Its 28 year history. Im sumi so much got to thank you for joining us u. S. President donald trump is expected to make a statement in about an hours time reacting to irans missile attack on u. S. Bases in iraq iran has claimed that it has killed more than 80 americans boss the pentagon said initial assessment assessments have indicated that there were no u. S. Casualties now the missiles reportedly hit the air base in western iraq and another near the city of air bill irans revolutionary guard says the attack was in retaliation for the u. S. Assassination of general customs on money in baghdad last week. Is all about the use of all her posts not on the model to the house they were raining in state television. Claiming at least of the 15 misdiagnose fired by Iranian Forces have hit the. Base in iraq killing 18 u. S. Soldiers the numbers cannot yet be verified and so far there have been no reports of casualties from the United States or other Coalition Forces wont run with. This promised active revenge was for the killing of top military commander general salim ani who the move has been widely welcomed across iran. Crowds chanting death to america as a run Supreme Leader ayatollah ali how monday tells them their message has been delivered in court oh youre. A slow force delivered last night but what is important is that the seditious presence of america. In the region should be and it fits. The countrys foreign minister has also spoken out. That said very clearly that if the United States takes any further action iran did respond accordingly and we would respond in a very harsh way but proportionately. U. S. President donald trump visited the Assad Air Base in iraq in december 28th seen his response so far into the strikes has been measured tweeting all is well assessment of casualties and damage is taking place now so far so good. Meanwhile Security Forces have been inspecting a site below the capital of iraq selfgoverning kodesh region where at least one Iranian Missile landed American Forces are also based in the area so all. Lets get the very latest on the story now we can speak to journalist reza on the line from tehran reza 1st of all weve heard vastly different accounts of what has taken place here Iranian State media saying that 80 americans have been killed in these strikes at u. S. And iraqi officials have said so far theyre assessing the situation but there have been no u. S. Casualties what do we actually know about whats happened well the casualty is reported or you know you do see the arubans 80 but even this may be ive heard this is not really you sitting on the judge will these on the number of casualties and it seems that it has diminished the. Casualties as far as we know i can somehow to warn the u. S. In order to avoid. Dilution business you would. Really. Sending a message to the u. S. That beacon if you can kill people budget dont this is one thing everyone is now realize because of the time reza at the same time weve seen the Supreme Leader saying that this is a slap in the face to the u. S. Even though as you said there are messages that iran is seeking to deescalate the situation so what what exactly is the message thats being sent here. Well you all want to say that the real revenge is to keep us out of this region and its not a military response that the leaders the president and the foreign minister also said that there will be no military response if the u. S. Oil responding to the last night attacks so we are going to have. Reports no chazal to the event by iran weve seen that. Tromped really was really called he reacted to the iranian attacks in a in the to you he said everythings fine and now we should wait to see the number of casualties the official number of casualties we are of course awaiting an official statement from the u. S. President to speak in about an hours time reza what about the iranian people how have they reacted to these missile attacks we saw those very emotional scenes of this huge outpouring of grief for general solomon in that funeral procession. Well of course there was great anger among the ring in society at the hands of the late general and all of them called for revenge but now they seem to be satisfied with the attack which was really on president. Irena defensemen to suspend their earlier today that the 1st attack on a u. S. Base since the 2nd world war so iran is both in bragging about its attack on a u. S. Military base the largest bomb in iraq that seems to be an enough response that even if there is no casualty all right journalist present has the speaking to us on the line there from tehran with the very latest thank you so much. Lets get some more analysis on this story now with the managing director of plan for risk thats a security and Risk ManagementConsulting Company based here in berlin not to thank you very much for joining us here i want to ask you 1st of all about this missile attack iran saying its fired more than a dozen missiles and what do we know about what was used here and what does that tell us well what iran has used the route revolutionary guard corps has been a range of shoulder range Ballistic Missiles so the attack on the u. S. Base in our bill for example has largely been seen the impact of 110. 