concerned because everyone says we don't want the war and it's good that the saudis want an emergency gcc counsel —— gulf was the then you have attacks the pipeline, that's very important. you have these tankers that got attacked, you have the rhetoric, you have a us ship going out. squadrons of planes going out, attentively under 20,000 — 120,000 people going out. attentively under 20,000 —120,000 people going out. and trump's tweed, what i'm concerned about is that nobody wants a war, but tempers are playing so much in this state. this isa playing so much in this state. this is a powder keg —— tweet. it could incinerate very easily. someone could light a match somewhere and it would fall and explode. and i'm really watching it with baited breath stop ok. really watching it with baited breath stop 0k. as we all are as well. cannabis issues, many countries around the world are considering about what they think about cannabis. laws are changing, but also about recreational purposes. some states legalised it in the us, colorado, its massive business. huge. and gearing up for countries aroun

the gcc, and the arab league summit, in both of those meetings, the king getting what he wanted.here was a clear message. the reason we're in this situation with iran, is because we haven't been firm enough in the past. and he called for international solidarity and support in tackling with it, tackling this issue. this is what he said. >> translator: we call upon the international community to assume its responsibilities in the face of the threat posed by iranian practices to international peace, security and international law and to use all means to stop the iranian regime from interfering in the internal affairs of other countries. its sponsorship of terrorist activities in the region and the world, and the threat of navigation in the international straits. >> reporter: the king got the answer back from both of those summits that he wanted. there was a message coming back, the gcc saying in their conclusions, they support saudi arabia in the face of the situation. they support the emreirates in e face of those ships being attacked off of the port a few weeks ago. the king hear

stability matters when it comes to the gcc. so with regard to russia in there, emergency security cooperation, what is your view about that and also having egypt -- and also how does egypt pretty much feel about russia's role in libya and especially with the recent offensive? >> obviously, our egypt relationship is a pillar of our security cooperation in the region. it is one of the significant contributions over the years to with theurity perspective on russia, we share concerns, around the eastern mediterranean and northern africa. with respect to, you know, the situation in libya, we continue to impress upon all of our partners in the region that the solution to the libya challenge is not a military one, that it's one that needs to be brought together with all sides with a political resolution. we recognize that qatar is likely to have a role to play in the solution but it's not one conflictwant further and that is our position with respect to all of our partners and with respect to libya. >> so russia and egypt, pretty long

the gcc largely mute and largely passive in the face of a clear threat by tehran's use of the gulf as a probing point for u.s. security guarantees. and with that, i will end here. >> thank you. [applause] >> i would be interested in your reactions about the question of, to what extent iran's actions are the actions of isolated individual elements, so-called rogues or hotdogs, and to what accent you think tehran maintains a rather careful control over these kinds of proxies and kind of ambiguous attacks, difficult-to attribute and to what extent you think tehran maintains control over these kinds of proxies. ms. leaf: i would speak to iraq if you like, patrick. iraq is the most problematic place to find that attribution. you see several prominent militia leaders disavow responsibility, and also essentially, in their own odd way, call for calm. that iraq does not want to be in the middle of a shooting war. so i think it is the hardest place for us to divine what is going on. >> two points on that. first, starting with iraq, one thing that is kind of impressive when you look back at the

this is an attempt to work together with our gcc plus two to make them more effective, so we can best defend ourself and stabilize the region. >> one more question on this, which is just, i guess, one of the things where we focused on in terms of our report, to start small and build bigger. we really try to emphasize the fact that if you paint it as a huge picture, if you paint it as middle east nato, you're going to get nowhere. the other challenge is also, and i'm curious, to your take on this, i think it will be my last question, we'll have to move on, and we also know you're a busy guy who has a lot of things to do, but the biggest challenge in some ways is not the capabilities sometimes. and it's not even agreeing on a threat picture. it's just almost like the politics, as you said, you referenced yourself. the politics for example division between qatar and the other gulf states, even threat perceptions where some countries , like saudi arabia, view iran as the single most challenge in the region. others like egypt are more concerned with the jihadist threat. even defining, ther

troops and gcc regional forces. so yes, there's a possibility that tensions could escalate to military escalation. that's why diplomatic issues move forward. >> and the president said he was bringing more than 100,000 troops to the region. i don't know where. but do you think from besides the military presence and some of it miles away at sea is enough for the time being? >> right now it's adequate. as far as the amount of troop presence we have in the region. based on that assessment, that was the last resort. that was leaked out. i don't think we're there now. >> neil: but this tension, i look at oil prices. they went a little higher, not a lot higher. they've been stable. i'm wondering if that's the market's way of saying we think cooler heads will prevail what do you through? >> yes that is a possibility. short term, there's a possibility long-term that it may impact oil production. so if that does happen, that would definitely increase tensions, especially with the iranian economy at a tipping point. >> neil: i

the coming hours hosted by saudi arabia bringing together leaders from arab companies, the ioc, the gccorm some kind of unity and to further isolate iran as you also pointed out what we heard from the u.s. national security adviser was a direct blaming of iran for the attack and sabotage of those ships off the coast of the uae, just recently, that were owned and operated by saudi arabia at the same time we have seen the united states ramping up its own presence and volumizing its own voice in the region. not just via john bolton but also by the president himself who made the decision to deploy an additional 1,500 troops on to the ground in this region. basically an attempt to show u.s. support for this saudi-led mission, if you will, to further isolate iran when it comes to the overall u.s. position, president trump has said he would not like to see war with iran, nor would he like to see regime change. what he would like to see is a cushing of iran's nuclear ambitions. for the iranian side, they stopped short of commenting today or in the past 24 hours, but they said they would not lik

what we do know is that the united states, along with its gcc partners, its gulf allies in essence, haveced security patrols, naval security patrols in the gulf at this time. it's hard to fathom at the moment why the president is precisely using this language. there's a sort of sense here among u.s. allies, you know, the sort of five is partnership that shares intelligence. united states, britain, australia, canada share intelligence. there's a real sense that while the united states has seen and believes it has seen missiles being loaded on to iranian ships, where is the intent? where's the information that tells the united states that the intent there was to attack? was this, quite simply, a ploy by the iranians, knowing that the united states would be able to see what they're doing, loading missiles on to ships, simply to raise the tension themselves by virtue of doing that. there's a lot of heavy analysis going on here at the moment, and a lot of it focuses on why is iran engaging in the behavior that it's engaging in and also what does the united states know about that behavior? the