Transcripts For ALJAZ NEWSHOUR 20240714

Of the mixed feeling of course i feel a little bit sad because its not running anymore but now at the same time its kept here as it was if you were transported back today to your childhood on the packet you know right away what can you tell us about what you were seeing and hearing the sounds and smell and sight to paint us a picture while yeah maybe i take off my shoes and stand on the seat and see you know the food is coming and oh ok all this very crowded and the conductor. Comes and and check the ticket and the smell is kind of out or the thing. Greece i can feel the shake of the engine. And its kind of a. Curve its open the windows sometimes you can hear the voice in summer time i could hear the announcement and yeah the next one you know. I always had like a really deep voice yeah. You know walk on the platform i felt kind of stable. And relieve it in a sense and here we are. You made it yeah. You know not. As if. That was a little when you thought you did. But it. Was good to do it but it is over. Mr tommy tucker invites me to speak to students in one of the classes where i used to teach english so i thought a crushing english class. Well its great i was teaching here 15 years ago as an l. T. In high school how old were you at 1997 to 99. 00. Great so you were born just as i arrived. Back thats not thats thats depressing to hear takes the train sometimes on the weekend on holiday if anybody take the train. Has anybody been on the bullet train the shinkansen. He doesnt write here about him no he hasnt reached me as i could yes maybe maybe. Maybe one day you will have your own bullet train coming to me as i to not be ok in particular so this is the one place called japan by rail. To. Me home. Why are you laughing. And the very nice. I see youve been talking about a monkey falling from a tree. Im wondering what thats about. And then the more i thought about the problem the more difficult it was for me to solve it. Last i gave up no thats not thats not the culture of going back day somebody must like the opposite of this phrase though that you must always carry on never give up because you can always create your dream. Was to me. Super super super super super bowl or almost that super super super bowl food. Model. See how hard. I travel to walk in central japan where ive heard about a railway line that was on the brink of closure until they came up with a unique solution to their financial was a cat. 11 a Business Card with. The symbol of the railway the cat on it just. Such although. I must buy. Can you tell us about why this cat is so important to you other some kids you know no number 2 thats not. Your eyes its a. No we did its a month. First. Time a charm has helped revitalize the railway by bringing in tourists from japan and across asia tamar is more than just a cat shes a marketing phenomenon. But tamar is ill a new station master cant need tama number 2 is being groomed to replace her so we havent seen the cant yet but can you. Show me where your cat is and. This. Right here ok. I dont. Think i like spraying the head of some of. Its own yes or no time incident was not used to getting the cats out it was a. Little you know not running im not going to be this guy so you know normally. You know im going up but its over this imus. How much are you going to. The nearby oil gal railway is another local line under threat and here again train tourism seems to be the answer this time instead of a cat the Steam Locomotive is the Main Attraction of a former executive of the oil gal railway has been campaigning to preserve both the Steam Locomotive and the local line on which it runs for more than 40 years. I 1st met mr wright 10 years ago when writing my book how are you doing how old are you now. And he t. Its long we will reach 90 do you remember meeting. Not. To know more they were not there at all except to stream but. Dont touch me come on let him know them on the skin of this game or the kind of. Thing that hit. Me if i take you out young picks up my. Mind its an enemy that no thanks much. Thanks to my. Cock. You cannot in a muslim take what commitments to their own hands and just go. On as much as you can tell by the kennel simple snoozed and thats much no one talking and no car that. Was only a couple theres no consular you can run in the room and they know what the. Basket. Thanks so much. Nic you know what its not in. The. Koran mama down on this hill these i wasnt gonna sing. This right how would you feel you give away clothes it. Hurts my good next but its impossible to avoid. Possible to avoid closing yes because. Money theres a scene with. Joyce is the. Give her to me. Trains are just reflecting upon the kind of things that are occurring around it you are losing your population your rule local economy is not doing well it is not the train that you must 1st look at it is the overall environment that surrounds the train connections tom he called 20 good she is a special advisor to japanese Prime Minister shinzo abby trained lovers especially nostalgic certainly about the last lines about the greater perspective i think is the one that one must look at in the ninetys in the last decade or so it seems that japan has lost its way a bit when it comes to innovation and Innovative Technology thats right thats right thats one of the greatest anxieties and concerns for many and the deflationary environment its almost like. Youre going through a slow death process your selfesteem your self if it is see yourself have gone down so its very much important for you to boost the collective psyche especially the young among the young people in order for them to become innovative. Its 1964 and japan receives a huge postwar boost with the launch of the shinkansen. One has. No didnt. Catch a tear or she makes history by driving the 1st bullet train from osaka to tokyo he breaks the high speed world record and its proof that japan is back on the world stage 70 june in the sky. New home. More. Than saving the assassin. Towards ascension and. High single you home. To. The shuttle in Japan National railways was under pressure from the government to keep the top speed to well under 200 kilometers an hour. Or. Less than 31 but. 200. 