time change iran's foreign policy as opposed to always just containing iran and being against iran. in the declarations made by the supreme leader and other senior figures. there was this idea that if the nuclear deal work correctly applied and everyone respected their commitments and promises then it would bring concrete results i mean. it would be possible to enter into other negotiations on other issues on the basis of this success or to be this. from here on iran hope to normalize its relations with the west but the country was then confronted with a syria and iran crises which would give it the opportunity to use other methods than diplomacy to once again become a major player in the middle east. of . behest as a hamas cemetery in tehran is the biggest in the country. the man on this post was named yet all are hashem said day he was an officer in the revolutionary guard who was killed in september two thousand and sixteen in syria. the revolutionary guard corps created in one thousand nine hundred ninety nine is the most powerful security organization in the country it's the te

what threat does it perceive iran has you know. these are the hawks of comeback and bolton and we've got to remember that bolton national security council director is just you know he was advocating only us shortly before he took office for the overthrow of the iranian regime these are people who've been seeking the overthrow of the iranian regime for a long time and the undermining of the iranian regime certainly pinning back its here and. that had gone out of style with obama who is looking to us in a sense offshore balance iran a little bit with saudi arabia in the gulf not pick a side in this fight and to keep this keep the regime on iran so that wouldn't develop nuclear weapons but to undo the sanctions now we're completely reversed that it's going to be difficult for the united states to develop this strategy this very you know strictly anti iran strategy because. because not everybody shares this in the middle east we seem to turkey which is now has a base in in kuwait and is reaching down into the region has in a sense form

and iran.everybody says it's not job -- there is the religion pushback against iran's influence in iraq. however, every pilgrimage to anyplace in iraq is facilitated iran. the iranian tourists. iran had a a capable of buildig airfields and airports and providing more electricity to iraqi civilians that its own government did. i think saudi can do a lot more but it needs to have a consistent strategic message. but muqtada al-sadr is not your guy. the one thing we talked about his national security iraqis are proud. people talk about her individual parties need to do more and iraqi sunni sake know, we've got this. let us do it. give us the weapons. give us the funds. it was the intel and we can do it. the problem is the scope of what they want to do is take back baghdad and kick i went out and take over the country again. instead of killing isis and cultivating charismatic leaders but, unfortunately, with de-baathification and distant isis law where, why three degrees of separation if your third

there is no justification for the treatment these people get in iran. or outside of iran.so, i completely understand the frustration you and a lot of other people have. it's legitimate. thank you. please. go ahead and introduce yourself. i know you, but others do not. >> hi. i'm eric waters, a local community person here. i am also a romantic at heart. i was peru's in your -- per using your book. can you tell me more about chin chin and her relationship with sardari. dr. mokhtari: this is a love story. ain chin was an opera singer, musician, artist from china. her parents were industrialists and the father was an industrialist. had sent his daughter and his son to france, because she wanted to study music. and the parents did not want her to be alone. so, the brother, shortly after the war started -- when the war started they could not communicate with china because that was a time of the revolution in china had started and so on. so, chin chin and her brother were cut off from communicating with home. shortly after the war started, the brother, chin chin's bo rother, got

see now in iran and saw in iran last year. first of all, the beneficial of islamic republic consists of millions of people in iran and on the other hand. the machinery of the republic, is working, and pro it ises since last winter and we see that the iranian government was able to control everything. so why do you think that the government is living a crisis which makes it vulnerable in the face of opposition effort? >> let me say what you said correctly. the situation in iran in terms of being revolutionary, you're suggesting that it is not existing because of the-- >> i mean, iran, the government has confidence in operations, the opposition, and actually having control of all of this protests that happen here and there, and in the foreign policy. why do you think that the islamic republic is so vulnerable before, in the face of the effort made by opposition or despite all the foreign pressure. >> i think that would be a first if we begin to think that oppression is a sign of confidence. oppression is a sign of complete insec

