missiles it was targeting tehran, confirming that an oil depot in tehran has been hit. you are watching bbc news. live from washington, this is bbc news. iran launches another barrage of retaliatory strikes against israel - as it calls off planned talks with the us over its nuclear programme. a manhunt is under way in minnesota for a suspect in the "politically motivated assassination" of a state lawmaker. and washington gears up for a rare military parade to celebrate the army's 250th birthday. hello, i'm caitriona perry. we are monitoring three major

stories at this hour. here in washington dc, the capital city is gearing up for something it hasn't seen in more than 30 years: a military parade. 6,000 troops and hundreds of vehicles are mobilising on the streets to celebrate the us army's 250th anniversary. the event is, coincidentally, is the same day president trump turns 79. it's being met with several counter-protests across the us. it comes at a time of heightened tensions in america. a manhunt is under way in minnesota - after a guman shot and killed a democratic state politician and her husband in what officials call a "politically motivated assassination". another democratic state lawmaker and his wife were injured. meanwhile, in the middle east, israel and iran keep trading missile strikes. the israeli military says it's targeting military sites in the iranian capital tehran, while working to intercept the incoming projectiles.

iran's president is threatening an "even more severe" response if israel doesn't stand down. let's begin with that breaking news in minnesota. the fbi is offering $50,000 for information leading to the arrest of the man suspected of killing a top state lawmaker. a manhunt is under way for 57-year-old vance boelter. he's still at large more than 12 hours after authorities say he carried out the attack by impersonating a police officer. he's said to have escaped after engaging fire with officers. democratic state politician melissa hortman was killed, along with her husband. she was speaker of the minnesota state house, from 2019 until earlier this year. officials have called her killing a targeted, political assassination. also targeted was minnesota state senator john hoffman. he and his wife were shot at their home. governor tim walz said he's

optimistic of their recovery. police in minnesota gave an update a short while ago. we believe, as noted, that we believe he was at this time in the twin cities area and we are continuing to work and follow up on that, we believe he is working to potentially flee the area, and so that's why we are sharing that information now, so we can safely apprehend him. joining me live now is abou amara, former adviser to the minnesota house speaker, paul thissen. he knew melissa hortman for 15 years. thank you very much for joining us here on bbc news, and our condolences to you on the loss of your friend. you might tell us a little bit about when you came to know her. she was a rising star in the party at that time. first, thank you for having me, it's obviously extremely difficult. i came to know melissa shortly after she

joined the minnesota house. she ran a couple of times and lost, and eventually was able to win a seat in our state legislature and as soon as she did she became a rising star, it was very obvious to me and others that she would eventually ascend to be speaker of the minnesota house. and she was able to accomplish that just about a decade later. tell us a little bit about her work ethic. i've heard her described as a true professional. yeah, unlike so many politicians who get into office to be somebody, she got into office to make a difference. and she was someone who worked very, very hard, didn't take herself too seriously, was kind and decent and cared about her community. and she was in it for all of the right reasons, and so it's so devastating that in addition to her great work, she was just an unbelievable human. tell us a little bit about the human that she was, the person, the

friend. yeah, she was... she was so funny. gosh, she was funny. during tense moments at the capital and elsewhere she would always crack a joke or a smile, always keep things in perspective. she was very funny, the second is she had a backbone of steel. what i mean is, in some difficult conversations, she never lost her principles, at the same time she was able to find compromise with the other side on some difficulties. she was funny, she was smart, she worked hard. i mean, she in time for the betterment of the people of the state and for the united states and in my opinion. she was just somebody who is smart, work hard, kind and loved her family. and governor of minnesota, tim walz, kamala harris'vp pick in last year because my general election, best described this as politically motivated. tell us a little bit about the state of politics in minnesota. is it

as polarised there as it is in many other parts of the country? i will say, you know, historically, minnesota has been a very easy place to engage in politics. there wasn't too much rancour or anger at one another. but over the last couple of years, i have noticed some changes coming from the national level, and impacting things here in minnesota. i don't think that fundamentally affected her, how she viewed politics, because i believe she viewed politics as everybody is involved, and everybody matters, and just one example is i remember us going out to drop pamphlets and/or walk and talk to the community about an upcoming election, and it started at her house. that's where she brought everybody together. before we would go out in the community and talk to others. and so i believe she believed in the best of minnesota. i think it is also true that the climate we are in may have contributed to the terrible news that we have faced today. and what is the sense on the ground in

