Aboard the plane were killed when it went down to trucking after takeoff it was a Ukraine International airlines 1st fatal accident in its 20 year history. An unwelcome. Iran claims its killed more than 80 americans after firing Ballistic Missiles at u. S. Military targets in iraq the u. S. Defense Department Says its still assessing the damage the missiles reportedly hits 2 bases the us of ad base in western iraq and another near the city of erbil in the north irans revolutionary guard says the attack was in retaliation for the u. S. Assassination of general chaos and. Its all about the whole youth of all here paula stronger model to how they reigning in state television claiming at least 15. Misao fired by Iranian Forces have hit the. Base in iraq killing 18 u. S. Soldiers the numbers cannot yet be verified and so far there have been no reports of casualties from the United States or other coalition forces. On. This promised active revenge was for the killing of top military commander general salim mani the move has been widely welcomed across iran. Crowds chanting death to america as irans Supreme Leader ayatollah ali how money tells them their message has been delivered in court oh youre. A slow force delivered last night but what is important is that the seditious presence of america. In the region should be and it fits. The countrys foreign minister has also spoken out. That weve said very clearly that if the United States takes any further action iran viewed respond accordingly and we will respond in a very harsh way but proportionately. U. S. President donald trump visited the Assad Air Base in iraq in december 28th seen his response so far into the strikes has been measured tweeting all is well assessment of casualties and damage is taking place now so far so good. Meanwhile Security Forces have been inspecting a site below the capital of iraq selfgoverning kurdish region where at least one Iranian Missile landed American Forces are also based in the area but all seems to me now from the iranian capital. Cost is a whats been the reaction among the people of iran over this attack you know emotions have been johnny high over the us assassination of jenison in money with this attack be enough to satisfy them well iran or announced it on the last night a. B. C. Tokyo. That would be satisfactory to the iranian nation and the people who are wanted to revenge or its a limited fascination but even if the u. S. Of iraq is of bringing through that no one has been hurt in the. Attack was involved in it so i was a victory for lawmakers of that because as they were in the 1st minutes 1st earlier today it does the 1st attack on the u. S. Day after the 2nd world war so it is significant for they really nation to be able to crush the u. S. Our and the u. S. Image in the. Original and it can be conventional for. The recent Supreme Leader come in a and present how soon rouhani have said their ultimate goal is to end a u. S. Presence in the middle east so what steps can we expect from iran towards that objective. Well i believe that the immediate request and demand of iran is not to kick us out of all its bases in the region it is not possible chile to. Force the us troops leave for example their bases then or by rain and dont wait there were reports today that. The us troops are going to need their own weight base but it doesnt reject that and the. News agency has been true to the immediate requests of the wrong. Vidhu all of us forces from iraq but she had happening now based on the letters exchanged has been that u. S. Central command they d write all of them and it is a still a great victory for this drama curveball big thats what general hossam pulling money out to have achieved himself before his assassination so it would be a great victory for iran to lead to the americans need the. Iraqi terrorists a. Journalist there is a cost to him to have gone thank you very much for that update from that. This song was straight to washington d. W. s on its on the front naaman is standing by there on account of the full us tweet on the subject of missiles strikes my donald trump was born is then what do you make of that. Well i think that yesterday president gone on to trump seems to be inclined to call him things downed by tweeting this tweet he was actually expected to address the nation yesterday evening he didnt do it and it was also a sign that the u. S. Military was. Thinking that they need to more time to assess the situation on the ground and to see the whole see will the runyon chess chess player on the ground to see what made be coming next if they are moving their troops so president s trying so far show restraint however we also have to add that he is a president that often acts unpredictable and predictably and we will hear from here from him today now we learned that the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff is at the White House Briefing the president ok no president has some rouhani of iran has tweeted that he wants all u. S. Troops out of the region especially out of iraq hows that liking to go down in washington. Well i will to assume that we are going to hear on this topic from President Trump today but we heard from him already yesterday when he was asked if the u. S. Will pull out of iraq and he said that eventually who would like to withdraw the u. S. Troops from iraq but that he things that this is not the right moment right now because that would also mean that iran would have a chance to extend its footprint across that region and the assassination of genesis only money had divided lawmakers there was being said now on to these myside strikes. Well Trump Supporters support the president senator wincey graham was on fox news yesterday evening and he described to irans action as a clear act of war and he also said that that now president s trump has the authority to response and he was also talking about a potential harsh response however we also have to say that many here specifically on the democratic side of the aisle are very concerned and they are actually blame president and what they call his impulse of action for this escalation of the situation and its under phenomena Washington