00 missiles which is a missile that has a range of up to 300 kilometers roughly. Whereas the attack on the base which is more deep inside iraqi territory much further away actually from the Iranian Border has been seeing a different type of. Range missiles the ones that have a range of about 500 kilometers can actually reach targets within 500 kilometers could be zulfikar missiles could become one missiles those would be the types that are most likely being used against these targets and what about the targets themselves these bases how significant are they to u. S. Interests in the region well i mean the u. S. Has a number of bases across the region not just these 2 in iraq obviously the base in arbil on near abio actually is important for the operations in Northern Iraq of the u. S. Have special forces presence there also project military operations into syria from there but its a largely political value because as a target basically for the iranians right now it is to demonstrate that even there where the u. S. Might have to go back to when iraq basically asked the u. S. To do the country or reduce the footprint arbil would be the place where the where the troops would be regrouped and the other baby. Bays is deep in the middle of the iraqi desert more of us east of west of ramadi actually and its an important logistical hub and this is also where a lot of the operations by the u. S. Forces also against the Shiite Militias of course support and sides are being coordinated but these are not not the most important bases in the region ok so lets put those 2 pieces together that the type of missiles used here and also the targets chosen theres been a lot of speculation about the message that iran is trying to send with this strike what do you think that is well i think what is clear right now is that iran has chosen so isnt a response that emphasizes message over damage that has i think pretty clear could have been much worse some of the damage that has been caused is more or less random in the end because the of targeted accuracy cannot always be guaranteed so there could have been an accidental hit on for example a valuable targets that iran maybe has not intended but overall the impression is that iran has more or less replied an amount of that it can sell domestically and on the other hand has caused a great deal of suffering of damage and of course of loss of life so this this opens up right now a potential deescalation within this short term dynamic longer term we dont know but it all depends of course on what u. S. President from says in a few minutes ok message over damage but we do know the Supreme Leader has said very clearly the intent is to get u. S. Troops out of iraq out of the region u. S. Influence out of the region how likely do you think that is well its unclear that certainly the iranians for t. V. Content and has always been over the last years and this is what iran or the roof of the gods have been working for definitely thats part of the of the Foreign Policy that iran has been using so this will go on all the iranian efforts to to. The u. S. To make life harder for them to make prisons harder for them will continue despite these kind of attacks but its probably on a different level and with other means all right malta or should be managing director of plan for risk thats a security and Risk Management company here in berlin thank you for joining us thank you lets go on to our other big story of the day more than 170 people have died after a ukrainian passenger jet crashed in iran it is not immediately clear what caused the plane to come down the Ukraine International airlines jet was on its way from irans capital tehran to kiev ukraines president vladimir sense he has broken off a foreign visit to return to kiev because of the crash and the president says ukraine will be sending a search and rescue team to iran tonight. A field of burning debris lights up the night sky near the iranian capital the apparent remnants of the Ukraine InternationalAirlines Flight that crashed shortly after takeoff from tehran throughout all the iranian t. V. Stations were the 1st to broadcast images of the crash including this mobile phone video which appears to show the plane going down. But its daybreak that reveals the extent of the destruction and the human toll the plane was carrying 176. 00 passengers and crew from several Different Countries mainly from iran and canada it was not the last year that i could have that watch nobody survived all the passengers are dead now that we have. At the International Airport in kiev the arrivals board list the flight that never arrived. People are destroyed. This man thinks his son was on the plane with the other 2 yes both of which will be my son is a senior Flight Attendant at. The iranian and ukrainian officials have both blamed mechanical problems for the crash but the airline says its still trying to determine the coals. A statement by Ukraine International airlines said the plane was one of the best in its fleet and that the aircraft had passed a safety check just 2 days earlier. As a rainy and small one another tragedy ukraines president and others have warned against speculating about a potential link to the current flare up in iran u. S. Tensions but Current Events of very much on peoples minds are one of the key i was watching the news of the readings hitting us bases with missiles after 10 minutes i heard a must have explosion and all the hoses started to shake there was fire everywhere at 1st i thought. The americans have fired missiles and i went into the basement to take shelter so i did at times any final of them. A few hours after the crash the Ukrainian Embassy in iran released a statement saying the crash wasnt a result of terrorism. That statement was later redacted. As investigators searched and says a number of airlines have suspended flights in iranian aspects. And on the ground and the agency work is getting on with the grim task of recovering the dead. And for more on this story we can speak to Steven Wright an aviation expert hes a professor of the Aircraft Systems at Temple University in the same length as stephen given the information