This is bbc news welcome if youre watching here in the uk, on pbs in america or around the globe. Im simon pusey. Our top stories President Trump defends the killing of irans top military commander in an airstrike. The us says general Qasem Soleimani was actively plotting an attack and their decision saved hundreds of american lives. We took action last night to stop a war. We did not take action to start a war. As iran vows revenge, tens of thousands of iranians take to the streets in protest. In other news safe at last relief as the Australian Navy rescues 1000 people whod been trapped on the coast by bushfires. Iran has vowed severe revenge against the United States after the killing of Iranian Military commander Qasem Soleimani. He was blown up outside Baghdad Airport in the early hours of friday morning, on the orders of President Trump. Us Officials Say the general had been plotting to kill americans in the region. Iranian leaders have called the killing an act of International Terrorism. The pentagon is sending an extra three and a half thousand troops to the region. Heres our middle east editorjeremy bowen. This was the moment that the us assassinated Qasem Soleimani and pushed the middle east into a new year and new decade of uncertainty and more danger. The pictures came from a tv station controlled by iran. The attack, from a missile fired from a drone, hit his motorcade as he was being driven out of Baghdad Airport. The us and iran were already
fighting a war in the shadows. Neither side wants uncontrolled escalation, but the chances of miscalculation and a lurch into a bigger war have increased. Qasem soleimani was no ordinary foe. For a generation, he was probably americas most capable enemy. His death delivers a blow to the heart of the iranian regime. For many years, soleimani built up irans power outside its borders and made it, and himself, a major player in iraq, syria and lebanon. He was a talisman for iranian hardliners who have been rocked to their core. Theyll want to get even perhaps more than that. Last sunday, american air strikes killed 25 members of kataib hezbollah, an Iraqi Militia armed and trained by soleimanis quds organisation, after an American Contractor was killed in a militia attack. The militiamen, undoubtedly on soleimanis orders, marched on the us embassy in baghdad and attacked its perimeter. The militias he created were a vital part of the fight against thejihadists of Islamic State but they are also one way that iran projects power abroad. The huge american compound is a fortress and it wasnt breached but the attacks goaded and threatened the Trump Administration. The americans are rushing in reinforcements to the middle east 3,750 so far. Us civilians told by their government to get out as soon as they can. But trump wanted to press home an american advantage. His reign of terror is over. Soleimani has been perpetrating acts of terror to destabilise
the middle east for the last 20 years. What the United States did yesterday should have been done long ago. We took action last night to stop a war. We did not take action to start a war. In baghdad, some iraqis celebrated the killing. For weeks, Anti Government demonstrators have been demanding an end to iranian influence in iraq. In tehran, ayatollah ali khamenei, irans Supreme Leader, visited Qasem Soleimanis widow. He said severe revenge awaits the criminals. Iranian hardliners are devastated. The spokesman for soleimanis Republican Guard corps was highly emotional in a tv interview. So were regime supporters on the streets. Qasem soleimani was their hero at a time when they see themselves surrounded by enemies. Iran was already under severe pressure from us sanctions. President trump might be gambling that he has so weakened iran that it will rage but not hurt the us badly. That assumption could be dangerous and wrong. Jeremy bowen, bbc news. Irans foreign minister has condemned the killing of qasem solemaini. Speaking to a persian tv channel, Mohammad Zarif said his country will respond to the attack. Translation iran has the right to retaliate in whatever way it wants to, and whenever it feels it is the right time. We will not be blackmailed by the americans. We will act whenever and however our leadership wants. So iran is vowing to avenge
general soleimanis death what kind of retaliation could there be . Heres our chief International Correspondent lyse doucet. Iran has many ways and many means to strike back and judging by its past military operations, its response will be carefully calibrated. It will want to be seen to reply in equal measure to what it has described as a declaration of war but it wants to avoid a direct military confrontation with the United States, which it knows could push this region into an ever more unpredictable and deadly escalation. So its next move could possibly, through some of its many proxies across this region, possibly in iraq, whether us forces, us targets, where i am now in afghanistan where us forces are also based. But given that irans vast intelligence network, it could also take place in another part of the world, far from irans borders, but iran will want to have an operation that shocks and surprises at a time of its own choosing but stopped short of an all out war. But the repercussions of this major turning point other question of days, weeks, or even months. This will play out across this region for many years. 