Bureau chief thank you very much joining me now is. She is a journalist in the iraqi capital welcome patient iraqs Prime Minister has called for restraint on one side what more can you tell us about iraqs reaction to these attacks on u. S. Bases on iraqi territory. Yes as you said the iraqi prime and acting Prime Minister and he has called for restraint hes made it very clear that he does not want iraq to end up becoming the site of the battle between iran and the u. S. But he also said that he was warned ahead of time of the missile attack and he you know in some ways has been has been slightly gentler in his language and he was there with the u. S. Strike that ended up killing dozens in the money and in the hundreds last week and he has you know the insulin condemned the straight on the course has been saying that he does not want further escalation under toward completion of this missile strike a worse guy down by the Iranian State than the Iranian Military but what about the militia supported by iran which is also operational. Also respond given that their leader in iraq was also killed along with generously money i think its very likely that they will respond in some way i mean you know as you mentioned it wasnt just a live man killed in the u. S. Strikes it was on those who is the head of all of it is one of the most influential and biggest militias in iraq and so it would be very surprising if they didnt you know have some sort of retaliation for his death in the past you know they targeted you know Iraqi Military bases hosting us forces for using rockets so its possible we could see you know attacks like that continue in the days to go. And special what can you tell us about the possible withdrawal of u. S. Troops from iraq we know thats something that iran would very much like and theres been some confusion in the past few days that the possibility there might be redrawing there might not be withdrawing what are you carrying there and bob. I mean its been very confusing you know there was a letter sent. By you know you u. S. Military to Prime Ministers office and was later you know said to be a draft and initiate defender had to say that it would balad and that u. S. Troops were going to be staying but then the iraqi Prime Minister said since hed received a letter that he was taking as balad. You know he seems to be signaling that he you know is seen as a sign and u. S. Troops agreeing to a drug on the u. S. Side of things they said that theyre not going to withdraw. We anyway i think it depends on what we hear later today from President Trump after he gives his statement and you know things are developing very quickly here its not entirely certain what will happen with regard to u. S. Troops and pressure we know that emotions have been running high in iran but also in iraq whats been the reaction among ordinary people to these airstrikes on to u. S. Bases in iraq. I mean people are very worried larry cant theyre afraid that another war will come to iraq and you know iraq is coming out years of conflict and so i think that people are dismayed at the idea that you know yet again their country could become the battlefield for a war between if they dont they dont have anything to do with they dont want it on or the u. S. Kind of playing out their battles in their country. Gives a journalist in the iraqi capital baghdad thank you very much for your assessment from there. We go to should she standing by in brussels for us today whats the response been from elitist to this is on it a missile attack. Its interesting because the European Union response is largely unchanged due to the overnight attacks they are still saying theyre very worried and theyre calling on all sides to refrain from for live further violence and to deescalate the situation now this is something as we know will not sit well in Washington European Commission president Ursula Vander lion and Foreign Policy chief joseph came out after an urgent Cabinet Meeting this morning and said that it is very important for all sides to resume talks now this comes even as some European Union governments themselves are condemning the attacks germany france the u. K. Even finland have come out and condemned the missile attacks but not vonda lyon and Joseph Burrell they say the e. U. Has an Important Role to play and that role lies in communicating with the Iranian Regime lets hear what live under len had to say this morning the con crisis deeply affects not only the region but all of us and the use of weapons must now give space to dialogue. We all are called upon to do Everything Possible to rekindle talk and there cannot be enough out so theory or so phone line talking about dialogue and of course is a huge concern as you said among. Leaders about whats happening but can they even do anything concrete to deescalate the situation. It remains to be see what seen whether this will be effective but the e. U. Can in fact play an Important Role in talking with tehran because its something that of course washington doesnt do but the e. U. Does have an open dialogue with the Iranian Regime particularly over the Nuclear Program which the e. U. Is trying desperately to save hanging by a very very thin thread at this point the e. U. Has invited Iranian Foreign minister jim wagner raef to come to brussels perhaps hell even make it this week for an urgent Foreign Ministers meeting called for friday we dont have any confirmation of that yet but again repeated this morning that he would very much like to see the Iranian Foreign minister here in brussels soon so we shouldnt underestimate the role that negotiation that talks does have to play at the same time as i said earlier i think the u. S. Will very much be looking for a stronger condemnation of the missile attacks on u. S. Bases and they do in fact affect europe because u. S. Forces on the ground are Protection Forces for the europeans who are also working there in iraq and do you also need to for us the what consequences do these developments have for me to troops who are in the region. Neer troops are in the region in a noncombat role they are training the Iraqi Military and that is also very important and