that we have so far what do you think caused this plane to come down where the moment were not sure. Well thats a. Form of it or. When things like this happen. Pushouts i posted it. And we are trying to understand. And maybe because im really not sure. Something untoward. Croft dont know. Particularly dont find out that the other part so the reaction maybe was a. Nature. Perhaps being a little bit like suggesting that it was a maintenance or a something 1000 and like to. The video if they came from which is. Going to last moment ok i think. We have seen that and then we see it crash ok not great. Actually you would it. Ok were going to cross that you was on stephen were going to have to leave it there in force and were having a little bit of trouble with the with the line there Stephen Wright aviation expert speaking to us thank you very much now to some other stories making headlines around the world russian president Vladimir Putin has met his turkish counterpart reza taper to one to inaugurate a new natural gas pipeline another pipeline opens up a new export route for a russian gas to turkey and to europe the 2 leaders are also expected to discuss middle east tensions the former chairman of Nissan Carlos gone has made an explosive 1st public appearance since fleeing japan where he was awaiting trial on corruption charges in beirut she said the allegations of financial misconduct against him were untrue and his treatment was a travesty against his human rights. And an earthquake has rattled irans only Nuclear Power plants the 4. 9 magnitude tremor struck early wednesday close to the city of port as john it could be felt some 65 kilometers away at the bush air nuclear site. Lets go now at the top story that were following for you iran has launched missile attacks on 2 u. S. Bases in iraq in retaliation for the assassination of a top general last week president thomas tweeted that all is well but iran claims that 80 americans have been killed President Trump is expected to make a statement about the attacks soon. Well lets take a closer look at the impact on the region shia muslims are in the majority in iraq just as they are in their powerful neighbor iran but iraqis have had to straddle a fence because of u. S. Influence and military presence in their country the assassination of general custom selling money has now changed the dynamic in the region and u. S. Influence in iraq could be the collateral damage. When a u. S. Drone strike killed tehrans top military mastermind it didnt happen on iranian soil but in iraq the country was a target for general cassim so the money and iran in their master plan for the region which extends power using proxies. Like the Shiite Militia that attacked the u. S. Embassy many of these militant groups came to prominence during the fight against socalled Islamic State shiite iraqis trained in iran who were central to defeating is. And many of them took their orders from sort of money. Iraqi lawmakers call out no to america irans influence pervades iraqs Political Class too in the 2018 elections 45. 00 former Shiite Militiamen won seats in parliament that election also made a deal abdul mahdi Prime Minister he was long a member of a shiite party based in iran abdul mahdi resigned after mass and to government protests at the end of 2019 he remains acting Prime Minister but with the government on the verge of collapse protesters have been calling for a new political order one without corruption and sectarianism and without u. S. And iranian interference and merican soldiers ready to deploy to the middle east the position of the us in iraq has been shifting over the past decade in 2011 former u. S. President barack obama pulled u. S. Troops out of the country declaring that the war in iraq was over 3 years later they were back to fight i. A. S. This time on the invitation of the Iraqi Government but now iraqs shiite Majority Parliament wants u. S. Troops out washington says thats not happening iraqis know that if the americans leave socalled Islamic State could take advantage of the resulting power vacuum and resurge and thats a situation no one wants. For more on the story we have middle east analyst nothings name from the north council with us thats a research and Consulting Network focused on the arab world hes with us here in studio thank you very much for joining us and weve been talking a lot about what iran exactly meant to do with these missile strikes and we saw the Iranian Foreign minister javad zarif say this is concluded a proportional response wasnt that was an escalation it was a retaliation how do you see it i think thats what it was it was a reaction actually action which which could be could be described as reaction with the with with less colors or damage and then the whole situation that mean u. S. Attack to general money and now was. Made to action to the to this action. Here at this point to to to to state that both sides i think they they they dont have interest in escalation of the situation and they dont have interest in direct war between them and this is message from iran now in this way. I think emphasize this point thats the iran doesnt have interest in wars collation the situation and you strike us and restrike you and thats it so you think this is this is the message and this is a mess you think all sides really dont have an interest in escalating the situation 6 where do things go from here because this is already in itself a fairly serious escalation. Yes but we should also in for size thats the. Attack on sulaiman you from side theres a was not on that young and too little it wasnt the erectors its when this attack who would have been on the on the right there is really the