as opaque, that iran is too difficult to understand, as well as the idea that iran is irrational. what i consider the mad mullah problem, that iran is -- the iranian leadership is too crazy. and i think both these ideas really handicap us in being able to understand what tehran is thinking about, how it looks at the u.s., how it formulates foreign policies, its security policies. that's really at the heart of what i'm trying to do in this monograph, is take the face off that confusion and say, you know, you can understand this, you can learn about it. and so what i'm trying to do is not so much provide a whole bunch of policies, policy prescriptions for this administration or for future administrations, but basically provide analytic frameworks, models, if you will, for understanding how iran develops its foreign policies, how iran develops its approaches in particular to security issues, how it goes to war, how it looks at the u.s., how it looks at israel, how it looks at its rivals in the persian gulf, how it looks at threats such as isis, and particularly how it develops concep

are at odds is washington strategic interest in syria really iran. cross talking syria i'm joined by my guest christopher davidson in durham he is a lecturer in middle east politics at derm university as well as author of shadow wars the secret struggle for the middle east in london we have alexander mchugh he is a writer on legal affairs as well as the editor in chief of the duran dot com and in new york we have richard murphy he is a former u.s. career in boston or to syria and currently an adjunct scholar at the middle east institute all right gentlemen crosstalk rules in effect that means you can jump in anytime you want and i always encourage it alexander let me go to you first in london how are russia and the united states going to avoid going to war in syria. well i think that's a good question because at the moment we have a we have a situation where the russians are saying they will track us airplanes if they fly west of the euphrates river and of course there are russian and american forces in syria and they are backing different signs in t

iran would be really happy. and i would say this, on september the 21st, 2016, 71 united states senators supported 71 votes to 27.s in other words, 71 united states senators rejected rand paul proposal to stop the sale of things. i would argue that a tank is not nearly as a precision weapon aso the weapons were talking about here to be given to the air force. if you're worried about collateral damage in yemen, i understand your concern. precision weapons would help'v that cause, not hurt it. you've got to understand who we're dealing with in yemen. what it with iran. saudi arabia has a border with yemen. the iranians are backing a force called the houthis to bring down a pro-western government in yemen. everywhere you look you see iran encroaching throughout the mideast. this theocracy in iran is the biggest threat to world order, and that is saying a lot, given the world as it is. and i say that with confidences because what iran is trying to do is destabilize the mideast in unprecedented fashion, and our arab

the perception shift it has for us when it comes to iran while the west has warned that iran is a country that's dangerous and that it shouldn't have weapons on the other hand iran is now using these weapons to launch strikes on islamic states the common. and i mean it's also making a lot of progress in destroying this common enemy and he was me a bit earlier on to explain i got thoughts from around to the chief of iran's fires news agency who told me what it was like behind the rainy and missile strike in syria the thoughts behind it in tonight's a statement that the i.r.g.c. public relations has given it is warned that this is the beginning if the terrorists embarked on conducting any second attack on iran iran would provide a much more vigorous response to them and not just it has also worn backers and sponsors foreign sponsors of the terrorist groups including a regional transfer regional and when i'm in the back years and when iran says trance regional backers of the terrorist groups specifically means the united states now it is believed by many in and outside the iran that the unit

iran is pretty inconsistent. all i can say is there's a military necessity for these weapons that will change the equation on the battlefield and it is in our interest that iran lose its efforts to take over him and destabilize the middlele east at large. i.e.d.'s and interjected them into iraq and killed many soldiers. this is the same regime that took over our embassy, that humiliated our sailors and chance death to israel on a regular basis. we are contemplating not helping an ally who will fight the threat of iran. in 2016 almost every democrat saw this as a good move to help saudi >>hange >> i was not a big fan of president obama of the one i thought it was right in step with him and president from his right to deal with this iranian aggression there is no bigger threat to the middle east or america than this iranian regime in the hands of the ayatollah that is a religious nazi so i hope that you will vote for what is best for america's to empower our allies to contain the threats that we commonly enjoy ato

