Sounded awful and he said to me but im slowly dying. Life from moscow where its just past 4 in the morning youre watching r. T. International welcome to the program. Baghdad says it is summoning the u. S. Ambassador over the latest airstrikes on iraq and syria that killed 25 people iraq Officials Say they were not able to prevent the attack with their objections being ignored by washington. I said this was a very dangerous matter and asked to discuss it face to face with the responsible parties not only by phone he said the decision has been made and i am informing you of this well after the attack hundreds of protesters gathered on the streets of the iraqi capital they condemned the u. S. s strikes and expressed support for the militia who were appalled and the u. S. Special representative for iran brian hook has defended the operation insisting it was meant to deter rain in a question on the scale of hope and has. The u. S. State department has defended the decision to conduct air strikes in iraq and syria saying that this was done to deter the influence of iran in the region now 25 people were killed in the raids and dozens were injured one of the things we want to emphasize is that this was a defensive action that was designed to protect American Forces and american citizens in iraq. The mission of restoring deterrence against in rimi integration now its important to point out that the target of these strikes was an iranian backed militia and according to washington the patience of donald trump regarding tehran and its activities in the region is starting to run out what we did was take a decisive response that makes clear what the president has said for months and months and months which is that we will stand for this long. Because the put american men in jeopardy i would add that in our discussion today with the president we discussed with him other options that are available and i would note also that we will take additional actions as necessary to ensure that we act in our own selfdefense and we deter further bad behavior from militia groups or from iran now the air strikes according to u. S. Officials are retaliation for a rocket attack incur a cook iraq against a u. S. Base that killed an American Contractor now in. No one has claimed responsibility for that attack however the pentagon has specifically singled out an iranian backed militia and blamed them for the incident and the death of this u. S. Contractor now the group that was attacked is one of the main shia forces in iraq that was key in the fight against Islamic State and essentially now we have iraq coming forward and saying that these airstrikes are a direct violation of their sovereignty as a country furthermore iran has referred to these recent air strikes which killed 25 people and injured dozens as an act of terrorism now the Iranian Islamic Revolutionary guard corps has actually said that they reserve the right to take revenge and carry out attacks in response to these actions by the United States so this is quite an intensification of the situation in the region all eyes are waiting to see what happens next quite a tense moment while staying with developments affecting the middle East Washington has slammed joint navy drills between iran russia and china the u. S. State Department Said its time for sanctions not military games 3 nations 1st have a joint naval drills which ended on monday took place in the northern part of the indian ocean as well as the gulf of oman and included antiterrorism and antipiracy training key shipping into Energy Supply routes run through the region sparking tension between tehran and washington amid the exercises irans foreign minister zarif visited moscow for talks with Sergey Lavrov the top diplomats touched on bilateral relations with irans of foreign minister saying there to historic high point but the main focus was the Iran Nuclear Deal officially known as the joint comprehensive plan of action or. Abandoned by the u. S. Back in 2016 now for over stated the west must return to compliance with the deal. So you know this thats because nature the u. S. Is forcing other countries not to fulfill their obligations despite irans compliance with the reached agreements so we demanded that the us and the e. U. Both return to full implementation with the legations voluntarily and then iran would do the same but if a western person is do not want to confirm their respect for International Law then the g. C. Must be recognized as dead or to be United States is trying to impose its will in other countries and make them violate International New engine standards as for the european position on the. Politically supported parties they do not do enough to counter the us sanctions we think the europeans should stick to their commitment. Professor said Mohammad Marandi from the university of tehran believes the drills are a message to washington that it can no longer dictate global terms you know laterally the United States. Still sees itself as the had everyone all of the world at. War wants to see itself as the head of the appalled world the europeans of course are. Will abide by the United States no matter whos in charge of the country whether its who they are most european this uterus just like or anyone else but the reality is that weve moved beyond that stage the United States is on the relative decline countries like iran russia and china are on the rise the United States is going to have to recognize the new situation and i think