0ur north america correspondent, david willis, told me more about the reaction in washington. President trump makes the point that the american operation that killed Qasem Soleimani will save american lives while his detractors contend the exact opposite. Mr trump also making the point today that Qasem Soleimani was planning a big offensive against military personnel or diplomats in the middle east, therefore making the point that by killing him, the us was taking defensive measures. The United States though has failed to back that claim, the claim that soleimani
was plotting a new offensive with any sort of intelligence information however thus far, despite calls from congress for it to do so and some misgivings among certain elements of congress that they were not briefed in advance of this attack on Qasem Soleimani. Yeah, 3,000 further trips being sent by the United States to the area, that is not going to stabilise tensions, is it . I guess they are there to defend us interests and allies, and it is not an offensive move, that . Exactly, and of course we have a president here who was elected on a promise, lets not forget, to withdraw american troops from the region and end american involvement in wars overseas. Here we have more troops going in, the pentagon talking of 3000 plus as a result of the increased tensions following this attack, and of course there are about 5000 american troops still in iraq, who are perhaps potential
targets, now, should there be any sort of response, any reprisals, from the iranians. So i dont know whats going to happen now as far as that is concerned but certainly there is a lot of concern on the part of democrats in congress, that this could prove to be a reckless move on the part of the Trump Administration, simon. You mentioned the democrats there. I guess the reaction to this in america has been somewhat along party lines. Has it been that simple . Democrats against and republicans for . Very much so. We have seen democrats condemn this attack as reckless, warning of dire consequences. Joe biden, who was in the rest of his partys president ial nomination
said that the action against Qasem Soleimani has tossed a stick of dynamite into a tinderbox, there has been similar reactions from Bernie Sanders and eliza bath warren, and calls, of course, for the white house to articulate its overall strategy as far as iran is concerned, where does the white house go from here and what does it do, if indeed, iran does decide to retaliate. David willis in los angeles. Dr assal rad is a researcher and expert on us iran issues. She joins me now from orange county, california. Given orange county, california. You have studied this to thoroughly, given you have studied this topic so thoroughly, the relations between the countries, did yesterdays news shock you of this strike . It was shocking, because it was really a turning point in the relationships, there has been enmity between the two sides for the past four years
but this kind of direct strike that would target such a high official from iran, we have not had that in the last four years, we have not had anything. So this really sets a different precedent and i think it changes the game of the relationship now. It is especially important when you look at the direction that the relationship was going in four or five years ago with the nuclear agreement, and just how far we have fallen from that moment. Donald trump says he does not war, it is ha rd to trump says he does not war, it is hard to claim though that the strike against soleimani was defensive without giving any evidence of an imminent attack, and no evidence has since come out. Of course, the state department was present as question by journalists today and department was present as question byjournalists today and they evaded those questions and did not really answer. I dont have anything concrete to say there was a concrete threat, and decide from there being an inherent threat, it is a violation of International Law. It sets a dangerous precedent if we are
