Coming up more than 170 People Killed when a ukrainian a passenger plane crashes near. All passengers and crew aboard the plane and when it went down shortly after takeoff. And treasure this moment because there will be many more. Britains prince harry and his wife megan are to step back from their duties under the media spotlight become just too tough. And the former nissan balls carlos goal itself in his 1st public appearance since escaping from japan to accuse is what he calls vindictive individuals conspiring to smear him leaving him no choice but to fully. Im going to go after our viewers on p. B. S. In the United States and all around the world woke up tonight a retreat from the brink president says that iran appears to be standing down in its confrontation with the United States while trump himself has not threatened any further military action against tehran the u. S. President spoke today at the white house after iran launched a missile attack on military bases housing u. S. Troops in iraq last night iran had claimed at least 80 americans have been killed but said no i have been lost a crucial and highly anticipated moment no americans were harmed. In last nights attack by the iranian regime. We suffered. All of our soldiers are safe and orderly minimal damage was sustained at our military bases donald trump confirming no troops were injured or killed in irans missile attack meant there was no need to escalate tensions between the 2 countries. Its all about the Iranian State television had claimed missiles fired by irans forces had killed 80 u. S. Soldiers at the eye and alice had ad base in iraq. The attack was an act of revenge for the killing of top military commander general kasim any the move has been widely welcomed across iran. Crowds chanting death to america as irans Supreme Leader ayatollah ali how many tell them their message has been delivered. I. Knew. A slight it was delivered last night but what is important is that the seditious presence of american. In the region should be and it fits better. That they want to even. The countrys foreign minister also spoke out. That said very clearly that if the United States takes any fed action it on viewed respond accordingly and we would respond in a very harsh way but proportionately united stunnel trump did promise further action but in form of economic sanctions military confrontation it appears has been events had for now and for more on that im joined tonight by hussein benign hes an assistant professor of International Studies at the university of indiana hes also a middle east analyst its good to see you again professor so today we saw the u. S. President donald trump in obvious deescalation mode is that a hell tehran is perceiving it do you think and if they are seeing that is it too little too late. They are indeed seeing it that way i think they are glad that the president is seeing their response or chanelle. As well because they themselves were worried that this could very easily get. Out of hand i think iran made a calculated response to what they regarded to be a violation of International Law and they wanted to be seen as responding in a way that was commensurate with their obligations under International Law and theyre happy that its been received that way by washington as as well it seems though that both iran and the the United States are there stepping back from a military confrontation but there may be digging in their heels when it comes to the positions that they have these a v 1. 00 and 1. 00 another i mean weve got the u. S. President trump saying that new punishing economic sanctions will be slapped on iran how is tehran going to react to that. Much as it happened for i think nothing about the fundamentals of the relationship have changed because of the events of the last few days i think iran still very much would like to see the United States military presence in the region to be decreased if not eliminated altogether and the United States would very much like iran to negotiate a much strange and Nuclear Agreements under the presidency of donald trump and i think theyre both locking horns over those objectives and even though their ship came to the brink of really military catastrophe in the last 48 hours or so i think theyre both glad to kind of go back to that default position for sizing their grievances against one another and trying to cajole the other side to come to the table under the terms that was referred by the other side of that and the u. S. President today demanding that the g c p a way of the Iran Nuclear Deal finally in over his words be put away forever to history he thinks is a terrible deal he wants that to happen he said well he may be willing to negotiate a new deal but he also said he wanted more nato in the middle east. Do the do any of these seem realistic to you. You know i think the irony in all this is that what has triggered this. Long crisis in relationship between iran and the United States was really a shortsighted withdrawal of the United States from that deal to begin with it is unclear why if this administration had such a problem with Irans Nuclear program why they didnt try to work within the confines of that deal to perhaps you know achieve longer sunset clauses on irans enrichment capacity or any of the number of grievances that they have against iran to really work on those within the confines of that deal by pulling out all together they really triggered an unnecessary crisis that theyre finding themselves was very costly indeed and could really destabilize the region that would have an adverse effect especially on american interests and i think the not to nato in that regard is to really account for the fact that United States has badly alienated its nato allies by pulling out of that deal and by signaling to them that they should be more involved i think its proper absent acknowledgment that they could act as intermediary needier is between iran and the United States once again you know and you know it is ironic the u. S. President once said that nato is obsolete in now hes calling on them to do more in the middle east professor hussein but i joining us tonight from indianapolis professor thank you as if you. Well the latest conflict between the u. S. And iran is playing out on iraqi territory iraq has one been under the sway of both powers Shiite Muslims are in the majority in iraq just as they are in iran but the u. S. Has a huge military presence in iraq current tensions are changing the dynamic in the region and u. S. Influence in iraq could be the collateral damage. When a u. S. Drone strike killed tehrans top military masterminds it didnt happen on iranian soil but in iraq the country was a target for general case seems to the money and iran in that master plan for the region which extends 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 was central to defeating is. And many of them took their orders from solar money. Iraqi lawmakers call out no to america irans influence pervades iraqs Political Class to end the 28000. 00 elections 45. 00 former Shiite Militiamen 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 and to 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 without the u. S. And iranian interference and merican soldiers 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 pulled u. S. 