i think you portray iran as if iran is in a prerevolution condition. is the difference within what we see now in iran and what we saw in iran in last year's -- and there is beneficiaries, millions of people in iran and on the other hand, the islamic republic is working, despite the sporadic protests. we see that in the iranian government was able to control everything. so why do you think that government is living -- is facing a fatal crisis which makes it vulnerable in the face of oppositions? well, lete sure i understood what you said correctly. the situation in iran in terms of being revolutionary, you're suggesting that it is not existed because there is repression? yeah. i mean iran -- the government thinks they have confidence in the opposition and actually having control over all this, you know, sporadic protests that happened here and there. and foreign policy, why do you think the islamic republic is so vulnerable in the face of efforts made by opposition or despite all the pressure? well, i think if -- it will be a first if we believe that th

the impact inside iran.miraculous effect, we're forcing tehran to think again. just how hard are those sanctions biting? we were talking about the british mess, but now we are going to a global mess, which is coming very, very soon because of president trump's position. his strategy is dividing people, to be honest. he is dividing the middle east, he is dividing europe, he is dividing the international community. but there are two developments, two very important developments. the trip to the middle east. security of state. he went there, mike pompeo, and he went to mobilise the arabs in the gulf states, egypt and jordan, to establish an arab nato to confront iran. this is one thing. the second thing — he called for middle east peace and security conference in warsaw, poland. so, he created problems on both sides because many people in the middle east, the six gulf countries, they are divided. three of them would like to join trump in his adventure against iran. the three others are reluctant, egypt are also

i die only for iran. and we may die, we may die, but we will reclaim iran. for almost 40 years, i have worked towards a single objective; a secular, democratic iran built upon the pillars of human rights and the rule of law. i have insisted that the islamic republic poses an existential threat to iran and its people and that the islamic republic cannot be reformed. i have been steadfast in my belief that a secular democratic iran may be achieved only throughen nonviolent means -- through nonviolent means, and i have been unwavering in my faith that the iranian people and will be the principal agents of this change. but international attention and support remains critical. dr. martin luther king is one of my personal heroes. as i work to build international support for the iranian people's struggle, i often recall his famous covenant that we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends. in that vein, i want to make clear that the iranian struggle should not be viewed through the prism of domestic partisan politics in this or any

i die only for iran. we may die but we will reclaim iran. for almost 40 years i've worked towards a single objective a secular democratic iran based upon the pillars of human rights and rule of law i have insisted it poses a threat to iran and its people and that the public cannot be reformed. i've been secular in my belief that iran may be achieved only through nonviolent means and i have been unwavering in my faith that the people can and will be the principal agent of this change got international attention and support remains critical. doctor martin luther king is one of my personal heroes as they worked to builwork to build intl support for the people's struggles i often recall this famous comment that we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends. in that i want to make clear the struggles shouldn't be viewed through the prism of domestic partisan politics in this or any other democratic nation. this is a struggle about human dignity and liberation and it deserves equal support across the political spect

is exporting its food stuffs to iran iran can act as a transit hub to other countries to neighboring countries like afghanistan so that could somehow develop some. economy incentives in iran so that iran does not quickly go to recession and it's old enough to preserve the deal as well the deal has been shaky obviously since the united states or donald trump decided to pull the united states out the fact that you say it's not really a deal for big businesses is it still mean it's enough to hold the principles of the j c p o in place. at least it sounds as as it does because. iran was expecting the e.u. to to do something and now e.u. did something in return and at least e.u. i mean political or european union cannot incentivized a multinational business to do trade or wrong but actually in few months when it is operation on iran can also benefit from this mechanism from other third party countries like china even even though in the past few months chinese trade media iran has reduced to a two day relations we do with the united states but other countries can use this facility these th

iran and iran it's really quite puzzling try to understand what that foreign policy from the white house and from the state department what direction they really want to go to really he did not address many important issues the palestinians shogi calling saudi arabia to live up to the iranians to live up to the human rights standards of saudi arabia what is going on with this administration go ahead in damascus. to the point of the fact of the matter is that the united states will always be seeking more influence and more stable and strategic influence in the middle east they're currently threatened by russian expansion because of the american policy in syria which you know created the circumstances for a russian increased influence in the region. very traditional allies of the united states made established allies are not only talking more to russia. they're also having all these even weaponry like in the turkish example so the in the case of iran the united states probably thinks that having iran as a sole. enemy would gather as much allies on underwear on one front along with the unit