committing extrajudicial assassinations in other countries, other countries officials. President trumps issue with his Foreign Policy in general, especially his iran policy is that it has been incoherent from day one, he as he does not want war but his policies let us know about war, which we have now seen. Leading into an election yet now we are in an election year, it seems like he is hedging between getting a deal, or getting a war and hoping that both sides of that would help him in the election. Having said all that, hundreds of people we re said all that, hundreds of people were out on the streets of baghdad celebrating, not everyone has been critical of the strike in the area. Of course there is resentment in iraq for the United States and there is resentment in iroquois iran. It is resentment in iroquois iran. It isa is resentment in iroquois iran. It is a sovereign state, its sovereignty should be respected, and there is a complex situation in iraq like there is anyone else in the world. There are parties that will align with iran and against iran. There is an overall iraqi nationalism that wants freedom from all over these implants, which was what we saw with iraqis attacking the us embassy just what we saw with iraqis attacking the us embassyjust days ago. We will have to wait and see how the iranians do react, thank you for joining us. And within the past few hours Iraqi Television says theres been another air strike, this time targetting a convoy of vehicles belonging to an iranian backed militia. It happened on the taji road north of baghdad. A Para Military group, known as iraqs Popular Mobilisation forces reportedly claimed that an air strike hit a convoy of medics. Stay with us on bbc news still to come a long and difficult day ahead to burn out of control in australia. The japanese people are in mourning
following the death of emperor hirohito. Thousands converged on the imperial palace to pay their respects when it was announced he was dead. Good grief after half a century of delighting fans around the world, Charlie Brown and the rest of the gang are calling it quits. The singer paul simon starts his tour of south Africa Tomorrow in spite of protests and violence from some black activist groups. They Say International artists should continue to boycott south africa until majority rule is established. Teams were trying to scoop up lumps of oil, as france recognises it faces an ecological crisis. Three weeks ago, the authorities confidently assured these areas that oil from the broken tanker erika would head out to sea. It didnt. The worlds tallest skyscraper opens later today. The burj dubai has easily overtaken its nearest rivals. This is bbc world news. The latest headlines President Trump defends the killing of irans top military commander Qasem Soleimani, insisting that washington is not looking for regime change. Irans Supreme Leader has vowed severe revenge on those responsible for the death of the iranian general. Lieutenant general David Deptula was formerly deputy chief of staff for intelligence with the us air force. Hes now dean of the Mitchell Institute for aerospace studies, a think tank. He defended the decision to assassinate general soleimani. The strike was a measured and appropriate response after 18 months of restraint by the Trump Administration to a series of aggressive actions in violation of International Law by iran. I think you and your audience
are well familiar with iran seizing oil tankers, attacking other oil tankers, downing an unarmed us drone in international airspace, and then attacking saudi arabias oil infrastructure. President trump set a red line that red line being injury or loss of us lives he warned iran not to cross it, they did, and he responded accordingly to defend american personnel and interests. Now, you know, you just previously talked a bit about strategy, and i would tell you that the action is part of a longer term strategy to constrain irans malign activity, rollback irans influence in iraq, and ultimately deter further iranian aggression. David, you have been involved very closely in operations similar to the one we saw about 2k hours ago. From your experience, just how long will the us have been tracking soleimani and why do you think they struck when they did . Well, once again, the intelligence is a key element of the timing of the attack, as well as the fact that it has been articulated by both secretary pompeo as well as the president in the context of immediate threats to us personnel and interest in the region. So i think what you saw is the combination of extremely and extraordinarily accurate intelligence information in a very timely way to eliminate the cause of those threats and that was soleimani and that attack turned out to be very precisely executed. Precisely executed and obviously a big step to take in terms of us policy and Donald Trumps us policy. How do you think the killing of Qasem Soleimani will now affect us policy in the area now . Well, it depends on if iran wants to become and treated as a viable nation state, then they need to start acting like one, not as a terrorist state. So it depends on exactly what the iranians are going to do. Now, you earlier asked about the us response and i talked about the number of troops that have been deployed, those are going over there for defensive purposes, but i would also suggest that we have got to stop equating strategy with a number of us boots on the ground. Large numbers of troops in the region simply plays into irans hands. The best way to deter iran now is to supplement the large number of us airforces in the region by forward deploying six or seven fully armed and loaded stealth
