kit >> by the time william hague stepped up to speak, many lawmakers had left for the day. earlier, prime minister david cameron had promised tough action in response to the attacks on two diplomatic compounds in iran, but it was head that announced the closure of the embassy. >> iran is a country where more than 500 people have been executed so far this year and where genuine protest is stamped on. the idea the iranian authorities could not have protected our embassy or that this assault could have taken place without some degree of consent from the regime is fanciful. >> he announced the immediate shutdown of the iranian embassy in london and said all of the diplomatic staff must leave within 40 hours. although he said that london was not completely cutting off diplomatic ties. the attack on the embassy was the big story and the iranian morning papers. at what they made of it varied. conservative papers stressed the protesters motivation, anchor at the sanctions. imposed last week. -- anger at the sanctions imposed last week. at this paper blamed fundamentalists for the p

in washington, and 1:00 in brussels, where william hague is pushing for more sanctions against iran at a meeting of fellow foreign ministers. the talks come two days after iranian protesters stormed the british mission in iraq. mr. hague suggested that iran's money spending oil industry could be targeted. he acknowledged there could be a variety of views on that. joining me from brussels is james reynolds. >> george, 48 hours since the diplomatic compounds were rated in tehran. britain has responded by ordering the closure of iran's embassy in london. this morning in brussels, the first time to see if europe will act together. >> this morning in brussels, britain's foreign secretary, william hague, our right to test europe's desire for for the steps against iran. >> europe has taken many measures already. i hope we will agree to additional measures that will be an intense evocation of the economic pressure on iran -- peaceful, legitimate, economic pressure. >> the attack on the british embassy is still fresh on everyone's minds. >> an enormous amount of support in this dreadful experie

>orgn secretary william hague delivered a strongly worded statement befor house of commons. >> if any country makes it impossible for us to operate on their soil, they cannot expect to functioningemss hague ordered that all remaining diplomats leave hos. britain has begun to withdraw the diplomatic corps frora r safety reasons. >>> france and germany have recalledhe ambassadors for consultations. the french geren summoned the iran ansar prest the attack. they called on the countryo ovide proper protector foreign diplomatic facilities. thl etnhudato discuss their policies toward an diplomats and politicians from all corners are weighing . european union fort ministers will meet within the day to discuss their views on an leaders from china and russia and thenid at he already expss theirs. >> united states condemns this attack ihe strongest possible terms. it is an aro nnlo the british people but aoo the international community. >> translator: the attack is not in line with the rules of international law and relations. the incident has to be dealt with properly. >> russian foreign minis

william hague stayed u.k. would be looking to increase the economic pressure on iran. >> the rest of the european union on this and against this grave violation of the vienna convention by iran. in addition today of course we will be discussing measures on iran, additional measures the european union has taken many measures already, but additional measures that will be an intensify indication of the economic pressure of iran -- legitimate economic pressure particularly to increase the iranian sector. >> william hague in brussels for the meeting of the foreign ministers, and our correspondent is also the impact that the imposition of economic sanctions by e.u. ministers could have. >> even if they do take measures and are united there's really another problem they face and that's this -- the european union is not iran's prime market. essentially that's in asia in particular, japan, china and south korea and india. so if the european union takes measures iran can simply turn to asia and focus its business there

these recent protests have been treated in a peaceful way. >> brown: british foreign secretary william hagueanks so much. >> thank you. >> woodruff: jeff also asked foreign secretary hague about iran and syria. find the full transcript of the interview on our web site. >> woodruff: again, the major developments of the day: president obama met with iraq's prime minister less than three weeks before the u.s. pullout ends. he said american troops leave "with honor and with their heads held high." and world stock markets sank on new doubts about a european debt deal reached friday. the dow industrials lost nearly 163 points. online, we explore the impact of letting the payroll tax cut expire. hari sreenivasan explains. hari? >> sreenivasan: patchwork nation looks at how different communities would be affected. use our interactive map to find yours. on our health page, betty ann bowser previews her upcoming report on an army program helping service members to deal with stress and grief. and we have more on president obama's meeting with iraqi prime minister maliki, including video excerpts of the

million people when they hear the kinds of threats from people like the british foreign secretary william hague who spoke here in parliament the other day when they clinton talking about all options on the table they don't. like it and one manifestation was what we saw as the attack on the british embassy in tehran. people they may be looking to their leaders in iran and thinking iran isn't taking a step as they may do and certainly the announcement in the past few hours that iran may be exploring space outside of its borders because of these kinds of attacks is a. significant development what about this publication can be seen obviously that iran is facing the sanctions and of course the accusations about its nuclear program in what way could this perhaps bring support to the regime something that probably the west is aiming for the opposite to happen who could actually ahmadinejad's win support from his people as a result of this external rhetoric and pressure. and also one mustn't forget that those disenfranchised in the global south see countries like iran like venezuela and let alone their