00 looking on the. Man and the. Man. The onus is on the up on the other one. Or 2 more moderate in the said i. Consent. Keith i hear the room on your own. Symbol ive always wanted to try my hand at driving a bullet train and the opportunity comes with a simulator at a japan Railways Museum this is the author this is the xo back all the way ok. They were all corrupt. Is there an emergency stop button in the in the butchery. When there is no emergency stop in the simulator so we start this speeding. Down i suppose that really says that because being on camera the. Brake brakes are going to break no sorry because. I was i. Took a. Place very realistic this is not going to do this now is this ok you have to brake slowly brake slowly yeah theres stuff that prays that where we can affect me if i can ill try to stop. Its not going to make it the least every place the. Ladder made it to the finish i cant believe it was so close that marks out of 10 from my performance 10 out of 10 or 8 out of 16 out of. 6 of us and he tells everyone thats ok for the 1st time i guess ok thank you very much thank you its driving a high speed train could soon become a thing of the past japan is already building the next generation by its speed trains the maglev this magnetically levitating driverless train runs on a cushion of air at speeds of over 500 kilometers an hour and will shorten the journey time between tokyo and osaka from 2 and a half hours to just one hour. Travelling to times. Speaking. This is. True. Now weve switched gears they can feel the difference but if you change my russian you know. The speed. Of fire and the cars. This is a tough spade side why. I dont want her. Going to last. To double the speed of the bullet train. Its amazing. How many. Pieces are. Up about. 2 seconds to get out this is. As amazing as the maglev is impressive and Innovative Technology but its a far cry from the adventure and sense of journey i felt travelling around japan by train and i wonder if investing in ultra high speed driverless trains linking megacities is really what japan as a whole needs as its Rural Railway lines a closing. We were on the this book train there the scroll news blog top of the bullet train entrance to the carriage started flashing the time of the station master cat in key she station in like a number turns out died. In the tower dont do this because you are not correct i know that. This is the nose on the northern sky on my. Wall so would i remind you on the yes yes see you all know that its good. It was on. Your own was not but it doesnt exist and up on the Google Stormin also again are you the can you with your. Secularist. In morocco unregistered and underage marriages have cause problems especially for women and children my ive been trying for years to get my daughter legally recognised by her father pressure from lobby groups has led to changes to the modelling of the family code giving women greater rights in marriage while keeping the family at heart but now the divorce rate has increased a lot mainly with our patients made by wives. Aljazeera world. Until now the coverage of latin america and most of the world was about covering khuda tods tragedies quakes and that was it but not how people feel how they look how they think and thats what we do we go anyway 5 and a half months of demanding a good Education System that was introduced. In latin america up to 0 has come to fill a void that needed to be filled. True confession smart or number between many a night or a cynical example of communist propaganda and now we need to put in the pay back your money to walk out and do it properly in 2010 aljazeera access to north korea to investigate the alleged use of biological warfare by the us during the korean war rewind revisits dirty Little Secrets on aljazeera. Hello im in london the headlines person has joined the u. S. In accusing iran of attacking 2 oil tankers in the gulf of oman the us released a video claiming its proof of iranian involvement and the u. K. Says its almost certain that a broad of the Iranian Military was behind the explosions but iran has denied the allegations and germany is saying the video is inconclusive the iranian president Hassan Rouhani said the u. S. Is pushing an aggressive stance that cannot be tolerated. As the government of the United States over the last 2 years is using economic and military capacity and is creating an aggressive approach the United States has stepped over all the norms and regulations of the International Community and has created new threats for the region and the world the World Health Organization has decided not to declare an International Public Health Emergency over the Ebola Outbreak in the democratic republic of congo nearly 1400 people have