the key take away when it comes to iran if iran was never in iraq to defeat isis. iran was in iraq to defeat future sunni threats from iraq and also to establish itself in iraq's political, economic and security apparatus and that is where we have iran and syria and white israel is willing to strike the cubs first target because of this i would call it a failed u.s. policy in iraq the last 15, 16 years. it is not because people at the time were doing the wrong things. it's because it wasn't consistent. because success wasn't mirrored. success wasn't followed. it doesn't mean that by any means the american generals at the time were doing the wrong thing. it is just an american generals are doing different things over the course of 15 years that have led to a continued cycle of violence that will have 10-year-old americans fighting in iraq is 20 rows because iraq and the middle east will continue to incubate the existential press whether it be the next iteration of al qaeda coming next iteration of isis. now we have this new added dynamic. the atomic revolutionary gu

economy incentives in iran so that iran does not quickly go to recession donald trump says there will be no deal on trade with china until he has a sit down meeting with chinese leadership u.s. and chinese officials have been having talks in washington to try to end a dispute that seen the world's two largest economies impose trade tariffs on each other now there are reports of a possible summit between trump and shoot him in next month the background here is that both leaders did agree to a ninety day truce in december but if there's no deal the truce will end in march and the u.s. will increase tariffs to an additional two hundred sixty seven billion dollars on chinese goods more with our white house correspondent kimberly halkett now kimberly this is classic donald trump isn't it he wants the big meeting there are meetings going on at a high level in washington but he wants the big photo op. yes absolutely the president self will be meeting in a couple of hours with the chinese vice premier but no deal until he meets with president xi at least according to donald trump donald did w

maintain these three against a terrorist group if he is iran syria the states. its allies will continue the search for supporting of tourists who once again. the dumbest of the champions of. syria will be in danger and dangerous situation and once again we will face is the. development of new development of the two. issues still. to z. syria because the main. responsibility of the defend the country. of the coleman syria. yet is here just. pointed out the iranian policy is has no relation to the american policy do not correlate but i'm sure you know very well that russia does try to your cards made its policy with all the actors on the ground with a specific reason of achieving a point when all foreign troops i assume including russian troops would they could be withdrawn from that country and syria would be able to provide its security on its own is that concurrent with how iran sees the out cement go in in that country you know the russian federation moscow has its own polish we also follow your obvious they are some corporation we keep two shirts in the commu

iran may think it owns lebanon, iran is wrong. in iraq, the united states will help our partners build a nation free of iranian influence. this past may, they rejected sectarian in a national election and we will support that whole heartedly. the people there refuse to be cowed by iranian-backed thugs and armed groups. they have strengthened ties with arab neighbors, peacefully resumes cooperation with the kurdish region and baghdad and renewed focus on fighting corruption. in yemen wil continue to work for a lasting peace. i think this is clear but it's worth reiterating. the united states fully supports israel's right to defend itself against the iranian regime's aggressive adventurism. we'll continue to ensure that israel has the capacity to do so decisively they feel trump administration will also continue to press for a real and lasting peace between israel and the palestinians. again, we have adhered to our word. president trump campaigned on the promise to recognize jerusalem, the seat of israel's government, as the nation'

they saw what they themselves paid in kind to discuss that i'm now joined by a senior advisor to iran's supreme leader ali akbar velayati really a great pleasure talking to you thank you very much for your time yes more you're most welcome. to the. friendly. as you may know moscow is a pretty hectic city these days just yesterday israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu is still by to watch football. palestinian leader mahmoud abbas is visiting on the same day as you but none of you your visit formally the upcoming meeting in helsinki is this just a coincidence that all your schedules happen to overlap. know any connection between your attendance. to in your country and the presence of others. mentioned so i have come here independently only for the talking with the hiring of them president putin i have cherry the messages of for great leader and also for president and president putin. we could try an opportunity for about two hours the discourse of. every shoes including the bilateral relations regional cooperation international cooperation but i'm sure your fall of the international