that the fact that these 3 countries actually carried out these maneuvers together jointly of 3 together is a major significance and its a message to the United States that they can no longer dictate terms. Well it has been a turbulent year for iran and that region as a whole mocked by tough sanctions and the seizure of tank is looking back his roman costs are up for terror on the year 2019 was thrilling to say the least it narrowly avoided an open military conflict with the United States got hammered by new stifling sanctions to port in a socalled oil tanker crisis and had to deal with the worst domestic protest in 40 years lets go through it one step at a time. Following its withdrawal from the Iranian Nuclear deal the us continued its sanctions against the Islamic Republic the countrys uncompromising stance swiftly led to an American Military buildup in the region the United States is deploying the u. S. S. Abraham Lincoln Carrier Strike group and bomb a task force to the u. S. Central command region sent a clear and unmistakable message to the arabian regime in may and june of 2019 some oil tankers were damaged and some caught fire in the gulf of oman washington immediately blame to iran in may the rebels in yemen carried out multiple drone strikes on a Saudi Oil Pipeline the u. S. Again stated that it believes iran was behind the attack and continued deploying a different troops over the next 2 months tensions reached a new high when a u. S. Surveillance drone was shot down by the Iranian Military trump had ordered out is every military strike on iran but withdrew his decision minutes before the operation began so avoid the loss of life. Pressure on terror on continued in early july when British Royal marines seize its super tanker off the coast of gibraltar iran responded by capturing british flag tanker as it passed through the strait of hormuz following mutual accusations of piracy threats by iran to close the strait of hormuz and the ensuing panic in the oil markets all ended well as both tankers were eventually released. Despite irans resilience to the u. S. Sanctions their effect has taken its toll the last months of 2019 or more by protests across the country when gasoline prices skyrocketed due to the governments decision to cut fuel subsidies though the plan was to direct the additional funds to supporting over 60000000. 00 people in need crowds it still took to the streets it was initially at peaceful rally but it quickly turned violent in some places and resulted in several deaths including Law Enforcement officers now that story if hes even put that country on it sold the internet shut down to prevent the protests from spreading now lets guess who was the 1st to capitalize on irans civil unrest the iranian people enjoy a Better Future when their government begins to respect basic human rights abandons its revolutionary. Posture and its destabilizing Foreign Policy in the region and behave simply like a normal nation hes arabian can a poor jobs or eve dismiss that kind of support saying that it was the u. S. Sanctions that caused so much suffering to his people. A regime that bans food and medicine for ordinary people including elderly and sick iranians by economic terrorism can never show its disgraceful support for the iranian people despise and the other year on their serious pressure life here in tehran continues the internet is back online with all Major Social Networks available and i checked that myself but hardly anyone in iran has any ads out with an adversary Like Washington theyre in for still more thrilling moments in the coming year. Brancato of r. T. To iran. Now another Headline News wiki leaks founder Julian Assange claims hes slowly dying in a u. K. Jail as hes regularly tranquilize and is kept in solitary confinement 23 hours a day in a phone call to his friend warren smith on Christmas Eve the jailed publisher made the disturbing revelations. Rang me because he knew he spent christmas with me and my family in 2010 while on bail work time ago i think he simply wanted a few minutes of skate around to talk to us because of the memories he had about happy memories he was slurring his speech was slurred he was speaking slowly now julian is a highly articulate very clear person when he speaks and hes all for and it was very upsetting to head the idea of him being sedated has come from several people who visited him who clearly need the British Government have been asked about it and they refuse to address that matter what they say is theyre not mistreating him but clearly hes being kept in solitary confinement for 23 hours a day he sounded awful and he said to me but im slowly dying here and he said that almost from my own why not of course my children his father keeps telling us that his father is telling us this do you know we must stop this what i find so depressing as a country is clearly we harbor Political Prisoners we have Political Prisoners because thats exactly what he is i didnt think that we were the sort of country that mistreated them in this way. Sandra was arrested in april and since then medics and un observers have warned about his declining physical and Mental Health hearing in february will decide on his extradition to the us where hes accused of publishing classified documents and could face a 175 year sentence for smith again thinks the u. K. Government has to explain why your son is being treated so badly. These remember he served the time for the bail charged and he served his