like a less discussing he now with joshua landis is director of the center of middle east studies at the university of oklahoma and he's with us now joshua good afternoon let's just start with those comments from trump blaming iran for havoc in the middle east trance critics say that's actually a bit rich what do you make of it well i think your introduction laid it out there's two sides to this the united states has lined up with the sunni powers saudi arabia and of course israel against largely shiite backed. shiites of the middle east whether it's iran is ball in lebannon assad in syria that these so we've got a classic wrangle over control of the persian gulf america wants to dominate the oil routes iran is trying to push america back and this is left a big open space of course for russia which has been able to side with iran and the shiites against the american backs and the powers and it's opened the door for russia to make a very important comeback in the middle east and we see the middle east very divided today in the north or russia and iran are supreme syria lebanon iran eve

is an iranian journalist and a visiting scholar at the center of middle east strategic studies a think tank funded by the turkish government. good to have you with us what do you make of natanya who's allegations is your country lying to the world. well first thank you for having me in fact to show by these really prime minister that this time he gave a presentation about iran's nuclear issue is not the first time that he is having those tired talking points about iran's nuclear issue and many of those who are if the mili are involved have been involved in the run nuclear issue and nuclear negotiations they know that the the things that larry mentioned by the israeli prime minister are not the only ones but they are the ones which her brother previously in the relation with the possible military dimensions which has been claimed by some western. parties in the past and k. o. in the past but this time the israeli prime minister has tried to recycle those issues which has been resolved in the negotiations that iran has the six world powers and they've rather the issue with the i.a.e.a. i

peace and stability in the middle east in the short term or even in the long term good to get your views on this that her same is director of the center for middle east studies at the university of denver thanks very much indeed let me just tell you that the news was a reporting that syria state media is citing military sources that an israeli rocket fire has destroyed a syrian rebel side we don't have any more details on that as soon as we do get some more details of course we'll bring them straight to you in the meantime white house press secretary does spoken out on the sirens being had in the golan heights . you know this just third there shows that the iranian regime cannot be trusted israel absolutely has a sovereign right to defend itself and we support them in whatever efforts they have in order to defend themself but again i think this activity in this action is just further demonstration that the iranian regime cannot be trusted in another good reminder that the president made the right decision to get out of the iran deal ok that's white house press secretary saying listen this is talking a moment ago let's go live to hide his or her as she's in w

center for gulf studies at cattle university from tehran mohammad marandi head of the north american studies graduate program at the university of tehran and from beirut via skype joseph to chichen middle east analyst and senior fellow at the king faisal center for islamic studies a very warm welcome to all of you mark first of all let's get an idea of iran's reaction to this very clear message that we're hearing from pompei are that iran destabilize is the region that is the main threat and needs to be contained i think the iranians would respond by saying that the israeli regime is subjugating the palestinians it is murdering people on the border of gaza and the saudis on the other hand and the israelis are constantly bombing syria against international law and the saudis they kidnap prime ministers they invade countries like yemen they. invade bad rain and keep the dictator in power they commit bring about this they brought about a siege against. and they've spread extremism to syria and iraq and of course they haven't succeeded in untag in izing turkey so i don't think that the americans really are in much of a position to talk about iran's behavior in this region iran and iran has very

life for us in jerusalem thanks very much indeed let me bring in jamie he's director of the center for middle east studies at the university of denver he's joining us on skype from there thank you very much indeed for your time let me ask you about the position that russia now finds itself in because it's how i was saying it of course as an ally of iran it also has in the past had very good relations with israel is there any role that it will be expected to play or be likely to play in trying to find some sort of solution to this situation. well if this escalates then the only country in the world that has diplomatic relations with all of the key players is russia and so they do have they've situated themselves. actually quite brilliantly from moscow's perspective to play the role of kingmaker here if they choose to do so. i don't think that russia's fundamental intervention in the region in syria will in the end be good for regional stability but if you look at the one country in the world that actually can step in and has diplomatic relations with all of the countries that are involved in these risk and

