these protests didn't come out of the economic protests against austerity measures that have been going on for months if not years building gathering here in their front of government buildings and they were scattered they were smaller sometimes even crackdown but this time it was organized and it all started in the religious city of masha which is the second largest city in iran and like you said before miss activists on the ground believe that this was actually started by the hardliners or the conservative who's the base for one of the major. contenders of their previous election against president rouhani is actually in that but then it escalated it got out of hand and it spread like wildfire to dozens of cities across iran i've got here a tweet from sayed mousavi professor let me just share this with you says because of all the different camps the dynamics of very very these protests don't even have a nor official personality as a leader the protests directions a sense for the telegram app a crowd shows up no manifesto no clear message right submersion everyone goes back home profess

the protesters have been on the streets in various parts of the country since thursday they first protested about the country's dire economic situation but are also now complaining about human rights abuses at least a dozen have died and there is extensive damage not everyone agrees with the way the demonstrations have been carried out on one of my fick these protests should carry the message of unity for ourselves the protests should be held peacefully not violently as advice our well being and safety don't reach it is there are so many people who intend to exploit the situation and take advantage of the violence they destroy our society by their deeds and i mean claiming to want to fight open on monday have pro-government rally took place in the northern city of rushed where protesters voiced their support for the government and the establishment they have asked for a peaceful solution to the country's problems. so far though anti-government protests continue iranian state television has shown scenes of vandalism allegedly connected to some of the anti-government demonstrators and shows d

when the protesters first started. about ten days ago in mashhad for the first few days they were very very peaceful and i think there was a lot of normal people than what regard this so you know if the conservatives were involved or not but after a while we had some sort of riots in it especially smaller cities the burning of banks the building of shops the attempted takeover of the station and this is the time when the number of protesters started to decline because of the violence and at the same time the number of casualties started to eat and perhaps i think because of that what i meant is that was one of the reasons why the protests died away i do wise i think if they had been peaceful then they would have perhaps continued interest in here have made here on twitter says i separate protests from i'm rested exactly what the press assessment time but i want to add this the difference between this time and two thousand and nine was that the middle class that joined these protests and this is a huge huge aspect of th

protesters who are condemning the first group of protests there is and we have not seen any major protests ever since then some nights you can see groups of twenty thirty people in all central tehran or northern tehran walking together but there is not much activity and because there is no single leadership and there's a riot i think if you just allow me to explain about the numbers maybe in the next question how will you not like zone or something else also to talk about the protests in iran is trita parsi his followers and president of the national iranian american council missa posse if i mean there's been all those theories about all of these people on the streets of a silent majority is this a new phenomena in iran people have been manipulated by the clerical establishment to take advantage of the situation in iran. well what the first thing we can say is they clearly this is a different segment of society than what we saw in two thousand and nine this appears to be a segment that is not as involved politically not as experienced politically and have not been at the center of iran's p

it's hard to say exactly what's happening outside in the provinces protest to go protest always happening in smaller towns and cities here and tear up but we can all see your goals of violence. this morning we've seen very impressive show strength from the regime tens of thousands of people who. are going round in several major cities not yet in tehran that's coming from but it. does appear that go to sort of the top. yet and when we look at the causes for example of these anti-government protests we know that for example the uprising has been the biggest since two thousand and nine but that crackdown underway as you mentioned and hundreds already arrested how strong would you say is the will for those protesters to continue and how big a threat are they posing to the regime at this point. we're better than two thousand and nine these protests have been much smaller really don't how can i do the figures we're talking in the silence wrote them in the hundreds of thousands which you saw back in two thousand not. the fact that they were fighting the fight for their attacks on government buil

protesters have been on the streets in various parts of the country since thursday they first protested about the country's dire economic situation but are also now complaining about human rights. abuses you know at least a dozen have died and there's extensive damage on monday iranian state t.v. showed president hassan rouhani meeting with members of parliament to discuss the situation rowhani claim that protests are happening because iran's enemies are angry due to the country's accomplishments and are therefore provoking protestors state t.v. provided interviews with iranians who don't agree with the demonstrations because while one in these protests the chicago of a message of unity they should be held peacefully not to finally the thoughts violates our well being and safety. there are so many people who intend to exploit the situation and take advantage of the violence they're destroying a society. of pro-government rally took place in the northern city of rushed where protesters voiced their support for the government. they've asked for a peaceful solution to the country's problem

