our coverage continues now of the missile strike by iran we want to bring in journalist make our mortazavi she's the diplomatic correspondent for the british newspaper the independent joining me now from washington d.c. now nader thank you for joining us 1st of all the foreign minister of iran tweeting just moments ago i want to read that to you he said quote iran took and concluded proportionate measures in self-defense and then he continues we did not seek escalation or warble defend ourselves against any aggression what do you make of that statement there from the iranian foreign minister thank you for having me so it seems like iran is trying to make it clear from the statement of the wire you see we saw the same spirit and now from the foreign minister is that this is not an attempt to escalate into a fool and warrior no appetite for a full on war in iran definitely nothing that would spill into iranian soil across the border and then at the same time they need a. face saving with they needed the revenge of the supreme leader had been promising they needed their revenge that he's part

our coverage continues now of the missile strike by iran we want to bring in journalist they guard mortazavi she's the diplomatic correspondent for the british newspaper the independent joining me now from washington d.c. now negara thank you for joining us 1st of all the foreign minister of iran tweeting just moments ago i want to read that to you he said quote iran took and concluded proportionate measures in self-defense and then it continues we did not seek escalation or war but will defend ourselves against any aggression what do you make of that statement there from the iranian foreign minister thank you for having me so it seems like iran is trying to make it clear from the statement of the wire you see we saw the same spirit and now from the foreign minister is that this is not an attempt to escalate into a fool and warrior no appetite for a full on war in iran definitely nothing that would spill weren't iranian soil across the border and then at the same time they needed. a face saving with they needed the revenge as a supreme leader had been promising they needed their revenge that

negar mortazavi, we would love to have more time with you.for joining us. that is all we have time for now. qassem soleimani, the commander of the elites quds force, has been killed by us forces. thanks for watching. stay tuned. hello there. for many we started the year on a cloudy but quiet note, didn't we? but it was all change by day two with rain, some of it heavy across scotland. not one weather front but two. it must be january — it's buy one get one free and it brought some heavy rain as it drifted its way steadily south and east. so much so that we had 40mm by 8pm at the end of the day on thursday in the highlands of scotland. all change as we move into friday's weather because it looks likely that today will be colder and there will be a little more in the way of sunshine around, and that is because those two weather fronts continue to drift their way south and east, and then they allow the door to open to the colder arctic air. the isobars always squeezing together and they always stay pretty windy in the northern isles, with galefo

we are also joined by negar mortazavi, an iranian-american journalist in washington, d.c.s the authorian of several books including, "the coup: 1953, the cia, and the roots of modern u.s.-iran relations." and phyllis bennis in washington fellow at the institute for , a policy studies, who has written the book among others "understanding the u.s.-iran , crisis: a primer." is s this attack on suleimani going to unite people across the polilitical spectrum in iran? >> it definitely is and it already has. we see various political notions inside iran --i'm talking about dissidents or the opposition base outside -- the political l ctions opeperating inside including the ones considered opposition to the government who had been cracked down during the 2009 green movement. some have been to jail. they're still operating inside the country. we see messages of condolencese. we see messages of condemnationn coming from almost e every faction, including reformists,s, momoderates, and hardliners who saw suleimani as a hero. it was probably the quickest way to have aa unifying rallying

ok reporter nick are mortazavi in washington d.c. thank you for that my pleasure iraq's military says 8 rockets have struck a major air base where some u.s. personnel are housed at official statement says 4 iraqi soldiers were wounded at balad air base some 80 kilometers north of the capital baghdad there's been no claim of responsibility the u.s. has not confirmed the incident and now to some of the other stories making news around the world. mourners across canada have been paying tribute to the victims of the plane disaster at a vigil in edmonton prime minister justin trudeau said he would pursue justice and accountability for the victims families and friends $57.00 canadians many of them of iranian descent were killed in the crash. hopes for a cease fire in libya have been fading after both sides of the conflict accused each other of continuing to fight there were reports of gunfire in the capital tripoli early on sunday morning rebel libyan armed forces had announced they would agree to a truce with the u.n. backed government. s

ok reporter nick are mortazavi in washington d.c. thank you for that iraq's military says 8 rockets have stricken a major air base where some u.s. personnel are housed an official statement says 4 iraqi soldiers were wounded at balad air base some 80 kilometers north of the capital baghdad there's been no claim of responsibility and the u.s. has not confirmed the incident now to some of the other stories making news around the world. libya's warring rivals are expected to sign a cease fire agreement later today in moscow it comes after a fire is also russian his u.n. backed government agreed a conditional truce with rebel leader how the hottest are both sides have accused the other of violating the agreement. in the share the government says heavily armed jihadists have stormed a military base killing 89 soldiers it's hot happened near the volatile border with mali in december 71 soldiers from the air were also killed in the same region that attack was claimed by the so-called islamic state. clashes have marred a carnival opening eve

