Of a tall iranian general in baghdad u. S. President trump plans to deliver a speech after the damage is assessed but he firmly or tweeted all is well regarding the attack. Im terry martin welcome to the program at least 170 people have died after a ukrainian passenger jet crashed in iran Iranian State media say the boeing 737 came down shortly after takeoff due to suspected technical problems the plane was on its way from irans capital tehran to the ukrainian capital kiev and was operated by Ukrainian International airlines ukraines president floored me it selenski protocol for a visit to amman to return to kiev because of the crush. Well for more on the plane crash im joined by aviation expert Geoffrey Thomas from Perth Australia geoffrey what more do we know about this incident. Look at the moment terry that is theres very little dots that we do have some vision taken by an iranian citizen. After the plane took off it appears to be on fire then theres a smaller piece of the a small explosion. Of a flare before the airplane impacts the ground and theres a much larger and tragic explosion which appears to have killed everybody on board the flight right out 24. 00 data doesnt show any particular problems with the flight path and the climb out and then suddenly the data is cut out that possibly is because of an explosion possibly in the cockpit thats taken out the electronics although. Sometimes with the flight right out 24 the dot is incomplete and we have to white for more clarification from them but this certainly appears to be some sort of explosion on board that a profit from the vision from the iranian citizen of the aircraft so when you say an explosion are you suggesting then that this explosion took place inside the aircraft because this this incident took place just as iran was firing Ballistic Missiles at targets in iraq. Look indeed however the this explosion definitely from my perspective anyway. Was inside the aircraft and it was that its just a small flare up if you like of the airplane is brightly lit to start off with so obviously that attract the attracted the attention of the iranian citizen who took the video normally you just see the splashing lights for the navigation lights but theres a very bright like going through the sky and then theres been theres a larger explosion before the major impact so i believe the airplane was on fire from from something i dont think it was part of the myside attack because the misawa have taken the airplane out completely jeffrey can you tell us about the Safety Record the general Safety Record of this plane and the airline it was operating at. Looking to the 737 its 8737800 its part of the whats called the new generation series next generation series i should say 7377080900 theres 0 7000. 00 of them builds and in sort of us around the world has an excellent Safety Record very very good Safety Record and in fact is the most reliable airplane in commercial operation to die ukranian International Airlines has been in business since 9092 it has 30 idea of planes to fly us to about 88 just a nations around europe and to the United States and canada and the middle east. And again that line has a perfect psyche record that has done all the Major International safety order so it ticks all the boxes geoffrey thank you very much for filling us in there that was aviation expert Geoffrey Thomas such now for reaction from ukraine im joined by kiev post news editor matthew copra in kiev a terrible accident there that ukrainians are waking up to this morning whats the reaction from kiev. Just a terrible accident but so far the response in kiev is fairly muted and what you should know here is that yesterday was or 30 eastern orthodox christmas which means people are today likely just returning to work from from the holidays its been its been for the last almost 2 weeks a number of holidays people resting and this is very early in the morning here so the reactions are muted there have been some expressions of condolences from a few embassies i think theres been we know theres been a statement from president were he says that the Ukrainian Embassy in tehran is working to to look into the crash and gain more information hes returning to kiev urgently from oman but other than that so far the reaction has been fairly muted because its such an Early Morning event for ukraine do you have any information about who was on that tragic flight. We dont know yet ive seen no information about the passengers the manifest of the flight and you know this appears to be a regular flight its not entirely clear what the main who the main travelers are but i would suggest its a likely a mixture of business and tourism travelers but other than that we know very little. Matthew thank you very much that was journalist matthew cook for that in. Iran claims of his killed more than 80 americans after firing busy. Military targets in iraq the missiles reportedly hit 2 bases the Assad Air Base in western iraq and another near the city of. U. S. Defense Department Says its still assessing the full extent of the damage runs revolutionary guard says the attack was in relate in retaliation for the u. S. Assassination of general custer soloman the on friday. Well joining me in the studio for more is iraqi journalist amir mousawi good to see you again. So iran has used Ballistic Missiles to strike 2 u. S. Bases in iraq it says its killed u. S. Military personnel is this