable state in the

region largely iran has been able to stand firm despite u.s. sanctions despite the fact that the united states is trying to strangle the iranian economy its tension is to make ordinary people suffer they are preventing iran from importing medicine they put pressure on countries so that they will not even export grain to iran so this is the degree to which the united states pursues an inhumane policy towards the country but despite all that you as you saw when general stolen money was being mourned in teheran millions of people came to the streets in tehran alone to pay their respects for him and he symbolizes the islamic republic of iran everything that it stands for so i think it's

a miscalculation in the united states to even imagine that iran is in any way or form unstable iran has many grievances against the united states to its overthrow of the national government in 1983 troops who are supporting the shah creating the secret police which killed thousands of people and then of course after the revolution supporting saddam hussein giving him chemical weapons and giving him intelligence to use those chemical weapons and the sanctions in support for terrorist organizations in iran the list goes on many many thousands of iranians have been killed as a result of u.s. policy and the united states behaves with impunity when it comes to iran john cannot go to you next i mean iran and the united states they've got a lot of history of a lot of a lot of grief so to speak going back quite a long way a number of decades in terms of today what you think of. strategy is with iran is it regime change i mean judging by the events we've seen the last couple of days

the government doesn't short out of popular support you know if that strategy does succeed what could happen next in the region where is this going in terms of washington's policies. well 1st of all i reject your premise that the government enjoys a lot of popular support the people are subjugated their era economy is imploding and you know people i think you know are a force to those government run demonstrations and that player is old and tired you know they were out the they rile up the crowd they promised them i don't know what they do to get them into the streets besides just outwardly threatening them but i think the government is anything but popular in terms of u.s. foreign policy i think president trouble stated very clearly in the policy is that iran will not develop. a nuclear program and he will do everything he can to stop the policy is not regime change but rather

a regime. for the current regime of company to change course and stop destabilizing its neighbors and offer you know a brighter future for the people of iran and that's been stated clearly many times by the president by secretary pompei of the united states. scored a fuckin go to you next i mean in terms of what john was saying there in terms of america's aim is the key policy aims. nuclear deals apparently dead iran's now saying it may even with draw from the nonproliferation treaty the cigs certainly don't seem to be getting better in terms of relations do they lot of questions being asked is an all out conflict still possible here going from some sort of proxy war to this back and forth could we see something more serious are developing . well absolutely i mean this is a very very dangerous situation 1st of all we need to make it clear that it was the

united states that withdrew from the. iran nuclear agreement not iran what iran has been doing since the american withdrawal is exercising exercising its rights in accordance with the the agreement to back off of its commitments so long as one party or multiple parties are not in compliance and iran's grievances aren't just with the united states for withdrawing but also with the european union for failing to stand up the united states in regards to the position of economic sanctions europe has an obligation to engage in trade with iran it's not doing so so iran has been gradually withdrawing from its commitments that were made under the iran nuclear agreement to the extent today there are no commitments in place yes there's weapons inspections or i should say nuclear inspections taking place but iran has basically said we will spend as many center futures as easy as we want and we will

enrich what we want but it's also making clear that iran is not pursuing a nuclear weapons program this is a statement effect is certified by the the signatory the participants to the iran nuclear agreement and the united nations security council itself but if the united states continues down this path of strangling iran's economy iran could could have to concede no future in pursuing a course of action which brought it nothing it's a last thing it has the last card it has the play is its participation in the nonproliferation treaty and iran has made it clear that if europe engages in a a course of action that leads to iran once again being referred to the united nations security council where sanctions will be re-imposed under the age of the united nations iran will withdraw from the n.p.t. and if that happens all bets are off there is a great power. indeed a probability that the united states sure full that iran's withdrawal is

a precursor to possible acquisition of a nuclear weapons capability that the united states would use military action this is a very dangerous situation and it's one that the entire world needs to be focused on to prevent it because no matter where you stand on whether or not the iranian regime is good bad indifferent war between the united states and iran benefits no one and hazards the entire global economy do you think that the u.s. maximum pressure tactic repeated sanction turning the screws is working because you know suddenly it seems to be isolating the the radian people however you say the government may be unpopular. it's not doing any favors in times of p.r. image for the united states it's bringing the region closer to conflict do you think this is something that is having the desired effect. i think it's having great effect i mean look at what's happening in iraq and in lebanon and also in

iran i mean remember right after qassam saw him on he was taken out by u.s. forces. there were there were mass demonstrations and i believe in the city it is they painted the. flags of the united states and israel on the street with the intention by the regime to have the people walk over those flags as a side of disrespect and the people were very astutely and very intentionally walked around those flags saying our problem is not with israel the united states it's with our own regime that tells you that the regime has lost popularity the government look at but before trump was elected the economy was weak it's gotten weaker obviously under the maximum pressure and it's just continue to spiral downward what has this regime brought to its people other than death and destruction and. a very poor economy and starvation and now that spread throughout the region and people see it and love of than touch daily with with people on the

