Hello youre watching R T International i am or is on a lot court thank you for joining us and we start with this breaking news a ukrainian aircraft with 180 passengers on board has reportedly crashed shortly after takeoff from Khomeini International airport interferon those reports coming from Iranian State media but have not been officially confirmed yet Ukraine InternationalAirlines Flight 752 was heading to kiev its a boeing 737 plane and reportedly went down due to technical reasons according to that same report so far we have no information on possible casualties but well of course keep you updated when we get further information and in separate developments in iran the Iranian Military has fired dozens of Ballistic Missiles at bases housing u. S. Forces in iraq. Iran is calling it a revenge operation for the death of Major General kasim saw in money the missile strikes happened at exactly the same time of night as the assassination of sana money 5 days earlier and the secretary of irans supremum National Security council tweeted this image of the iranian flag and thats an apparent reference to trumps tweet of the u. S. Flag just after the drone strike that killed syrian money earlier i talked to our teams paula slayer in tel aviv and caleb morgan in new york about the Iranian Missile strikes and the situation now unfolding in the middle east. Paula lets come to you 1st could you talk us through whats been happening and how is this all being viewed in israel where you currently are all theres been 2 waves of air strikes targeting 2 major iraqi bases where american troops are concentrated one of the bases is just outside baghdad the capital of iraq and the other one is in the north of the country in a deal the question that still needs to be answered is whether or not there were any injuries on those bases and initial reports suggest yes although weve just heard from an american official say that there are very few casualties if any the question of course is whether the casualties are on the iraqi side or the americans it seems as if its on the iraqi side but of course were still waiting to receive confirmation of that now as i mentioned more than a dozen Ballistic Missiles were fired in iraq and the radio revolutionary guards were very quick to take responsibility for this saying it was in revenge to the friday morning assassination by the United States of the ukrainian general the money were starting to hear reaction now weve received a tweet by the Iranian Communications minister in which he says date the hell out of my country at the same time we rein in the foreign minister zarif has said that iran does not want war with the United States. Iran to get concluded proportionate measures in selfdefense under article 51. 00 of you and charter targets in base from which coldly attack against our citizens and senior officials were launched we do not seek escalation or war but will defend ourselves against any aggression now reigning revolutionary guards have issued a statement in which they say it is time to full their promise they are calling this operation revenge a martyr women and theyve acknowledged that tens of missiles have been fired they calling the United States the great satan and in the same statement they say that should the United States respond or should any of its allies in the middle east respond it will immediately take the action. We warned the great satan our Good American regime that any further maoist mobilization will result in a more painful response. Of the u. S. Government which have given their bases to the terrorist army of the country are warned that any territory used for hostile acts against iran will be targeted now thats great about israel not being separated from the United States or something of course the israelis are taking very seriously since last friday the israeli army has been in a state of high alert on the countrys northern and southern borders nar there is an intercept pace and that iran could activate its proxies and thus in gaza and hizbollah and lebanon and in fact weve actually heard. From from iran that should israel responded in kind it will activate hizbullah with some kind of retaliate reaction we havent had any official comment from the israeli Prime MinisterBenjamin Netanyahu hes no doubt meeting with his defense minister and top Security Officials and we are expecting to hear some kind of response at least an official statement be made in the coming hours paula thanks for that context in tel aviv clearly a bone to come to you know in new york because so far the u. S. Response has been you could say somewhat muted were actually expecting an address from president on the trip to after there were reports that he might could you tell us whats been said so far in Washington Well we have a tweet from donald trump it begins with the phrase all is well followed by a statement that there is an assessment going on of the casualties and the damage done to u. S. Bases as a result of the attack by the Iranian Missiles furthermore we do have the white house saying that trump has been briefed on the situation and it will this point its expected that will speak to the media regarding the events tomorrow this is what we heard from the white house we are aware of the reports of attacks on u. S. Facilities in the rock the president has been briefed and is monitoring the situation closely and consulting with his National Security team now the response from members of the u. S. Congress has been quite different depending on