what threat does it perceive iran has you know. these are the hawks of comeback and bolton and we've got to remember that bolton national security council director is just you know he was advocating only us shortly before he took office for the overthrow of the iranian regime these are people who've been seeking the overthrow of the iranian regime for a long time and the undermining of the iranian regime certainly pinning back its here and. that had gone out of style with obama who is looking to us in a sense offshore balance iran a little bit with saudi arabia in the gulf not pick a side in this fight and to keep this keep the regime on iran so that wouldn't develop nuclear weapons but to undo the sanctions now we're completely reversed that it's going to be difficult for the united states to develop this strategy this very you must strictly anti monster energy because. because not everybody shares this in the middle east we seem to turkey which is now has a base in in kuwait and is reaching down into the region has in a sense for

and iran alive in order to keep the iran deal alive all right let's thank the touchable for their let's continue this conversation with ravi he's joining us of course live from the iranian capital tehran iran is the one that's going to feel whatever comes out of this of course how confident are people that this is going to encourage business with iran. well semi iranian leaders and people alike have been discouraged by how long it's taken to get to this place but be that as it may iranian leaders say they are feeling optimistic the caveat is they leave the door open to reconsider their stance on the twenty fifty nuclear deal which is the constant sort of political threat if you will that iranian leaders have been using trying to force european leaders to fulfill their end of the deal to help iran keep getting some kind of financial benefit from signing a deal that was agreed upon in two thousand and fifteen now as far as how positive they actually feel about this we've heard from a number of leaders that this is a positive signal the foreign ministry's deputy abbas or rocky who's in eur

actually attacking iran.is he wants europe, becausejohn bolton the security adviser, he wanted a regime change in iran. are they capable to do so? i don't know. how tough is the situation in iran right now? definitely there is a sanction against iran. so it's biting and causing economic pain? there is pain now, the currency is collapsing, the standard of living is actually very high stop food and other goods have been rocketing in price, people are not actually coping with that. do they blame the own government? they are divided. part say the government policy is responsible, why are we involved in syria? why are we involved in iraq? why are we involved in yemen? other people say no, i think it is the americans who are putting pressure on us. what i want to say is that because president trump and his policy is not working it is causing a lot of confusion among iranians people. when he imposed a sanction, suddenly he changed his mind, he exempted eight countries from actually importing iranians oil. so the pro

and iran go from here? >> first of all, iran is very well we are not taking u.s.and surveillance out of the region. we are not taking u.s. forces out of iraq. there is a strong u.s. coalition presence remaining there. iran is well aware that we are watching them at all times. as to where this goes longer-term, you know, we need to see iran settle down and it's harder to get the resolution. the trouble of choruses russia stokes their activities, that iran spends $700 million per year on hezbollah alone and that is why secretary pompeo has called them the number one state sponsor of terrorism. it's terrible and irresponsible. and how much more we could do in the middle east without this malign activity by iran. eric: no doubt the u.s. is watching by air, by sea, by land. dr. rebecca grant, thank you. >> loved ones in the people of davis, california grieving the loss of rookie police officer donnelly corona. she was killed in the line of duty on thursday. what we learn about the suspect in what authorities described as a cold-blooded ambush. >> the fact is every insu

intelligence committee even said that iran appears to be adhering to the iran nuclear agreement. >> the. has said for many years, which is true, but still we have this contradiction between the u.s. side and the european side. we have to wait for the next two months to see if other economic sectors can be involved. brent: from brookings doah. ha. we appreciate your sharing your insights. thank you very much. all right. imagine having to walk to the nearest forest every time you need to use the toil. this is a reality for millions in india. the government set up to tackle the problem in 2014, but the tour lets the claims to have built, more than 100 million of them, they seem to have been flushed down the drain or broken political promises. dw's sonja -- is in northern india on the hunt for toilets. reporter: it's the mustard season here. the lush field however harbor a dirty secret. she has never had a toilet. she has to walk more than a kilometer every day to. relief herself the ritual fraught with indignitities and risk. >> at night, we have to carry a torch and a stick. i come here w