deaths are reported in anti-government protests it's. a matter of it is good to have you with us new year's revelers around the world have been treated to spectacular displays of pyrotechnics as the world welcomed the new year security arrangements were tight as people assembled at iconic venues around the world so we're going to begin our reports here in berlin at the brandenburg gate. the. germans may have a reputation for being reserved but not at new year the country goes firework crazy nowhere more than the capital berlin thousand strong the streets around the brandenburg gate to welcome two thousand and eighteen and t w reporter rebecca rivers was there to soak up the excitement. this night something here you can sense this here this kid said to days have gone off without a hitch he hadn't despite all the outbuilding can seem to night is the maid here he's been late and the people just want to have fun. just ten hours earlier the sky above sydney harbor was a blaze with colors as australians greeted the new year. another harbor ano

assume whole the whole radical form of protest vote by a form of protest that that perhaps didn't reach out to the large numbers of people who were out on the less frustrated about the economy but don't want to go course up violent protests fizzled out we should it was a rule out the perhaps more protests still to come right can you tell us a little bit about what motivated the iranians to come out and protest against their government although they're small and i just want to know what are some of their grievances. well the protests are small the grievances the drove them definitely widespread and go across the iranian society very high on a plug as high school as you decide for young people. very high rates of inflation is slow progress by the government approving the economy a lot of promises that have been kept a lot of general dissatisfaction which we hear a lot from tehran is on the street you know people that want to take part in the protests and so it will take a lot of work for the government to tide and reassure people that it's actually responding to them listening to the well

protests acrososs pakistan. this is pakistani politician imran khan speaking in islamabad. >> trump has no understanding of the war in afghanistan and the destruction it is causing in pakistan. it seems like yes no background knowledge about it at all. pakistan has made sacrifices. it is suffered losses in the process. our tribal areas have been devastated. on top of all of this, we're being humiliated. and american president who lack sense and does not understand much and is following the agenda of our enemies, he is insulting us in the end. amy: meanwhile, president trump attacked hillary clinton in a long time eight on twitter calling for abedin to be gel. in climate news, a new report warns that w without immediate, large-scale action to limit global greenhouse gas emissions, as much as 30% of the earth's land could fall into a state of perpetual drought, threatening the food supplies of billions of people. the report in the journal nature predicts the desertification would follllow a global average temperat

he will look at the role of security services in these protests, and what the protests might mean for the future of those security forces, both within and outside of iran. finally, i will turn to our friedman visiting fellow, who is going to look at how these protests might reverberate in lebanon, outside of iran's borders, certainly where iran is spending those billions of dollars that protesters have cited as one of their grievances. throughout all of this, as is our practice, we will talk about what u.s. policymakers should be doing about all of this. i think so far, i would just give you my one minute of personal take. so far, i think the trump administration has tried to demonstrate its support for the protesters through the president's twitter feed and officials, and it's trying to rally some international response or pressure to complement the u.s. statements. so far, international statements have been mild compared to american statements. that effort is still underway. i'm sure we will see this effort develop as the days and weeks unfold. we may see more sanctions on iran for

and that they have a right to peaceful protest. people should be able to exercise their right to freedom of expression and demonstrate peacefully and lawfully we encourage the iranian authorities to commit to this no one is forcing iran onto our agenda the security council is perfectly empowered through article thirty four of the un charter and i quote to investigate any dispute or any situation which might lead to international friction or give rise to a dispute in order to determine whether the continuance of the dispute or situation is likely to endanger the maintenance of international peace and security the united kingdom's concerns about the human rights situation in iran extend beyond the recent treatment of protesters the continued use of the death penalty including for juveniles weak rule of law restrictions on freedom of expression and freedom of religion and belief are all deeply worrying we call on iran to adhere to its international obligations to respect the rights of individuals to freedom of expression opinion and p

