meeting in the former russia iran i said by jan. in the russia. we have in past into parliamentary exchanges connections between the regions of the two countries and and are developing the contacts. between the corresponding ministries including of course the foreign ministries where interested to further promote our relations in all those years and being external political one of the priorities is that fair the combination of efforts on fighting terrorist threat including. law enforcement. and also we call parade. to ensure the interests of the citizens of russia and iran. who are in the territory so each other. we have a good relations of trade investment corporation of course or of course some illegitimate sanctions they hamper it which the united states unilaterally. bypassing the u.n. security council to introduce and say and. we confer here as. to promote our economic cooperation and to look for if in fact he wastes which. would be under the power of this in an acceptable illegitimate american the restrictions. would have good. prospects. co

number of us commitments voluntary could tell us what that will be the practical steps which russia and iran will be making in your opinion is that it. is it possible to maintain. these conditions and i would like to ask both with his sister answer this question. you know russia and iran are both committed to this plan of action and we have demonstrated with everything we do. is for the other signatories they stated their commitment but they have not done anything to support that. speaking about three hundred kilograms of the enrich the uranium this limits set by the agreement. has been reconsidered by the fact that the united states introducing new sanctions sanctions threaten new sanctions but we already. have the opposing party i mean the remaining signatories to the joint plan of action. do comply with all the requirements of the agreement so in case they do that we. are also complying with all the requirements of the agreement of the plan of action that's what we're committed to and we are going to committed to the negotiation process.

for russia, iran is not really a threat. rs, it isr the really unpopular with the iranian public. a litany of sins that the russians have committed against iran much longer than sins they talk about in the u.s., centuries longer. but that being the case, the iranian leadership is basically decided they will potentially downplay this and focus on common competition with the united states. i would like to see this happen but unfortunately i don't see either side is willing to play this. >> any other comments? >> hello, i'm from the polish embassy. my question, you say russia is transactional and opportunistic but everyone in the middle east knows that. it is not about u.s. presence there, and so on. transactional is the word sometimes i would use myself. is, putin shows that he sticks to assad even though he personally dislikes him. the messaging from the white house, we are with drawing, now we are sending more troops. what is the strategy in syria? what do you want to achieve? you can summarize and show us the way ahead. like

you know russia and iran are both committed to this plan of actions and we have demonstrated it with everything we do. is for the other signatories they stated their commitment but they have not done anything to support that. speaking about the three hundred kilograms of the enrich the uranium at this limit and by the agreement. has been reconsidered by the fact that the united states introducing a new section sanctions threatening sanctions but we ready in case the opposing party i mean the remaining signatories to the joint plan of action. do comply with all the requirements of the agreement so in case they do that we. are also complying with all the requirements of the agreement of their plan of action that's what we're committed to and we are going to committed to the negotiation process this is our strategic decision and our today's decision is i stated decision. and our ultimate goal is to have the comprehensive plan of action implemented fully by all the parties. in my opinion. the only practical steps which must be taken in order to regulate the situation over the prevent a s

the just a and united states is putting pressure on iran then when zarif repeated the names of these countries it suggested that going forward russia and iran would be allied in their policies on these countries and most likely could pose a challenge to the united states both countries also reaffirms how they and how russia and china as well. also mention china saying that russia and china were maintaining their commitment to the nuclear deals and to the nuclear deal and both ministers called out european leaders for really not doing the same in the time since united states has been hammering all the new. deal and since united states pulled out of the deal so both countries sort of calling out their european counterparts and saying to european leaders that we have two months that within the framework of the deal with iran's actions are legitimate you know let's come to the table and try to find out a solution and commit to your part of the bargain commit to your part of the deal and stick to the tenets of the agreement now for european powers this is going to be a tricky one since they have succumbed to u.s. pressure over the cours

russia knew that iran was coming in, because iran had already been in there when russia intervened in the fall of 2015. that iran would provide essentially first class infantry to make up for the problems of the assad fighting forces such as hezbollah movement out of lebanon and some of the maliciousas -- mr. castro: in the fact we disagree on assad, what other differences between the united states and russia with respect to syria? as far as the administration's concerned. is that the totality of our differences? mr. jeffrey: basically it is the future of the assad regime. we think that this regime needs to subject itself to the u.n. process, free and fair elections, a new constitution or reformed constitution, and a nationwide cease-fire. we think that that is a political result that will meet russia's interests and meet ours. we're still trying to persuade them of that. r. castro: i yield back. >> the chair recognizes himself for five minutes. just building on the gentleman from texas' inquiry. i assume one of the things the russians also want is to maintain and expand their naval b