inside syria and territory illustrates iran's long reach and targeted areas. also you know where day isis is been very active reflects the fact that iran is using this as an opportunity to escalate its content out tax on on isis and so in a sense you're right this represents an escalation and a deepening of iran's military involvement in syria and possibly danger of a direct confrontation between the u.s. and iran in syria just briefly your thoughts on that unfortunately that happens to be the case and we have seen over the past month or so repeated attacks by the u.s. on day iran backed militias at least three or four incidents in this past month alone and you know this has the potential of the of a community confrontation between us and iran and its supporters in the region and you know that's a really and wanted scenario that would represent a lose lose proposition is not in us is interest in iran's interest and order regions peace and stability and both sides need to stay away from this kind of scenario. every me an american political scientist thank you f

yet, they'll come here and say that it's about iran and we had to combat iran everywhere. guess what? this may make the situation with iran worse. what do you think iran thanks that saudi arabia gets weapons? they'll think if the saudi's are getting more than we should get more. what do you think israel thanks perspective the saudi is get more than we should get more. ever heard of an arms race? that's what this is. we are fueling an arms race in the middle east. every side once more. you say we have to do this, we have to combat iran. do you know how much of the golt she comes and all the allies that are bombing the hell out of yemen, do you know how their military spending compares to iran? eight-one. all of the money is in the golf she comes. all of the weapons and all of the power are in the golf she comes. they spend more weapons than a random principle both on a randomization this week because they don't want ballistic missiles in iran. i don't either. the best way to do that is to put pressure on saudi arabia. how do you do that maybe we wouldn't sell them arms. may

to deter iran. so here is saddam hussein sending all these smoke signals up that he had weapons of mass destruction because he wants to keep iran at bay. we think everything is about us and we never acknowledge that maybe some of it is about the regional politics. so when we give weapons or sell weapons to saudi arabia, there will be for every action a reaction. there will be significantly more pressure for iran to come forward and have more weapons. what does it do to our ally israel? there's been at least a few reports that says israel believes that every time we give $1 to saudi arabia, they need to respond with $1.50. there was a quote from one of their government ministers on this saying he worries about their qualitative edge. i have a quote here from a colleague of mine, a friend of mine who is a rabbi and a friend of the constitution, rabbi nate segal writes, while i understand the president's intentions, we must proceed with great caution due to the challenges and the history of the region.

iran has missiles targeting militants in eastern syria in retaliation for recent terror attacks into rad that have been claimed by i still. very good morning busy news morning the money was kevin zero in frankfurt shooting to our international live from h.q. moscow it's none of the morning here it's seven in the morning in the u.k. and again that's where we're starting at least one person has been killed and up to ten injured in what prime minister trees amaze calling a potential terrorist attack a van drove into a crowd of pedestrians many of them believed to be worshippers leaving a mosque in north london over night. suddenly on my way home i hear the big noise crash noise when i turned back i saw the the van hit the people and when i ran to the place i saw a lot of people all florrie the one dead and the other badly injured one of them and that the weird guy who was under the van was seriously injured which if you took the whole load of the van. that the guy was all he's got it in is it because he was standing looking at the guy like this in the valley to hit him here that's what

iran is pretty inconsistent. all i can say is there's a military necessity for these weapons that will change the equation on the battlefield. it is in our interest that iran -- we have to remember these are the same people, the iranians, who built lethal i.e.d.'s and interjected them into iraq and killed many soldiers. this is the same regime that took over our embassy, that humiliated our sailors and chance death to israel on a regular basis. we are contemplating not helping an ally who will fight the threat of iran. in 2016 almost every democrat saw this as a good move to help saudi arabia. now almost all of you are voting against an arms package and the only change is that we've got a new president who you hate. i wasn't a big fan of president obama, but when i thought it was right, i stood with him. president trump is right to do this to deal with the iranian aggression. there it is no bigger threat to the middle east than this iranian regime who is a religious ayatollah who is really a religious nazi. i hop

