Just after 8 pm here in moscow on this the 1st friday of the year welcome to our 2 international i mean and. The u. S. Secretary of state tells the fended americas assassination of irans top military commander money and the drone strike in iraq on friday mike said the Baghdad International airport saved american lives and was designed to send a strong message to tehran. I think the arabian leadership understands that President Trump will take action we made very clear that these responses would be swift and decisive i hope that the iranian leadership will see that well see american resolve and that their decision will be to deescalate the Early Morning air raid also reportedly killed 9 know the regime sitting influential iraqi and lebanese shia militia leaders there believed to be in europe without vehicles the strikes place. The money lead the powerful force in the late branch of the Iranian Revolutionary guard corps charged with spearheading foreign operations the unit has been heavily involved in the conflicts in iraq and syria and was instrumental in the territorial defeat of vital in the us the general was listed as a terrorist officials there say he was responsible for the deaths of hundreds of American Service personnel and was actively planning further attacks. Will to unpick this story further im joined live by our to kill up my pain killer the situation is looking extremely volatile in the middle east right now a brick dawn for us whats known. What we have u. S. Secretary of state mike pompei o continuing to insist that the usa is trying to somehow deescalate the situation with iran and not ask elate tensions this is what weve heard from mike bomb pale the u. S. Remains committed to deescalation that was the time to take this action so that we could disrupt this plot deter further aggression from qassam salami in the Iranian Regime as well as to attempt to deescalate the situation. But the fact remains that the United States did in fact kill someone described as the 2nd most powerful man in iran a potential successor to the Supreme Leader a leader of the Islamic Revolutionary guard corps however the u. S. Department of defense continues to describe this this move as if it was somehow a defensive measure this is what the u. S. Department of defense has said. At the direction of the president the u. S. Military has taken decisive defensive action to protect u. S. Personnel abroad by killing qassam still in money this strike was aimed at deterring future iranian attack plans the United States will continue to take all necessary action to protect our people and our interests wherever they are around the world now the Iranian Supreme National Security council has confirmed in a statement that it held an urgent meeting and it made necessary decisions in that meeting the Council Valid that at the right time and place it will engage in actions that will do to the United States a basically make clear that this was the biggest strategic mistake for the usa in the west asia region basically the uniform and pretty clear message unanimous message from the iranians seems to be that there will be consequences and retaliation for this move by the United States. The u. S. An act of International Terrorism targeting and assassinating general saloon money the most effective force fighting done. At oh hes extremely dangerous and foolish escalation the u. S. Busy responsibility for all consequences of its rogue adventurism. Now at the moment there is no response from iran as yet being reported no missiles have been fired no strikes have been carried out and there seems to be an understanding that war with the United States is something that iran is trying to avoid alex go over specifically how this situation leading to the death of qassam solemn money how it unfolded. Draw some indications that they may be planning additional attacks if that happens and by the way we get word of attacks of some type of indication will take preemptive action was will to protect American Forces to protect american lives. Now the u. S. State department and the American Media seem to be repeating over and over again that qassam solomonic is somehow responsible for the death of thousands of americans and that he is simply a bad person who deserved this and that this was somehow a victory for the United States furthermore weve heard Many Democrats at going these these denunciations of qassam solomonic but also making clear that trump carried out this strike without congressional approval and calling it a very very dangerous escalation internationally and we heard from nancy pelosi this is what she had to say representing democrats in congress. There ministration has conducted tonight strike on iraq targeting high level Iranian Military officials and killing Iranian Quds Force commander some silly money without another thursday sion for use of military force against iran further this action was taken without the consultation of the congress. Now Many Democrats have. Criticism that essentially the United States is escalating the situation and wishing with iran approaching all out war and doing so without consulting the Congress However donald trump has defended his decision on twitter and hes made many statements on twitter defending his decision saying it was the right thing to do furthermore in one of the statements from trump he indicated that solomonic should have and could have been killed many years ago which has led trumps critics to now accuse him of killing solomonic for the purpose of boosting his 2020 campaign for reelection so a lot of internal questions being raised in the United States about whether this was really the right move a strong reaction internationally folks keeping their eyes on iran and wondering how exactly iran will retaliate as theyve already stated they intend to do a very very volatile situation. Of thanks for breaking old and frisk him up in new york. In a run for a solo money was widely revered be assassination has triggered the outpouring of grief and anger 3. 