minnesota today? this individual who is suspected of carrying out the shootings is still at large. so obviously everyone is on high alert. people are sheltering in place, but we are also getting communications from our state government, from governor wells and his authorities, we are hoping those authorities can identify who this person is, get them off the street so we can return a sense of normalcy to our communities and prosecutors can do what they need to do moving forward here. but it's still a bit of confusion and high alert. and just a final question, what do you think melissa hortman's legacy will be? i think she will go down as the most effective speaker of the how and minnesota history. and i believe that because over the last three - six years or so, minnesota has fundamentally transformed itself in terms of

investments, universal school for kids, they go to school, they have lunch, they are fed, we have an entire infrastructure now that is the result of her leadership as the speaker. so i think when the history books are written, they will say that melissa hortman is the best speaker of the housing minnesota history. find her you, her friend. a friend of melissa hortman for 15 years, thank you for joining us here on bbc news. thank you for having me. i want to go live to the streets of washington. president trump has just arrived at the viewing stand ready to watch this military parade ready to get under way momentarily. you can see he, seated behind him there is the first lady, millennia trump, and the other side pete hegseth, he just arrived there at the viewing stand to play

the none national anthem, the marine band there. music: star spangled banner # what so proudly we hailed marker one at the twilight's last gleaming. # whose broad stripes and bright stars # through the perilous fight

through the ramparts we watched... we are just watching their that national anthem being played on the mall there, here are just a short distance from where we are in the bbc's studios in washington, dc. you can see the cabinet seated there be beside donald trump and first lady millennia trump, this is the beginning of the military parade marking the 250th anniversary of the us army, it also happens to be the 79th birthday of president donald trump. our north america correspondent, nomia iqbal, is at the mall. she is watching the parade about to get under way. let's cross over now. where the national anthem is playing at the moment. you might tell us a little bit about the scene where you are at the moment. the anthem just finished, and

the crowds have been... hands on their hearts... the military parade itself is ahead of schedule move because of the rain -- behind schedule. i will make any jokes about the rain on donald trump cosmic parade, organisers of the event and expect there to be up to 200,000 people, there aren't that many here it looks like, their empty seats behind me. he is expected to make some comments later this evening. and what are we expecting to see? i know the inspiration for this parade was donald trump visiting friends back in 2017 and seeing the parade there, since then he's wanted to have something similar in washington, dc. what lies ahead in the hours come? donald trump loves military parades. he

looks at his commanding of the military as his own personal strength. i don't think an entirely huge coincidence that it's fallen on his birthday either. he wants to flex america's military might not just here on the east coast as we are saying, but we also sing the west coast were he has sent in the military, the marines, national troop guards, to quell protests despite the fact that residents didn't want that to happen. and there's a lot of controversy around us because america doesn't often do that, in fact the last time was a 1991 but on a much smaller scale to mark the end of the gulf war. america is a superpower, it doesn't need to do this sort of thing and there's plenty of republicans who have said that as well, interestingly, a lot of the public and lawmakers appear for this event apart from the controversy of that, it's also how much it costs. $45 million. streets of dc aren't actually built for the tanks and they have actually been... robert

and the steel plates on some of the roads. it is expected that some of the roads might be chewed up and so there might be extra costs involved in repairing that. but we are expecting this parade and the tanks to roll past for the next few hours, as i mentioned, donald trump will give a speech. this event actually began early this morning, the army sees it also is a big opportunity for a recruitment drive. the evening will then end with a huge display of fireworks. something to look forward to. and you'll know as well as i do, the streets of washington, dc do not need any more potholes at this point in time. i'm sure they don't. will check back in with you a little bit later in the evening. nomia iqbal on the national mall for us. let's cross live to los angeles where demonstrations have continued. our senior north america correspondent john sudworth joins me now.

while that parade is taking place, their marches and protests taking place in all 50 states in protest of president donald trump under the banner of no kings. will john, what is it like where you are now? well, it's a kind of carnival atmosphere here. i've seen some estimates of about 20,000 people on the streets of this downtown area of the city, that feels about right to me. it's thinning out a little bit now, officially the demonstration ended a few minutes ago. but people are still milling around, to issues of course, brought onto the streets today. first of all a lot of people here in support of los angeles'immigrant community. the raids on workplaces of the city were of course what sparked the protests at the first place. i've been here

throughout the week, we've seen them every day, sometimes into the night, occasionally violent but mostly, like today, overwhelmingly useful. and of course the second issue, people here voicing their opposition to that parade in washington, and what they see as an increasingly authoritarian flavour to donald trump's presidency. a lot of people carrying signs saying no kings, presidents are temporary, that kind of thing. one of the thing to point out, you can probably see over my shoulder here, the national guard standing on the corners. guarding some of the buildings. and it's a kind of a congress image. -- incongruous image. military parade for the rest of the afternoon. president trump said this deployment is necessary to save