-- arms embargo violations by iran and support of terrorism by iran as well as iran's own systematic abuse of human rights in its own country. there is no way to criticize that government without fear of abuse or worse. specifically, the bill directs the president to impose sanctions on any person who knowingly engages in any activity that materially contributes to the iranian ballistic missile program activities or any other program for which a system to deliver a weapon of mass destruction is involved or any person who contributes to the transfer of certain arms to or from iran. the bill also directs the secretary of state to submit to the appropriate congressional committees a list of people the state department has determined to be responsible for gross human rights violations against individuals who seek to promote human rights. the bill further provides that the president may block any property these human rights abusers have in the united states. this measure also addresses iran's continued support for terrorism. scif order 1322d. -- executive order 13224 sanctions entities de

with iran worse. what you think iran thinks if saudi arabia gets weapons? they think to themselves if the saudis are getting more we need more. what do you think is real thinks you give the saudis get more we need more. never heard of an arms race? that is what this is. we are fueling an arms race in the middle east. every side wants more. we have to do this, we have to combat iran. how much the golf sheaf them, saudi arabia and all their allies bombing the hell out of yemen, do you know how their military spending compares to iran, 8:1. all the money is in the golf -- all of the power, all of the weapons is in the golf sheaf comes. they have more weapons and spend more weapons 8-1 to iran. and the listed missiles in iran. the best way to do that is put pressure on saudi arabia, how do you put pressure on saudi arabia? maybe don't sell the mods, withhold the sale of arms until they come to the table and get a ballistic agreement with iran. it is a naÏve and foolish notion, to think iran is giving up

iran twelve billion dollars one qatari official says that it's proof the u.s. still box them in the dispute with its neighbors but not so long ago the u.s. president had some scathing criticism of qatar. takes a closer look at america's recent policy in the region we've heard trump say time and again that he will do whatever it takes to defeat terrorism and those supporting the nation of qatar unfortunately houses sturrock leap in a funder of terrorism was waiting to see what action the u.s. would take against the gulf country thanks perhaps but now that the u.s. has signed a deal to twelve billion dollars worth of fighter jets and there are plans to sell them even more later the fear and that's not all to u.s. may be combat ships have reportedly arrived in doha to carry out joint drills with the qatari maybe conflicting messages much. actually know probably not knowing the trouble ministration. it's kind of standard behavior for the. most everyone in the world and then create wars to keep having a market this is a good indication of the administration and what

iran is. running out of time very quickly then just in your estimation a brief if you don't mind how much of an escalation is this tonight i mean from what you've said the stakes have been raised in this potential for things to get worse. well you know right now we are at the height of the war in syria because the iraqi popular forces and the syrian army have been able to shake hands and their shared borders they are moving upward to towards the north towards the resume and the americans have warned them to stay back and they have stressed that they would this regard this warning and this use of missile by iran that has happened for the first time in a real combat zone after the revolution after the war actually with iraq this is a firm response to all the warnings that they've been issuing this shows that syria and iran russia theirs they are very much serious about defeating eisel in day was. carrying the lands that syria lost some six years ago and removing the siege on the air base now as

and iran launches missiles targeting militants in eastern syria in retaliation for recent terror attacks in tehran claimed by i sold. overseas r.t. international the news with me calling for a hearing in moscow it's now two pm this monday it's midday in london where in the past few minutes to reason may the prime minister's been giving a statement on the steps of number ten following the emergency security cobra meeting it's after a van was driven into pedestrians near a mosque in north london just after midnight she said that every aspect of the attack was sickening and it was targeting the muslim community this was an attack on muslims their place of worship and like all terrorism in whatever form it shares the same fundamental goal. it seeks to drive us apart and to break the precious bonds of solidarity and citizenship that we share in this country. it's being treated as a terror attack several people were injured one person died at the scene the incident took place in the north of london police first responded to reports of a collision within a minute of it happening crowds were lea

president, let me talk a few minutes about the iran -- s. 722, the iran destabilizing activities act. this bill will impose new sanctions on iran for its nonnuclear violations. i want to make that clear. nonnuclear violations. their responsibilities on the nuclear side is now judged by the nuclear agreement that was entered into, and we had a great debate about it last year, and we're not going to rehash that debate. i think every member of this chamber wants to make sure that iran complies with its nuclear obligations, but that's a separate debate. the debate we have here is on the nonnuclear activities of iran that violate international norms and international agreements. we saw, for example, ballistic missile tests that violated their u.n. obligations that took place in january and in march. we have seen a significant increase in illicit arms shipments being done by iran, causing destabilizing activities in many parts of the region. you see that in bahrain, you see it in yemen, you see it in iraq. we know that they are supporting hezbollah in lebanon. we see that they are supportin

