again sanction iran to iran is also threatening to impose punitive steps against the western powers are we witnessing merely a game of chicken or a potential bomb ticking before the advent of war. and you can. start. to cross-talk iran and its oil i'm joined by john robson and he is a columnist and commentator for a sun news network and invited professor at the university of ottawa in london we have to settle me he is an international oil economist and technical expert with the united nations industrial development organisation and in irvine we go to our bad day he is a professor of engineering at the university of california irvine are gentlemen this is cross talk that means you can jump in anytime you want and i very much encourage it but first ok let's go to john robson in in london the you pushing forward july first will cut off all oil exports into the european union from iran and it is calling the strategy to avoid chaos in the middle east isn't it just actually the reverse this will create even more chaos in the middle east this is counterproductive and actually it really actuall

if it is not serious about it and it just wants to target iran then just see. so and stop playing this game number two and i think you have to realize what and it's no use in iran has nuclear weapons it's not just that israel just finish let me just finish let me just finish let me just finish the other point here which is very important historically the united states has done a lot of dirty work that has served the interests of israel destroyed iraq it supported the destruction and crippling of egypt it has crippled the gulf and now it is looking to iran as the next target for crippling and destroying i think this is madness who is driving our foreign policy president obama or prime minister netanyahu let's be clear american foreign policy should serve the interests of the united states. you know the states israel not to attack ok mark mark i mean since i don't know your next exactly so why did why did you want to well you know so was i i want to ask you as a liability to what i did i want to ask mark a question and answer to why is that being an expert on non

iran's you know if you had a weapon why the pressure on iran at a time when is that india bucks and or could also have nuclear weapons before you put pressure on the air you will have to even stand that it's not stand that is before you put pressure on iran then try to paris who it is that to relinquish its nuclear weapons or india or pakistan or not so we are talking here about the nuclear program. here on needs and you hear out of power for alec that it's a generation to be able to say of oil for export about a wise it will be. needed and why another exporter of oil but the iranians are not a verse to getting nuclear weapons so the question is if you put pressure on iran put b.c.m. by sharon is iran and in the arrow bunch of north and then you can tilt ok i go back to john in our way here one of the things i think is really dangerous here and on both sides ok is the ratcheting up of rhetoric because when certain politicians and countries say that you know this is a red line you know if you go over this annoying and both sides are doing the revolutionary guards ok also saying that in

we begin this ening as nsions rise betweenhe united states and iran with iran' ambassador to the united nations mohammed khazaee. >> if you want to create problems in the persian gulf of course it would be the right of tehran as well as the rest of the countries in the region to try to defend themselves, so in my view, if you ask me, the iranian strategy is not to close the strait of hormuz, but naturally, any nation if it's under serious threats by foreign powers, to, they will defend themselves. >> rose: we conclude this evening with the author of many sports books, the writer john feinstein and his new book called one on one. >> i realize with all of the books that i had done that i met so many different characters through the years beyond, whether dean smith or mike she chef ski or tigerçó woods or anybody you wanted to name and a lot of people not as famous as those guys i found fascinating, why not go back and talk to some of them and tell some stories i haven'told before about my relationships with some of these pele because i always kept myself out of the books. >> rose: khazaee

saliÓ de irÁn. >> ¿y cÓmo sabe? de carros, de tractores. >> ghadiri comparte con rabbani la idea de que irÁn es objeto de una campaÑa internacional de desprestigio y persecuciÓn. >> hay una campaÑa contra la repÚblica islÁmica de irán. >> ¿cuÁl es la ventaja de esa campaÑa? ¿para quÉ una campaÑa asÍ? >> ¿por quÉ esta campaÑa? porque irÁn de todos modos es un paÍs independiente, y hay muchos beneficios en camino. beneficios de petrÓleo, beneficios de dinero. >> ambas figuras iranÍes alegan que los casos en los que han sido involucrados se manipulÓ la información. ghadiri con referencia al plan de ataques cibernÉticos. >> todo esto es una falsificaciÓn de estados unidos. >> y rabbani, sobre el letal atentado en argentina. >> no, eso es una mentira total porque ellos dicen, ellos pueden armar fotos y decir estas cosas, ¿no? >> mÁs adelante, les mostramos cÓmo se extiende la influencia del profesor rabbani en nuestro continente. >> los videos nunca antes vistos de un plan terrorista contra el aeropuerto john f. kennedy