is reacting and russia is standing by every step of the way how will trading between iran and russia impact all the rhetoric that is coming out of washington d.c. they will obviously be watching moscow very closely. well the first thing which we need to keep in mind is that trades are not big between the russia and iran is not that big so keeping trade ties and economy changes between russia and iran won't help iran as much as they keep you know trading with the europeans which. way larger partners trade partners for for iran so in this matter russia is just trying to side with iran and actually agree is i mean repeatedly it's rhetorical or always european partners who can't deliver on their promises to stick to the deal in terms of. the next step forward if everybody is entrenched in their positions is this now a case as we spoke to previous analysts in the last twenty four hours here on al-jazeera that there needs to be some. conversation between very senior levels of government you know president the president president and prime ministers is this something now that vladimir putin

tensions in the region re iran very different positions that. russia and iran strategic allies united states an escalating things there if you like what's your sense of how important it is that this this triangle. russia the united states and iran are going to play out well i would say 1st of all we need to use the word allies a very cautious where because in some of the cases iran and russia has to work together but obviously in different conditions they would prefer different partners so given the necessity to cooperate on syria given the necessity to loke on energy market they need to talk from this point of view definitely russia has far less. era from when you were than the united states in the question of the nuclear program though russia doesn't the would like to see iran armed with a nuclear war more leaving the way yeah and given this latest news that the iran's supreme leader ali khamenei has ruled out negotiation with washington. but has said that is they won't go to war over this dispute. how can russia play act as a mediator and will weigh

and iran is not that big so keeping trade ties and economy changes between russia and iran won't help iran as much as if they keep you know trading with the europeans which. way larger partners trade partners for for iran so in this matter russia is just trying to side with iran and actually increase i mean repeatedly it's rhetorical over its european partners who can't deliver on their promises to stick to the deal now south korea's military says north korea's fied to identified rockets or missiles to launch up a didn't do so long in the northern province south korea says the projectiles were directed towards the east bryant has more from the south korean capital seoul. south korean defense officials confirming that two projectiles were fired within half an hour of each other on thursday afternoon local time and assuming that these were short range missiles one of them travel just over four hundred kilometers the other just under three hundred kilometers landing in the sea separating the korean peninsula with japan it comes as the u.s. special representative on no

be a provided data information more than 9600 accounts from russia, iran, venezuela totaling over 25 million tweets. it is our fundamental belief to be available and searchable content to researchers and public and government to build media literacy campaigns for the future. this is nothing new at dawn since before social media continues to adapt and change as a geopolitical terrain emerges. we are committed to understand how bad-faith actors use our services. we also provide additional transparent site on - - tray pages printing on twitter the launch last year were anyone can search for all ads running on the platform you can find significant level of detail associated with each. as i previously mentioned partnerships are critical with collaboration of federal, state, and local officials in 2016 we continue to strengthen relationships with law enforcement agencies including fbi task force us homeland department of security. to twitter virtually participate in departments of homeland security. our efforts may have been able to fight the threat and supporting the health of the convers

with people like russia and iran, the last thing they want is a democracy in that area, because it weakens their form of government. if you have players like russia, who is a member of the u.n., that's supposed to be part of the security counsel that's supposed to enforce these things, we see over and over again, we look at north korea, they voted with sanctions. they don't enforce the sanctions. they work against the resolve of the problem. so as long as russia is there and/or iran, i don't see a peaceful solution coming out that's favoring stability. i don't see anybody willing to stand up, so i see a drawnout conflict. i think more importantly to me is if we look at the western hemisphere, and i know that's not what this meeting is about, i have those same players in venezuela. then you throw in the cubans and they are propping up maduro like they did assad because it worked in syria. there was no way assad was going to be able to stay in power with the atrocities. over 10 million people have left, run out of the country by fear, over a half million murdered. there's got to be a better