stay with saudi arabia and iran. it reverberates throughout the region. and because one way by which they wage this competition between them is through proxy fights in the rest of the region, be it in yemen, be it in syria, be it in iraq, or even be it in lebanon. so we are likely to see as tensions and as things escalate between the two countries, we are likely to see that being played out again in yemen and being played out in syria and being played out in iraq. what's problematic here is that instead of the two regional countries-- iran and saudi arabia-- focusing their resources and working together on fighting a common economy to both of them, which is isis, we are seeing this now escalation in the relationship between them, leading both to divert their resources and their attention from the real joint enemy which is isis and focusing it on waging this fight and this competition between them in different proxy sites around the region. >> kaare, im, i wonder what you believe the trump administration's response to

up to this point in iran. give us a picture of the islamic state group's current strength or lack thereof in iran. >> while the fight between the islamic republic and isis is indeed sectarian, the islamic state doesn't have family support within iran, as you said. but iran is multiethnic, multireligious society and it does have a sunni population of its own. the sunni population has populations near the pakistani haser he dashed border that -- near the pakistani border -- in the kurdish areas in the northwest part of iran as well, there has been a history of violence and a lot of economic grievances and political grievances that could easily be capitalized on, and i think have been, but groups such as isis. effectwhat is the likely on public opinion, there is involvement in syria in its fight against the islamic state group. might this have an impact on public support for that? >> public support has been whining to a certain degree, just because of the high degree of iranian loss of life and involvement in tha

yes russia syria iran has been a lot of news has been law in addition to now you have both month of the iraqi. army and iraq in addition to turkey all these traditional powers they have they are directly involved in the syrian conflict right now it's very difficult to speculate what will happen in the coming days but what i can tell you for a fact is that it seems that the syrian army and the syrian government are adamant on actually moving on with their operation to break the arsenal so usually on the city of there is what i'm trying actually to limit the ability of the u.s. . led coalition and the u.s. troops who are now on the ground in syria limiting their ability to move on limiting their ability to create influence centers almost ruined battlefield and we have to understand that this is not just a syrian issue this is more of an international conflict and power play between the u.s. . well the u.s. coalition said the syrian fighter jet was shelled done after it bombed opposition forces the pentagon also accused the syrian jet of straying into a so-called de confliction so accordin

yet what these latest developments show is a very different side to the iran that we know iran like many other countries around the world has experience bloodshed at the hands of islamic states with those twin attacks that we saw into iran just earlier this month gunmen stormed the parliament while it was in session and opened fire almost similar tale yesterday we saw suicide blasts the muscle leader of the founder of the islamic republic of iran so two very important and precious buildings to the iranian people who were types there eighteen people were killed and dozens more were injured an islamic state claimed responsibility for that attack now after this that these attacks around vowed revenge and it clearly meant every word that it said these ground to ground missile strikes that we saw yesterday launched from western iran and into syria's eastern resort targeting the militants which iran said were responsible for those twin attacks that we saw into iran earlier this month and there's no precedent to move because it marks the first time that iran has launched likes on syrian so

iran is a country that is dangerous than that it shouldn't have weapons on the other hand iran is now using these weapons to launch strikes on islamic states the common enemy and it's also making a lot of progress in destroying this common enemy to. let's get the thoughts now he's the director of international affairs the iranian fars news agency good evening to see what are your thoughts on this airstrike of course we've heard the official explanation that this is in retaliation for those i saw attacks in just a few days ago but many other people have suggested to us that perhaps they're trying to way make a wider statement here. you know that this missile attack is happening at a time that there was a terrorist attack in iran's capital city by. a terrorist in iran and also there was a coincidence that this is a missile attack in the tally ation those terrorist attacks in tehran is happening some days after us legislation to impose new sanctions which includes part of the sanctions the wrong policy missile program and also so i.r.g.c. and also as well but i think this attack was in r

to deter iran. so here is saddam hussein sending all these smoke signals up that he had weapons of mass destruction because he wants to keep iran at bay. we think everything is about us and we never acknowledge that maybe some of it is about the regional politics. so when we give weapons or sell weapons to saudi arabia, there will be for every action a reaction. there will be significantly more pressure for iran to come forward and have more weapons. what does it do to our ally israel? there's been at least a few reports that says israel believes that every time we give $1 to saudi arabia, they need to respond with $1.50. there was a quote from one of their government ministers on this saying he worries about their qualitative edge. i have a quote here from a colleague of mine, a friend of mine who is a rabbi and a friend of the constitution, rabbi nate segal writes, while i understand the president's intentions, we must proceed with great caution due to the challenges and the history of the region.