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. Adding to the already volatile situation faults an unverified information about irans missile attack on bases hellsing us troops in iraq if that is being spread on social media to talk about that im joined here by my colleague Peter Burleigh doll hes been taking a closer look at this you know what can you tell us what is happening online or in the wake of these dry. Yes weve seen what can really only because cried as a barrage of false information hitting social media particularly twitter. You know one reason is people are just too trigger happy for lack of a better metaphor situations like this its people like this who you know choose speed over accuracy and in this case vastly overstating the severity of the attack here falsely claiming that more than 60 missiles were fired 20 americans killed in actuality the number of missiles fired was closer to 15 maybe 20 tops and to the best of our knowledge no one was killed in the attack what were also seeing though is what appears to be more deliberate attempts at spreading disinformation like this video were about to see which falsely claims to show iranian rockets being fired at the air base and on a side when actually this video is from 2014 and shows a Russian Military drill and you know that during daylight during daylight exactly you know what overnight attack its interesting you talk about the speed because i was watching the coverage last night when the attacks took place and i am watching on what in social media it lit up like a Christmas Tree if you will absolutely and youre right people were tweeting things that you know. Theres a way they could have been able to verify their tweeting information that reporters on the ground dont even have right i mean its there and that is really the danger of shared stuff like this you have this incredibly volatile situation distant from a show like this its like fuel on the fire and it really makes a Ball Situation even more combustible you know it can really have to change perceptions too because if you were only watching what was online on social media last night you would have thought that the 3rd world war was breaking out and that was not the case what can people do on social media then to detect and to be aware that this is going on one thing i cant stress enough especially in situations like this breaking news situation so be extra critical be an extra careful be. For you had to read tweet button before you hit that share button and ask yourself some really basic questions like whats the source that im about to share is it coming from an otherwise trustworthy news source or is it coming from you know at 14666 are other outlets reporting similar fast similar numbers if not its either a very schools of information is wrong and usually its wrong so remember that if it looks or sounds too good to be true well it probably if what do you make of this is just in that on twitter for example every time we retreat something there should be something that prompts us to answer do we know the person that we are do we know them yes or no we have to answer that question do you think thats a good idea. Well it would certainly have started we would certainly make our jobs and we would slow down the it was there a new cycle and i think an situation like this might be the solution i dont know i know what. We certainly need to pump the brakes sometimes in situations like this. Last night was a great example of that yes. As always peter we appreciate it thank you so much. More than 170 people have died after a ukrainian passenger jet crashed in iran its not yet clear what caused the plane to go down the Ukraine International airlines jet was on its way from irans capital tehran to key ukraines president Holding Hands alinsky has broken off a foreign visit to return to because of the crash the president says ukraine will be sending a search and rescue team to iran tonight. A field of burning debris lights up the sky the a tour on. The apparent remnants of the Ukraine InternationalAirlines Flight that crashed shortly after takeoff from the iranian capital you know battle was a pleasure. Iranian t. V. Stations are the 1st to broadcast images of the crash including this mobile phone video which appears to show the plane going down. Its daybreak that reveals the extent of the destruction and the human toll. The plane was carrying 167 passengers and 9 crew members from several Different Countries mainly iran and canada. Last year that you get that much nobody survived all the passengers are dead. At the International Airport in kiev the arrivals board lists the flight that would never arrive. People here are distraught this man thinks his son was in fact on the plane on the ship yes well. My son is a senior flight attendant. Iranian and ukrainian officials have both blamed mechanical problems for the crash but the airline says its still trying to determine the cause and a statement by Ukraine International airlines said the plane was one of the best in its fleet and that the aircraft had pasta safety check just 2 days earlier. As iranians mourn another tragedy ukraines president and others have warned against speculating about a potential link to the current flare up in iran u. S. Tensions however Current Events very much on peoples minds. When you know they didnt i was watching the news of the ratings hitting u. S. Bases with missiles after 10 minutes i heard a must have explosion and old houses started to shake there was fire everywhere at 1st i thought the americans fired missiles and i went into the basement to take shelter so i did fms as an infant. And a few hours off to the crash the Ukrainian Embassy in iran released a statement saying the crash was not a result of terrorism that statement was later redacted. As investigators search francis a number of airlines have suspended flights over iranian airspace and on the ground emergency workers are getting on with the grim task of recovering the dead. Tragedy. We want to talk now to Steven Wright hes an aviation expert professor of Aircraft Systems at Emory University in finland its good to have you on the program you know we heard there in the story that initially the Ukrainian Embassy in iran had. Released it was not caused by terrorism and then terrorism was amid that release what do you make of that. Well i think the redaction of the statement. Could have been. Trying to see the bigger picture. Because i dont know if we had the that the military action from iran against the the the bases in iraq which were being. Occupied by the American Forces and when you then have. A Civil Aviation aircraft come down you could understand the. The the cautiousness decide not i we dont think its this its something quite different and im sure in hindsight as i hadnt told about all that said that perhaps thought well maybe weve been a little bit forward thinking maybe we need to have a few more facts before making these these very powerful statements because it would it would be an incredible coincidence if the plane goes down at the same time youve got these air strikes taking place. But what do we know about the safety of this aircraft i mean this was not an aircraft that we would say yeah maybe you know maybe it did crash because of mechanical error right. Thats possible 75. 73700. 00 its a maturing croft it was launched in the not around the year 2000 mark. Being launched because i went to see it at farnborough and it brings quite a lot of new technology and in the years that i would have the manufacturing and and if my quite a lot its got a really good Safety Record so again its a bit quick to say its this aircraft that its go i checkered history because it has and its a good plane and as long as its maintained properly it performs really really well hence its popularity. That was aviation expert Steven Wright speaking with me earlier heres some of the other stories now that are making headlines around the world russian president Vladimir Putin has met his turkish counterpart Richard Pryor everyone to inaugurate a new gas pipeline the turkish stream pipeline opens up a new export routes for russian gas to turkey and europe the meeting followed suit and surprise christmas visit to syria a car bomb exploded at a checkpoint in somalias capital mogadishu today killing at least 3 people the Islamist Group alshabaab has claimed responsibility the blast comes 10 days after another attack that killed almost 80 people the European Commission president. Was in l