los angeles from chaos, but these protesters, again, believe it's all part and parcel of an authoritarian leaning of president trump, and they are... we've seen people approaching the soldiers today, some of them thanking them for their service, others that so far less welcoming, in the words that they have. john said worth, they're in los angeles, we'll check in with you a little bit later on, but for now, thank you very much. we are looking here at pictures from the national mall, that military parade has just begun about five or ten minutes ago. you can see present trump is in the viewing stand with bullet proof glass, with pete hegseth and many other members on the us cabinet as we are watching this parade under way here. which president trump as we were discussing earlier has been planning for many years now. i'm joined here in studio

by barbara starr, veteran correspondent of all matters pentagon and department of defence in this country. this is something that president trump, as i said, has been wanting to do for sometime, but is quite an unusual thing to see on the streets of washington. you know, it is. there have been parades before, there have been military parades, do like to cheer on the armed forces. everybody is pretty patriotic about all of that, but as you look at this, it's the scope of what the president has ordered up here and it is essentially him, i think you're talking more than 6000 troops, specifically supposed to be for the army's 250th anniversary, the army, if my history is remembered correctly, formed before the us declaration of independence. so this is one of the real cornerstones of america. and we will see throughout the night a good deal of the army's history, as units passed by,

historical equipment passes by, but here in the nation's capital, it's not without controversy. it has disrupted the city, it's disrupted traffic, roads, even the airport. and questions about the appropriateness of the scope of it and the money that is costing at this time. the estimate at the moment was 45 or $46 million just for this, it's a parade we're looking at now, the images on our screen, but there is also been a sort of celebratory festival going on all day long, fitness tests as well, lots of fun stuff, big family event happening down on the national mall, and in what way does this speak to that ethos we hear from president trump so often as peace through strength? is him really reflecting that military muscle saying look how strong we are? perhaps later in the evening when we see the tanks rolled

down the streets of washington, but you know, keep in mind, modern warfare these days is, yes, tanks, yes helicopters, yes aircraft, but modern warfare, the real strength of the american military, is in cyber and intelligence, and in space, all of these advanced technologies, which you don't necessarily see. and so many young people do join the military to get involved in those advanced technologies. if they can make a career in cyber or space in the us military, once they leave the military, they are much better equipped to find a job in the private sector down if they drove a tank for 20 years. not to put aside the tank force, all very important, but the us military is really struggle, especially the army, to become a more modern force. i heard somebody say, you know, when you have a tank rolling down the street and a parade, it's sort of like having a fax machine. it's a little bit of yesteryear. so

it's perhaps something to keep in mind, that the real strength of the us military, again, with artificial intelligence, is what lies ahead, and with the young people that are joining up. and we're looking here, just on that point about the history of the us military, some of the older costumes, this from 1960, what people would normally see in museums or enactments that take place in various sports. there is one of the tanks you are mentioning about in front of the viewing stands, where the present and the cabinet are. ... very colourful, very historical. the kids love to come out and see this, a lot of times you see ceremonial functions of the capital, you see it at military bases throughout the country, this is a chance for the

army... and coming into, other services also have their historic costumes, so it's a chance to remember american military history, but probably very important to put in that context especially in light of everything going on, shall we say, back in the real world. just looking there at the president and the defence secretary, beside each other. they will be having many side bar conversations i would imagine, the grey skies of washington, there is a flood watch, thunderstorm warning in place in the city, so the pair shooters are jumping through stormy clouds, and there was a question whether this parade would actually go ahead, but the rains have held off for the moment and we are watching some paratroopers arrive in their quite a dramatic arrival. one doesn't want to be too humorous about it, but any army soldier been in the army more than five minutes will tell you that army

tanks are notorious for getting stuck in the mud, stuck in soft roads, stuck in the rain, stuck in bad weather, so i think everyone is hoping that the weather holds off just a little bit. the president has publicly said the parade goes on rain or shine, but, you know, if there are thunderstorms, if there is lightning, they will have to have a delay rather than obviously at risk anyone's safety. indeed. and as that goes on in the skies above, the marching is taking place down below as well. you can see, they have this parade are arranged into various segments of history, don't they come up this one the civil war and there will be several flyovers happening alongside the marching on the parade route there along the national mall, and you can see the crowds lining the streets, our correspondent nonie iqbal was saying the crowds are not quite in line of the 250,000 people