b2s to diego garcia, and the mullahs will get the message. Other news now. The australian Prime MinisterScott Morrison has confirmed that 23 people have died in the bushfire crisis since september. Among the latest victims are two people who were killed on kangaroo island, off the coast of south australia, where an emergency warning has been issued. This fire tornado was filmed on the island and is feared that bushfires could consume the entire national park. Meanwhile, more than 1,000 people have been safely evacuated by navy ships from the town of mallacoota. Mr morrison says the country is entering a critical few days and has announced greater military support will be provided to help firefighters across the country. There are now scores of fires burning across New South Wales and victoria. 0ur correspondent Shaimaa Khalil reports now from sussex inlet, just over 100 miles south of sydney. For the first time in days, nearly 1,000 tourists and residents can breathe a little more easily as theyre finally moved to safety. The navy has stepped in to rescue those who were stranded on the beach in mallacoota when they were encircled by an uncontrollable fire on monday. A state of disaster has been declared in eastern victoria ahead of tomorrows extreme conditions. Up to 100,000 residents are being told to evacuate. If you can leave, you must leave. That is the only safe thing for you, yourfamily, and, indeed, for others who may be called to your assistance. We cannot guarantee your safety. In New South Wales, the message is the same. Fire authorities have said that saturdays blazes could be as bad as, if not worse, than those of new years eve. In the coastal town of batemans bay, firefighters are racing to protect those who have decided to stay. Despite the warnings, geoff and pamela zorbas decided they are not leaving their small town of sussex inlet. Hopefully, its not going to be as bad as theyre predicting,
but weve got the hoses ready and welljust hose the house down if the embers come. And if the fires do hit hard, weve got a boat here. Were going tojump in the boat and were going to get out to sea. Illjust take the family and the dogs, and away we go. Jay martin is also staying put to defend his house and help friends and neighbours. He tells me the anticipation of disaster is what worries him. Waiting thats the hardest part. Weve been at it for two weeks and its just waiting. And theres people doing it a lot tougher than me. Ive just been waiting and helping out, just getting through tomorrow and hope it all passes and we get a bit of rain on monday. A blaze has just started in the bush in this area, just beyond that treeline. Firefighters are watching closely here. Their concern is that with the wind picking up, this could travel very fast and get here. Theyve been patrolling the area, making sure that properties are protected thats really the main aim. Politically, this has been a rough ride for the Prime Minister, whos been regularly criticised for how he has handled the bushfire crisis. And its notjust the residents who have made their feelings clear. I dont really want to shake your hand. Scott morrison said he understood the anger but was focusing on the task in hand. 0ur concerns are obviously now looking out over the next sort of 24 hour, 48 hour period. This is a ferocious fire that is still out there and the climatic conditions are going to be very difficult to contain that in the next 2a to 48 hours. That is why the evacuation messages are so incredibly important. There is a real sense of dread here about what will happen in these coming hours. At a time when many had planned family holidays, australians now wait for yet another firestorm to blaze through. Shaimaa khalil, bbc news, on the Southern Coast of New South Wales. Lets get some of the days other news. Indonesian authorities are turning to the technique of cloud seeding to try to stop more rain falling in the flood hit capitaljakarta. Planes have been sent to inject chemicals into clouds in an effort to alter the storms that have left large areas underwater. At least 43 people are known to have died, with some 192,000 evacuated from their homes. French police have shot dead a knifeman who killed one person and injured at least two others in a suburb south of paris. Police said the man attacked several people in a park in the town of villejuif, which is five miles from central paris. He then fled the scene which was near a supermarket, before police said the knifeman was neutralised. A former Mexican Security minister, Genaro Garcia luna, has pleaded not guilty in a new york court to accusations of taking bribes to allow the Sinaloa Cartel to ship drugs into the United States. He was arrested in texas in december after a former Cartel Member testified that he had twice met him to hand over suitcases holding at least 6 million. Several people have been injured
