important he was extremely important because as you say these words powerful shortly but not soon iraq iran that whole middle east so i think the meeting of them to give a joint message of unity armas streaming importantly and also signals a lot that's cheerful as to you know to actually go along with that with their own christian brethren of iraq sort of a very strong message was additionally the arts for a very private man growing makes political statements or a few of them so the fact that he came out and said so. i think it's really really really powerful so several times since his arrival already pope francis has denounced extremism and violence in the name of religion but realistically what can he achieve on this trip as far as interfaith dialogue goes. i think one of communitarian level you know social level one of these theories very powerful because it suits you but essentially the christians you've been persecuted yes and since the start up arm you can be the voice of the islamic state so i think the message that comes across particular not just to the me to the ayatollah but i'm

extremely important because as you say he's one of those powerful shiite leaders in the not just in iraq iran that whole middle east so i think the meeting of them if you can a joint message of unity and was extremely important you know and also signals a lot of that ship follows that you know to actually go along with that with there are christian brethren of iraq sort of very strong message also additionally the the ayatollah is very private man makes political statements or actually involve himself in so the fact that he came out and said and said this joint statement with you i think it's really really powerful so that several times since his arrival already in pope francis has denounced extremism and violence in the name of religion but realistically what can we achieve on this trip as far as interfaith dialogue goes i think one of communitarian level you know social level one of these it is very powerful because it's essentially the christian community of the 1st guess and since the start up arm you can be the voice of the islamic state so i think the message that comes across particula

there is no there is no conflict there is no clashes little basic your logic peaceful i mean is not iraq iran was sure to follow afghanistan i mean china is basically a very peaceful country when i took your country why did the philippines go to the international court and bring an order which had the chinese actions such as the un illegal don't they if any have it's only right of course they can do that but china has its own right can do so they can do and they can discuss they can you know have meetings the last say on china has this code of conduct of some china meetings i mean they they always have meetings on the south by by themselves i don't think indeed any foreigner integration on that and you know the confidant or nation they can do you know whatever they agreed upon so i'm sure this is an internal matter between china and contras in the region surely going to south i just wanted to drop in you some of them permit me what you keep calling china's internal affairs do you know think it impinges on a rules based international order which dictates that countries do not take unilateral a

considering that iran is saying that you know biden has to you know there were just getting along with iraq iran trying to get them back into the j c p a way. no i'm not surprised at all the biden ministration admitted telegraphed even before the election that they intended to relent on iran and and come back to the bargain table and relax sanctions and to re-enter the j c p a way which i might add basically allows iran to have a nuclear weapon in 2025 whether it's entered into even if it is enter into any even if it is strictly invited by so the iranians and so the biden was rationed telegraphed weakness and all the iranians needed to do need to do is start to raise the temperature somewhat raise the temperature in syria raise the temperature in iraq and around the world because the because the by demonstrations already given up its leverage by saying that it is going to retreat from the trumpet ministration campaign of maximum economic pressure which was having a real effect on iran well and nothing you mentioned at iran saying they want they're not going to rejoin unless biden lifts all these

that they need so they will get what they want and the leaderships have shown in india pakistan iran iraq and also north korea as one of your guests mentioned that if the population has to tighten its belt that's what they will do and north korea has also seen how iraq libya and iran have been squeezed because they didn't have nuclear weapons nobody threatens north korea was going to attack nobody says all options are on the table so north korea knows and they also know that india and pakistan have been accepted as defacto nuclear weapons states and unfortunately because the bad policies over the past decades is that mention the failure of the agreed framework and so on we have to now accept this unfortunate reality that we have a nice country that has a nuclear where. well and also the means of delivery and therefore we need to look at some sort of a phased approach where the p r k gives us the assurance that it will not further busy up its missile and nuclear capability not carry out more long range missile tests and not carry out more nuclear weapons death in return for some sanctions

and deliver them are today acquired by middle income countries with modest populations, such as iraq, iran, libya and syria. acquired sometimes from other powers like china and north korea, but most ominously by a former soviet arsenals or unemployed scientists or from organized criminal rings, all by way of a growing international black market. according to stephen hadley, formerly president bush's assistant secretary for international security policy, and i quote, by the end of the decade, we could see over 20 countries with ballistic missiles, nine with nuclear weapons, ten with biological weapons and up to 30 with chemical weapons. according to other official united states sources, all of northeast asia, southeast asia, much of the pacific and most of russia could soon be threatened by the latest north korean missiles. once they are available in the middle east and north africa, all the capitals of europe will be within target range. on present trends, a direct set to american shores is likely to mature, if that is the right word, early in the next century. add weapons of mass destruct