00 days of mourning of being amongst them over really and of turned out in cities across the country to honor the general side Mohammad Marandi a professor of politics a to run university told us the america has failed the iraqi people. It disregards sovereignty did its work are the government they disregard the people of iraq their their utter arrogant behavior is has made the whole region outraged and then they wonder why people hate america but wasnt for a general sort of money there probably wouldnt be a syria today and there would be black flags over damascus thanks to the United States and its allies and if it wasnt for general spending money probably there wouldnt be in iraq today and the capital over the capital we would have had the black sides of isis. Iraqis except for those who supported Saddam Hussein and isis supporters who are celebrating the overwhelming majority of iraqis support general saleh money and are grateful to him for helping save the country wherever the United States goes and destroys its all for its all to defend democracy and freedom and the American People which is all nonsense here maybe spirituous polis later into the program not to hi there paula reactions being coming in from around the world to the out at us strike whats been said. Well as you correctly say the world has been responding with the number one concern being the issue that this will escalate tensions here in the middle east now we have heard from iran that it will retaliate irans National Security council quoting this americas biggest security mistake its biggest strategic mistake which is a human being echoed by to it has said that the American Actions will destabilize general news syria says that the americans are feeling the tensions weve heard from going to obvious is the lad who ran back to group based in melbourne on his son astride and who has urged the worlds resistance to get together and exact revenge at the same time one mosque which also receives backing from gaza has expressed its condolences not the rock where the killing actually took place condemned what accord and aggression that it said would lead to a devastating war. The assassination of an Iraqi Military commander is an aggression on iraq as a State Government and people its a flagrant violation of iraqs sovereignty and dangerous escalation that triggers a destructive war in iraq the region and the world it violates the conditions authorizing the presence of u. S. Troops on iraqi soil a cowardly u. S. Aggression will only strengthen determination to follow in the path of the resistance these months of leaders. Now this way the Prime MinisterBenjamin Netanyahu earlier cut short a trip to greece to return home an emergency meeting was held here in tel aviv between the military and intelligence chiefs to assess the situation all israeli institutions around the world have gone on high alert while on the northern and southern borders here in israel the army too has become more vigilant this is what netanyahu in praising the attack had to say. President roh deserves all the credit for arkansas of course for the source of israels with the United States and its just struggle for spruce security so. The American Action was a reaction to a series of military provocations for which iran is responsible we also see with great concern to around 60 of it is in the region we stand before dangerous escalation. Now the European Response has been somewhat moderate although there has been concern expressed that this will lead to a deescalation it doesnt seem of this anyone is brave enough to come out and strongly and openly criticize the american President Donald Trump nato says it is monitoring the situation particularly keeping an eye on its Training Forces in iraq also monitoring the situation is cairo and it has called for a denormalized a dean organization a normalization of the tensions and at the same time were hearing from the United Kingdom it says while it recognizes the critics that sort of money pose it is urging for a deescalation earlier there was a phone conversation between the russian president Vladimir Putin and his french counterpart emmanuel mccrum and both leaders agreed that the American Strike would lead to a deterioration and were hearing from france urging iran not to take steps that would lead to that deterioration weve also heard from the u. N. Secretary general he has urged maximum restraint saying that the last thing the world can afford is another war in the gulf. Thanks for taking us through some of that reaction or tease paul leslie or. Another political analyst we heard from believe the earth strike in the way it was or 3 shows that america as a state on the global stage is not a democracy. Iraq was not warned congress was not consulted. This was trump and his new york people more than likely mr question mr netanyahu who run mr trump essentially you know alongside compay are now the sort of officially you know no longer formally as part of the