>> cuba, china, russia, iran.hose are the countries that support maduro at this point. >> caller: what percentage of the population supports maduro and what percentage of the population best that is and not referring to the military? >> guest: fair question, support is much low e than it was but still has to have support and among a certain percentage of population. i think most polls would average around 25% or so, some polls would have it higher, some frankly a lot lower. the point why are people still supporting him i think that's also a fair question, a number of venezuelans depend completely for their livelihood on the state and on handouts from the state, whether it's their state jobs, whether it's their food supply that they receive from the states, whether it's the health care that they receive from the states, also ideological component for a number of folks, everybody has eitheir own reasons, broadly speaking, those who support mr. maduro are doing so because they see in him somebody that's providing cer

in every single circumstance, north korea, china, russia, iran, nato, nafta, every single circumstancestable genius, i'm going to do something different than my predecessors and trash them in the process. we're looking for some sort of global strategy. i think some of this is i can't accept what my predecessors did because i'm smarter. >> listen, isn't that okay to do something different but shouldn't you do it with some sort of knowledge behind you and listen to your advisers? i mean, that -- >> it's okay. it's okay to chart a new course, but in what world are we better off being friends with putin than merkel? in what world do you want this ghastly gallery of friends instead of long-time allies. it's doing things differently and then there's being perverse. >> i want to know how much of this is about narcissism. i'm not a psychologist. but since it was part of a report. according to two psychiatrists enlisted to analyze president trump and chinese president xi for u.s./china trade talks. they rated both presidents a "ten out of ten narcissist," according to two sources. but again, yo

is not assisting the syrian government with fuel oil i think russia is using this to put pressure on the syrian government and its ally iran russia wants the writings and say that the political military and security decisions in syria come from the kremlin. syria has just granted russia control of the main and strategic commercial port and on the mediterranean for the next forty nine years it appears russia is replacing iran.

businesses in the privacy multilateral un led process has been displaced the last three years by russia iran turkey but that sustainable enpeace can only be built international as well as international engagement that takes sustained muscle. fourth the most vulnerable refugees abuse women and victims of torture depend for their future on resettlement as senator menendez said the us has historically led the way and only 62 syrians were out of the country because of the fiscal year so far 250 to draw attention to the fact although it reduces numbers administration is committed to 9000 refugees for resettlement from the middle east alone but so far seven months into the fiscal year they have achieved less than 7 percent which seems to me were the of greater attention to make sure they do hit their own target during the fiscall year. syria over the last eight years is a posterr child for the age of impunity with the laws of war are considered optional civilians are fair game aid workers are collateral and diplomacy is ruthless i thank you and the united states senate to provide the perspective o

i mean, russia and iran have emerged as one of the big alliances over the past several years, they help -- russia helps iran economically, provides nuclear technology to iran, provides diplomatic support for it. they are both sort of burdened by u.s.-led sanctions on their economy and they are both fundamentally opposed to western power, american power in particular, that's driven them closer together. it's very difficult to see when you look at all those various points of conflict where any common interest is going to be found between these two countries. >> arms control didn't russia just come out of a major arms control agreement? it's mind-boggling. matthew chance, thanks very much. >>> pompeo's trip comes amid escalating tensions specifically with iran. this morning we have learned the u.s. suspects that iran is behind an attack on two saudi oil tankers as well as two other ships damaged near the persian gulf over the weekend now no official conclusion has been reached in the investigation. president trump has warned tehran they will have a, quote, bad problem if they played any ro

russia isean -- iran, on the opposite sihe, clearly, of.s. the u.s. s chosen sides in the middle east, russia hasn't and has warned the u.s. about intervention. where i think they could work together more is on the arms-control issue. even though there is opposition domestically in the united states, that is an imperative for them because we have a major arms-control aeement expiring in a couple of years. and if we don't renew it, it will be the first time in 50 years we have nothing regulating our nuclear arsenals. and that's dangerous. laura: when it comes to a meeting between president putin anpresident trump, as you mentioned, it h coupen at the g20. how high would the stakes be for that meeting? >> i think the stakes are quite high, because i think president trump feels vindicated by the mueller report and he finallywa s to show the u.s. and the people who voted for him that he ca make a deal with putin, unlike president obama. for putting bama the stakes are , the high -- for putin stakes are quite high, too, beteuse he wants to show des the dome

russia and iran u.s. secretary of state mike pompeo has visited the black sea resort of sochi he held meetings with his russian counterpart sergey lavrov and russian president vladimir putin now speaking ahead of those talks putin found words of praise for the recently published a report on russian meddling in the 26000 u.s. election russian leader also expressed his desire to completely restored the bad relations between his country and the united states a feeling that he said that he sense is reset for kate by donald trump people are this talk about that. a bit more joining me here the big table is sarah palin she is a political analyst and russia expert with the german council on foreign relations it's good to have you on the show so let's talk about what we're looking at the u.s. in the russia and russia they disagree on many things still they value to improve their relationship how are they going to do that they're probably not really going to do that as leverage and they want to they want to improve