is no there is no conflict there is no consciously little basic your logic peaceful i mean is not iraq iran was sure to follow afghanistan i mean china is basically a very peaceful country when i saw your country why did the philippines go to the international court and bring an order which had the chinese actions out genesee an illegal don't they to be have it's only right of course they can do that but china has its own rights can do so they can they can they can discuss they can you know have meetings the last say on china has this code of conduct of some china meetings i mean they they always have meetings on the south by by themselves i don't think they need any foreigner intervention on that and you know the confidant or nation they can't do you know whatever they agreed upon so i'm sure this is an internal matter between china and contras in the region one sure they're going to soft i just want to keep interrupting you some of them permit me what you keep calling china's internal affairs do you know think it impinges on a rules based international order which dictates that countries

develop and deliver them, our today a crime by middle income countries with modest populations, like iraq, iran, libya, and syria. sometimes as other countries like china and says north korea, -- or organized criminal rings, all by way of a growing international back market. according to -- formally president bush is assistant for national security policy, and i quote, by the end of the decade, we could see over 20 countries with ballistic missiles. nine with nuclear weapons, ten with biological weapons, and up to 30 with chemical weapons. according to other official united states sources, all of northeast asia, southeast asia, much of the pacific, and most of russia could soon be threatened by the latest north korean missiles. once they are available in the middle east and north africa, all of the capitals of europe will be within target range. and on present trends, a threat to american shores, is likely to mature, if that is the right word, early in the next century. weapons of mass destruction to rogue states, and you have a highly toxic compound. as the cia has pointed out, of the nations

it's coming from columbus as opposed to iraq or iran. it isn't comfortable. they didn't quite make it there. does this suggest they came to attack and they had civilian targets? >> well, they have so far. this began to happen over the last year and it's not a novel event in the joe biden administration. it can be happening more frequently now and partly the pressure showing what we can make for a lot of trouble when it comes to the united states. and that includes positioning what could conceivably be some kind of negotiation among the yemenis and the outside powers including the war in yemen. the one of the things is attacking saudi arabia from the north and from the south as well as iran and it's been really quite striking. which is distancing from saudi arabia and yemen. and they said that we absolutely want to offend saudi arabia and they are attacking saudi arabia. and there was another one in reality today and we are going to have to pay more attention with rockets and missiles and a possible attack. and so it looks as if the thing we should be doing sh

look, for example, at where are the frozen funds that iran would likee to get its hans on, it's really china, south korea above all. it's also iraq which has bought a lot from iran. but i think the critical thing here from an economic point of view is asia and china. >> gotcha here let's talk about yemen a little bit. there was an attack on a very, very large saudi oil system a few days ago. the claim was this was the yemenis, counting from 1000 kilometers some -- as opposed to iraq or iran, just a fraction of the distance. it's implausible. the saudis couldn't defend themselves properly. the saudi didn't makeid much ofa noise. nobody came to thee southeast defense. does this suggest the iranians can continue to attack almost at will, saudi installationse and even saudi civilian targets? >> they have so far. this was -- this began to happen over the last year. it's not a novelty that in the biden administration. if it is happening more frequently now i think it is part, well, two things. it is partly iranians pressure on us showing what we can make a lot of trouble for the united states. and that i thinknk it is partly also just

attack on a saudi oil facility.re the claim was coming from a thousand kilometers as opposed to iraq or iran. it is implausible they couldn't defend themselves properly and the saudi's didn't do they continue to attack at will for the civilian targets? >> they have so far. the biden administration if it is happening more frequently now i think it is part of iran's pressure on us showing what we can make for the united states and then what could be a negotiation among the yemenis and outside powers to try to end the war in yemen. but one of the things that iran is doing is attacking saudi arabia from north and south as well as just from a iran and i think it has been quite striking the biden administration is different. in a matter of days it had to serve around and say we want to absolutely defend saudi arabia and that becomes more and more significant because iran is more and more frequently attacking saudi arabia and these are not ordered attacks. we are going to have to pay more attention to the defense of saudi arabia. it is striking of course that the saudi's don't so it looks as if the