sanctions on iran. that's right leaders are meeting in book arrest and they are expected to give more details of a transaction channel a new payment mechanism that they have set up to bypass the sanctions on iran and try and keep the nuclear deal alive now what european media is reporting so far is that it would be called in stakes it would be a transaction channel based in paris run by a german banking manager but with a supervisory board based in the united kingdom and it would deal mainly with trade between the e.u. in iran in areas such as food medicine and medical devices but it could be expanded to other things in the future now just to give you a bit of a back story ever since donald trump announced that he was re-imposing sanctions on iran last year the european union has been scrambling for a way to try and bypass those sanctions to keep that european trade alive and as i said to try and keep supporting the iran deal so what does this mean then for trade with iran and how significant is the mec

down here in yemen, the houthis are an agent of iran. you might say all, that is kind of far -- it is not. missiles can reach them. it also allows them to shut off transit at the bottom of the red sea, which could directly impact, ultimately, the ability of trade and commerce for israel and for the region, writ large. obviously, the growing iranian presence in bahrain, in kuwait. suffice to say, iran growing its influence and it circle, who would use as its enemy against but more than anyone else against israel. often called by some the west bank, but also down in gaza, where there has been an uptick in violence. in southern lebanon, hezbollah routinely builds tunnels from lebanon into israel, the purpose of which to sneak fighters from the tunnels right into israel so they can conduct commando raids and kill civilians. not military personnel, civilians. the threat is growing every day. i want to talk specifically for a moment about the missile threat to israel. here is the range of the rockets. there was an israel-hezbollah war. the nex

iran.redecessor's nuclear deal with tehran and re—imposed economic sanctions. europe has been reluctant to follow suit. but the us has just begun herding its allies for a global summit on middle east security next month, set to take place in warsaw. barry, let's come to you first. i wa nt to barry, let's come to you first. i want to ask you first about trumps sanctions on iran because we haven't given those as much attention as they deserve. he says we have had a miraculous effect, we are forcing tehran to think again. just how harder those sanctions biting? we we re harder those sanctions biting? we were talking about the british mess but now we are going to a global mess, which is coming very, very soon mess, which is coming very, very soon because of president trump and his position. his strategy is dividing people, to be honest. he is dividing people, to be honest. he is dividing the middle east, dividing europe, dividing the international community. but there are two developments, very

sanctions and keep trading with iran. when hey in me and thousands of come out to mark seventy years since a rebel group took up arms against the government a cease fire is in place that will tell you why a permanent peace seems to be drifting further away. and why don't trump's battle over a border wall could allow immigrants to stay in the u.s. a lot longer. so as you've seen here on al-jazeera the venezuelan opposition leader speaking at a university in caracas he has been laying out his plan for how he can take the country forward trying to convince key military members especially to withdraw their support for president nicolas maduro majority self is under pressure to step down more protests were held in stay with the aim of forcing him out basically on gross's the country needs to be rebuilt i mean this is the central element of our plan to get back the state and place it in the service of the people the problems of the state are terror and fear the state uses these two things for social control the state is like th

iran's role in the operation is to good or earlier this year was last pronounced unusual its role in the current southern offense if and daraa is even more limited would it be fair to say that iran has already partially deliberate what the americans and to some extent these rallies are asking for. or present in syria doesn't related to the desire of the united states and other western countries which are following the diplomacy of the united states or some regional countries which are connected with the diplomacy of united states we are in syria on the basis of the invitation of legal government of syria to help the current of people of syria he support the to his whole integrity of syria and you are fighting you are helping the syrian golan and if you close syria for fighting against terrorist groups. with the help of russia and some other countries fortunately we have overcome me because he's the. government of syria and syria have been facing and they do believe if. they stop me. and russia which are available in syria leave and he should remain there to. maintain these military a

is adhering to the requirements of that iran. clear deals so when you consider that and when you consider that iran has welcomed the move with instax is is that why e.u. leaders appear to believe that they can save the iran deal. whether they can save it in this sense it's difficult to say because we don't know yet what the u.s. government will do in the future but they're trying to sort of keep their site of the deals because this re countries are the signatories off that deal and they say as you just mentioned we think iran is sort of up holding its obligations and we see no reason to sort of trash the deal and also of course it's supposed to encourage iran to engage with europe because at the same time of course the european leaders say we have criticism about the regional role about these sort of interval a stigma silence and we would like to talk we would like to talk further about that but this signal just to sort of keep channels open was iran all right our very own barbara visa on the story for us tonight in bucharest exc