recently been approached by the king of jordan to spearhead a diplomatic offensive against assad william hague the foreign secretary is now met with opposition leaders is this the preamble to another libyan style intervention. it could be i mean we can't be sure and i think it's dangerous it might be i mean they're trying to be hague's message to the opposition is to get your act together unite on a common platform in other words to turn yourself much more like the libyan opposition who the government also talked to and then eventually recognized as the official government of libya so i think it is the first stage to trying to recognize the opposition. there are hints more from france than from britain at the moment that there would be some kind of foreign intervention i mean the french foreign minister and i should pay has just called for humanitarian corridors to be opened into syria with or without the syrian government's permission and damascus when he was asked does that mean who would protect these corridors would that be military protection he said of course so in other words they are t

over its controversial nuclear program ahead of the talks in brussels british foreign secretary william hague called for increased economic pressure and isolation on iran's financial sector across syria as well. well coming out of the e.u. foreign affairs council today fresh actions indeed have been put on iran specifically on thirty nine individuals and one hundred forty one organizations they've been put on a sanctions list of asset freezes as well as these events this is a rather watered down version of what some countries in the e.u. would have wanted to begin with for example the u.k. and germany have been calling for definitely stronger sanctions and earlier this week france had been urging e.u. countries to immediately impose acid free of asset freeze on the central bank of iran as well as a suspend imports of oil from the country however this didn't go down well with some countries such as spain and greece and italy because they significantly rely on rain at all and they have said there would be no sanctions on oil in iraq as that this is coming at a time when there economies are alre

embassy in tehran ahead of the talks in brussels the british foreign secretary william hague called for increased economic pressure and isolation on iran's financial sector on tuesday hundreds of protesters attacked the u.k. embassy occupying it for several hours the demonstrations came after iran resolved to reduce diplomatic ties with the u.k. following its decision to impose further sanctions over its nuclear program parlance prompted britain to close the iranian embassy in london and to pull its own diplomats out of the islamic state capital political analyst and author adrian bucci thinks that these moves symbolize the start of a major conflict. this is a war by the west against most of the islamic countries now no doubt israel has been threatening for a unilateral military intervention into iran for many years now and the u.k. seems to be so we're ahead in. this whole process why are you now threatening military action them so it's a very complex war that's what they are waging but really accomplishing war means little not on the kind of the diplomatic speech on the financial stag

over its controversial nuclear program ahead of the talks in brussels british foreign secretary william hague called for increased economic pressure and isolation on iran's financial sector to get more on the story we are joined by our correspondent. tessa thanks for coming on the program today and what can you tell us about these latest measures being used against iran. well the latest sanctions coming from the european foreign affairs council today they put one hundred forty three organizations and seventeen individuals on a sanctions list already existing of course which puts as a free says on the most of all as this abounds now to be honest of business is a rather watered down version of what some countries in the e.u. would have wanted to begin with for example the u.k. and germany have been calling for definitely stronger sanctions center earlier this week france had been urging e.u. countries to immediately impose acid free an asset freeze on the central bank of iran as well as a suspend imports of oil from the country however this didn't go down well with some countries such as in spa

recently been approached by the king of jordan to spearhead a diplomatic offensive against assad william hague the foreign secretary is now met with opposition leaders is this the preamble to another libyan start intervention. it could be i mean we can't be sure and i think it's dangerous it might be i mean they're trying to be hague's message to the opposition is to get your act together unite on a common platform in other words to turn yourself much more like the libyan opposition who the government also talked to and then eventually recognized as the official government of libya so i think it is the first stage to trying to recognize the opposition what must the opposition now do to gain recognition as their militarization made it easier to achieve that well i think the unity thing which was going on about is what they want they want to sort of feel as united platform so they know who they're dealing with they don't want a lot of different competing groups but the question is what will the platform be is it going to be a very hardline platform that keeps repeating that assad must go or woul

foreign secretary william hague says kim's death could be a turning point for north korea and urged thehip to recognize that engagement with the international community offers the best prospect of improving lives of the north korean people. china is north korea's closest ally and kim jong il's death is big news there. we'll get stan grant in beijing now. we've heard they've offered their condolences. are they saying anything else? >> reporter: just one statement. they took some questions at the min tri of foreign affairs briefing today, monita. those questions been taken to be answered at a later date. the statement says yes, they offered their condolence, praising kichl jong il as a great leader of socialism, calling on the north korean people to see this as an opportunity for unity and repeating a line, that china is committed to stability on the korean peninsula. that is going to be crucial. this relationship between the united states and china really comes under the microscope now. will they just take up cold war positions? will you see the united states firmly in south korea's core

on monday, we'll talk with the british foreign secretary william hague. i'm judy woodruff. >> brown: and i'm jeffrey brown. "washington week" can be seen later this evening on most pbs stations. we'll see you online and again here monday evening. have a nice weekend. thanks for joining us. good night. major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: ♪ ♪ moving our economy for 160 years. bnsf, the engine that connects us. >> and by the bill and melinda gates foundation. dedicated to the idea that all eople deserve the chance to live a healthy productive life. and with the ongoing support of these institutions and foundations. and... this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting. and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. captioning sponsored by macneil/lehrer productions captioned by media access group at wgbh access.wgbh.org