the mission was suspended immediately where within 24 hours after the killing of customs money when it was clear that the violence was going to was going to escalate the coalition to defeat isis also suspended its training activities there so this has had a large impact on military forces in the region who were working very hard to help improve the Iraqi Military capabilities so thats not going to be a Welcome Development and while nato says that the mission is only suspended if things go the way theyre going now its pretty hard to imagine how how 500 people will again be safe in baghdad training the Iraqi Military forces half of the nato personnel have been moved out of baghdad some of them out of iraq altogether as National Governments have also done with their personnel given this development is still a danger that the assassination of general sulu monny we drag need to into a conflict with iran. I cant imagine that nato is not going to go to war with iran remember that nato acts by consensus only and there is no way that youre going to get 29 countries approving that at the same time as as i said it does have an impact on relations improving in the region because nato cannot continue its training activities with the Iraqi Military and of course there are 29 individual governments inside nato. Also would like to improve relations with iran and thats not going to be possible while while violence is escalating on the ground nato of course will very much back its member of the United States and so this is a very great concern at nato headquarters if there is a danger to the United States or to other nato allies who are there on the ground in iraq this is a very serious matter and back channels will definitely be used to try to convince tehran not to launch any more airstrikes like this that could endanger personnel on the ground and again as you said earlier we dont know yet if there have been casualties or ron says there has been and the United States and iraq are indicating there hasnt been so for the prospects of call in the region everyone must hope that the u. S. And iraqi stories that turn out to be true. Thank you very much for that update from that. Joining me now from up on im interested use is a member of parliament fritz hes a defense expert with the governing democrats in germany welcome as different been joined 1st an initial comment from you in response to the strikes. Well evidently i think the airstrikes are an acceptable its its simply not the way to proceed in a situation like this you have to really have to deescalate to start negotiating again escalating by striking each other will only makes the situation worse ok so it is unacceptable to have these airstrikes but what impact do you think these strikes could have on the president s off a u. S. Troops in iraq well the Iraqi Parliament has made a decision that it doesnt want the u. S. Troops in iraq any more this should have a more important impact on the what washington says because you have to look at the from the rocky point a few you know the americans have killed in general from iran on iraqi soil endangering iraqis the iranians have launched air strikes against you are american troops stationed on iraqi soil again endangering your rockey citizens if i were in charge of the security and safety of my population this is what i would be worried about and i think. The the issue whats the what the Iraqi Parliament has to say on this and on this matter should play an Important Role in evaluating the situation and the think im a gemini has already been drawing some of its troops from iraq temporarily from baghdad in particular what is the message there. Well we have we had some 130 personnel stationed in iraq with the with the task of training iraqi forces both the near baghdad and. Below in the in the kurdish region and of course the mission has to have a sensible relationship with the risks involved in a situation where the base is under attack and where the Iraqi Parliament says we dont want foreigners in the country and the more we made the decision to move all of it particularly to the ones closer to baghdad where we judge the situation to be more dangerous after the iraqi the iranian air strikes which were also directed against a deal we have to reevaluate the situation in the north as well so you began your comments by saying there needs to be deescalation what can june need do on the diplomatic level and to kind of ease tensions now well considering that we have pretty good channels in both directions that we are able to the evidently talk to our american friends and allies on the one hand and to tehran on the other we can fund it we can we can sort of as an intermediary to simply convey some simple messages that might make it possible to deescalate i think this is a situation where diplomacy can be helpful. Ok to the German Government has of course condemned. Strikes but i you actually. Happy with what the u. S. Is doing there at things like this dog did assassination of generosity money. You know. Im simply trying to look at it from the iraqi perspective if Something Like this happened on german soil we had. A visitor from a foreign country assassinated killed here by another foreign country i would resent that. So long he was a horrible person its not like i would like to defend the man and his role in the region but i think from an iraqi perspective this is unacceptable and we have to we have to make sure that the basis for for for argument for dialogue for discussion is not historical matters like this. Right of fritz french enjoy a member of the German Parliament and a defense expert with the governing social democrats thank you very much for talking to us from d. W. Youre welcome shia muslims on the majority in iraq just as they are in their powerful neighbor iran but iraq had to straddle the fence because of u. S. Influence and military presence in their country the targeted killing of general qassam silliman has not changed the dynamic in the region and u. S. Influence in iraq could become collateral damage. When a u. S. Drone strike killed tehrans top military mastermind it didnt happen on iranian soil but in iraq the country