after a bull ran wild at a new years festival in peru. It happened in the city of huancavelica. Bullfighting and running with bulls are popular in the country but Animal Rights groups say they are cruel and inhumane. The bbcs tim allman has more. Even by the standards of this festival, this scene is pretty chaotic. Screaming the bull is let loose in an open field and is allowed to pretty much run wild. Screaming this, the almost inevitable result people thrown around like rag dolls. Screaming others are gored, lucky that only their clothes had been torn. It is all part of a four day religious festival held to celebrate new year. Locals call it a much loved tradition. Critics insist it is cruel and the animals are clearly distressed. 0ften following an event like this, the bulls are taken away to face a matador, and almost certainly an untimely demise. This, a controversial and, some say, upsetting end. A raging bull that rages no more. Tim allman, bbc news. Before we go, lets take a look at a new photograph just sent out by buckingham palace. This is only the second ever official portrait of the queen alongside the next three heirs to the throne the prince of wales, the duke of cambridge and prince george. Its been released to mark the start of a new decade and was taken in the week before christmas in the throne room at buckingham palace. That is just about all we have time forfor that is just about all we have time for for now. Do stay tuned right here on bbc news. You can reach me on twitter im sipusey. Thank you for watching. Do stay tuned. Hello there. Despite some Early Morning rain on friday in the south east and Gale Force Gusts of winds in the northern isles, for many, it was a better day. More sunshine around than weve seen so far this year. And we can see this from the weather watch picture sent in from cambridgeshire. A beautiful afternoon with not a cloud in the sky. So lets take a look at fridays weather in a little more detailfirst. There was the Early Morning cloud that eased away. Clear skies behind and just some shower clouds from those strengthening winds into the far north. But with those clear skies continuing overnight, it means a chilly start to our saturday morning low single figures in the south east, a touch of light frost in sheltered rural parts as well. But saturday is shaping up to be a reasonable day. As High Pressure builds from the south, across the top of the high, we have those weak
weather fronts and always a bit more of a breeze with the isobars squeezing together here. But generally speaking, it is not looking like a bad weekend at all. So, sheltered eastern areas perhaps seeing the best of the brightness. Some sunshine across eastern scotland and england. The cloud thick enough out to the west for a spot or two of drizzle. And into the far north west with that weather front never too far away, maybe some more persistent showery rain and strengthening winds here. Temperatures at around 8 10 degrees that is down from what weve seen of late but still not too bad, really, for this time of year. As we move out of saturday into sunday, the High Pressure starting to drift off into the near continent. Again, these weather fronts creeping in across the top of the high and again, those isobars still a feature. So the winds will strengthen and start to swing around to more of a south westerly direction on sunday. So again, always the risk of more cloud along west facing coasts, thick enough for some drizzle, more persistent rain in the far north west but again, sheltered south and eastern areas seeing some sunshine
and temperatures at around 9 12 degrees as a high. But as we move out of sunday into the start of the new working week, we have to look high up into the atmosphere yes, the jet stream. Looks as though its going to turn into quite a powerfuljet, and that is going to be responsible for driving areas of low pressure across the uk. So it does look as though we are set for an unsettled spell of weather at the start of our new working week. Not one weather front to sweep through, only to be replaced by another. And it does look as though its going to be wet and increasingly windy with plenty of isobars on the chart. So potentially on tuesday, quite a stormy spell with gales likely, and some of that rain quite heavy. Enjoy the weekend if you can. This is bbc news. The headlines President Trump says the us killed irans top military commander,
qassem soleimani, to stop a war, not to start one. In a televised address, mr trump said the us had killed the number one terrorist in the world. He said soleimani had been plotting imminent attacks. The iranian government said it would retaliate against what it called an act of International Terrorism by the United States at a time and place of its choosing. Many World Leaders have said the killing of general soleimani could lead to serious consequences for regional and global security. The New South Wales fire commissioner has warned saturday will be a long and difficult day for everybody as bushfires continue to burn out of control. Theres been a similar warning from the fire chief in victoria, as australia faces possibly its worst day yet in a summer of wildfires. Two more labour mps have announced they are joining the contest to become the next
leader of their party