. >> secretary of state hillary clinton and british foreign secretary william hague held a joint news conference today after their bilateral meeting at the state department. topics included u.s. british relations, the debt crisis in europe and the troop withdrawals in iraq >> good afternoon. but the again welcome the foreign secretary to washington and to the state department. it is a special pleasure to see him at the end of the year in which we cooperated so closely and constructively together. we've had a very robust shared calendar as we've tackled these global challenges of releasing all day. in this entire year it seems and we've met many previous occasions both bilaterally and then threw a multitude of multilateral engagements, so it's good to review and look forward at the time of the year. we will be meeting again. we've already concluded numerous times in the first half of next year, and obviously we have a lot to talk about. whenever we do meet. meeting today reflected a wide array of shared concerns and challenges including the economic crisis in europe, the embassy attack

secretary of state hillary clinton holding a press conference with british foreign secretary, william hague. >> good afternoon. let me, again, welcome the foreign secretary here to washington and to the state department. it is a special pleasure to see him at the end of the year in which we cooperated so closely and constructively together. we have had a very robust shared calendar as we have tackled these global challenges every single day of this entire year, it seems. and we met on many previous occasions, both bilaterally and also through a multitude of multilateral engagements. so, it is good to review it and i look forward at this time of year. we will be meeting again. we already concluded, numerous times, next year. obviously we have a lot to talk about whenever we do need. our meeting today reflected a wide array of shared concerns and challenges, including the economic crisis in europe, the embassy attack on the u.k. embassy in iran, the transition in afghanistan, the situation in pakistan, the devolving situation in burma, north africa, the middle east, the balkans, and so much m

william hague. >> on the protection for national literature, would my right honorable friend gently remind deputy prime minister and the leader of the opposition that even, even 1971 paper confirms that you have to maintain the veto and use it in the national interest and to protect the fabric of the european union or lending committee as a whole. my right honorable friend's a depth the phrase has exerted all his influence to ensure that britain is protected. and willie also take it that europe itself will learn from his example? >> where i agree with my honorable friend come and i'm grateful for his support, is that it is important when you're looking at changing the institutions of the e.u., there must be unanimity. and the fee does come if you feel your national interest are not being protected, and it's very important we maintain that in the e.u. >> sir stuart bell. >> thank you, mr. speaker. the prime minister talks to trading nation. he talked to invest and job. he talked of the importance of the eurozone. why doesn't he help greece and appellate? [inaudible] why isn't helping the eu

william hague. >> on the protection for national literature, would my right honorable friend gently remindthe deputy prime minister and the leader of the opposition that even, even 1971 paper confirms that you have to maintain the veto and use it in the national interest and to protect the fabric of the european union or lending committee as a whole. my right honorable friend's a depth the phrase has exerted all his influence to ensure that britain is protected. and willie also take it that europe itself will learn from his example? >> where i agree with my honorable friend come and i'm grateful for his support, is that it is important when you're looking at changing the institutions of the e.u., there must be unanimity. and the fee does come if you feel your national interest are not being protected, and it's very important we maintain that in the e.u. >> sir stuart bell. >> thank you, mr. speaker. the prime minister talks to trading nation. he talked to invest and job. he talked of the importance of the eurozone. why doesn't he help greece and appellate? [inaudible] why isn't helping the

. >> hi, this is karen williams talking to you from germany and we'd like to send a hello and happy holidays to mom and dad haguell of our relatives on the east coast. we love you and we miss you and hopefully we'll see you soon. bye. >>> just into the fox 5 newsroom, a sign the job market remains weak. the number of people applying for unemployment benefits rose for the second straight week. the labor department says weekly applications for unemployment benefits rose 6,000 to a seasonally-adjusted 402000. if you are one of the many still looking for work, don't forget to check out our job shop and our job of the day is at georgetown university hospital. the hospital is looking for a patient registration associate in its foot and hand center. for more on this job and many others, go to myfoxdc.com and check on the jobs tab at the top of the home page. >>> it worked for the department of tax and revenue and the dct. now an amnesty program being launched itself. it'll run from december 5th through february 5th. the library will forgive fines on any overdue lost damaged books and other materials. >>> it is 8:40 now

william hague. >> on the protection for national literature, would my right honorable friend gently remindthe deputy prime minister and the leader of the opposition that even, even 1971 paper confirms that you have to maintain the veto and use it in the national interest and to protect the fabric of the european union or lending committee as a whole. my right honorable friend's a depth the phrase has exerted all his influence to ensure that britain is protected. and willie also take it that europe itself will learn from his example? >> where i agree with my honorable friend come and i'm grateful for his support, is that it is important when you're looking at changing the institutions of the e.u., there must be unanimity. and the fee does come if you feel your national interest are not being protected, and it's very important we maintain that in the e.u. >> sir stuart bell. >> thank you, mr. speaker. the prime minister talks to trading nation. he talked to invest and job. he talked of the importance of the eurozone. why doesn't he help greece and appellate? [inaudible] why isn't helping the