been led to what we've been told that iran is a country that supports terrorism iran has conducted another ballistic missile to president it's putting iran on notice for firing a ballistic missile and there are also reports the white house is considering labeling iran's islamic revolutionary guard corps a terrorist organization yet what these latest developments show is a very different side to the iran that we know like many countries around the world has experienced bloodshed at the hands of islamic state with those twin attacks that we saw in turan just earlier this month a gunman storms the parliament while it was in session opened fire almost similar tale yesterday we saw suicide blasts the muscle leader of the founder of the islamic republic of iran so two very important and precious buildings to the iranian people were types there eighteen people were killed and dozens more were injured and islamic state claimed responsibility for that attack now after this that these attacks iran vowed revenge and it clearly meant every word that it said these ground to ground missiles strikes that

and they were critical of qatar 's relations with iran. they went beyond where they were three years ago. they just broke off diplomatic relations. this time they imposed an economic blockade, which for qatar's extreme receivers, because most of qatar's food supplies come across the border with saudi arabia. the saudis cut the border. airwaysied qatar overflight rights, close their airspace to qatar. this is an extreme the serious economic speculation that is going on right now with qatar. host: in order to understand the region, you have to understand at least one alliance. gulf called the gcc, cooperative council, formed in 1981. what is it, and why is it a factor in what we are seeing today? gcc is an alliance of the six gulf countries -- saudi arabia, kuwait, bahrain, qatar, united arab emirates, and oman. as you said, it has been in existence since the end of the iranian revolution in 1979, and that triggered, provoked a response on the arab side of the gulf to band together for a common defense and security needs. years, last 30-plus

they did not bring it to the gcc to close their embassies in iran or close embassies of iran from the gcc. charlie: gcc is the gulf countries consulate. sheikh hamad al-thani: yes. nobody even brought that thinking, to close embassies. if they want to, it would be part of the gcc, but it's not happening. when you are talking about the islamic brotherhood and egypt, islamic brotherhood is a big name with varieties. some of them are part of the nation everywhere, and in the parliament of some countries. some of them use aggression, which we don't agree with them. some of them are peaceful. we need to identify -- myself, i -- but the take that reason against qatar,? how are we to support them president ceci and army throw them out. fine. for us, our amir, he was one of the first people to support sisi. but their problem, they had so many problems inside. do you think qatar has the capability for the economic situation as for what it was or what it was in egypt, despite all the billions being given from other brothers in the region? i'm not sure -- the egyptians need to work inside egypt

launch ground to ground missile strikes from western iran into the eastern part of syria the region they said they were targeting a bases of militant groups that they say were responsible for those twin attacks we saw into iran earlier this month you remember those there and you know actually horrific now in statements on the websites and the revolutionary guard a lot of the success of this strike base that they managed to kill schools off the militants and also inflict significant damage on their infrastructure and i want significance and unprecedented about this these missile launches this is the first part first time iran has launched missiles on syrian soil since it since that the two signed started working closely together iran as you know has been working closely with the assad regime in the fight against extremism. going but to these attacks about twelve days ago was in a into run because a lot of shock because this kind of thing doesn't normally happen then it was in two separate places was that remind us of it for of use the come quick. remember there all just to familiariz

has been rather using retaliatory strikes like this for a long time so while iran is saying we are in the game that whoever sent these terrorists and to make this major attack they will get a major response from us if they do that again i tell you all right worrying developments we have to leave it there jim thanks for the time that was jim managing editor of the veterans today publication thank you. liz that we mentioned that iran has known missile strikes against what it coste terrorist bases in syria and the city join me early in the studio with more details on that. the iran referee lucia narry guard which is an elite defense force in the country they've released a statement confirming that they have launched several ground to ground missiles from western iran into the region of eastern syria they say they were targeting bases of terrorists that they claim are responsible for those twin terrorist attacks in tehran earlier last week in this statement the revolutionary guard also said that they managed to significantly destroy the terrorist bases infrastructure and also killed score