all of to sponsored by iran operating out of yemen. they have also in addition to an air route that they have established, one of the mortal enemies is hezbollah, headquartered primarily in lebanon. so for a long time now they have been getting their armaments and their weaponry from iran, but it had to be flown, especially in the middle of this conflict. but imagine now iran's ability to arm and equip hezbollah with all of these things, not just from the air but through a ground route where they can actually ship things to and from the ground. that's why they so desperately care about what's happening in syria. it gives them operational space. not to mention that hezbollah is in syria. there is a wing of hezbollah that's inside of syria. so imagine now if you're israel. you already face the threat of hezbollah. hezbollah has already developed rockets they're making. they are now building these rockets. they are developing these rockets in lebanese territory. and they're not the rockets from the last time they had a war with israel. th

who have been the partners in the iran nuclear deal they still say that iran is keeping its side of the treaty its keeping is its side of the deal there may be concerns about other problems about to human rights about the missile systems bought this deal is still alive in the eye of the europeans and so they are now trying to do something to take a stand and to circumvent u.s. sanctions and to sort of show that they can be just dealt was like that from the u.s. about where the white house presumably doesn't like this one bit do the european powers behind this expect any u.s. reactions. they do expect some reactions of form of course because all the people who are involved in this and particularly the german director and probably people at the seat in paris and maybe even the british c.e.o. off this undertaking out they are going to be issued was diplomatic passports in korea in order to make it impossible for them to sort of be stopped internationally by some extradition demands from washington so yes they do expect something do they expect to. come from washington is that of the trade

iran wants to survive now. iran was a power in the middle east. they were going to take over the whole middle east. they were going to take over everything. that is what they wanted to do and destroy israel while they're at it. iran is a much different country right now. they're having riots every week in every city, bigger than they ever had before. their currency is under siege thanks to us. a lot of bad things are happening. when we do all of the things that we've done monetarily to iran, iran is in trouble and you know what i would love to negotiate with iran. they're not ready yet, i don't think. but they will be. iran is a much different country right now, jeff, than it was when i took over. when i took over two years ago, iran would take over the middle east and who knows -- they would have all the nuclear weapons they wanted in a very short period of time because of that stupid deal. when i terminated that deal, and then did what i had to do, iran is much different country today. than it was 19 months ago. that i can tell you. reporter: sa

the second point of what would a war with iran look like, i think iran favors asymmetric approach. it would look like a lot of the wars that are building now. shiite militias. eventually, that is how a war iran would launch with israel would be waged. one of the most dangerous things out the conflict in syria is if we reduce our influence, it is going to help iran buildup syria as a base for aggression. what they have done is effectively control lebanon through hezbollah which controls the country through force but a somewhat -- but also a somewhat legitimate parliament. they have built up a massive rocket arsenal. timescial estimate is 10 what they have. their looking for a chance to open a second front, using syria as a second lebanon. if of the fears i have is syria sees more and more advanced precision weapons coming in, it will go more aggressively against syria and lebanon. if we inflame the region and have multiple countries fighting, we don't know the exact path but it could draw the americans in. host: there was some indication as we were seeing the plan being developed by

that includes syria and into iran if need be. we have the tools. american diplomats have the power and leverage behind sthepl. i am confident in our military capabilities in the middle east. >> brennan: does that mean having troops in nearby iraq fill any pulling out of seer ya. >> we have amazing ar kwrorz wa. we have an enormous amount of military capacity. what we need to achieve military is this. my task as secretary of state is to make sure we don't have to use that tool. we get the diplomatic out comes to secure the middle east and protect the american people as well. >> brennan: when it comes to iran the american administration has taken confrontational tactics here saying iranian threats would be matched here. we saw this week another american, a navy vet, michael white, has been behind iranian bars since july. so the not stopping iran from taking americans hostage. what is happening with this american? >> this administration is proud of the work we have done to get americans released from across the world. with respect to the michael white