february 16, secretary blinken speaking on the iraq -- iran nuclear program saying, the path is open. nine days later, the u.s. conducts airstrikes against the tehran backed militia in response to a attack on u.s. forces. the biden administration expressing this appointment after refusing to undertake negotiations with the u.s. and the iran deal signatory. from what you have seen before, a lot of movies over these years, where does this leave us and what is next? sec. panetta: well, we've seen this movie before with regards to iran. and we have been playing it for a long time and trying to deal with that regime. look, i think it is important that we understand that iran is an adversary in that part of the world, that their goal is to undermine stability in that region, and that they are going to continue to do that. so we have to be prepared to deal with the threat that comes from iran. i do believe that -- i think it was the wrong step to walk away from the nuclear agreement. the nuclear agreement wasn't everything that everybody wanted, but in the very least it was preventing iran f

iraq. but iran's continued treatment of her is intolerable she must be allowed to return to the u.k. as soon as possible and be reunited with her family so the big question now is what the u.k. government is doing next particularly in light of this court summons expects to parents next week very positive step but not yet over thanks very much for the update. the united nations more so if this is women's day on monday is women in leadership achieving an equal future in a coded 19 world in a weekly radio address german chancellor angela merkel has said that women are not yet properly represented at the highest levels of politics and business and she warns that progress toward gender equality is under threat from the coronavirus in the missing we have to ensure that the pandemic does not cause us to fall back into gender roles we thought we had already overcome once again it is overwhelmingly women who have to balance home schooling childcare and their own work life. due to the talents and perspectives of both sexes are enormously important especially now during the global pandemic that

not just the old but increasingly the youngest well monica unite you all just 0 we are just in iraq or iran and china have signed a 25 year cooperation pact chinese foreign minister wang years in tehran meeting iranian foreign minister zarif and other leaders the deal is said to have political economic and strategic components iran's economy has suffered from international sanctions after the earth to withdrew from the 2015 nuclear agreement which china remains part of as a bag as more from the capital. increasingly iran has been turning to russia and china especially since the former us president donald trump imposed sanctions on iran sanctions are still in place today but this visit does come a time where china has reportedly stepped up its purchase of direct oil sales for from iran and also this is the highest chinese official that's visited iran since the election of president joe biden in january so both politically and economically iran has been turning to russia and china and back last year in october when the united states and the president donald trump was planning to put forth a m

iraq attacked iran, became embroiled in a war with its neighbour. _ using some of those tanks in thesh—made i weapons in that war, but anyway once they were belligerents, - there was a un arms embargo so the uk couldn't deliver the tanks even if it had wanted _ to and the whole thing has stretched on and of course more recently - there have been other forms of sanctions against iran. - so from an iranian perspective - getting this money is both a matter of honour and practical importance. it is a lot of money. they want to be able to use it. now, fascinatingly, - when borisjohnson had that conversation with president rouhani on wednesday, of course _ the downing street readout - emphasised the immediate freeing of nazanin zaghari—ratcliffe - and other dual nationals being held, apparently, it seems, as a form of hostage. | and the iranian readout, - fascinatingly, towards the end of the version published _ by the islamic republic news agency, mentioned that borisjohnson hadj given a commitment to settle this issue of the debt over the weapons. when i then called downing street said w

cold wet and windy once again it's improving now and the last of that rain on its way through iraq into iran that were last into saturday either but further south as it changes the complection it picks up a wind going down the gulf doha will notice it kept look as a shower is cold as it comes in the north it drops the temperature and it tends to be quite gusty and sometimes quite dusty as well but beyond that when there's not a lot going on about how to get to saturday there's a change taking place in turkey those car we are coming across the black sea from eastern europe so istanbul will suddenly feel much colder and be quite miserable in southern africa the weather is fairly active but not so much in the mainland as over in the channel and towards madagascar that orange sent to suggest some heavy rain that seasonally correct and right is always wanted to madagascar bus this will produce flash flooding as it always does but beyond that over there is some intensity in the showers every now and again in places like malawi or zimbabwe's a much more dry picture than you might expect even from a

iraq. the 2nd rocket attack in the country this month it was the iran iraq for past for the visit of pope francis of friday it'll be his 1st visit to the country a magnitude $6.00 earthquake has struck central greece the european mediterranean seismological center estimates the depth at 10 kilometers a tremors were felt as far away as neighboring albania kosovo and montenegro local officials reported damage to some buildings but no injuries. taiwan has received its 1st delivery of the astra zeneca corona virus vaccine 117000 doses will be prioritized for health care workers who have direct contact contact with covert patients the population of nearly 24000000 people taiwan has signed a contract to secure 10000000 doses of the astra zeneca vaccine. here in germany the domestic intelligence agency has placed the country's largest opposition party the far right alternative for germany under surveillance the federal office for the protection of the constitution plans to monitor the party because of suspicions that its right wing extremist positions could violate the constitution we have to he says th