time but hes now on remand its highly unusual to put him on prison in belmarsh when theyre not a threat of a physical violence threat to society i think we need some armfuls from from the British Government why they treating him like this why cant we have some independent assessment im 100 International Doctors and asked to arrange a visit or at least to send some representatives to check on him but that hasnt been allowed nils meltzer the un rockets are on torture has been very clear about a sound just mistreatment and describes it in the most appalling terms and yet his claims very recently in november that the British Government have completely ignored his request to see julian probably his health properly assess. Still ahead on the program we continue our review of the past year and look at some of the key news events including the unrest in latin america that south to this short break. In the United States president ial candidates debate the future of the u. S. And the world. Max kaiser and Stacy Herbert dig into the burning questions of this election cycle one topic every week wealth tax student debt trade wars corporate money universal basic income and more catch up with whats front running this sunday exclusively on r. T. Anyone else seems wrong. Why dont we just dont call. Any. Yet to see how does this come up to. And in detroit was betrayed. When so many find themselves worlds apart we choose to look for common ground. Welcome back now with 2020 just around the corner lets continue our look back at some of the key news events of the year that was. Lets see what todays topics in co lose weve got streets of rage and the mysteriously named mind games lets see what stories the 1st of these has for us streets of race that see Latin America Hong kong yellow vests and friends protests violent protests were prevalent the world over from the other western powers to the anti beijing riots in hong kong and of course in the latin america so lets focus on that show we as a picture here of some of the unrest on the streets the continent had more than its fair share of turmoil in 2019 protests rage from venezuela and bolivia to chile and ecuador aunties down a quarter breaks it all down for us. It started as a spark the next thing you know the inferno of revolution is all around you and cant be extinguished that is the south america of 2019. Whats crucial if thats your aim is to find just the right moment to stir up the scent of. Venezuelas chaos was the epicenter right after the country reelected president Nicolas Maduro washington pounced challenging the governments legitimacy and trying to provoke a coup. Im mike pence Nicolas Maduro is a dictator with no legitimate claim to power and it gracefully in doubt the legitimacy to run venezuela upon the leader of the opposition to me i swear to formally soon the duties of the National Executive as president of venezuela President Trump officially recognize the president of the Venezuelan National assembly one goh i do is the interim president of venezuela the time is now to support the venezuelan people to recognize the new democratic government led by interim president gore though the safety and security of president and his family are of great importance to the American People why dont try too hard to win over the military but when it became clear it stood behind a majority washington rolled out some empty threats are you hearing very well that is what i consider getting thing but all d options are on the table all of these are all options are on the table all options are on the table because. Not to do this as a result of the United States and steamrolled the country with sanctions adding to the suffering of ordinary people already living through economic collapse but is it really democracy that washington and its allies were interested in or perhaps this has something more to do with black gold not that what is Donald Trumps cases against venezuela the cases bellow is the only live in his way now the riches of venezuela its gold gas diamonds iron water a material riches resource grabbing hasnt only been confined to venezuela in the region. Bolivia seen its own share of unrest this year but there are right wing coup was successful the elected president abel morales forced to step down and flee the country well he does either why am i resigning so that my opponents cannot continue to myself. Brothers its my duty as an indigenous president and the president of all believe in this to see peace after morale has got the boot senator janine anya is proclaimed herself interim president not exactly a household name before that but whats more important is who had her back and he guesses we pledge our support to the believe in people and to the Transitional Government led by president janine and yes as they prepare for these elections. We support you need 9 years in bolivia as you would to ensure a peaceful democratic transition through free elections and just like in venezuela its ordinary people who are paying the price for regime change. And seeing the parallels heres another one lithium is in high demand in the United States and that valuable resource also happens to be in abundance in bolivia. Chile has also been no stranger to disorder where clashes have been deadly at times thousands have rallied since mid october demanding the president resign and the constitution be revised there have already been widespread reports of torture and unlawful killings following the militarys deployment. But