who were perhaps expected. it may have something to do with the weather, the rain, possibility, also it's summertime in washington so it's hot. it's very hot today, it's hot and sticky in the city, yeah. i feel for all those young troops marching along in all of that stuff, hopefully they have a bottle of water tucked in their pockets, at the immediate site. but i think there is... i think the real message of some of these military displays and military marches is the capability of the armed forces to defend the actual interests of the united states of america. and hopefully defendant regardless of politics, regardless of partisan issues. a lot of controversy out there these days, of course with the use of military forces, the marines and the national guard in the immigration issue, not typical

at all for their use. so to see them and to remember the history of what these american forces have been involved with over decades - again, the army, 250 years. and we know, don't we, that president trump got the idea for the parade when he was in france for d-day, and he saw the french celebrating the victory of world war ii, he had seen the british celebrated and thought the us should do it too. here we have one of the paratroopers running with the star-spangled banner under his arm, i wonder if he's going to the review stand. this is coming to us from multiple angles here, we're trying to keep up with what's going on. but barbara, for anyone in this country who is a member of the military or keeping an eye on military affairs, top of their mind as we were watching this

has to be the situation in the middle east. that threat coming from iran to the us, the uk and france, that anyone provides assistance to israel, there is a threat to them from iran. very explicit threat, just in the last few hours. what is that going to mean for the us? well, you know, i think that's probably one of the most critical points this evening as watched the celebration, the real world does go on, doesn't it? we celebrate american military history, but for the troops it is the here and now, if they have to start packing up, moved to their transport planes, and fly to the middle east in the middle of the night, as us troops have done for decades now. when israel first attacked iran, the president was adamant that the us was not involved, that the secretary of state marco rubio, that was the international message, that the us is not involved. that, within 48

hours, has changed. the us is involved. the us, like the allies in europe you mentioned, is sending navy ships, warships closer to the region. just as we're speaking, actually, we're looking at images on our screen of some of the activity in the skies over israel. that's not a live picture that's coming to us just in the last hour or so. but just showing the extent of the number of missiles being fired from iran tonight. and we were told and confirmed by the administration that us ground based missiles in the region has been used to assist the israelis in shooting down these incoming iranian missiles. so if us assets are now in the action, so to speak, that means the us is in this war. and perhaps strategic question to consider, why it's so important, is where does it go from here? for the us to be involved in the middle east, and a middle east war, that has

a long history of not very successfully working out. and even moving those warships into place, as we heard about on friday and as you say since then we've been told they have assisted israel in terms of anti-aircraft fire, surely that is what iran is now threatening about and the west is providing assistance to israel. so is it now in an elevated threat posture? well, i think the assumption is that the iranians could potentially retaliate as they have done against israel, against us interest in middle east. whether it's shipping military bases, oil assets, infrastructure, there is no guarantee that they won't. i think the real calculation right now is what are the iranians actually able to do? with the assassination, the killing of so many of the top

commanders, do they have the ability to command-and-control their own forces? can they order a retaliation that might be a complex mission rather than just firing missiles at israel, as bad as that is. and can they actually target against us assets. will they have enough missiles? they have a huge inventory, they've a long way to go, but will they have enough to continue to carry this out, or are they going to want to husband some of their missiles and save them for down the road? stay with us, barbara, for a few moments. i joining me live is holly dagres, a nonresident senior fellow, middle east programmes at the atlantic council. holly, thanks for joining us here on bbc holly, thanks for joining news. the missile strikes are continuing apace in the middle east between iran and israel as we speak, both countries saying diplomacy has failed, but as you see it, what happens next?

will this situation continued for the hours, days ahead? thank you for having me on the programme. i will start by saying the israeli said this would be a two week operation, so by their calculations i think that we should take it as that unless there was some push for de-escalation. the iranians have already come out in public and said talks on sunday which would've been tomorrow in moscow are off the table. we've also heard the deputy foreign minister say that if the israelis were to stop with their strikes in the country that they would be open to sitting at the negotiating table. but that could just be optics. and so it's really unclear how long this is going to go but i would assume as long as israel is striking various energy, military and nuclear facilities in the country, they're going to still

see iran responding with ballistic missiles and drones and other munitions it has. we've heard from jordan that it has shut down its airspace, such as the frequency of missiles flying over at the moment. how significant is that? well, we've seen before that when there are a rainy and missiles flying overhead, that the jordanians as well as the us and israel and other allies have actually downed some of those munitions. where we saw that specifically in the last two big tip for tat that happened in april, and october, so it doesn't surprise me that the jordanians are concerned about their airspace because that could lead to ballistic missiles and other munitions falling into their own country and putting their own people in harms way. talks were to resume tomorrow but there are no longer happening, what is the process