protesting about is it the rising price of the rising cost of living here or are you protesting against the rule of. most of them of course because this part of the surprise in the price is that this hour the budget of the sudden it is irrelevant and a gimmick to tell our policy since most others are in the eyes in this crisis and biases of not supporting the basic living status of the people has thought it long time ago and of course we are protesting that it is against this policy is a good the units are all right so let's bring in have his mohammed then also in ca to have his why have the prices of staple goods in sudan risen so high so quickly and what's behind sudan's rampant rate of inflation. i think it's to do with. the infrastructure was the need economy is very weak is why i think the government only to solve two increasing taxes and that of taxes and that is what really is up you know most of the prices of the central committees. commodities for people many sudanese who are you know with an average income it is because live become unbearable for them because they simply canno

today how big were those protests do you know. well it's hard to know as far as i know there haven't been any official figures yet but there were protests or there are protests going on today in over one hundred cities across russia and these supporters have come out onto the streets so this does seem to be a russia wide protest against these upcoming elections which many supporters see essentially as a farce an inviting himself says that the. now that he is not allowed to compete there's no real competition and it's pretty much clear also from opinion polls that putin is likely to win in these elections and people have come out against here on to the streets of moscow and other cities across russia calling for a boycott of those elections calling for people to not go and vote because as they say it's a farce and only sure when in moscow thank you for that us. in the capital of african heads of states are gathering for the annual african union so mass reforming the african union will dominate the two day meeting headed by rwandan

were reportedly turned down of protesters stolen fire and drink in another town quests. but again with social media. it's quite difficult to verify information. it was hurt those warnings from law thorson's threatening to come down hard on protesters what does that mean and is that the sign that's happening but so far from what we can sell the police have taken a relatively soft approach to the protesters the government does accept the president except on the chance of economic grievances driving the. rest so they want to see taking those serious leave of obviously drawing the line when it comes to using the islamic system as a whole out carrying out by that or damaging public property did our ports or government buildings religious asunder is being attacked in some places oh nights that would be a red line for the regime whether or not they actually bring the revolutionary guard really crack down remains to be seen eric where can we expect the protests to go from here and do they have broad support in iranian society. it's hard to tell there is a that of any kind of lea

at the inception of the protest. at that point, the hands of elements from outside iran, including instigators based in the united states and europe began to be visible. incitement to violence included encouraging and training people to use molotov cocktails, to siege munitions depots and to stage an armed uprising. u.s. citizens took to social media to order the killing of 120 members of our security forces, contending that those who will be included among the killed will are the families of them in their homes. this same u.s. president publicly stated to u.s. media a complete sense of impunity that they should burn down government and police stations. it was clear enough not just to us but also to third parties. the executive decided to block some of the violent inciting channels. all of this is also well documented in the mainstream media. in one case, a man with extensive criminal record captured a fire engine, ran it over a car, murdering the driver and his 12-year-old son. in some other cases, they looted shops

has claimed that protesters also tried to take over some police stations and military bases the protests prompted a response from the country's president hassan rouhani who acknowledged the public's anger over the country's economic problems. in notes that. one point must become clear to everyone that we are a free nation according to the constitution and people are absolutely free to criticize or even to protest however we should also be mindful that criticizing and protesting should be done in such a way that will improve the country situation but others in the government were less diplomatic. hammy afro do you hear that in all those who join the protests in recent days and those who provoked it behind the scenes their relations and connexions those who misuse cyberspace and spread violence are absolutely known to us and we will definitely confront them in due time has money. u.s. president donald trump used twitter to show his support for the demonstrators and toward the iranian government against human rights abuses he also said that it was time for change but rouhani cast doubt on t

but protesters have had support from u.s. president donald trump. he took to twitter to warn the iranian government against human rights abuses rouhani however cast doubt on the sincerity of trump's concerns in all you can lose that this guy in america who wants to sympathize with our people today has forgotten that he called iranians terrorists a few months ago let it. but if he was looking for a reunion backing trump need only have glanced out the window. before the white house dissident group the people's mujahideen of iran showed their solidarity with protesters in tehran back in iran the protests rejoin the next few days will show whether demonstrators heed rouhani is call for calm or trumped call to action. as a more on this now we're joined by athey correspondent eric randolph in teheran eric and two more protest is has been killed what more can you tell us about that. but we are quite limited information they were shot. because. media coverage and travel restrictions we don't know exactly how you died we also know that. reportedly turned dow