which party they are in. Then we have nancy pelosi the leader of the democrats in the house of representatives speaking about the events and saying that trumps unnecessary escalation seems to have something to do with these events that we have marco rubio a republican and a conservative speaking in support of donald trump and criticizing the anti palosi for her criticisms of the president and the moment in which these missiles have been fired this is the exchange we saw on social media closely monitoring the situation phone bombing star getting u. S. Troops in iraq we must ensure the safety of our Service Members including and needless provocations from the administration and demanding that iran sees its violence American World cannot afford war iran is now openly calling for americans to turn on each other the time will come to debase u. S. Policy tonights american and allied troops have come into direct attack by nation state and americans must come together to support and protect them and respond appropriately may god protect and watch over our troops stationed in iraq my thoughts are with them and with their loft once i condemn irans attacks which targets u. S. Coalition and Iraqi Military personnel in the strongest terms im monitoring the situation in iraq closely and praying for our men and women in uniform the Iranian Regime has made a great miscalculation by launching his attacks. Among Trump Supporters the decision to kill qassam solomonic is being celebrated as a heroic act an act against terrorism however among Many Democrats though they have not much good to say about qassam solid money they seem to however argue that this was an unnecessary ask elation that put american lives at risk so many democratic voices seem to be speaking up and saying that donald trump could possibly be asked to a war with iran and didnt consult the u. S. Congress on that matter so there seems to be some pretty solid divisions about how to assess the recent events between the usa and iran at this time people are waiting to hear what trump will say when he does speak to the media as the new day comes in the United States. But meanwhile people have gathered for the state funeral of Major General kasim silly money its happening in his hometown of he was assassinated in a u. S. U. S. Drone strike in baghdad on january 3rd not strike was awarded by President Donald Trump and has been condemned by iran as an act of war and a terrorist attack for 2 decades sunni money so the commander of irans could which is the external wing of the Islamic Revolutionary guard he played a crucial role in the wrongs a military Decision Making process and helped expand irans role in the middle east he was also a leading figure in the fight against Islamic State terrorists. Earlier president backed down on a threat to destroy irans cultural sites the u. S. Leader calls global along with a series of tweets on sunday in which he said key iranian land could be targeted if the country were to seek revenge for the assassination of Major General sunni money bought on tuesday trump said washington would a Bay International level. We are according to various laws supposed to be very careful with their Cultural Heritage and you know if thats what the law is i like your bay the law well earlier on choose state the Iranian Parliament unanimously passed a bill designated designating the u. S. Armed forces as a terrorist organization. For those who ordered this is well as the perpetrators of this crime the killing of general kassim son the money with the pentagon and their military accounted as terrorists. Well for a bit more context and analysis of this we can now bring in political analyst and a sound or a bruna sandra thanks for joining us lets start here shall we with Donald Trumps latest tweet he said all is well missiles launched from iran at 2 military bases located in iraq so far so good and those the words of the u. S. President donald trump after these strikes on military facilities continue u. S. And Coalition Troops in iraq what do you make of that message given the circumstances. Well my 1st thought is that trump himself doesnt know how to react because hes a bit damned if he doesnt damned if he doesnt. And hes caught in a situation of his own making theyve created a martyr. General sulaimani and the iranians have finished off the funeral celebration the funeral commemorations with the firing of the rockets i think thats important to tie these rockets being fired right after the the funeral was held which is so millions. Come to the streets and i think. I can offer some context in the sense that this whole thing has created a new martyr and in the martyrdom idea is central to she is a. Its almost like the the battle of karbala itself 68080. 