great britain guatemala honduras iran iraq israel if you ain't in iraq you know the 9th pakistan the philippines poland rumania. turkey you o'clock pm and. i and. i and. so what we've got to do is identify the threats that we have it's crazy. let it be an arms race. dramatic. very. time to sit down and talk. during the vietnam war u.s. forces. there was a secret war. and for years the american people did not know. until our. country per capita. millions of unexploded bombs still in danger lives in this small agricultural country jordyn wieber. even today kids in laos full victims of bombs dropped decades ago is the us making amends for that tragedy and. help to the people need in that little. armenia's prime minister faces pushback from the country's president over his demand to fire the country's top general that's as crowds continue to demand that the pm step down. and donald trump makes his 1st public speech since leaving the white house saying he has no plans to create a new political party but hasn't ruled out running for president again in 2024. plus in our look at some of the

difficult countries, countries that have difficult relationships, pardon me with one another, and so iran and iraq don't get along particularly well. saudi arabia and iran don't get along particularly well but russia deals with all of them. it established relationships with individual countries and leaders who have kindred spirits or who have populations who may be receptive to a new kind of, i wouldn't call it quite an ideology, but belief, conservative belief, more traditional beliefs. so we can see this in the populous leaders who have emerged. among societies in the middle east, north africa and see this as an alternative to liberalism, for example. one of the important things i think too to recognize is that russia does not use ideology the way the soviet union did. there is much more pragmatism. they do have this sort of emphasis on traditional values and also not pressing things like human rights in their dealings with maybe countries that would have unsafe reperceptions on the part of the united states or other western powers >>> increasing influence and sharper closer ties in eastern euro

for you and for iran. , . iraqtoric and courageous _ iraq. yes, indeed. it is a historic and courageous visit, _ iraq. yes, indeed. it is a historic and courageous visit, to - iraq. yes, indeed. it is a historic and courageous visit, to come . iraq. yes, indeed. it is a historic| and courageous visit, to come to iraq and to travel, and to meet all of these important and influential figures hope to make, notjust history, but really to open a history. history, but really to open a histo . , ., , , history. so interesting that this is the po e's history. so interesting that this is the pope's first _ history. so interesting that this is the pope's first international - history. so interesting that this is the pope's first international trip| the pope's first international trip since the start of the pandemic. he has chosen to come to iraq. why is that, do you think? iraq has chosen to come to iraq. why is that, do you think?— that, do you think? iraq is still one of the _ that, do you think? iraq is still one of the i

iraq and iran comes thought. i want to scream and. models' 1st recruit was his brother more tough doing it that his shots. the one of . a world wide jack on the nirvana many of the month or the heavy in gun cabinet. the brothers village of nyima on the eastern outskirts of daraa had a reputation for defiance and a show of force government troops blasted their way in. the in the old song thought shellshock a lot of the folks on the look also. damaged in the 9 of them on the job was large i am not a benign of a block not at the initial efforts and not a bit lucky not. jacking them as a knock off by. coming up with a good. american gun paving the guy up and the knock on the. others will follow what's the worst of all possible. model if the accountant became a roof the warrior. like most of his men he'd completed national service as a young man he'd been trained as a fighter pilot. in the day i had more and more dishes truly and i got a cinema but i wanted just a story the. so are the money in. but he would now be using his military exper

cold wet and windy once again it's improving now and the last of that rain on its way through iraq into iran that were last into saturday either but further south as it changes the complection it picks up wind going down the gulf doha will notice it kept looking at a shower is cold because it comes in the north it drops the temperature and it tends to be quite gusty and sometimes quite dusty as well but beyond that when there's not a lot going on about how to get to saturday there's a change taking place in turkey those car we are coming across the black sea from eastern europe so istanbul will suddenly feel much colder and be quite miserable in southern africa the weather is fairly active but not so much in the mainland as over in the channel and towards madagascar that orange center suggests some heavy rain that seasonally correct and rain is always wanted to madagascar bus this will produce flash flooding as it always does but beyond that over there is some intensity in the showers every down again in places like malawi or zimbabwe's a much more dry picture than you might expect even from