to isolate iran. then several days later, we have an announcement that these arab states want to isolate qatar. are they connected? what is going on? >> well, it's simply we feel quawt by-- caught by surprise because our imirwent to the conference and i think he have a good meeting with the presidentment and always there are issues with our two countries or other countries and it's been solved through the right channels. and for us isolating iran, it ends by isolating qatar. and there are now saying that we have a very special relation and sympathy with iran and with the terrorism and financing the terrorism. first of all with iran, if you take it from commercial days which it is very important things. qatar may be 1 percent in a thousand compared to the other gulf states or their trade with iran. even in syria, we are in a different position with the iranian and syrian war. and with bashar again it's his people. so the connection, yes, we continue to try to have a normal and good relation with iran b

iran launches missiles targeting militants in eastern syria for recent terror attacks in tehran claimed by islamic state. news twenty four seven this is our international monday the nineteenth of june it's now six pm here. in paris which is where we start this hour a vehicle has been rammed into a police van on the roundabout in central paris the interior ministry says that the suspect was armed and. that suspect. what more do we know at this stage well very much what you've said is that. in the last half an hour there was a serious incident tayo on the show a main store away here through paris it's incredibly cold with tourists one of the places that people come and see if they visit paris and i want you call in to just look behind me this is the row of police vans that you might be able to see because this is where this incident took place in the last half an hour and i can count probably about ten or fifteen police vehicles here big police vans as well as the please call us now what we understand happened is that a driver in a vehicle rammed into a police vehicle here. now we underst

talk about iran. barack 0bama spent years, invested a huge amount of time and effort in pulling together a nuclear deal with the iranians. with of course the international community, the key five plus one. he got it. he got the deal. the deal is intact. rex tillerson testified to say the iranians are meeting the conditions of that deal. yet, you continue to say, one time you called it shameful. an egregious mistake. you continue to call for new sanctions to be placed ona iran. why? because iran has not changed. iran, still by our own state department determination, the number—i state—sponsor of terrorism. iran has tens of thousands of its own forces in syria, which has become a bloodbath. a genocide of the syrian people. iran represses its own people in a way, the regime does come in a way that is brutal and unacceptable. this is all way more complicated than you have just outlined. in syria iran is backing bashar al—assad, to even some in washington represents some sort of stability in the face

is living up to be agreement but that's essentially where the iran. has stalled is what iran is doing in the region in terms of supporting syria and sermons of supporting sectarianism in iraq there are a lot of problems there and so saudi arabia rightly is attempting to push back on it but the danger with what president trump has done is he's essentially given a blank check to saudi arabia and so now saudi arabia maybe settling scores in a sense internally with cutter as an example in him breaking with qatar yet cutter interestingly has been supporting efforts inside iraq to promote reconciliation. dari. an iraqi who was here in washington recently talking about reconciliation process these cutter's been supportive of that now they're on the outside of the saudi tent and so i don't see a real cohesiveness right now and that's the challenge so pushing back against iran is not going to be cohesive if the saudis and the gulf allies are not on the same page so joe let me ask you you know the big question you know facing this administration and you know ou

we must hold iran accountable. we must hold it accountable for its many malign activities through increasing and enforcing strong, targeted sanctions. i want to thank my colleagues, including senator mccain, who just spoke so forcefully on the floor, senator menendez, senator corker, and cardin, as well as other colleagues who have worked on this cause. i want to say as well, we must hold iran accountable for the threats its act of terrorism pose to our security and the threat its missile program poses to our allies, including israel, we must hold iran accountable for the gross violation of human rights and war crimes that it, together with russia, are perpetrating in syria. in the last few months iran has tested and fired ballistic missile, tested a new russian-made system and harassed united states ships and continues to enable and arm the hamas terrorist organization, the disspottic assad regime and the supply of weapons to hezzbollah. it has enabled hezzbollah to amass 150,000 rockets and missiles all aimed at

you continue to call for new sanctions to be placed on iran. why? because iran has not changed. iran is still by our own state department determination, the number—i state—sponsored terrorism. iran has tens of thousands of its own forces in syria, which has become a bloodbath. a genocide of the syrian people. iran represses its own people in a way, the regime does come in a way that is brutal and unacceptable. this is all way more complicated than you have just outlined. in syria, iran is backing bashar al—assad, to even some in washington now represents some sort of stability in the face of the threat of islamic state and other jihadists organisations. equally in iraq, iran's role in iraq has been, over the years, essentially buttressed by the war america started. right now we are doing better in our relations with the government in iraq. quite successful in mosul, in rolling back isis. i don't know where to begin to respond first time here in london, part of a group called united against nuclear iran. we are focused on businesses in 2008. to observe the economic sanction