died there since august in the 2nd worst outbreak in history it comes amid concerns the virus may have spread to you ganda where 2 people died after visiting the d. R. C. And military spokesman for yemens hussein rebel group is warning civilians to stay away from airports in saudi arabia and the u. A. E. Rebels have already targeted saudi arabias airport near the border with yemen mohammed a height he says whos the operations on airports and military sites will continue as long as the war in yemen goes on a tear gas has been fired at protesters in malis capital bamako after demonstrations broke out near a military barracks as growing tension over the presence of g. 5 Security Forces who are currently in place across the country. The u. N. Security council has held a meeting on its peacekeeping force in darfur the un confirmed the killing of 17 people and the burning of more than 100 houses in the darfur region earlier this week and the u. K. Says the Un African Union mission in darfur must stay in the region. And the Hong Kong Government may be wavering in its support for a proposed law to allow extraditions to Mainland China an advisor to hong kongs easy to carry law says politicians should stop discussing the bill because of the level of opposition ill bring you more on all of those stories in the news hour thats coming up in about 25 minutes time do join me then i will be here but right now its time for the 2nd part of aljazeera correspondent on japans railway. The. The the. I said once that line from. Oh yes its like a fiend from. The the even to sound off the train all trace my toe to toe to toe this was always ready people to feel it was like music for me its like going in to see it to know its a continuous flow. Which moves itself. The. The the the the the really. Been a long time could skin so is a swiss monk who showed me the Holy Mountain of course son 10 years ago so how long is it from here to the temporal how you can speak about time in the paradise this is go good how could ya didnt you take the train we did not invent a. Cable car this is called. Bridge to the planet dies do you take the train a lot when you when you leave. Only take the train our mind self is like a train that everything passes it stops when you think oh it should not be days straight always should be that way we are traveling all this body and then reason your body and the next body we are always traveling what you can not but then you think in japan visit was too much focus on high speed and getting there 1st and find. Thats what you are saying theres nothing wrong nothing wrong with high speed trains you know for me not lets say. The technology its incredible i have to take the train i have to take the al plane and so on so why shall i not enjoy it when i use it. Which employs he from this one i guess one is good as your temple yeah day very nice people but not good as your temple surely what are you talking each temple is good each temple is bad but sometimes thats beyond value is all we were always in life were trying to make contrasts and comparisons but you should give it up this makes the suffering in the world that will not change immediately. I love my lesson more than 200 sounds and stuporous are here present they dont know exactly maybe 300000 small and weeks until. This kind to go. Its. Even the local railway has its own memorial here on the corner sun roof fusion of not sure of them and youll see even the manmade things are turns from thrilled in nature it has a sense of attorney is going on hes going on is going on. You know were going to return to the song we talked and i get oh not god. How i could get it to come by your good man thats pretty messed up at the moment the good im going to be on that she goes up so she got the. Devil into my. World city in the world. And yes i. Think i know i found myself ok yes heard. About it makes you think i know you dont wish dead i know tandoori. Can i stick a function or how does it feel like how does the exact thing that you have been best out of important question just think time thought it cant fucks you comito is a writer who explores the history of punctuality and the japanese railways can you paint a picture of how significant the impact of the railway has been for japanese society. Do you know short of the at the what that might be going on there mark not known but of great sound that. You know kind that theyre theyre already for you what they. Did at them for another book you give them and they all their food isnt like yeah can you calculate it with the bill i 2nd the next for you i know you go out its as though we know. What day from the high you made it through your doctor who didnt mean it i thought you know if you count on that that youve been a myth. Train. I mean i just think that i mean time i dont know. That i didnt only how much thought. I think im with im not saying that. I mean they are there. But the but but but but but but but. But when theyre very very very significant and you know. And. I know what. I did i have. A crucial element to this just in time culture is the timetable a monthly publication that includes every train line in the country one man who knows the challenge of creating this complex book is the timetable editor. Noncrime one claim one colonel. Simply as your other one of your. You got talking out of it i thought i saw you know this how does it feel to be the keeper of this time table widely considered to be the bible of the Railway System and for railway