the protest -- the protests in iran and their implications for the region and u.s. policy from a lot of different angles. i'm going to introduce folks in the order i am going to call on them. we will start with patrick clawson. he is our senior fellow and director of research at the institute. he is going to look at the background of these protests. where are they coming from, what are the causes and what has been happening inside of iran that can explain the unrest we are seeing. then we will turn via video to who was one of washington jk most skillful at whereers of iran they might be going in the future. conellowill turn to the -- confellow. people look at the role of security services in these protests and what the protests might mean for the future of those security forces, both within and outside of iran. finally, i will turn to our visiting fellow who is going to look at how these protests might reverberate in lebanon, outside of iran jk borders but certainly where iran is spending those billions of dollars that protesters have cited as one of their grievance

hard on the protesters. for more we're joined by ali noorani he's a journalist with the a.f.p. news agency in toronto thanks for speaking with us another death in iran iranian police say one of their own officers has been killed could we now see the start of a general crackdown on protesters. ah this could be this could be going down toward a crackdown because sunday night was the most violent day of the protest of these five days of protest we have had now to a protest there isn't one police man dead in as a full body central iraq the. broadcasters that one protests there used hunting rifle started shooting at police forces injuring three and killing one and we have also seen pro regime protest up in got a rally a public not across the country official president rouhani head of the jewish judiciary all of them have that iran will not tolerate this and they said they will be decisive be confronted also intelligence. ministry as that we have and they fired the protesters and the instigators and we will deal w

-- lives in protest. the voices of the iranian people should be heard. we have debated the proper role of human rights in the security council. some of our colleagues believe human rights septal place here. rights ande fundamental freedoms are the business only of the governments that control them. the united states does not share that belief. human rights are not the gift of governments. the inalienable right of the people themselves. freedom and human dignity cannot be separated from peace and security when the rights of the people are denied the people rightly resist. if the concerns are not acknowledged, then peace and security are notably fret and -- are inevitably threatened. the case of syria provides a horrible testament to this fact. and what is happening in the towns and cities across iran right now spells out this fundamental truth. their rainy and regime's contempt for the rights of its people has been widely documented for many years. the people of iran have finally had enough. and they are s

the protests were peaceful. the protests were silent, actually. the silence was deafening for the government. and there were clear leaders. there were basically three figure heads. we have the three figureheads for these protests. if those protests -- for that movement, we can call it the green movement, these recent protests they do not have a clear objective yet, there are people around the country who say they're not happy with the system. they say death to khomeini, death to the revolutionary guard and i've not heard a slogan about what they want, what is the clear objective. that shows the confusion to the iranian people as well. and when you talk to iranians, especially in major cities in a -- major cities among middle classes, they cannot identify with many of the protesters because they say we do not know what they want. and at the same time, because of the desperate situation of many people around the country, because of the sheer poverty, because there are so many people who have nothing to lose, there is some violence, and there are som

with at least one protests. they're reportedly killed now the on a restaurant that around the same time as the demonstrations in iran but went largely unnoticed paula slayer reports. well these protests intern is here started after the new year and they came in reaction to the two new zealand government introducing a new budget plan for two thousand and eight that included amongst other things a rise in fuel prices and tax hikes the response from the tennessean street was one of anger and what we've seen is protests taking place in several dozen cities around the country with us one person has been killed and several people have been injured now it is familiar to protests happening in another country namely what you're saying we have here are two countries with protests taking place on the street by people who are unhappy with the economic situation. the root of it is just a canard it's the problem of youth unemployment i personally haven't been able to find a job for a long time but if people have a job they do

these are the largest protests in almost a decade although sunday's protests were smaller than the previous night there are calls for people to continue with the demonstrations natasha going to al-jazeera a bus not on is the director of iranian studies at stanford university in the united states he says president rouhani is facing oppositional and they from elements of the public but also within the government. i think they're very worried clearly they're worried and one of the points that i think needs to be added is that mr rouhani did an interview with iranian radio and television it was supposed to be broadcast tonight they decided not to broadcast so they censored the president of the country they did not alarm to talk because i think some in the regime don't think their. approach to appease the people is really right they want to use their and fists and natural the iron fist is going to work i think some of them know that using the iron fist might well inferior more people and these are not the kinds of people that the regime can afford to lose these are the working class these are th