near iran are two u.s. aircraft carriers and supposedly a third one is on the way coincidence or is there something else going on is this more than just a military exercise i don't know about the details of why those carriers were pulled in there the united states has denied that it has anything to do with the threat from iran of blocking the strait of hormuz. but i do find it hard to believe that when you have defense of fish. going on t.v. and saying we will not permit for the strait to be blocked off. that these actions don't necessarily coincide with some attempts to prevent that from happening should it escalate to that point i don't personally believe that iran would take that step but the threat has been leveled and the united states is working to assert credibly that they won't allow that to happen especially as we see oil prices sort of skyrocketing now because of these tensions so now a lot of people say that there is this cold war happening and we are seeing this escalating tension i what point d

imposed an oil embargo just a week ago saying that iran is not cooperating on the size that iran wants to work with the agency there on the wall. that the are really not really is looking to work with. as low interest pressure for iran to do that. now if i may the iran seems certain that it can convince the atomic agency that its program is peaceful but the west isn't really interested in hearing about let's be honest here. that's where the iran has maintained from the outset its program is one for peaceful energy purposes but the i. found some evidence suggests doesn't prove but just suggests that maybe the program is designed for nuclear purposes nuclear weapon purposes but iran for the meantime let's let's talk about these ongoing economic issues here iran's threatening to stop oil supplies to just some european countries as opposed to a previous threat to ban exports to the whole easy you why we seeing a shift in what why why a change i think what iran is trying to do. you know let the rest of the world know particularly you because of its recent sanctions and those forces start th

would do more harm to europe one to iran i mean you're still since iran gets seventy percent of its revenues from oil do you have any fears about negative social reactions including strikes as people may lose their jobs do you take this somehow into account in your work or you know. these speculations are new to our country and our government or the power of the people all around ruling bodies or in power as a result of popular voting and therefore our government and are all for it is a completely popular and our people have participated in all areas and spheres of our life from the very start of the revolution therefore as i've said there's nothing new about these talks which are actually quite outdated and irrelevant nonetheless they keep speculating on this matter of trying to stir up psychological warfare inside our country or in the countries of the region or probably among people of their own countries that have enough of their own problems attempting to find someone else to blame for them we don't sell that much oil to your of illnesses and our european accounts don't have th

fired up about iran's nuclear program the tough stuff the west is taking. with. its technology innovation all the developments from around russia. the future. if you. start. blowing welcome to cross talk i'm peter lavelle taunting turnaround on a wider range of issues the standoff between iran and western powers has ratcheted up is the west preparing for a military confrontation with the islamic republic what role does israel play in the scheme of things and how much of this standoff is really generated by domestic political agendas. and you can. start. to cross talk around in the news i'm joined by solemn duty in los angeles he is the executive director of the muslim public affairs council in irvine we have soraya support her like she is an independent researcher writer and political commentator and in london we cross to mark fitzpatrick he's director of nonproliferation and disarmament program at the international institute for strategic studies our focus is crosstalk and that means you can jump in anytime you want and i very much encourage it so i if i go to y

i'll remind you we're talking about iran and the west. ok mark i want to go back to you in london because right before the break i could just see you were just waiting with baited breath to say something so go here. well first of all i agree with what salaam said about this very dangerous misperceptions and mischaracterizations of islam i really understand what he's saying there but i want to reinforce that mis characterizations of the united states are also wrong and it is the obama administration's policy as it is the negotiating partners to have a deal secret deal with iran and it is iran that back when they last met in istanbul a year ago refused to meet one on one with the united states the united states and its partners had tabled confidence building measure that iran didn't want to talk about let's hope that they are now ready to talk the idea that maybe the pressure has given them more reasons to talk maybe realistic but so far i don't think you know that all this blaming the united states is correct it takes two to tango let's le

what is iran's beef with the united states and what is the united states'beef with iran? >> it the long list. it begins in 1979 with the hostage crisis. that is the point in which awareness of iran in america became quite stark. uc iranians challenging the united states regionally as well as outside the region that time, challenging american leadership globally. there has been support for terrorism and groups that are anti-american. on the iranian side, it began 1953, when the united states and the british secret service did a coup against a democratically elected prime minister of acheron. that's when a lot of the -- against iran. that is when a lot of the grievances began. then it has deepened. during the 1980's, at the united states sided with iraq and provided iraq with intelligence and weapons in spite of the fact that saddam hussein was using chemical weapons against iranian population and the civilian population. we have sanctions and other things. this is a situation where both sides have piled a lot of antagonism on to each other. at some point, it is futile to g