fans. To mass. There are. Not a single vehicle to one if you know how to kind i hung up this one. Can you tell us from your timetable when is the next sheen consent to come by. And i thought of course. Theyre. Going to send goes to the depo so its not in the timetable unfortunately. For them and you could just say. What do you want the court to have to call your part its. Ok to go. How does it feel to see a doctor yellowed. Initiative and. More lucky it isnt there. The way most of the other 2 out of the. C. R. Thing that i would do anything else. I should have got at home or. Medical to do tonight on us dr yellow a special bullet train that checks for problems on the track has taken on an almost mythical status in japan and shows how for some the love of the railways borders on obsession. So im waiting for super bells whos famous in japan for his ability to recreate railway sounds and hes a pop musician rapper in his own right and hes coming here to perform in a collaboration with mr mcconnell whos studio were in and theyre both big railway founders. Come of you know theres a lot of love thank you so much. Yeah during those i was one of. These on the whole. So you stumbled over it all but i want to do us modeled. So i got the latest single. So. I thought a little later. In the evening i meet up with super bells at the keyhole bar for a Live Performance of a train where they were trained by well you know train and youre all welcome inside this train like the 2nd and gourmet canned food which is a contradiction to what was going to go. Over this question if you know i thought my head. Turned to a good. Way for this book good to see my son my muskie are not a muscle you. Can see whos on the field and. I know its dont get by as much and put too much accounting looks. Like reading for the railfan the king have come in for a beer and maybe a bit of a. Bit of a scroll through the 2008 november timetable just to review old times oh yes ill come out in the car. When you know the whole hour and all special guests got the call i must say oh superbad is this is it you may not group it well thats not. New new new new juju news. Has. Moved on to. Well look you know. Who are. You. Sure. Its. Kimura also known as screen idol is a t. V. Personality who dresses like a Railway Conductor shes invited me to meet at a railway themed is one of the most bizarre moments like a crosssection of different cultures the japanese Entertainment Industry meets trains. There were going to see on the table this is going to be like. 5050. Of you want to. Go there with you whats your message is i dont think thats going to get the money or the coolant going to come where you know you are in the mine and then when i saw the latest it. Was. No. Tension no nor just you know its not a sound that does or how i might think. This is that a given i. Cannot walk into the school when i dont see how the who does it does it is. This so because again theyre fine even. More so. Its good that one of. The law does live in the me on the one of the good thought or the good ill say needs or something its declared in this is what. I know not disliking nor come amid this card who said oh yes so theres always old. Thinking of the it is so this is actually doing every trade everything i mention shes ready to. Have you on you know my mother because she their core also told us they are busy also tied up on this and then they got up also got this house get through to them it was on is it they want it the most theyre. There to do the one or several dozen. And while this is all about without beginning in number of local full height there was no car you know from the daiichi militant underscore right here on the kind i dont want to see the lot of little here but they could as i write i must go yes i know you can must. Fascination with the railway goes well beyond pop culture interest in trains also permeates modern japanese literature one of japans best known novelists a commie said one of his recent novels that shinjuku station in tokyo. Camorra gives guided tours of the platform for more economy fans i want to mention i got multiple. Associates and equate that according. To their dancing got their. Dancing wasnt that. They want to see why they went on they said what i think ya silly man finalist i devalue what i call thought their whole. Not gonna sound off on all sorts of the shit out of them they said that im looking to fill it up if and this i know that the locals are not going to see. On all time its going up and its not going to. Look i thought this just got them. All to come not that. Difficult to find out if i want to go to the cinema not go for the whole lot if they could get what id call the flag on the Front Companies and ill dance at the mall you know on the 9th floor theres a little bit of a pub you know. This is the 1st time were going north of tokyo one is often seen as somewhat of a back trip to paris much more rural a new territory. And some high rise buildings in tokyo many. Poets matsuo basho called this journey the narrow road to the deep north an area known for its beautiful but dangerous Natural Environment and a place still struggling to reconstruct following the 2011 earthquake and tsunami which wiped out communities towns and railway lines. Will summon shima moto was driving a local train on the Sanriku Railway the day the earth quake struck. The shaking our table but a high sustained im not. Saying. From this time. And this. Congress today because india. Got on the saying