targeting the militants which iran said were responsible for those twin attacks that we saw into iran earlier this month and his number precedented move because it marks the first time that iran has launched strikes on syrian soil since the country descended into chaos in two thousand and eleven and it's also perhaps that iran when it means business it means business in an online statement to the revolutionary guard to launch the strikes a lot of the success of them as well they said that schools of militants were killed in these strikes and also some key infrastructure was also destroyed and so was extraordinary about this latest move is perhaps the perception shift it has for us when it comes to iran while the west has warned that iran is a country that's dangerous and that it shouldn't have weapons on the other hand iran is now using these weapons to launch strikes on islamic states the common enemy and it's also making a lot of progress in destroying this common enemy two or playing the same complicated picture to us as well from iran as well the editor in chief of iran's fars new

today launched from western iran and into syria's eastern d. arrows or targeting the militants which iran said were responsible for those twin attacks that we saw in toronto earlier this month and this is an unprecedented move because it marks the first time that iran has long strike on syrian soil since the country descended into chaos in two thousand and eleven it also shows perhaps that when it means business it means business perhaps the perception shift it has or is when it comes to iran and while the west has warns that iran is a country that is dangerous and that it shouldn't have weapons on the other hand iran is now using these weapons to launch strikes on islamic states the common enemy and it's also making a lot of progress in destroying this common enemy to. ok let's get the thoughts now going around the political analyst at the university of toronto he joins us to see evening thanks for your time tonight what first what do you make of these strikes when you first heard that that happened did you sense that this was a major escalati

perception shift it has for is when it comes to iran while the west has warned that iran is a country that's dangerous and that it shouldn't have weapons on the other hand iran is now using these weapons to launch strikes on islamic states the common. an enemy and it's also making a lot of progress in destroying this common enemy to. a conflict between nato allies germany and turkey continues to escalate after berlin announced plans to come good on its threat to withdraw its troops from the base in turkey relocate them to jordan here's our europe correspondent peter all over. well it all looks very messy at the moment the latest from the german defense ministry is that the they will start pulling out of their troops from the insular air base in turkey in july live on the line the defense minister she outlined their plan saying that they would continue as normal until the end of the month until the end of june our flight plans as part of the anti eisel coalition are set after that will be transferring our tanker aircraft as quickly as possible to jordan with a role that germany has bee

we are seeing a very tense situation between iran and saudi arabia. we saw last month the crown prince of saudi arabia threatening sayiying that saudi arabia will take the fight to the rent and into i iran.. yesterday,y, the saudi foreign minister said iran needs to be punished. whether saudi is connected were behind us, nevertheless, the sentiments in iran are very much right now such that they are seeing a link to w what the saus are doing in thehe region. claimeds responsibility. what does this mean? >> could you repeat? amy: isis has claimed responsibility. and about the two sites their significance. the parliament, and the side of the tomb of the founder. >> the parliament is tremendously important because iran has had a parliament for about 100 years now. despite the fact iran is not a democracy in the western sense, it is a country that has competitive elections. we just saw those elections two weeks ago for the presidency. people tend to participate in these elections with tremendously high participation rates. it is a very important symbol of

isis striking the shrine of the founder of modern iran. a female suicide bomber blowing herself up at the tomb. a gunman opening fire, all six terrorists died, all were from iran. in a statement, the president sympathized with the victims but said states that sponsor terrorism risk falling victim to the evil they promote. in tehran, shock. >> this is like nothing we've seen in iran in 30 years. iran and isis are enemies that hate one another and we can see the evidence of that today. isis hit one of their biggest enemies. >> reporter: iran's supreme leader is vowing to hit back at isis in syria and iraq for isis losing ground there, this attack was a morale boost. for iran, an embarrassment, for the region, bad news, revenge in the air. bill neely, nbc news. >>> back home for the second day, a woman accusing comedian bill cosby of sexual assault was on the stand in his trial in pennsylvania. today, cosby's defense continued cross-examining her focussing on what it believes are inconsistencies in her story. nbc's stephanie gosk has more on