and violent protests. little attention though the focus remains on anti government demonstrations in iran . from moscow you're watching r.t. international live. thanks for joining us this hour. space mission already shrouded in secrecy has now grown even more mysterious rumors about the fate of a top secret u.s. government satellite the reusable space x. rocket which launched it has safely returned to earth questions remain over what happened to the payload. of the details of the cryptic launch. well the intriguing or mysterious thing about this is that ahead of the launch and during it and the media there were so many stories about the top secret spy satellite which belongs to the u.s. government being launched by illinois mosques basics company it was called zoom but now almost two days after the launch everyone is pretty much in the dark about its fate sunday night's launch was lifestream to body space six but only until a certain stage. we have had successful lift off of falcon nine carrying those then

the protest and iran are the expansion of protests that started three months ago and protest for those who lost their money in institutions. the whole thing is not new and it's obvious to me. [inaudible] [inaudible] many of these were people in -- so i think the whole thing was not that. >> i'm sorry i'm going to cut you off because it's just too quiet. i'm afraid the folks here are not able to make out what you are saying so apologies for that. i'm going to instead move to the question-and-answer period. i apologize for the audio issues there. i want to move into q&a and discuss especially as i said the implications to u.s. policies and how we see things going for it. i'm going to give folks in the audience a chance to ask their questions but i want to start with one question which i think will increasingly be on people's minds as these protests develop depending on what happens over the next coming days. if they don't decide that has profound implications for iran and the region. assuming those protests are either suppressed or fizzle out on their own i'm curious as to what our speak

but protesters have had support from u.s. president donald trump. he took to twitter to warn the iranian government against human rights abuses rouhani however cast doubt on the sincerity of trump's concerns in all you can lose that this guy in america who wants to sympathize with our people today has forgotten that he called iranians terrorists a few months ago let it go he still meet but if he was looking for iranian backing trump need only have glanced out the window. before the white house dissident group the people's mujahideen of iran showed their solidarity with protesters in tehran but in iran the protests rejoin the next few days will show whether demonstrators heed rouhani is call for calm or trumped call to action. well for more on this we're joined now by a.f.p. correspondent eric randolph in tehran eric protests have been going on for four days now what's happening today. where the protests overnight were a little smaller than previous nights sporadic reports of. government buildings clerical buildings in the northwest and if you know c

and authorities in law school are preparing for the protests this after of raising the offices of kremlin critic alex and following the earlier this morning also coming up. another day of heavy fighting in syria is offering region turkey claims a diplomatic success in it so friends of against the u.s. back to kurdish militia. thank you for joining us police in moscow have forced their way into the office of all physicians had spoken kremlin critic alexei involving a spokesperson for the opposition said that the police were using the ruse of a bomb threat to question members of the opposition and this comes on a day that the opposition has announced russia wide protests in over one hundred cities in support of a boy cost of presidential elections in march which has called a farce. the fall in the south won't be allowed to actually run but he was a band previous fraud conviction which he says was trumped up and he has turned all his campaign offices into what he called protest offices we caught up with one of his volunteers and patients by work now. first of all we're going to cross over to

vonnie at a rally in moscow it comes as russia's opposition kicks off a day of nationwide anti putin protests the police are out in force across the russian capital as opposition activists gather for a mass demonstration volleys offices were also raided early sunday also coming up. another day of heavy of heavy fighting in syria up for in the region turkey claims a diplomatic success and its offensive against a u.s. backed kurdish militia. and the sights and sounds of carnival in venice as millions of revelers come out to party among the city's story ten hours. on my own schwager welcome to the program russian opposition leader alexei i know danny has been detained by police as he was on his way to an anti putin protest in moscow these images show police arresting now bonnie as he made a short appearance at an anti-pollution rally in moscow just a short while ago the opposition has called for protests in over one hundred cities to support a boycott of the presidential election in march social bonding has called a farce. vonnie himself is banned from running due to a previous fraud conviction