Administration Mr bolton because if you examine whats going on online you see these people posting messages of joy now even if they dont like us and so they want to seem to not understand the ramifications of what they have done this move has united the iranian people it has really united the iraqi people the syrians the yemeni leben on the Palestinian Movement which is united everyone against america i must sound of death to america is getting louder and louder and louder and theres nothing america can do about it this is by its own hand by its own activity. Lets take it to europe now or French Police say one person has been killed and 2 others wounded in a knife attack in the suburbs several kilometers south of paris officers have shot dead the assailants who reportedly attacked passers by random charlotte do been ski spoke to the program earlier. Shocking the horror in paris is yet another knife attack is taking place in the city this one to the south of paris in an area called venusian if we understand that one person has been killed as a result of that attack and 2 others have been injured they currently receiving treatment fill those injuries no details on exactly how badly wounded they all now i would say that the man who carried out this attack was wearing a traditional arabic costume and screamed out the words. As he tried to stop those individuals some details coming through about the individual who is dead as a result of that attack french media saying that he was a local none of these 50 easy. Was actually a man with the area and the name tim is being found the. People saying that he actually was trying to protect his wife that attack and now we know the following thats attack as the amount this seems chased down by the police shot up 3 times and has been neutralized i. E. He is dead now no luke camera. Here we suggest that this was at the time the police are investigating to see if he had any accomplices and to make sure that the area is clear nothing else will happen to know right now the minister for the secretary of state for the interior ministry nor knew his visit to the scene. That neutralize ation over the attack this is what he had to say look what. I would like to commend the swift reaction of the police who intervened quickly to neutralize the assailant and put his murderous rampage it was a very brave mark as news of that attack spread supermarkets batten down the hatches closing down they do was to ensure that the customers remain safe inside some of those customers waiting for several hours to be given the all clear by the Police Movement those that many will see as being a good step to try and protect customers. Noise from pages in the past have expanded and gone into other areas. Turkeys plans to deploy troops to war torn libyas regional players worried as fears grow the conflict could further escalate that story many more coming your way after the break. Join me every thursday on the alex salmond show and ill be speaking to us from the world of politics sports im show business ill see you then. 18 minutes past the hour welcome back several countries have condemned the Turkish Parliament decision to send troops to libya israel greece and cyprus a voice their concern over a possible escalation of the conflict in the region theyre calling turkeys plans reckless. The turkish decision to deploy troops in libya presents a dangerous threat to regional stability the repercussions of this reckless move will be dire for the stability and peace of the entire region well in a phone call with the turkish leader the us president also raised concerns that foreign interference could further complicate the situation in libya though the 2 did agree to maintain their diplomatic cooperation multiple forces have been vying for power in libya since the ousting of long time leader Moammar Gadhafi and 2011 a un backed government of National Accord controls the capital tripoli along with some coastal areas in the west of the country its rival the selfstyled Libyan National army headed by general after all the large swades in eastern and central libya a 3rd region is controlled by local tribes and militias the un back government formally requested military aid from turkey last month in the face of an onslaught by huff tars forces libyas neighbors have also voiced major reservations over the Troop Deployment plans egypt is calling on the International Community to respond urgently weve been hearing analysis from turkey and beyond on cruise move and its possible repercussions. We see a very soft announcement by the arab league we can see that theyre unified only by name were seeing turkey become more and more now the major player in not only libya in the north africa and the east and the middle east turkey is showing that its not going to shy away in present add one is willing to use his military muscle to get the results he wants at the diplomatic table as well turkey made a very important. Move. Greeks. Egyptians. Of course are very disappointed by this decision but turkeys strategic move will. Bring some. Advantages strategic advantages for turkey we will see the method the manner of how turkey is dealing with this problem and challenges in the coming days if turkey sent more troops then general haftar will also look at more support from the governments hes already there are already back including and especially egypt the United Arab Emirates they will send their own proxies or troops or more weapons so in that sense the situation could defini