ok reporter nick are mortazavi in washington d.c. thank you for that iraq's military says 8 rockets have struck and a major air base where some u.s. personnel are housed an official statement says 4 iraqi soldiers were wounded at balad air base 80 kilometers north of the capital baghdad there's been no claim of responsibility and united states has not confirmed the incident and now to some of the other stories making news around the world. mourners across canada have been paying tribute to the victims of the iran plane disaster at a vigil in edmonton prime minister justin trudeau said he would pursue justice and accountability for the victims families and friends $57.00 canadians many of iranian descent were killed in the crash all of you. haitians have paused to remember the victims of the massive earthquake that killed more than 100000 people a decade ago president drove the ease of took part in a memorial outside port au prince but the ceremony was disrupted by a group of protesters they say movies has failed to tackle corruption

joining me now, negar mortazavi an iranian—american journalist and media analyst based in washington.re able to hear oui’ i don't know if you are able to hear our previous guest that i want to redo the tweets from the iranians foreign minister, mohammad javad zarif. he says it was human error caused by us adventurism. he puts a lot of the blame for this on the united states and what do you make of that? i think the foreign minister's tweet, i just of that? i think the foreign minister's tweet, ijust read it before i came on, it was adjust from a longer statement that came from the armed services of the military and that statement i think gave some very interesting detail on how the country was on highest alert when it came to air defence and they saw some hostile air traffic around the country and some strategic centres which were believed to have been the targets. some stuff showed up on their radar. all of that pointed to their radar. all of that pointed to the fact, i am not military or aviation expert, but the question that many iranians i have talked to, why such a high sensitivi

let's get more on our top story now: negar mortazavi is diplomatic correspondent for the independent.alk to us about the killin of he can talk to us about the killing of the general in iran. we have had issues within the iranian government, in particular, the fear that the killing of general soleimani means that citizens in iran will close ranks behind the government and the hardliners against the moderates. is that a real danger here? after all general soleimani was part of the revolutionary guard and that is a major force revolutionary guard and that is a majorforce in a rainy repression. there were massive protests in november in iran, actually. and this wasn't the first repression that they did. so they are not popular across all portions of the population but within the political factions we have seen moderates and reform ists factions we have seen moderates and reformists who have been critical of the hardcore, the core of the regime, of the revolutionary guard policies and actions, we see them rallying around a flag and using this as a unifying voice against the united states.

own home more now on our top story the unrest that we've seen in the iranian capital tehran negara mortazavi is an iranian american journalist and commentator in washington joins me live now from the u.s. capitol so in some ways that has been this sort of struggle to understand recent demonstrations that we've seen conflicting demonstrations in iran and then how to to reconcile that with the massive turnout in processions for the funeral of course i'm still a mani help us to understand that the nature of these recent protests in iran. sure so just to be clear it's a diverse society with differing views sometimes very polarized so yes we saw millions of people coming out condemning the u.s. for the assassination of the top general and then now we see thousands of people obviously when the protests are anti government and it's there's a much higher risk compared to when you're trying to support the government coming out for a similar funeral so now we see people really angry and and this sense of mistrust or condemning of the government because of the shooting down of the civilian plane these

and then negar mortazavi, an iranian american journalist and media analyst for bbc, al jazeera and cgpn and she will be talking about the domestic dynamics of iran today and what is going on there and how that will be impacted in the future. abbas kadhim, the director of the iraq initiative at the council, and he will be talking about iraq and how it's affected by issues by the current conflict, and yours truly will be discussing reflections on what are implications for lebanon and syria of what's going on today. so without further ado, please, daniel, go ahead. >> well, thank you very much, ta mar and imad. i'm delighted to be here at the arab center. i have a presentation that is essentially three points and i might come in essentially under 12 minutes. we'll see how it goes. and my task is to answer all these questions in that time, and it will reduce to the following three closely-related points. first and foremost, my perspective on the trump administration's approach to iran, to put it in the largest frame possible at this moment, is that it's just basically tactics and no clear s

negar mortazavi is a journalist based in washington, and joins us now.ing us up—to—date on what we have heard from iran, because iranian authorities have been very clear previously, saying that it was not the work of a missile, it had not been shot down, but now the advice has changed. correct, so after days of denial basically that opened the doorfor much of denial basically that opened the door for much rumour and of denial basically that opened the doorfor much rumour and conspiracy theories, on iranian social media and the media sphere really fractured the society and public opinions, some were going with the official line, others were going with rumours and conspiracies, finally this acknowledgement comes, it is actually a conference of statement by the armed bombers —— forces, saying this was human error, saying it was a very sensitive time, they were on high alert for air defences, expecting retaliation for the attack on the iraqi base, and that this plane was moving toward a military target and was mistakenly shot down, which brings us to the que