Investigators crack this case and why havent the Pilot Program been suspended were going to explain all right its time to boot i q. 2 countries that have been the subject of crippling sanctions from the United States are now working together as a rainy and ships head to venezuela the u. S. Is reportedly looking for ways to intervene which could signal a new conflict amid increased tensions arties rachel blends is joining us now from the newsroom with the latest developments to this so richard what more can you tell us on the story well manella both iran and venezuela have been hit with extensive sanctions by the u. S. Over the last year which is severely limited their oil sales and hurt their economies but now the u. S. May also move to try to prevent that you countries from working with each other in response to. Reports that iran is in the process of shipping oil the venezuelan an anonymous senior u. S. Official was quoted as saying it is not only unwelcome by the United States but its unwelcome by the region and were looking at measures that can be taken one of those measures could be deploying u. S. Navy ships to the Caribbean Sea in an effort to prevent 5 iranian tankers that are currently in route with more than 45000000. 00 worth of gasoline and supplies from reaching venezuelas ports around Foreign Ministers amid a complaint to the United Nations on sunday morning that any attempt to disrupt the transfer of oil develops willow would be seen as a legal in the form of piracy and the u. S. Would be responsible for the consequences spokesperson for Irans Foreign Ministry double down arguing that the u. S. Cannot dictate the placement of rons oil tankers around the world. So you have i dont care what american stated regarding our oil tankers and various locations around the world is illegal and shameful if they make any moves against this really legitimate sealing of our ships i would definitely place reaction to them by the Islamic Republic of iran because of them. Do. These warnings also come as irans Supreme Leader renewed calls for u. S. Troops to withdraw from iraq and syria going as far as to say that if the americans stay in iraq and syria they will be expelled now it is not clear exactly how the plan to expel u. S. Troops would be carried out but iran has argued that any presence in the countries was requested by their governments as opposed to the us which has maintained its presence through force after pulling out of the Iran Nuclear Deal in may 20 the trumpet administration has continued to implement crippling sanctions even as other countries have called for the us to show mercy in the midst of a corona Virus Outbreak that has led to around 7000 deaths in iran as for venezuela the trumpet administration has spent the last year working to overthrow elected president Nicolas Maduro by putting their support behind Opposition Leader one why do so while the sanctions have been aimed at creating an uprising among the venezuelan people they have left thousands impoverished and in need of food and medical supplies while creating very little support for now the economic sanctions on this whale one of the Largest Oil Reserves in the world have also resulted in gas shortages thats because the south American Country is an able to refine its own crude this is where ron comes in willing to bring in much needed chemicals for those refineries washington has worked to cut off and us oil and iran from working with both the u. S. And any of its allies but not remains to be seen how far the u. S. Will go to prevent the 2 countries from working with each other reporting in the newsroom Rachel Blevins archie. Right here to weigh in on these issues in the u. K. Former u. K. M. P. George galloway and here stateside former pentagon. Official Michael Lewis as a gentlemen good to see you both george ill start with you. Both iran and venezuela are currently being sanctioned by the us that they are effectively on americas nadi list if you will if American Allies arent allowed to do business with either country whats the problem with them doing business with one another. Well it would be pirates in the caribbean not the pretty Johnny Depp Type of pirates but the ugly mike pompeo pirates of the caribbean its a not draw of war which is evidently being contemplated and indeed the blockading or one other countries ports in this case venezuela is literally legally an act of war and saw the United States better caliber especially in the arm up to a president ial election these are no countries with anything to lose they are very likely to retaliate in the most embarrassing really possible to the United States if any interference in this entirely Legal Exchange between iran and venezuela takes place there are no sunshines between iran and venezuela no power on earth not even my pompei or can will it to be otherwise and our mike might maloof these takers they are carrying about 175000 metric tons of gas and similar products and theyre warning the us that theyd better not give them a hard time passing through the caribbean or else what i mean just a few weeks ago the us navy accused iranian boats and and some ships of conducting dangerous and provocative behavior along the persian gulf waters. Well again iran is in a position to conduct to counter what the United States is doing it could increase its surveillance if you will of u. S. Shipping them that in that region in the persian gulf they could also. Block