if you and other people like you decide to talk about iran and attacking iran find out more about it learn study it read about comprehensive health care agreements and i'm forty five pages not only you haven't read it i think many of the republican candidates haven't read it and they keep talking about it they don't even know what they're talking about spend the time to learn and then attack i think that's the best way john do you want one replied another we'll move on may i make the comment jump in there go ahead. well the. relation between oil and iran's nuclear program all of this story is out of all of the nuclear program the question is there is a flaw in the arguments of the united states european union and the global community about the iran's nuclear weapons why the pressure on iran at a time when is there in the box stand and or could also have nuclear weapons before you put pressure on the air you will have to have even stand that it's not double stand that is before you put pressure on iran then to try to you it is that to relinquish its nuclear weapons or india or pakista

threats and the positions taken regarding iran put forward against iran's part of this process now fact of the matter is the external forces. should not try. to split the islamic world on the contrary. they should work with a view to making the islamic world reliable stable part of all of us. thinks of the moderates to address any international problem without islamic world to counter those threats and to meet the challenges draws is not a possibility today to be more specific concerning iran. on several occasions we've mentioned the fact that we are not supporting sanctions even sometimes sanctions could be inevitable and this is exactly what happened the. recent most recent sanctions on iran was taken in a secure council and with adoption of that sanctions all other conceivable sanctions which could affect the conduct of iran in a nuclear field or getting their cooperation with the i.a.e.a. were exhausted therefore now that lopsided you know lateral. western. additions are made by wasn't countries and other countries as one sided. sanctions . versus iran has nothing in common with the

inspectors have begun there a three day mission to examine iran's nuclear activities iran says the talks. with the u.n. atomic body officials first on such a level in more than three years well prove its nuclear ambitions are peaceful professor side mohammad marandi from the university of tehran says the i.a.e.a. visit will not change the west's hardline approach towards iran. the v a currently has full time monitors in iran and this is something that we rarely hear in the western media we have cameras in all of iraq. so therefore there is absolutely no evidence whatsoever that iran's nuclear program is anything but peaceful and. has no evidence on this the iranians are not very optimistic about the i.a.e.a. because it is heavily influenced by western countries it's not a democratic body most of the members on the board are european and north american they don't represent the international community at all and the head of a is he owes his job to the united states if you look at the wiki leaks documents the united states and the europeans are basically engaging in acts of war against the

and iran has reached a boiling point let's not get some more on this from patrick henderson associate editor from wars dot com i thank you for coming on the program today before we get into the issue of uranium enrichment with iran the latest angle i want to take with you is this as we know for the past week or so in fact it was ten days in the very recent past iran was staging naval military war games in the gulf we're now hearing the u.s. and israel are gearing up for joint military exercises in the gulf as well as just as tyrone announces it will surely stage what it's calling quote the greatest war games ever seen in the region who's pushing who here do you think you know this looks vaguely familiar to power politics and power geopolitics that we saw pre nine hundred ninety one i'm talking about the cold war rory look the main subject here we're looking at is we saw in the last week a direct reaction in the world oil markets we saw prices spike in price of oil per barrel is going up ok this is real creation of wealth for the oil industry i do not see that timetable right now with

very far off but iran says iran the us of a where you know over more in iran we witness these reports of nuclear scientists being killed for example is not really likely to be the case a war going on inside iran's borders. well the covert war has been going on for thirty two years and america and israel have unleashed the terrorists in iraq and they've been taking out people they're killing them and sanctions are warfare there's no doubt about it so this is nothing new and they will continue to do that but i think iran has become well experienced in being able to fight off its wars and covert action and america and israel the western allies now europeans are only harming themselves iran i am confident iran will eventually sit by and again so i go back to the motivation for all this and i recently just last week both israel and the us before that admitted recently that. building nuclear weapons of the moment the didn't present any prove either that iran's nuclear program has got a military slant so why does the u.s. keep pushing and ramping up the pressure on iran this. i think it's ve