up from all this and that a lot of. That on a kind of want to hide. And this and not in the last day or 2 and i make a whole lot of anything to. Comment on any misleading. Tomato to me. And i did this it took exxon or you gentlemen to get it and get it. Into a notice youll have to let it go get some of the what you have said what i do for them got. High school to going to. Do something to whom we do need something. Going and together whether it is just the government yet if you got caught in this hollow has got to if you took one look. A lot of her friends were here as was the station of. This kind of. Comedy muscle and. My emotional. Tsunami of them and their. Parts of the sound recoup completely destroyed and rebuilding it was a crucial symbol of recovery for the region. Of oregon but theyre going to let us settle down. But despite all the reconstruction including massive and controversial seawalls many other rail lines have been left abandoned. Not that far down this way you hit the coastline and i remember writing about it being the most spectacular journey you could almost find anywhere in the country to be able to ride the rails within 2 meters of the waters edge japan ryo had said that it will reopen this line in 2018 minutes covered in we theres bits of track lying around. Its rusting away. Im not talking vince a baseline is something that anybody wants to invest money in reopening. I leave the north behind and head back to tokyo on my way to walk a yama to attend the funeral of thomas chan the stationmaster cat. In my car near the corner here im the leader. But dont feel or. Look at the crowds of people who have gathered in front of this train so you dont feel like you much you will notice that something im going to talk to you once you move was a manner that made me think that i was such a. Big mouth if Nothing Happened is gonna go near the ceiling and it. Would just remind me she station wuky emma and im smack in the behind of the people but they might be so many people in the stationary it is a fact. Several 1000 people including the National Media attend tammas funeral with messages sent from across japan. How much a is a symbol of peace and see if you still mind but can the working yama electric railway continue to flourish under a new cat station must it makes you know who could head of the railway is up to mystic at how much on the go i mean to go to new york then the whole dozen all possibly human there you go she said and youre done and. I just didnt know that but i said i want to sing that they you know and. If your story is a monday of your interference ok. Ok though. I dont know im open of that it would be easy to conclude that tema chance of death is somehow a metaphor for the state of the railway in japan today with so many lines struggling to survive and so much being invested in an ultra high speed future linking megacities 2 but leaving much of the rest of the country behind the truth is as ever more complex. Japan is a country where people a passionate about their railway and a fighting to preserve it for themselves and for future generations having experienced both the Rural Railway and high speed i hope that as japan makes decisions about its future the one will not be neglected for the other. Night on the Galactic Railroad is a well known short story by japanese author kenji me as. Its a lyrical metaphor for our journey through life. Joyous voices resound it throughout the train and from far off in the cold distance of space came the sound of a trumpet blowing. And then the glass flute blew and the train began moving and a silver mist obscured the scene so they could see no more. Hello there were still seeing some rather cool air over australia at the moment weve seen more more the from the after another gradually make their way across the southeast corner and theres still a few bits and pieces of cloud around theyll still be wars we had 3 saturday as well most of it overpowers of tasmania and thats why force is not as warm as it might be so hobart getting to around 11 degrees at best in force in melbourne will be getting to around 15 there is another little weather system here thats making its way eastward so that we bring a few outbreaks of rain perhaps on a lot of clout as we head through sunday towards the west also a good deal of cloud at times for some of us in Western Australia including what temperatures held back to around 16 degrees over towards new zealand and were seeing more weather work its way across the south island at the moment it looks like that will move push its way through pretty quickly though and it is easing as it does say so force on saturday and then quite a good deal of cloud for many places but a broad today is expected on sunday will be that warm though even in the sunshine christchurch only struggling to knowing degrees at best as we head further north positive path its looking pretty wet over the next few days and also rain with this for saturday and sunday a system just pushing its way northward wet and windy. On counting the cost india has lost its crown as the bass is growing bigger economy where it all goes wrong for movies so soon after his landslide election victory but no longer the worlds garbage can china disrupted the multibillion dollar global Waste Industry counting the costs on aljazeera. Its my privilege to name aljazeera english the broadcaster of the year the country as a fight each other that weve been told that week on the year these are the largest demonstrations its been held by directly g. s to over 700. 