united states and all the around the world welcome we begin the day with the american versions of russia and iran today mike pump visited russia for the 1st time as u.s. secretary of state he spent 90 minutes in a meeting with eruption foreign minister sergey lavrov reportedly highlighting what the 2 countries have in common 90 minutes 9 minutes would have been more realistic despite u.s. president trump's refusal to criticize russian president putin and russian foreign policy the reality remains the u.s. and russia are at opposite ends and working for opposite outcomes in every geo political powder keg of that's the real russian picture what about iran a year ago the u.s. withdrew from the iran nuclear deal and perceived intentions and threats coming from tehran have done nothing but increase a combat group including the u.s.s. lincoln are now in the gulf just last week the pentagon reportedly presented a plan to send 120000 u.s. troops to the middle east if iranian actions make it necessary now these are preparations at least they sound like preparations for war and they increase the chances of

talks with sergey lavrov his russian counterpart what will pompei will be looking for from russia when it comes to iran. well with russia the picture is a bit more complex its 1st visit to russia since he has become the foreign minister secretary of state so they have an entire range of issues to talk about from venezuela the situation to the arctic to iran also. of in advance of the meeting said that he doesn't he would like to understand what is the u.s. ration nail behind this military buildup the russians are certainly not supportive of it they see the pressure as counterproductive and in that sense they are on the side of the europeans russia is part of the agreement russia wants to stay in the agreement russia wants iran to stay in the agreement to prevent a nuclear bomb from being build so it will be. a conversation between 2 sides who disagree on on most things and find little agreement including on iran ok we'll see what comes out of that meeting hopefully later today colonel his other bar from the german council for foreign relations thanks so much for being with us thank you brian. let's che

now on the agenda and there is the preparation of the next time for that meeting in a format that russia iran has headed by john. in russia. we have in past interplanetary exchanges connections between the regions of the two countries and and are developing the contacts.

russia and iran have emerged as key allies. matic support for teheran, and it is deeply suspicious about u.s. intentions when it comes to the islamic republic, dave. >> and yet another opportunity to discuss russian interference in our election. matthew chance, thanks. >>> staying abroad, is the trump administration now preparing for war with iran? >> hearing little stories about iran, if they do anything, they will suffer greatly. we'll see what happens with iran. >> "the new york times" reports acting defense secretary patrick shanahan told top national security officials last week as many as 120,000 troops could be sent to the middle east if iran attacks american forces. not clear if the president would agree. president trump warning the irania irania iranians they'll have a quote bad problem if they play a role in sabotaged tankers. nic robertson at the port where the oil tankers were sabotaged. nic, what are we learning. >> reporter: the emirates have called in the united states to help them in the investigation, not just b

the topic i read the transcript of robert gates, in it he criticized donald trump strongly on russia, iranorea, on venezuela. heather: but we are not talking about president trump, we are talking about biden. >> but when you're talking about russia and what gates say -- he didn't say anything about russia and he agrees with biden on libra and egypt. what he says donald trump is trying to prevent congress from sanctioning russia because he knows russia helped him in the election and he doesn't want to stop from helping him again, that's the bombshell that you didn't say from the interview. heather: okay, but our topic, let's go back to biden and his foreign policy. >> right. heather: gates did point out, he also talked about the military mistakes that he's made. what about that? >> well, gates says in he is memoir of 2015 he criticizes biden on several things, if he stands by the statement, interesting, read the interview, he says, i don't know, i think i standby that statement, he talked about he agreed with biden on libya, he agreed on bidden on egypt and agreed with technical points in a

economic was in the new russia venezuela and iran to its attack on the superpower of the 21st century china is what the doldrums not yet resigned f.b.i. director christopher ray says about china it's a threat to our economic security and by extension it's a threat to our national security but it's even more fundamental and that is behavior that file ates the rule of law. it violates principles of fairness and integrity it violates our rules based world order that's existed since the end of world war 2. put plainly china's scenes determined to steal its way up the economic ladder at our expense we've been unable to secure an interview with the chinese ambassador in london about allegations like these that china is a rogue state bent on theft suffice it to say that the us is clearly violated the post 945 rules based order from career in vietnam to palestine nicaragua or in cuba here though is what china is saying about us policy if the u.s. insists china will have to respond to me highness never afraid of any pressure on china certainly has been pressured he has a us cable news presente