the straits if the United States took provoking of action of actually blockading if you will against iranian ships thats i would agree with george that this is not this is a very very Serious Development not even the e. U. Which has certain sanctions against even venezuela only certain limited areas does not sanction against iran and venezuela have been legitimate trade as is going on right now with the shipment of gasoline and its its also strictly economic and so the United States once again is really tried in on very thin legal ice as as well as trying to actually. Keep the spotlight on on another. Problem area that it just refuses to let up on and i think its going to create a real problem for us in the end. George the the coronavirus can a pandemic obviously still raging on on this diplomatic front if you can speak to that is there no temporary truce or like a timeout for countries like venezuela or iran so that they can try to save the lives of their own people no gentlemans agreement. And there are no gentlemen involved in this standoff im afraid the pope right to at the beginning of the crisis the United Nations secretary general right at the very beginning all the crisis called for all guns to fall silent around the world and for sanctions to be nice but the United States has rocked up the sanctions. Against its perceived allies its perceived enemies of course are the new ones the sanctions against china have morphed into top call via pretty much a run up to war with china youve got. Youve got have these strategic bombers now in the South China Sea as well as warships your mercenaries are invading venezuelan sovereign territory you have frozen illegally the sovereign wealth of venezuela and of course everyone knows iran those suffering mightily indys coronata times has been crushed fatah by United States sanctions no gentlemans agreement because there aint no gentleman around im afraid and mike is there any indication from from any of these parties from the u. S. From iran or venezuela that further exploration is not the desired outcome during this pandemic and given your experience in defense whats your worst fear to come out of this. Well i feel the worst generally in my line of business we used to fear the worst return which generally turned out to be true i think the United States is trying to keep this focus on iran. While trying to deal with the pandemic but its got so many other issues but i also think irans learning of an interesting lesson from the u. S. Occupation of the persian gulf and that is if the United States can can sale its ship in its area and sphere of influence in the persian gulf why cant you know iran begin to bring its own assets into the caribbean and into latin america and do some regular cruising around so i think its that will certainly raise the United States anxiety levels and create a problem that it didnt have before if it continues as this course of action so im hopeful that i dont i dont see that the United States is going to lessen its pressures on iran but i think its going to back our ultimately on the United States and last word on this for each of you george what do you hoping to see evolve from these tankers are you hoping they make it to venezuela safely and they can go about their business and that the u. S. Doesnt intervene. Of course i hope and pray that is the case because nobody with a sane mind would want any for their escalation but ive got to tell you if the United States seizes or blocks these tankers iran will do the same in the persian gulf they will blockade other tankers they will seize them they will i attack them and some of those might be american and there will be right back into the kind of joy of war the brink of all out war that we were lost a couple of months ago when the United States assassinated the general sort of money all right mike last word on this. You know i think united i think iran will continue its pressure and if the United States were to make an attempt to stop these ships at sea that were going to get effect be a declaration of war d thats is recognize in International Law and but i think that they will they will continue to be iran will continue to do what it wants to do so some references are made to the time that the brits stop. An Iranian Oil Tanker and had it seized but this is different this that was against they thought going to syria which was saying should by the u. N. You dont have any of that here and i think that the United States again would be involved in piracy if it undertook action all my high seas against those are rainy and ships yes certainly would be unprecedented if any of that happened George Galloway might maloof appreciate your time thank you. Pleasure. Elsewhere in the news the corona virus pandemic continues to unfold tracking the global outbreak cases worldwide now topping 4700000 with 315000 reported deaths taking a closer look at the countries with the most confirmed cases in the u. S. Still leading the way followed by russia in the u. K. And brazil trailing closely behind right here thought stateside there are now 1400000 cases of infections and about 89000 deaths. And calls for global unity continue to ring out in the battle against the pandemic during a Virtual Meeting today with the World Health Organization the w. H. O. Chief promised a transparent and independent review of their covert 1000. 00 response meanwhile chinas president xi jinping pledged to 1000000000. 