thank you so much for joining us to share that view of us of zani a journalist and a visiting scholar at the center for middle east strategic studies joining us from tehran we appreciate it. thank you well now to what will be the first ever meeting of a sitting u.s. president in a north korean leader president donald trump announced in a tweet that he will meet with north korea's kim jong un in singapore on june twelfth singapore is in the rare position of having diplomatic relations with both washington and pyongyang plus a track record of hosting sensitive encounters. the banner headline in singapore's newspapers the city state will host one of the highest stakes summits in decades that certainly pleased locals. some. coming in and on the scene too and the country just says that he's not. i mean doesn't that leave you sure because we've made in militias both sides so i've been having. with the u.s. and china and when you i mean you have been picking up on and off the list. indeed the city state is safe turf for both donald trump and kim jong un for the first ever meeting of a sitting u.s. president and a north korean leader singa

time i guess the bus line a visiting scholar of the middle east ratatouille study center in tehran think well my pompei added that the u.s. would send teams around the world to further explain washington's policy on iran but even before his new demands france was one of many countries already lashing out at u.s. strategy towards to around this could my we're going to the u.s. is the planet's economic policeman.

of our market you know we definitely will see what happens over the next weeks and months miles pumper senior fellow at the james martin center for nonproliferation studies and alex the tonka from the middle east institute both of you gentleman thank you for your insights tonight on the day like you were germany was there from the start of the negotiations that resulted in the twenty fifteen nuclear deal with iran over the past few months berlin joined with other european countries in a last ditch effort to persuade trump to at least to salvage the agreement they say that even that would is flawed the deal has largely kept iran in check and they warn that re imposing sanctions could read night a nuclear arms race. back in two thousand and fifteen there was relief and price throughout germany at the successful negotiation of the iran nuclear deal. is that . we have concluded an agreement that will make the middle east and the world safer . form a german foreign minister frank. was one of the main architects of the deal. one day before trump's decision on the agreement current german foreign minister and his french counterpart explained why europeans want to save it. we're afraid that a failure

thank you so much for joining us to share that view of us of sunny a journalist and a visiting scholar at the center for middle east strategic studies joining us from tehran we appreciate it. thank you and also a quick check of some other stories that have been making news around the world malaysian politician and former deputy prime minister anwar abraham is them to walk free after spending years in jail that's following the first ever transfer of power there by the new prime minister mahathir mohamad says that they king has told him that anwar would be pardoned the hutch here has also promised to hand on war the prime minister's job when he retires. seven people have been found dead on a remote farm in western australia and what could be the country's worst mass shooting in decades police are calling to the property were called rather to the property outside of perth where they found the bodies of four children and three adults they are treating the incident as a murder suicide. it will be the first ever meeting of a sitting u.s. president and a korean leader president donald trump announced in a tweet that he will meet north kore

earlier i also spoke to the director of the middle east prograat the center for strategic and international studies. this is the bloodiest day for palestinians in four years. the white house is blaming hamas, and the palyitinians are this is an israeli massacre. what is your assessment of the situation? >> you have an increasinnumber of hopeless palestinians. hamas has much less control over gaza, much less political legitimacy. fatah also has diminishing legitimacy. i think that part of this, notut all of it,art of it is just desperate young palestinians, many of them men, who say i don't see the point of living in a prison forever, i am going to go down fig in some ways it is easier to shape the violence if there is somebody leading it. if nobody is leading iis becomes very hard, as we saw in the intifada. firstlaura: the trump administration says that moving the embassy to jerusalem is just recognizing reality and that is the first step towards enhanng the chances for peace. what is your rction to that? jon: it is reality that a lot of the american government is in jerusalem. a significant part