call with iran russia china basically the record. well. russia lays the blame for the iran crisis and america's door who shoulders it in your b. oh. absolutely or clear that role in pointing out the american who. quickly cry i think they'll throw on having that because we're going to. show you all the major foreign policy the achievement of the of them with me it's creation with iran's nuclear agreement but that the carnage that. now all call it trying to be able like iran who create an issue in iran through economic war which would lead to an upright thing in iraq that. america had only to go through. or we put in what looks like it's going to be a whirlwind because iran has the means it be they will either go and the world economy. now a number of us democrats are urging pompei or to take a hard line with russia over meddling let's take a quick listen to what we've been hearing from the. secretary of state complete must make clear that the coast of trying to interfere with american elections will be secretary of state bumpier must delive

conference that the the differences in positions they remain between the 2 countries specifically on iran russia hopes that there could be wider talks on around could prevent an escalation around iran and around the iranian nuclear program same goes for cereal though highlighted that russia and the united states one to prevent the the resurgence of isis in syria and they want to make syria safer place for the syrians and you have you given the escalating tensions in the region specifically over iran how is it how important is it in your view the. russian united states begin to see. the issue of iran. i think it's of paramount importance although i wouldn't say that they see eye to eye on this issue as of as of yet although i think it is more important to the russians that the americans and the europeans see eye to eye on this on the issue of iran and i think you're a is the is the element that is really missing in this equation in the in the u.s. russia europe iran kind of white or white or equation and i think it maybe was a good idea that powell actually visited brussels before again he came t

countries but how they see that happening seems to be very different the united states saying that russia china iran cuba are interfering in venezuelan politics the russians pointing out that washington is threatening the government of venezuela with intervention with military action invasion which is also the russians say. meddling interference and they pointed out the $2003.00 invasion of iraq in order to bring democracy to iraq as an unsuccessful attempt to. meddling they will support that out the $2011.00. they have libya where the united states it was there to bring to bring democracy to libya the russians are saying look how look how that look at libya now they also spoke about the continuing continuing conversation working on common ground and i suppose that's the biggest takeaway out of all of this that despite their differences and them agreeing to disagree agreeing that their differences a severe that they'll continue to talk that they'll continue to try to find common ground iran of course similar to venezuela diametrically opposed views on what to do and how to go about solving the irani

with people like russia and iran, the last thing they want is a democracy in that area because it weakens their form of government and if you have players like russia who is a member of the un is supposed to be part of the security council to enforce these things and we see over and over again they voted with the sanctions they don't enforce the sanctions, so they work against the resolve of the problem so as long as russia is there, or iran, i don't see a peaceful solution coming out that's favoring stability. i don't see anybody willing to stand up, so i see a drawnout conflict that i think more importantly if we look at the western hemisphere and i know that isn't what this meeting is about but i have the same players in venezuela then you throw in the cuban and they are propping up a regime that worked in syria so there was no way they were going to be able to stay in power with the atrocities over 10 million people left. there's got to be a better solution to this and they wish to un had more bite in them to where we could come together and say let's bring an end to this. any thought

russia is pretty close to iran, actually. it's been one of the big sort of geopolitical shifts of the past several years. the fact that historically russia and iran have a relatively tense relationship, now they're closer, partly because of the fact russia sees it as an influential partner in the region. they fight side by side in syria, backing bashar al assad. russia has been providing nuclear technology, nuclear reactors inside iran, and provides them with diplomatic and political cover at the united nations, and of course, they're both under u.s. economic sanctions, and are both fundamentally opposed to the expansion of western and specifically american power globally and in the region. so they have this very tight relationship. it's been, you know, something of a challenge for the trump administration, the obama administration before it, to try to drive a wedge between these two nations. but there's nothing i'm seeing here to suggest that's likely, certainly not as a result of this secretary of state visit to russia. >> s

we're working diligently to ensure the elections in 2020 aren't interfered with by russia, by iran, bynorth korea, or anyone else. we have enormous resources deployed against that challenge. the american people should be sure their government is working hard to keep our elections safe and secure. >> brennan: you said this week that moscow has hundreds of people in venezuela and were very clear that you think it was russia that convinced nicolaÁs maduro not to get on a plane and to flee the country. here's what the president said during his -- after his phone call with vladimir putin. >> he is not looking at all to get involved in venezuela other than he'd like the see something positive happen for venezuela. and i feel the same way. >> brennan: there seems to be a difference in how the president describes this situation and how you and ambassador bolton have described it. >> no, no difference. no difference. the president has said... i think he in fact tweeted that the russians must leave venezuela. we have asked every nation that's interfering with venezuelan democracy. i was down on