iraq and iran can come stosh us i want to scream in. models 1st recruits was his brother more off doing it that his shots. the one. article. a while wanted to have a gun and then move on then milan or the heavy in gun cabinet. the brothers village of nyima on the eastern outskirts of data had a reputation for defiance and a show of force the government troops blasted their way in. the old song thought shell shell out of the political north also. damaged in the 9 months i'm on the job most r.j. i'm out of but i'm a block not a thief in the initial efforts and not a bit lucky not. to jacking them as an up off player. coming up with a good. kick . american gun paving the way or the guy up and the knock on the. well it's more fun to watch the worst of all possible. model if the accountant became a roof the warrior. like most of his men he'd completed national service as a young man he'd been trained as a fighter pilot. in the moon or not dishes 3 and i thought i said i'm not. going to just a story here. so are the money. but he would now be

and a whole lot more coming up with my colleague piers bannard she ended up a news asia on the iraq and iran on behalf of the entire team thank you so much for spending is going to be different. this matter how dumb is motorists. it's a practice site for forensic technicians. did the killer enjoy. the print is seems. there's a pretty new technology that can help solve the case to morrow to. 60 minutes w. w's crime fighters are back to africa is most successful in radio drama series continues this season the stories focus on hate speech color of prevention of sustainable chocolate production. all of a sow's are available online and of course you can share and discuss on africa's facebook page and other social media platforms. kind of fighters tune in now for. it. why are people forced to hide in trucks. the clock there are many reasons the book the there are many answers the phone. and there are many stories. above make up your. you made 4 mines. this is the the good news coming up today to us in gauge went. i mean think of the so-called ford nations decides to provide coronavirus vaccines to

and britain's foreign secretary says it's unacceptable that iran is pursuing a 2nd case against iraq cliff the british iranian woman who's been detained in iran since 2016 has appeared in court on a new charge well those are the headlines the news continues here on al-jazeera after inside story staging. al jazeera right well every week. viewfinder fresh perspectives through the lens of the who filmmaker is soon around the globe. facing a monday off but i know that the above up until last fall for so much but long on you mustn't. mind. what i thought i'm going to only move a bit. so that. i know what to do and they are on their mark i'm with this my sky out there that are iced out and challenge are not not not lost for 19 they are us a lot of us decided to do so under the full. 90909099 i'm about a lot. of us who saw us almost a lot. more on their mom was on. he's going to change in gene. pool on samani i mean money to take him by become possible sums up his income. so. he got a lot of just a lot of money and that's it how many. many of. you and you know now. that i'm on download how m

they put out that if they would sell them, it didn't change any balance between iran and iraq.those missiles. this would reassure them, but also it would strengthen them in that coming, factionalism about taking over the government because they would present these to the military. not the revolutionary military, this would give them prestige, they would have to have the help of the military. now this was presented to us. i told our people over there that we had a policy that we could not do business with any country that supported terrorism, which iran does. they made a pretty good case for themself that any government of theirs would not support terrorism. finally, i said that there is a political way that they could establish that. we've got some hostages held by hezbollah which we know has a relationship with iran. would they use their influence to see if they could free our hostages? this is what happened. and i oked the shipment, which is what i am legally entitled to do, not to the kidnappers, to these people. when people say it's gonna look like arms for hostages i said

we have been trying for a long time behind the scenes to bring about peace between iran and iraq. we knew that we were not the favorite people because of our relationships previous to that of the shah. now we knew also that -- well, let me put it this way. it started with this. by way of a third country in the middle east we were informed there were some representatives of iran, not of the government who wanted to make contact with the united states to see if they could not establish a better relationship and they put it on the basis -- if you remember at that time want too long ago we heard that the khomeini's days were numbered and he may not live out the week and these people were representative of the factions as to who would be in charge when he is gone. this third country recommended them and said their credentials were honest. so we accepted and we sent some people. it had to be a covert operation because if they were discovered they'd be executed and after our people had met with them for a time and that we, too, would like to have that better relationship they made the pr

live in oppressive conditions in syria, turkey, iraq and iran.d equality, defeated isis fighters while challenging the roles of women in society. author gayle tzemach lemmon made seven trips to northern syria, a senior fellow at council of foreign relations and joins us now. welcome to the program. >> thanks for having me. >> talk about the things that motivated the women to fight, particularly those pushing against the societal norms around them. >> at the beginning this story is about women in the communities like watching tonight. wanted to take care of neighbors and neighborhoods. never thought of fighting isis but the civil war turned into the isis fight and they had to take a stand. stood up to say these extremists will not bring their values to our neighborhood, and wanted to fight against the islamic state and for women's equality. 2014 really, kobani becomes a site of david versus goliath battle where david is a woman. >> one of the things about the societal shift around them, ethnic kurds motivated by a man whose philosophy said that th