was a target for general casey im still a money and iran in their master plan for the region but to extend shiite power using proxies. Like the Shiite Militia that attacked the u. S. Embassy many of these militant groups came to prominence during the fight against socalled Islamic State shiite iraqis trained in iran who were central to defeating is. And many of them took their orders from sort of money. Iraqi lawmakers call out no to america irans influence pervades iraqs Political Class too in the 2018 elections 45 form a Shiite Militia men won seats in parliament that election also made a deal of the Prime Minister he was long a member of a shiite party based in iran abdul mahdi resigned after mass Anti Government protests at the end of 2019 he remains acting Prime Minister but with the government on the verge of collapse protesters have been calling for a new political order one without corruption and sectarianism and with our u. S. And iranian interference and theyre a console just ready to deploy to the middle east the position of the us in iraq has been shifting over the past decade in 2011 former u. S. President barack obama told us troops out of the country declaring that the war in iraq was over 3 years later they were back to fight i. A. S. This time on the invitation of the iraqi government. But now iraqs shiite Majority Parliament wants u. S. Troops out washington says thats not happening iraqis know that if the americans leave socalled Islamic State could take advantage of the resulting power vacuum and resurge and thats the situation no one wants. For some analysis let me join a simon megan from Lancaster University in england hes a senior lecturer on International Relations welcome simon we now have irans response to the killing of this top general ready you think this conflict between the u. S. And iran will go from here. So i think theres 2 different readings of this one it is that were caught in a cycle of tit for tat violence if you will that we caught in this traditional Security Dialogue that dominates International Relations weve seen it many many times before where one country responds to an attack the other country then responds in escalates and escalates its very difficult to break out of now the other reading is that. Youre reining in forces of the or even senior figures that were able to warn the United States that this was going to happen in order to say things but prevent further escalation in the sense that there was no loss of life now i think that this is perhaps quite a creative way of addressing the situation and possibly getting out of there and the reason why i think that this is a possibility is donald trump reaction to the attack overnight where his tweet was all is good so that suggests that there isnt this necessary anger that has characterized this would succeed well for many many months now but that perhaps there is some hope to mizzen that there is possibly a way out of this crisis thats how much how significant is the fact that this a missile attack was done by the Iranian State and my the Iranian Military in the past when they have been attacks have been all done by docs in militia. Yeah of course and i think what this demonstrates is that there had to be some type of response from the arabian states the killing of cause and sort of money in order ringback for the iranian government to save face they had to do it and in order to speak to their own people in order to demonstrate their credibility that tallaght see and that the Islamic Republic would not tolerate such a high profile assassination so i think thats why the revolutionary guard corps had to be the ones doing this rather than rather than putting it out to one of the shia militias that they work so closely with but where does it leave the militia who was supported by iran people who deeply deeply revered generously money beat the who thiis in yemen or the hezbollah in lebanon could there take independent action and retaliate for his assassination possibly i guess what well see very quickly is the extent to which it was all down to the saloon money who was responsible for creating and maintaining these networks or whether theres actually more to the networks than just 1. 00 individual and i would imagine that its more of the law that there are structures in place to facilitate relations between this by law. The revolutionary guard corps force for example i imagine that there are other aspects to these relations its not just constant its on one individual that being said i wouldnt be surprised if there was some independent agency operated by conflict is by these who no doubt is going to be incredibly angry at the steps taken by the United States dr you have to leave it there simon even from Lancaster University in england thank you very much for that analysis now to some other news staying with iran and earthquake has rattled irans only Nuclear Power plant the 4. 00 magnitude tremor struck an event stay close to the city of but ask on it could be feste some 55 knaan it has away at the bush nuclear site. Russian president Vladimir Putin has met his turkish counterpart. To inaugurate a new natural gas pipeline the pipeline opens up a new export path for russian gas into turkey and europe the 2 leaders are also expected to discuss tensions in the middle east. A large nationwide strike is taking place in india unions and opposition parties are protesting over Prime MinisterNarendra Modis live upon the seas which they say could cut the working class union say millions of demonstrators have turned out theyre calling for pensions and a rise in the minimum wage. If youve just joined just let me bring you up to date with the top story that were following for you on the news iran claims its killed more than 80 americans after firing Ballistic Missiles at the u. S. Military targets in iraq the missiles reportedly hit the. Air base in western iraq and the 2nd beast of the city of irbil in the north iran says the attack was in retaliation for the u. S. Assassination of general customs. But its not offered any evidence of american casualties the u. S. Defense Department Says its still assessing the full extent of the damage