threat is to impose sanctions on iran iran is threatening to block the strait of hormuz a critical waterway were about twenty percent of the world's oil passes through so what could possibly be behind this latest attack here to talk about this jamal of joins me here in the studio thanks for coming on this show jamal so no one has taken responsibility for this attack but iran is pointing their finger strait. at israel. and the united states has actually come out very forcefully and said we are not behind this secretary clinton yesterday categorically denied that the us had any involvement in this and i think that that's very telling this assassination comes just weeks before planned to go she asians between iran the u.s. and the p five plus one and so. while there's a lot of informed speculation nobody knows quite who was behind this but i think that what the consensus is that whoever was behind this is less interested in setting back you grans nuclear program and more interested in setting back possible ratcheting down of tensions between iran and the united states and you know this is some

the ongoing western attempts to corner iran and what iran is doing in response are both issues being tackled in today's edition of a cross talk with peter lavelle that's coming up next hour here on for another taste of what's ahead. but he made me this i want to bring the hidden even out of a well by doing something spectacular and destructive to enemies of islam and this is what motivates him this is a crisis not of the old soviet leadership who for all their misdeeds were at least atheist so they believe that a nuclear war and death was an end in failure and many energy i think is dying in a nuclear war for allah will get him to paradise what incentive do you have to bring to bear on him what carrot can you offer him to compare with us so you have to be prepared to stop his military efforts and he says i'm going to go and he says he doesn't and you can involve why don't you marry in the new zealand and he wants to wipe out israel which is what for a country that had to have a taboo anybody or should not be only drop to the most powerful nation this kind of rhetoric this kind of rhe

will attempt to provoke iran into a. war based on preferred the washington will simply strike and worry about the consequences later the rest is split fairly quickly eleven percent say that iran will try to scare off its best reached by claiming it has nuclear capability and ten percent believe that iran will forge an alliance against the u.s. with countries in south america not auntie dot com now to cast your vote. but with the iranian standoff gaining momentum its bitter rival israel is coming in for stinging criticism at home had on the program report on the wave of anger of the north the people there say threaten their freedom of speech and human rights. and also still to come. world wide protests mark one time obeys the tenth anniversary with activists and human rights agencies condemning president obama's broken vow to shut it down. yet another scandal has engulfed u.s. forces in afghanistan this time in the form of a you tube video which appears to show american marines urinating on the corpses of afghan fighters

and when the leader of the islamic republic of iran says in one of the holiest places in iran, says tos of iranians, we don't have any experience with this administration, if you change your policies, so will we, that was serious. >> you're telling of iran -- a 30-year record of iranian efforts and outreach to the united states, arrogantly or foolishly rebuffed by the united states. this is not a regime that supports terrorist groups, tries to kill a saudi ambassador. perhaps is justifiably incurred the -- the resentment and fear of its neighbors. >> all right. let me ask you, vali, you were in the state department when the issues were debated. whether the u.s. should be -- should be reaching out in some way or the other. how is this going to end? because if you put all this pressure on them, is there a strategy for some kind of negotiated outcome? because otherwise the pressure builds, and if the iranians as you say kind of match pressure with pressure, you know, things can get very, very risky. i mean, if you look at the price of oil, i'll struck by this. in a global recession with t

impact does it have on iran? what is iran's posture towards the shia and what is happening in iraq and are they using that as an opportunity to extend their influence there? do they have the capacity to support hamas and hezbollah as they have in previous times? take a crack at that, somebody. >> well the arab spring provided iran with some opportunities and some challenges, syria clearly is a headache for them, the regime was a close ally, syria was the main conduit for supplying hezbollah but iranians would feel if this thing is going to be played out over the next four or five years, a military strike with sanctions, et cetera, there are also strategic challenges in the region for the united states. you know, egypt, you could look at the situation the in bahrain, iraq obviously has not turned out the way we thought, as soon as we took our finger off of it it is falling apart and having trouble with pakistan, afghanistan, et cetera, so there is a fluid regiol situation as well and we shouldn't look at just the

the cold run of tension between iran and the west is simmering . it seems the slightest the increase of heat could make it boil over into an all out confrontation. where we'll be that boiling point the point of no return we're getting closer and closer to war with iran the iranians are playing with fire problems in a crisis if you get where any small thing can really set it off and it doesn't quell washington that the international nuclear watchdog is arm side closely monitoring iran's nuclear activities are they trying to develop a nuclear weapon no but we know that they're trying to develop a nuclear capability and that's what concerns us and our red line to iran is do not develop a nuclear weapon iran's main source of livelihood is oil export is in danger the u.s. is imposing fresh sanctions that will dramatically complicate transactions through iran's central bank iran is also close to losing europe as a customer the reason that this is happening is that this is the logical conclusion of our current strategy against iran we have sanctions in pl