think about and they will be visited by the pope but there's also a lot of other christians in iraq including iran catholics although there are. the particular denominations are a minority but christians in iraq unfortunately had to come more and more of a minority recently. i mean as well as his trip to the country he's also going to be meeting with grand ayatollah sistani who is the highest wages of already in the country but also leader to the hundreds of millions of shia muslims around the world this is an incredibly rare meeting for. yes it's really an exciting historical moment to be witnessing this i'll say that when i 1st heard that the pope was going to visit iraq i had really hoped that this visit the sistan it would occur and i'm very happy to see it on the agenda you know the loss of stanny and the pope as many spiritual leader as around the world share some characteristics including being you know shepherds of a community through times of crises we can store a cli scene cope's and cardinals do this but we've also seen so stanley do this for iraq after 2003 and do it for all iraqis not

"the wall street journal" say actually the effect yesterday originated from iraq or iran. does the white house believe that this is a game changer and would you hold iran accountable? >> first we continue to be alarmed by the frequency of the attacks on saudi arabia. these are all the actions of a group that is serious about peace and the attacks are not acceptable and they are dangerous and put the lives of innocent civilians at work including americans. we of course continue to work in close cooperation with of the saudi's given the threat as you referenced that they are facing on a frequent basis from these attacks. and we understand that they face genuine security threats from young men and others in the region so part of the interagency process will look for ways to improve support for the ability to defend its territory against threats, but i don't have anything from that to predict at this point in time. can you update us on the negotiations, where are we now? are we offering something new? >> it is an ongoing discussion about based on the reaction of the iranians t

iraq war. it's a disaster. the whole tipping of the balance between iran and the rest of the middle east was tipped by getting ridof the regime in iraq. so, it's this idea that we're going to make the world this great place for democracy, this wilsonian idea that we're going to get rid of a regime and it's going to get better. we didn't go in with the mind of the u.s. we went part way in. you could argue had we not gotten involved and had we discouraged the other nations greting involved it still would have been a disaster but maybe 10,000 people die instead of 500,000. i think the misguided notion that we helped anybody in syria, the evidence shows we did the half approach to it. blinken's response and conclusion is we need to go all the way in. my perspective is we need to stay out of these wars. toppling one strong man or leader we get another one or get worse. all along the syrian owar, we would pretend there were lawyers and doctors fighting, moderates fighting. al quaeda were the fighter. the fiercest fighters were the jihadist. i never thought the jihadists would be a fan of assad, but we have to learn les

the years -- and of course, when we're talking about the suffering of iraq, we're talking about the last more than 40 years. the iranraq war, the kuwait war, the american sanctions which were devastating for ordinary iraqis, the american invasion, the mess that it brought, then isis, the isis war. and he's made it clear, he understands muslims, whether shia, sunni, yazidis, other minorities, as well as christians, have suffered. and really, yesterday the focus of his activities, first meeting with the grand ayatollah al sistani, then the interfaith event in the biblical city of ur, really stressed the unity of the people of iraq within the context of the abrahamic tradition, the tradition of abraham, the mono theistic religions. he really has made sure this is a balanced message of his trip, that he's well aware of the suffering of all iraqis. he's interested, as the head of the catholic church, in the christian community and the response of ordinary iraqis has been very positive. yesterday the top-trending hashtag on twitter in iraq was #thehistoricmeeting. that was referring to the meeting between grand ayatollah

street journal" just quoted a senior saudi official said the attack yesterday was originated from iraq or iran. is this -- does the white house believe this is a game changer? and will you hold iran accountable? jen: first, we continue to be alarmed by the frequency of houthi attacks on saudi arabia, escalating attacks like these are the no the actions of a group that's serious about peace. the attacks are unacceptable and dangerous and put the lives of innocent civilians at work, including americans. we, of course, continue to work in close cooperation with the saudis, given the threat, as you referenced, that they are facing on a frequent basis from these attacks. and we understand that they face genuine security threats from yemen and others in the region. as a part of our interagency process, we'll look for ways to improve support for saudi arabia's ability to defend its territory against threats but i don't have anything from that to predict for you at this point in time. reporter: can you update us on the negotiation with the iranians? where are we now? has it stalled? are you offering t