the kind of response we were expecting from iran in response to the killing of the custom so the money i think is iran warned to give something for the public because they ask for revenge and they cannot do do not nothing this is the reaction that we are expecting and we talked on the last 2 or 3 days that we expect that the iranians could react in iraq through proxy or knol what we show what we see the direct targeting watts and then do of the day we should waiting to assessment and to see how many casualties really has been killed it should be we should mention that only the only source we have on any casualties right now is Iranian State t. V. The Iranian Foreign minister however has tweeted that his country has taken and concluded and i quote taken and concluded proportionate measures in self defense he also said we do not seek escalation of war let me ask you do you think we can really assume that this concludes the matter from the a rainy in perspective or are rain ians going to be satisfied that these strikes are sufficient revenge for the u. S. Killing of one of their top generals i think it doesnt mean now this and this level of violence that iran tried to put on the table they cannot no go for them they should wait in extent from United States i think this is this tweet too of mr joe odds that leave short and to a direction one direction to the ukrainian public to the rain is that sweet revenge for the mist of custom so like manny. In this 2nd election go to an International Community that iran is not interesting to open open more increasing core increasing be violent in the region now this action was taken by the Iranian State but custom sort of money as a general he was leading operations of proxy groups outside of iran what about iranian proxy groups like hezbollah that are in lebanon for example could they also be taking measures in response to the killing of this general exactly the proxies will play a Important Role for the next wave if the next wave will come from iran inside i think hezbollah in lebanon or the proxy has been a lot in iraq will try to hit again if the americans will going to hate iran again and think this is its a game of the blue mussy and the bylaws let us wait let us wait the statement of President Trump and we will see in which direction we are going to go makes 2 days are we going to have more diplomacy going to have more increasing the violence in the region it depends on the number of the casualties now these 2 attacks these attacks these 2 bases that were attacked there inside of iraq there are initial reports unconfirmed so far that Iraqi Military personnel have also been killed and these attacks what do iraqis make of the strike well some iraqi officials and also Iraqi Government knows that they are no casualties within iraq militarily pessimal and also that is all sort of parts that iraq informed you back thats about the attack short before beginning i think iraq is. Will insist again and again to withdraw that all the troops International Troops from iraq also because of that airstrike because they will say look this is a kind of severity one that its coming from iran or from coming from United States we have we have a problem we should solve the problem and i think. Discussion was going to be in baghdad about that topic thank you so much that was journalist amir mousawi from iraq 50 of. Our washington correspondent public is following reactions from the United States and joins us now from washington pablo President Trump has been commenting on the attack using twitter what does he have to say so far. Thats right terry a far more muted different approach to what weve been seeing in recent days from President Trump in his tweet he said all is well missiles launched from iran and 2 military bases located in iraq he said have assessment of casualties and damages is taking place now so far so good all the making a statement tomorrow morning referring to of course wednesday morning so as we can see more measured it came shortly after a meeting with the defense secretary mark asper the secretary of state mike pompei o. And the Vice President mike pence so were seeing a different approach now sitting back waiting to see exactly what comes out of this investigation thats taking place over in iraq to see exactly what the extent of the damages are and also if there are casualties and of course depending on that President Trump will then make his next move but we dont have too long to wait as i said wednesday morning hell be speaking at publicly about it so president ropa saying all is well so good so for but the iranians at least already in state television is saying that the americans were killed in those strikes have you heard anything from other sources yet in washington about casualties and damage. Well here in the United States there is very much an approach of lets wait and see lets wait and see exactly what comes out of these investigations and then theyll be able to comment but what we have been seeing is the media has been reporting quoting u. S. Officials they dont choose that that there were no indications of american casualties so far also there were other media sources saying that Iraqi Security fishel were telling them that there were no casualties among Iraqi Security forces because lets not forget that Iraqi Security forces and u. S. Forces actually were in particular in the base were essentially the same base so once again