the protests have changed since they started last thursday. to begin with, they were about the economy. most of the protesters are young men. more than 50% of iranians are under 30. perhaps 40% of them are unemployed. but pent-up political frustration is spilling out, and much of it has been directed at this man, the supreme leader, ayatollah ali khamenei. he is the powerful figurehead of the islamic republic. attacks on his posters will be seen as attacks on the islamic system. he is blaming iran's foreign enemies. ayatollah khamenei: following recent events, the enemies have united and are using all their means -- money, weapons, policies, and security services -- to create problems for the islamic republic. jeremy: it is not just ayatollah khamenei, the supreme leader, who is blaming foreigners. the former president, a reformist, says iranians have the right to protest, but he blamed iran's enemies, led by the united states, for inciting people to destroy public buildings and insult religious values. president obama in 2009 was careful not

in tehran back in iran the protests. the next few days will show whether demonstrators heed. a trumpet call to action. for more we're joined by correspondent in teheran. earlier today we heard reports of six people who had died in the protest iranian state t.v. has now been talking about ten people what more can you tell us about the. well there are limited reports coming from the provinces has been a bit of a blackout limits to internet coverage. tonight but you know six people were killed in one town over a shooting broke out and for another time we have very few details on that i'm not saying whether that was the school or otherwise a couple of other people were killed what did you not see in and another attack some government buildings and a school of the clergy so it does appear like are the protests are continuing quite a bit for various parts of the country. yeah i thought they have threatened to come down hard on these protesters exactly what do they mean by that and is there any sign that that is already happeni

we cannot predict the time when the protests will come to an end but the protests will shake the people in power who must give priority to people's demands and needs. the state of the economy and rising prices sparked the initial protests on thursday austerity measures after years of sanctions have seen the unemployment rate rise to twelve percent but anger has also shifted to foreign policy protests as a critical of the government's support for the syrian government of bashar al assad has been in lebanon and hamas in the occupied palestinian territories now call me run me. in washington d.c. outside the white house people called for the removal of president hassan rouhani don't trump tweeted that people are getting wise to know how their money and wealth is being stolen and squandered on terrorism. in terror state television quoted iranian president hassan rouhani in reply he said iran's regional accomplishments have infuriated our enemy you expect them not to take revenge you expect them not to provoke a group of people we should have prepared ourselves for this. these are the largest

long as problems exist protests will happen and they happen in every country these kinds of protests are something normal and it is the people's right and it's something natural he said iranians are frustrated after enduring years of hard times but violence was something most anti government protesters did not want. for all things happened that we didn't want some people died in different parts of the country also in tehran some students after these incidents were arrested and there were news reports that someone was killed during an interrogation but it just to seek a movement wants without any judgment is transparency on these kinds of incidents he also said a lack of transparency about the deaths of protesters and people in police custody was making many iranians distrust their own government. and the government leaders blaming outside forces with no evidence was unacceptable even though they admit that the demonstrations were started by people who have legitimate economic concerns the official position of the government is still that the protests were overtaken by foreign enemies

iran says the massive antigovernment protests there are over. in thewere killed weeklong demonstrations against the country's poor economy and rising food prices. unprecedented takedown from donald trump on the man who was once one of his closest political allies. the president saying former chief strategist steve has lost his mind. french president emmanuel macron vows to take on fake news with a new law that would let authorities block access to offending websites and shutdown social media post that are untrue. industry ishe tech rushing to fix a problem that potentially puts virtually every computer on earth at risk. more on that coming up in business. and a contestant on u.s. game show jeopardy loses thousands of dollars over the mispronunciation of gangsta. more on that in the press review. in iran authorities are claiming a seven-day antigovernment protest is over. at least 21 people were killed and hundreds more arrested in the demonstrations. the biggest since 2009. on wednesday officials tried to show stability had come back to iran wit

police used tear gas to disperse protesters who burned tires and hurled stones with at least one protester reportedly killed now the unrest erupted around the same time as the demonstrations in iran but went largely unnoticed. paula has details. well these protests intern is here started after the new year and they came in reaction to the two new zealand government introducing a new budget plan for two thousand and eight that included amongst other things a rise in fuel prices and tax hikes the response from the chin is in the street was one of anger and what we've seen is protests taking place in several dozen cities around the country with the result that one person has been killed and several people have been injured now it is familiar to protests happening in another country namely what you're saying we have here are two countries with protests taking place on the street by people who are unhappy with the economic situation. the root of it is just a canard it's the problem of youth unemployment i personally haven't been able to find a job for a long time but if people have a job they d