00 with them be over the next 2 years to help the hardest hit countries. And then over to canada where a fly over to pay tribute to front line workers during the pandemic took a turn for the worst and aerobatic jet no. As a snow bird crashed into a British Columbia neighborhood killing one crew member seriously injuring another and setting a house on fire as a result the morale boosting mission now put on hold Prime MinisterJustin Trudeau sent his condolences to members of the snowbirds. And a federal judge has denied martin scrolly better known as the farmer bro his request to leave prison so he could do research for a cure for kobe had 19 the judge sided with officials stating that she failed to demonstrate adequate grounds for release based on his reasons surely is currently serving a 7 year sentence for defrauding his investors. And the f. B. I. Has found evidence linking the Florida Naval base shooting rampage to alqaeda details next then later in sports a scary moment on the Pitchers Mound over the green Baseball Organization will show you. Can keep up with the latest news and information you might have missed by downloading our t. V. Cameras there 247 well be back in just a minute to tell you. You cannot be both with the yeah you like. Im chris hedges the corporate coup detat has destroyed our Democratic Institutions the commercial media has burlesque part of the reality show president s expose the trivial plots seen on contact question more. Seen the horrors that arise the money in the evil. Corporate criminals who trash calculus lives to add just one more dollar to their millions. They threaten they bribe theyll do anything to keep their crimes in the dark but the people theyve heard are demanding justice their stories need to be told on americas lawyer. Here thank you for finally changing that in your understand youre tired of networks that are new with you. d today and. They are not no matter what. You know me d im famous for my views. And. Yours truly d scottie nell hughes. Im holland cook i invite you to climb with me of the Mainstream Media buyer and from that higher fat age to glimpse the big picture question more. I. Pray there is new evidence that the Saudi Air Force cadet responsible for that shooting rampage at the Pensacola Air base had significant ties to al qaeda so here to talk more about all of this art his own fair project so ferret what was all this now surfacing so whats happening middle is at the time that the shooting actually happened you had the gunman mohamed el sharone who was a Saudi Air Force officer that was studying at this point cicle air force base he actually took time while the shooting was going on to actually shoot his phone because he saw Law Enforcement trying to grab it now back then Law Enforcement officials said that they had no doubt that he was motivated by his ideology because after some investigating they found out that he had visited new york city and went to the 911. 00 memorial a month before the shooting in december he also just hours before the shooting posted antiamerican anti israeli messages on social media but in order to prove that there was this direct al qaeda link manila they needed to look into his phone which he not only destroyed again by that one bullet but he also had it on a pass code lock of course that darn logs actually so was the f. B. I. Eventually able to get into the phone or so the short answer is yes but it did take a long time and the f. B. I. Was actually really left between a rock and a hard place when this all went down you had attorney general bill barr the f. B. I. Even President Donald Trump asking apple c. E. O. Tim cook to unlock phone to which he said no which honestly tim cook has been known for saying no to any requests like this we saw it with the shooters you remember in San Bernardino california but here is bar just a few hours ago with this message thanks to the relentless efforts and ingenuity of the f. B. I. Technicians the f. B. I. Finally succeeded in unlocking elsham ramis flames. The same contained information previously unknown to us that definitively establish. Ramis significant to al qaida in the Arabian Peninsula so no what the f. B. I. Found on his phone show that ronnie actually was radicalized as far back as 2015 he was in Constant Contact with al qaeda operatives and he was even in contact with them the night up to me the night before the attack wow well you know straighten this out for us originally investigators had thought that ronnie went on the shooting spree because he had been in a fight with his teacher right and that is true they originally it was reported that he filed a complaint against one of his teachers actually because the instructor referred to mustache as a quote porn stache now the base did reprimand that instructor and told him to apologize to me to which he said that he didnt want an apology from him so originally again that thought could have been that the reason this shooting spree did happen but clearly this probably was more of a breaking point for me but whats very important is that now attorney general barr is calling for legislation again for Tech Companies to be required to forgo encryption so that the encryption so that there is a back and way for investigators to get into these locked i phones now bar 6 has been asking for this since last fall there is a lot of pushback on both sides of the aisle both democrats and republicans and obviousl