terry i think what we need to do is lets not speculate lets wait and see actually walk comes out of these investigations and then once we know the full picture then well be able to see exactly what approach the United States is going to take the United States of course was bracing for retaliation from iran in response to the u. S. Killing of the top iranian general did this attack really come as a surprise or was the u. S. Prepared. Well in recent days. The United States appeared to be gearing up for some sort of attack actually earlier on choose day the defense secretary mark asper said that the u. S. Was closely monitoring iranian activity and also the u. S. Was watching out for potential for potential attacks on u. S. Targets in the region including like iraq kuwait saudi arabia and the United Arab Emirates so in many respects it didnt come much of a shock here in the United States considering that its been very much the focus of attention in the media in the past few days. Thank you very much that was due that was published in washington. Now lets catch up on some of the other stories making headlines around the world today but a ricos governor has declared a state of emergency after a powerful earthquake killed at least one person and caused widespread damage 6. 4 magnitude tremor was the latest in a series of quakes to hit the u. S. Territory in recent weeks. Russian president Vladimir Putin has paid a surprise visit to syrias capital damascus for talks with president Bashar Al Assad its his 2nd visit to the country since the since syrias civil war began Russian Forces have been fighting alongside Syrian Government forces since 2015. Satellite images show the smoke from massive bushfires in australia has now reached argentina more than 11000 kilometers away fires have killed at least 26 people now scientists estimate 1000000000 animals have been killed or injured as well cooler weather is bringing some relief but another heat wave is due later this week. Spains socialist Party Leader Pedro sanchez will remain Prime Minister after surviving a confidence vote in parliament by a tiny to vote margin he will try to assemble a Minority Coalition government with the left wing put they most party the most ends along political stalemate that included 2 inconclusive elections last year. I can do that though dont bet on sanchez bet it just a fine chance of victory socialist paper sanchez one and narrow vote and the Spanish Parliament was reelected by a 2 got. Together with the Left Wing Alliance for demos sanchez can now form spains 1st Coalition Government since the end of the franco dictatorship this is only possible because the catalan separatist e. C. Party abstained sanchez just to find the cooperation. Of the only option is all that this Progressive Coalition all the continued political blockade in spain. Right when demonstrators protested outside parliament they accused sanchez of betraying spanish unity by the tone is just as aggressive inside parliament the opposition accuses sanchez of lying because he had ruled out an alliance with a most and cooperation with separatists before the vote if sanchez fulfills the demands of these anti establishment parties it risks threatening spanish wanted a fight if he doesnt want to lose their support. Spains new Coalition Government hopes to push through a decidedly left wing policy increasing the minimum wage and taxes for higher earners but given its lack of a clear majority is likely to face intense political pressure by right wing opponents. Former nissan chairman carlos girl is due to hold a News Conference today in lebanon to discuss his escape from japans Justice System this comes a day after tokyo prosecutors issued an arrest warrant for his wife claiming she lied to investigators about escape. Been under house arrest awaiting trial on corruption charges. Hes thought this is the moment when carlos ghosn left japanese soil since his daring escape on the 29th of december the story of how he managed to get out of japan has been slowly becoming clear his belief that he was smuggled onto a high speed train in tokyo and delivered to can Sight International airport near osaka city from there he left aboard a private jet ending a journey through japan that began inside a musical equipment box. However plenty of questions about the escape remain unanswered and carlos going has hinted to News Networks that he may address some of those questions very soon he said that he has actual evidence documents that will prove that this was a coup to take him down he said that hes going to need some people from the japanese government are behind this that they wanted to take him out because he was going to merge nissan with you right now on tuesday an arrest warrant was issued for the x. Automotive bosses wife carol in an increasingly frustrated japanese government has urged lebanon to help with the investigation. We are making efforts to communicate with the lebanese government through various methods of. And we plan on delivering our message to them that it is extremely regrettable that go who left japan illegally arrived in lebanon and also ask the necessary cooperation as we investigate the facts through the cool cool mom who committee the group. And it is in lebanon that the worlds press now tends specifically to a wealthy suburb of beirut and the house owned by kala sky the fugitive with a story to tell. In other news venezuelan Opposition