00 you hear some of the murders moving from the front. Were calling it a bit cryptic but that is. Aljazeera english proud recipient of the crystals broadcast of the lord of the soviet. East and the differences. And the similarities of cultures across the. Aljazeera. Land. In. This is. Hello im Maryam Namazie this is the news hour live from london coming up to iran rejects the u. S. Claim that iran attacked 2 oil tankers and accuses washington of sabotage diplomacy. The World Health Organization decides not to declare an International Emergency over the outbreak in the democratic republic of congo and in uganda. A military spokesman for the who sea rebel group in yemen want civilians to stay away from airports in saudi arabia and the u. A. E. And protests 24 Hour National strike over Pension Reforms in brazil will be live in sao paolo. In sport in months like a big step towards a semifinal spots of the cricket world cup a century from joe root brought in the 1st nations in aid which could win over the west indies. Welcome to the program our top story britain has joined the u. S. In accusing iran of attacking to oil tankers in the gulf of oman the United States released a grainy video to back up its claims but iran denies its to blame germany says the video is not conclusive Stephanie Deca has this report. What happened to the 2 tankers in the gulf of oman well it depends on who you ask. In iranian t. V. Video shows the norwegian own tanker all tear on fire. And u. S. Central command released this footage early on friday claiming it shows Iranian Revolutionary guards removing an unexploded limpet mine from the japanese cookoo cook courageous the time stamp according to the americans shows it happen. Off to the vessels crew had been rescued nothing is clear but the message from the Us Administration is iran was behind it it is the assessment of the United States government that the Islamic Republic of iran is responsible for the attacks that occurred in the gulf of amman today. This is sesame this based on intelligence the weapons used the level of expertise needed to execute the operation recent similar rate in attacks on shipping and the fact that no proxy Group Operating in the area has the resources and proficiency to act with such a high degree of sophistication. In tokyo the breakdown from the japanese who owned the kuka courageous seems to shed some doubt on the american version of events the Company Official shows where what he calls a shot hit the tanker in 2 areas the head of the company gave more detail the holes and more than were going to the crew is saying that it was hit by flying object theyre saying that something came flying to put a bomb on the side of the boat is something we are not considering iran has dismissed the u. S. Accusations that it was behind the alleged attacks calling the incidence especially as its foreign minister accusing the americans of trying to sabotage diplomacy as the incident happened when the japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abbott was into han on an official visit both tankers were hit early on thursday morning after posturing through the strait of hormuz all crew members were safely evacuated both tankers suffered damage around the waterline i mean the main thing to note is that theyre quite small warheads whatever they are so those are not enormous entry entry penetration mox they clearly havent. Had a huge amount of explosive behind them so it was something much. You would expect a lot more damage on the ship at the moment there are far more questions than answers but what is certain is that this is a provocative and Dangerous Development in an already tense geopolitical environment Stephanie Decker al jazeera. Well the iranian president Hassan Rouhani says that the u. S. Is pushing an aggressive stance that cannot be tolerated. Thats the the government of the United States over the last 2 years is using economic and military capacity and is creating an aggressive approach to the United States has stepped over all the norms and regulations of the International Community and has created new threats for the region and the world well in the past few hours the u. S. Defense secretary Patrick Shanahan has been speaking about the tanker explosions christianson and he joins us from washington now and has the trial the ministration given any indication of what the next move might be. Well certainly Patrick Shanahan did not back down from the administrations claim that iran is behind these attacks rather hes now saying that the administration is focused on Building International consensus towards their findings that something the United States was unable to do you may recall when it withdrew from the nuclear deal with iran even its closest allies decided to remain in that deal as did iran and the other signatories now the u. K. Were hearing is supporting the u. K. His claim and shanahan says that this is the focus of the entire administration they are committed to building support. Because you can tell we have here in the situation there in all this is not a u. S. Situation the focus. For myself and thats where well. Take a pump aoe is to build International Consensus to this International Problem as all the you are very aware of the department of our rules to set the conditions for diplomacy and what i would share with you and this is part of the conversation that we all have got transparency in getting intelligence