ground in lebanon in fact today the demonstrators tried to prevent the parliament from convenient because they know it's a parliament that's completely controlled by iran that can take no thought of decisions there's been massive looting of the country over the past 30 years that people are this stand of living is rapidly eroding going into poverty very quickly and they have no say because ultimately the guarantor of security is hezbollah was backed by iran 100 percent so in the same thing what the the iranian backed militias the xabi the popular mobilization militias in iraq they are the ones that have the power not the government and people want to restore a secular governments that are accountable to the people of iraq into. and it seems to be the same situation in iran where they say we don't care about the palestinians about the iraqis the lebanese we hear of iran spend the

resources in the riches of iran on the people so they can develop their economy and that's a common theme throughout the middle east in every country where iran has interfered and destabilized i have a dog that i think john has made pretty clear who bears the brunt of the blame here for for the tensions but i mean in terms of if you take iran you know foreign policy is accused of supporting political movements militias from syria to yemen. said walk on the run behave quote here like a normal country like a lot more way that was. is really true through what john is saying that iran does bear some of the blame for these tensions going is far as they have. no i think john knows that he's talking nonsense the united states destroyed libya the united states and the saudis destroyed yemen the united states supported al qaida in syria they continued to support we know that in the it is al qaeda that is

that is the dominant force there merican know it everyone knows it yet they support them because it serves their interest americans are helping the israelis subjugate the palestinian people making israel now basically formally an apartheid regime almost identical to south africa the americans destroyed afghanistan along with the saudis helping to create the al qaeda that later on evolved into isis and the mess that we see across the region the us alliance with saudi arabia and the rise of wahhabi islam across the board has destroyed millions upon millions of lives in this region the destruction of iraq the u.s. support for saddam hussein giving him chemical weapons to use and then destroying iraq because of saddam hussein through lives through lying and saying that iraq was making weapons of mass destruction and now we see the same in iran on the one hand

he's very happy about the sanctions and the suffering that the americans are trying to impose on the iranian people but he's also happy that protesters are in lebanon are trying to bring down the government that. parliament that was elected by the people of lebanon just like in iraq so he opens he's he's very clear eyed about a few 100 demonstrators in tehran or in baghdad who support the united states but the millions of people in iran who went to general so that my knees funeral which he acknowledges he says he doesn't know how they brought them to the streets as if you can just bring millions of people to those 3 it's through coercion and then on the other hand he should then if that's. the case he should help the saudis bring millions of people to the street is that something that's possible in the 1st place because there is allies in the allies of the trump regime and then in iraq we had millions of people in baghdad protesting against the u.s.

occupation haven't started in here we are just running out of the immigrants to leave a terrible search. to give everyone a chance to respond to make their points here just want to go back to to join quickly and give him a chance to wrap up here john how do you see the future of iran after 41 years of the revolution i mean you have a habit obviously of quite different visions perhaps of how things are how they should go how do you see the future of iran going just briefly. well as in talking points directly from ayatollah khamenei but i see a bright future for you ron i think. all of that romney deposed or isn't. i see they are a mystery with the united states are the problems and maybe they don't like that resident. i don't think so now wait a few people are flocking people right side of. the united states to america

population don't vote is nobody really wants to go and live anywhere on the arabia people are free are you have a great history i.q. was ation and they were high return to their great roots and they want to overthrow this government so they have a brighter future i think that's clear ok and scott also wanted to say anything about have a job that will give you a chance to. do you see. to mend relations with the united states with full things to improve in times of foreign policy or all things just going to get tough for us things go on. or the big problems in the united states is the absolute ignorance on the part of the american electorate as a whole and indeed policymakers in specific about the reality of iran i'm not here to sing the praises of the iranian government but it is a government that was formed legitimately in the aftermath of a revolution it's a government that is constitutionally based it's a government that has in extreme amount of democratic participation indeed. the

fact is more iranians participate in the parliamentary elections and presidential elections than americans do in similar national elections you know iran is a is a viable nation state it has a legitimate role to play in the region we can debate whether or not this is malign or otherwise but it is a legitimate role just like any nation has a legitimate role the problem isn't iran per se the problem is the united states the united states needs to learn how to deal with with iran deal with the reality of iran deal with the islamic republic of iran and were not able or willing to do so and this will not chain. so long as president trump remains as the chief executive but even if president trip is voted out in november and a new american president comes in the fact of the matter is the vast majority of american politicians are ignorant about iran and labor under the prejudice the

inherent prejudice that exists within the american public at large about iran a prejudiced extends back to the taking of american hostages when the embassy was seized in 1979 the you know a prejudice that extends to a lack of comprehension about the reality of the iranian regime about you know the nature of the iranian people of the united states is ignorant about iran so long as this ignorance exists fear will dominate our policies and i don't see any policy change and that's a shame because without a policy change there's a real chance for military conflict between these 2 nations we do have just a couple but it is jens just want to go back to if i can join the e.u. is trying to save relations at least with iran seems to be trying to do so more than the us in terms of the nuclear deal one of the shots is all of improve relations with the e.u. do you think with iran in times of specifically that nuclear proliferation.