00 when. The mom hussein was defeated by a much stronger force of the sunni. Yes 8 and in rather treacherous circumstances and thats thats the context in which i think many iranians and many of the mall as an ayatollah as in iran will be painting. The episode so for iranians there is a strong religious cultural. Cant. Feeling and not actually not just surveillance for shiites all over so essentially the attack on iran on solely money was not just on sort of money or iran it was on all of. All shiites in the region and now and perhaps his advisors have woken him up walking him up to the fact that its not going to be so easy to. Retaliate because that would be really entering a war situation and the iranians will not fight. Simply with rockets fired against bases they will use asymmetrical warfare because thats where they excel thats where generals will and i need excelled and thats where the. Excels and thats where the successor to silly money excels so. Theres no guarantee victory. And to finish off here the unfortunately for you run it doesnt have Nuclear Weapons because if it did i think the money would never have been targeted and we wouldnt be in this very precarious. Predicament right now but it is certainly very useful to get that sort of history and context because revenge is certainly been the watchword that weve been hearing coming out of iran weve been seeing people in the streets calling for revenge on the us and perhaps weve seen the other element of that this is evening with the strikes in iraq on these u. S. Military facilities but how well advised to we think donald trump was before he carried out this attack called Major General sunni money because you know perhaps there are people in the administration that have the knowledge that you do all the history and the likeliness of revenge but dont you think they would have advised him. Well thats the problem. Trump has surrounded himself with i dont want to use the term insane because theyre not but with very misguided individuals throughout the few who were saying reich mattis and the former foreign secretary i forgot his name he was the head of exxon. If eliminated and. Not heard in the 1st place he surrounded himself with people with connections to religious fundamentalists this is becoming a millennial in the sense of in the world millennial. Context battle between religious extremists on one side but the in fact the iranians while my name may appear to be. Illogical is probably of an excellent chess player and i think the kit the strikes were calculated. With precision to put trump into this kind of decision difficulty because if he does attack he knows hes entered the war and many of his voters did not vote for that. And it could give the impetus for a much more. Rapid. Impeachment on top of that so hes delicate and then at the same time hes. Trump has painted himself as a great fighter and nationalist in the very or patriot in the worst sense of the term. So. He might be tempted and with bad counsel to take really dangerous action. So trump the iranians were probably very careful to make sure that the rockets hit the outskirts of the bases causing only mature. Real damage and so far in fact there is no news yet. Any casualties and it is. Early morning in baghdad right now at least so 7 oclock graps so. There should be news the only news of casualties ive heard so far is from. Or potential casualties from a boeing 737 that crashed at around airport earlier this morning around 6 am yeah which is. Alice alice sandro thank you were about to go to some more details on that crash in fact so well leave it there for now but thanks so much for your insights this morning political analyst our Sandra Burnett thank you. So lets return back to that breaking news of an air crash in iran a ukrainian aircraft with 180 passengers and crew on board has reportedly crashed shortly after takeoff from in my home many International Airport in tehran those reports come from Iranian State media who are quoting the director of the airport Ukraine InternationalAirlines Flight 752 was heading to kiev its a boeing 737 plane and reportedly went down due to technical reasons according to the tracking Service Flight radar 24. 00 play to put the plane took off but then stopped transmitting data there is no indication of any link at the moment to the Iranian Missile strikes in iraq which happened a few hours earlier mind that they have been iraq not iran so far we have no information on possible casualties from this reported plane crash. Saying in the middle east by the mayor putin has paid an unexpected visit to syria for talks with president Bashar Al Assad they discussed the volatile situation now unfolding in the region parties remind kosar of reports. This is a lot of putins 1st visit says syria since the year its wednesday 17 and his arrival is there it comes amid tensions in the middle east following the killing off a top Iranian Military official in iraq after arrival according to Vladimir Putins spokesperson he visited the Russian Command Center in damascus where he held a meeting with president bashar assad and also received a state of affairs reports from the military about whats going on in the rest of the country now in a meeting with bashar assad lot of mir putin. Thats a long way and significant steps have been made to establishing the countrys territorial integrity as well as statehood meanwhile president of syria bashar. Thanked the Russian Military for establishing peace in his country and of course for their fight against terrorism well later on wednesday Vladimir Putin will be holding another top level meeting but this time as president in turkey theyll be formally launching the new turks stream pipeline and also discussing the fallout from a general sort of manis death will of course be following all of that closely right here on r. T. Now the latest a movie by the british the right to go richie has been getting some less than stellar reviews with critics branding the picture as racist and out of touch the gentleman has so far only been released in 4 countries with the rest of the world getting to see it in 2 months time but heres a look at what is already getting people angry. This really will be no yeah. I. Think. Every imaginable demographic gets their moment to be targe