so you see we had the big push in the last 24 hours to continue to get information out. And shanahan was also asked about sending more troops or military capabilities to the region he said that the focus now. Is definitely on consensus building he really deferred on the question but he said of course that they were always planning for contingencies the pentagons role at this time is primarily sharing this intelligence to build that consensus he pointed out that the strait of hormuz is responsible for 15 percent of the nations oil reserves are supplies come through that area how important it is for the International Community to align continues to be that the United States does not want conflict but its ready to defend its and interests thank you very much with the latest from washington kristen salumi joining us meanwhile the u. N. Secretary general has condemned the incident in the gulf of oman and says the truth about what happened must be established diplomatic editor james bays has more on this now from u. N. Headquarters in you neal. Addressing reporters alongside the arab League Secretary general arma double gate antonio good terrorists said remarkably that he had not seen this video released by the pentagon and broadcast around the world he said he believed there should be an independent investigation into the incident but the u. N. Is not the right to launch investigations only the Security Council can do it and. In relation to that obviously not the right person to answer your question he also said that high Level Mediation was needed but again his hands were tied obviously the the offices of the secretary general are always available but the office of the secretary general of the mandates on the bodies of the. U. N. Can only be exercised with the full agreement of the parties the secretary general seems to be placing limits on his own possible actions and they are limits that are not laid out in the United Nations governing document the un charter so why does mr terrorist appear to be so reluctant to get involved i asked his official Spokes Person can you tell me where in the charter of the limits on his good offices where are the limits in the charter to stop him setting up his own investigation i cant find any secretary general needs a legislative u. N. Legislative body to set up an investigation is he because it has that has been that has been the practice. For as long as ive been here what does he need to carve out a more powerful role and is he not in effect shirking his response no i dont think hes sure at a time of Global Crisis he should be leaving that i dont and hes finding excuses not to i dont think hes shirking his responsibilities at all the secretary general is clearly putting the ball in the court of the Security Council but there are already clear indications on this. Issue the council is deeply divided if mr good terrace is waiting for a unified Security Council to give him permission to get involved he may be waiting a very long time then again he probably already knows that james zira of the United Nations. Or paul salem is president of the middle east institute he joins me live now from washington and the United States has presented what could be described as circumstantial evidence but the conclusions are emphatic that iran was almost certainly behind these tanker attacks what does everything youve seen and heard so far suggest about the shape this conflict might take. Well regardless of who was actually behind this attack and i suppose we dont know for certain it is certainly the case that the u. S. And iran are in sort of the beginnings of a conflict the u. S. Imposed crippling sanctions on iran iran considers that effectively an act of Economic Warfare iran through its foreign minister and others has said quite clearly that they will not sit idly by while their economy is brought to its knees theyve said that they would exact pain for pain and that some of that might be pain inflicted on American Allies in the region such as saudi arabia and the u. A. E. Theyve also communicated that if iran is not allowed to export any of its oil iran is that in a position to prevent others in the region from exporting their their oil so the crisis exists regardless of this major event yesterday in the gulf there was also a very major escalation in saudi arabia on wednesday with a hoofy attack on a civilian airport so theres escalation beyond the issue of the tankers so were in a very very dangerous and delicate situation in the past iran has threatened to close that vital strategic waterway the strait in straits of hormuz this in response to punitive action thats been taken against it now would they actually do this. Well i think if it indeed is something that theyve done. That what they might be in the process of doing is raising the pressure and i think theyve intelligently surmised that President Trump is in a tight political situation he does not want a war with iran he doesnt want major escalation with iran he does not want any disruption to oil flows or any rise in oil prices hes at the beginning of a very difficult Election Campaign in the United States so simply by sort of rattling those sabers and shaking sort of the security of oil flows through the gulf that impacts has already impacted oil prices theyve certainly gotten President Trumps attention however as we saw with Prime Minister shinzo of his attempts to begin a mediation effort right now those efforts are not bearing fruit. Right in that case