but accepting the setback to iran's nuclear program. and while tensions reach a boiling point in the persian gulf the new york times is once again in hot water this time for spreading false information about iran's nuclear program editor's note don't believe everything you read. it's thursday january twelfth eight pm in washington d.c. i'm liz wall you're watching r.t. . well it's the video that sparked outrage all around the world u.s. marines urinating on what appears to be dead bodies of the taliban well such an embarrassing display of behavior by american soldiers surely is not helping to win the hearts of people abroad and it's likely to strain relations between washington and kobold this at a time washington aims to form some kind of a diplomatic relationship with the taliban but it isn't the first time you relating acts by the u.s. military have been captured for the whole world to see brings back memories of the infamous case of agression who can forget these haunting images these photos were released back in two thousand and fo

and iran has. many economy in trade relation with many countries including china turkey iran just increase its economy exchange and trade with turkey from fifteen billion dollars to thirty billion dollars so iran can use barter trade in such. circumstances ok and you know some countries and european countries are concerned that this oil embargo well will hurt them and a lot of countries in the e.u. say that they can't afford to have this so i mean it's almost this could be a double edged sword i mean that they're trying to impose sanctions on iran but this could kind of backfire and that's actually true i mean tree country three major european countries that tree major consumer of iranian european unions are italy spain and greece which already are facing a huge economy crisis. spanish off the shoals they mentioned they have talked to the refineries which is the main refinery of iranian crude oil in spain and they have agreed to support the sanctions but they mentioned you're going to accept to. st

the ongoing western attempts to corner iran and what iran is doing in response are both issues tackled cross talk today coming your way in about twenty minutes time here's a taste of what. mahmoud even wants to bring the hidden even out of a well by doing something spectacular and destructive to enemies of islam and this is what motivates him this is a crisis not of the old soviet leadership who for all their misdeeds were at least atheist so they believe that a nuclear war and death was an end in failure and many things dying in a nuclear war for allaah will get him to paradise what incentive do you have to bring to bear on him what carrot can you offer him to compare with us so you have to be prepared to stop his military efforts if he says i'm going to i don't know when he says he doesn't and you can evolve why did you marry him he was leaving out he wants to wipe out israel which is what for a country that has been attacked by anybody or should not be only dropped to the most powerful nation this kind of rhetoric this kind of rhetoric is not good for israel is really is a very stro

is announcement on monday that it will place an oil embargo on iran iran has said that it's going to shut the strait of hormuz which is actually where twenty to thirty percent of the world's oil supply shuttles through in the united states is that it will absolutely not allow that to happen even sort of alluding to the fact that it could potentially use military force to make sure that that strait stays open moscow has also said that i think sions are obsolete form of sort of punishing a country and that it's actually going to be counterproductive and another interesting thing to note here is that if beijing and new delhi continue to trade with iran with gold it's actually going to increase the value of gold and decrease the value of the u.s. dollar as the global reserve currency. the reporting from new delhi for us is get more insight on the iranian crisis and talk to survive so fall river to pen a research here and right joining us on the line from california very good to see you tonight thanks for being with us and there's a lot of tough talk we've been reporting on it so much ove

remember the iran ircontra affa. 41, working with the united states to get weapons to the muslims in bosnia. working with the united states and afghanistan after 9/11. sending in an offer for comprehensive negotiations in 2003. there have been repeated steps. and when the leader of the islamic republic of iran says in one of the holiest places in iran, says to crowds and crowds of iranians, we don't have any experience with this administration. if you change your policies, so will we, that was serious. >> you're telling iran -- a 30-year record of iranian efforts and outreach to the united states, arrogantly or foolishly rebuffed by the united states. this is not a regime that supports terrorist groups, tries to kill a saudi ambassador. perhaps is justifiably incurred the -- the resentment and fear of its neighbors. >> all right. let me ask you, vali, you were in the state department when the issues were debated. whether the u.s. should be -- should be reaching out in some way or the other. how is this going to end?