devolution of the nuclear deal earlier this week all right the same doesn't live in tehran thank you very much indeed well now let's wait to just our land this is director at the center for middle east studies at the university of oklahoma and he's joining us now from. italy thank you for joining us this is a very serious escalation as correspondent just alluded to how close are we to an all out confrontation between israel and iran i don't think we're close at all you know there's been a lot of hype about this particularly from the israeli side but israel is drawing red lines that the balance of power in that region is very skewed to israel or israel has has. out ronnie. up some afraid we'd have a very very unreliable line to just rely on this this is a real shame jesse i think we might have you but just so i wonder if you could continue the line dropped off a little bit but i think we have you back now could you continue yeah i don't think the war fears are well taken i think that the balance of power is skewed very in israel's paper here israel is hurting syria hurting iran it wants to come off the back of this trump statement and let iran know that it should not try to develop any empla

the defense studies department at king's college and in brighton katherine shocked them middle east commentator and researcher at albion center for strategic studies a warm welcome to both of you undress triggs let me start with you what do you think are the real motive behind the u.a.e. beefing up its presence in the island of so called for. right there are a variety of different reasons i think we first of all have to kind of disconnect this current incident from what happened in the g.c.c. this is not part of the g.c.c. crisis per se although the iraqis of tried to frame it in that way i think this is part of an ongoing development that we've seen by the united arab emirates ongoing since of over the last decade really they've tried to expand their reach both militarily and commercially into the horn of africa which has become absolutely and has always been for a very long time commercially a very interesting and important part and the control of that area control of the bubble munda straight as well as both sides of the horn of africa in east africa as well as in yemen and along the red sea coast is absolutely detrimental and important for the delivery of goods from ea

thank you so much for joining us to share that view of us of sunny a journalist and a visiting scholar at the center for middle east strategic studies joining us from tehran we appreciate it. thank you and with the world watching nervously as tensions soar between iran and israel germany's chancellor angela merkel has addressed the iran nuclear deal speaking earlier on friday chancellor merkel suggested that the united states is unilateral withdrawal from the deal undermined confidence in the global order but she added that america's withdrawal was not a reason to call into question the entire transatlantic partnership have a listen. to the. field i agree that there are a lot of other worrying issues to talk about when it comes to iran to fight with israel the ballistic missile program iran's role in syria well correct talks in clover however i think it is not correct to pull out of a deal that has been agreed on that has been voted for unanimously in the un security council. violates the trust in the international order. for oh. the german chancellor speaking a short while ago in other news it will be the first ever meeting of a si

throughout west africa and senegal, mali, guinea, sierra leone, i studied in traditional islamic centers of learning in the middle east as well and one of the most important things that came up when i was there was to eat kushidi, egyptian food. but i bring this up, this is very local to the -- to being in the middle east, in egypt, et cetera, but we say that if you had not had a bean pie in the united states of america you haven't experienced islam in the united states. i think that that framing is important because african-american muslims, the descendents of enslaved africans have been in the united states of america since its inception. so this report builds off of the great contribution of the work of enslaved africans leaving west africa coming to the united states by force and with them these individuals brought with them a nonviolent spiritual form of islam that has been in the united states since its inception, some scholars say roughly between 15 to 30% of the enslaved africans came from muslim lands like in senegal and mali and nigeria which is very important to highlight to understand the context. so as a

center and any one of them is more than a day's work for the u.s. administration. we have serious challenges out there and they're mounting. >> maria: you studied the middle east moreevelopments more closely than most people. is iran the most significant perpetrator? because even when i was speaking with the crown prince of saudi arabia, he said it's iran who is trying to overtake the middle east. was it the right move to pull out of the iran deal? >> i think the iranians have moved to that posture. i can remember a debate with saudi arabia back during desert storm and that period, the leaders were concerned about iran. it was partly a religious proposition. i actually had the king of saudi arabia tell me he was convinced the iranians had their eye on coming to saudi arabia and taking control of the two holy mosques. it was a big, huge deal in that part of the world and with respect to the sunni and es. they've been troublesome. they're actively involved in syria with the russians, when they're trying to promote and finance the spread of nuclear technology, south korea to syria, there's been reporting that they've been involved in helping north korea break the emba