-led diplomatic process have been displaced in the last three years by a russia-iran-turkey troika. however, a sustainable peace can only be built with international, as well as national, build. fourth, those with medical conditions depend for their future on resettlement to third countries. as senator menendez said, the u.s. has historically led the way. he rightly drew attention to the fact that in fiscal year 2016, only two syrians were allowed in the country. the fiscal year so far is 220. i want to draw attention to so far, only seven months into the fiscal year, they have received less than 7% of that regional target, and it seems to me worthy of great attention to make sure they do actually hit their own target in the course of the rest of this fiscal year. mr. chairman, syria over the last eight years has become a poster child for what i call an age of impunity. wh aid workers are seen as unfortunate collateral and diplomacy is toothless. i thank you and the senate to provide a perspective on this defining humanitarian challenge. i look forward to addressing your questions a

iran's leaders so yes. death. and destruction. all right russia's foreign ministry has condemned washington's plan to sanction countries that cooperate with iran and are still party to the two thousand and fifteen nuclear deal it describes such threats as on lawful and an acceptable for more on this we can cross live to independent political analyst alessandro bruno as always thank you for being with us here on our team international thank you so the u.s. says it will now start imposing sanctions on iran in exports of enriched uranium that had had actually been permitted under the nuclear deal how could this affect the situation in the country and with other countries who were part of. go shooting mistry. well the cancellation of the permissions comes shortly after united states has banned various countries from importing iranian oil including china. so there are now the question here is not even whether or not it's nuclear energy that's the problem the united states is pushing putting as much pressure as possible on the iranian government. to the p

>> i think really zeroing down on the three countries that i mentioned, russia, iran, cuba.ez. but a lot of what they do is not just military. that's probably the most obvious and visible. but they also have a lot of people embedded within the venezuelan community. whenever they will put together a protest or demonstration there are reports the regime actually gets word because there are people embedded in the community infiltrating a given direction of where protests will happen. cuba really needs to step out. the united states needs to continue to call out countries like russia who are prompting cuba and the venezuelan regime. >> julie: thank you for coming on this morning. >> bill: get to harris and melissa. "outnumbered" ready to kick off a new week. what's happening? >> fantastic monday. we love it. democrats say they hope to see special counsel mueller testify as soon as next week. the president now saying that should not happen. and that democrats just want a, quote, redo. whether he is right or after so much time and money americans need to hear from mueller himself.

france germany china and russia romney said iran was still committed to the deal despite stay u.s. withdrawal last year. tens of thousands of people are fleeing syria's last rebel held province amid a whitening government offensive backed spine russian air par the u.n. is calling for an urgent deescalation in northwestern syria where airstrikes have killed at least twenty civilians the rebels are promising to fight back saying a quarter has more from beirut it's a worsening humanitarian situation in northwest syria there are reports of up to one hundred fifty thousand people on the move heading north towards the border with turkey escaping what has been described as the fiercest bombardment in months. only brought what we can we have nothing. syrian and russian planes are continuing to target villages across southern it live and northern hama it's been more than a week now dozens of civilians have been killed the united nations is calling for an urgent deescalation and a recommitment to the cease fire especially after schools and health facilities were targeted the u.n. is closely

position on iran has been consistent. is there any hope russia could help us with iran? will: russia does have leverage in iran. they have been allies over the years. the problem russia has is in oil and politics. russia and saudi arabia are key allies in this opec deal to manage oil supplies and keep oil prices high. that is not making them particular popular in iran because iran's feeling is the rest of opec is helping president trump's agenda by agreeing to replace oil that iran cannot export because of sanctions. it is possible moscow does have leverage in iran. it is a complicated web of relationships based around oil and politics. david: thank you for reporting from london. let's go back to michael mckee. we will put back up trumps week from earlier that says president xi has the pboc on his side, why can't i get the fed on my side? if the fed matched with a were doing in china, it would begin over. is he right -- it would be game over? is he right? michael: no. he is right that the u.s. has a bigger economy and the damage will be less of a gdp -- of a gdp factor in