This is bbc news. Im lukwesa burak. The headlines at 2 hundreds of thousands of people take to the streets in iran to mourn the assassinated military leader general soleimani. President trump warns the us has a list of 52 targets that will be hit very hard if iran decides to retaliate. The Iraqi Government has summoned the Us Ambassador over the airstrike which killed the general. Royal Navy Warships are ordered to escort british flagged vessels in the persian gulf and the Prime Minister is returning to the uk from his caribbean holiday. The australian Prime Minister warns that the bushfire emergency could last for months. 2a people have now died since the crisis began. Thousands since the crisis began. Have lost their homes. I did thousands have lost their homes. I did not see any flames, i saw this great white ball of fire. That is all i can describe it as, white hot, all i can describe it as, white hot, a ball of fire. The costs of h52 are out of control and its benefits overstated, according to the deputy chair of its review panel. And hollywood prepares for the Golden Globes ceremony as the awards season gets under way this evening. Good afternoon. President trump says the United States has a list of 52 iranian sites which will be hit very hard and very fast
if there is retaliation for the killing of qasem soleimani, irans most senior military commander who was killed on thursday in a us air strike in the iraqi capital, baghdad. The iraqi Prime Minister gas called the killing a political assassination. Heres our diplomatic correspondent, james robbins. Tens of thousands of iranians are mourning general soleimani and apparently getting behind their leaders in promising revenge. The chants are familiar, including death to america, but the circumstances are radically changed. The war of words is intensifying. President trump has tweeted, this threat of massive retaliation if iran strikes any americans or american assets, he says, we have targeted 52 iranian sites. Some at a very high level and important to iran and the iranian culture. Those targets and iran itself will be hit very fast and very hard. The usa wants no more threats. Under enormous american pressure, britain is adjusting its political stance. The foreign secretary is now sounding increasingly sympathetic to the United States, but still stops short of outright support. We understand the action they took, but we also need to be very clearly focused on what happens next. We want to de escalate the tensions. We want to see a route through this crisis. We do not want to see a major war in the middle east. The only group or players that would benefit from that would be the terrorists and daesh. Labours shadow foreign secretary said she shed no tears for general soleimani. He had the blood of many people on his hands. However, to take him out at this stage, when there has been escalating tensions, seems to me to not be making the world safer, actually we are taking a major lurch towards war. In tehran, Irans Parliament has ta ken up the chant of death to america. Its been familiar for many years, but its now being shouted in very changed circumstances, as american reinforcements are sent to the region and both Countries Exchange threats of more violence to come. James robbins, bbc news. Professor Mohammad Marandi is an iranian American Academic and political analyst at tehran university. Speaking to my colleague shaun ley, he accused america of arrogantly using its power and said it will pay a heavy price for taking out general soleimani. For killing. If a foreign country was to assassinate a high ranking British Military official, what would the response in britain be . So what the americans have done is unheard of in contemporary history and this is the arrogance of power and i think there is no way that anyone in the world can justify this sort of action. If from now on the
americans can be judge, jury and executioner, the iranians can tomorrow say the americans or the saudis are going to carry out an attack, were going to attack the saudis, or the emiratis are about to carry out an attack, were gonig to bomb the united arab emirates. Thats the law of the jungle. If thats what western countries want, thats what theyre going to get. Let me put to you something said to me at the beginning of last week by a former undersecretary at the Us State Department in the obama administration, not the trump administration, the obama administration, who said, look, this was at the time of the air strikes that were in retaliation for the killing of that american civilian, but they were also in retaliation for a series of incidents. There have been 11 attacks reported on bases in iraq. I see you smiling so you might dispute those figures, but they have been reported as attacks. There were the iranian attacks on the Saudi Oil Facilities carried
out by a drone so there have been a series of incidents in which iran was testing, this is the case he was making, how far america would go and, at some point, america had to hit back. Arguably, iran overplayed its hand and the consequence is its lost one of its most important military figures. The americans are going to pay a heavy price, no doubt about that, but basically what youre saying is that we have to trust what the americans say, what they say is the bible, what they say is the koran. If they say this is how it is, then international law, judge, jury and also the sovereignty of the Iraqi Government, all of that makes no sense any more. Of course, i understand because thats how western mentality works, thats how iraq was invaded in the first place. They lied into iraq, there were weapons of mass destruction and an alliance with alqaeda and they
destroyed the country, so no one trusts the west when it comes to intelligence. In fact, pompeo, just recently, he said when we were in the cia, we had courses to teach us how to lie and cheat and steal, and he laughed in front of an audience and the audience laughed with him. This is how the United States conducts itself. If they have evidence, they have to provide it to the Iraqi Government. Who is the United States government to just carry out attacks in iraq . This is the arrogance of the United States and us allies, which condone its attacks. Sir Richard Dalton used to be britains ambassador to tehran. He is joining britains ambassador to tehran. He isjoining us now on bbc news. Thank you for speaking to us. What is your assessment of the situation . First, we should remind ourselves that
assassinations have a record in starting worse, and a very poor record in changing the policies of the government of the person assassinated. Secondly, it is law and International Institutions that stand between us and anarchy, and the United States is not allowed to make the law and to set International Institutions at not. It would be wise for the British Government to retain some distance from the United States, if it wishes to play an effective role in the diplomacy which britain is calling for. The fact is, there should now bea for. The fact is, there should now be a comprehensive International Initiative to address the root causes of these tensions, which include the United States setting aside its observance of the Iranian Nuclear agreement back in 2018, and include the anarchy across the region, in which innumerable
countries, from turkey, saudi arabia, the United States, israel and iran, are all meddling and intervening. We need International Rules of the road and having wasted all the opportunities after previous worst to set in train Regional Security cooperation, we should be making a leap now towards addressing those fundamental questions through multilateral diplomacy. Wars. What does the us one from iran . You mention the nuclear deal, and vice versa, what does iran want of the us . The us wants to overturn all the International Understanding is achieved through the Un Security Council on the treatment of the Iranian Nuclear issue. Secondly, although they deny it, they want to change the regime in tehran. Thirdly, they want to tell power in
the region decisively against iran and in favour of saudi arabia, israel and of course itself. Those are generally stated objectives, but they do not amount to a diplomatic strategy, and we do not know what the diplomatic strategies, and dominic raab, while endorsing diplomacy, does not give us a clue as to what he thinks the regional diplomacy ought to be. I have made clear what i believe should now happen. It is down to European Countries who have taken the lead on this in the past, together with the uk, and other interested parties, which include a whole range of countries, saudi arabia, uae, turkey, of course, to try to forge International Understandings on the rules for International Interaction in this volatile region. The us is highly unlikely to get what it once, so just looking at the worst case
scenario, how far are both sides likely to go in this . Well, you could envisage an all out war. I do not think iran wants that, because they would come off worst. Secondly, you could envisage a limited set of military exchanges. Iran seeks revenge, kill some americans, and in turn, the United States seeks to ta ke turn, the United States seeks to take its revenge through these 52 strikes or some other combination of relatively limited military action, but my belief is that if the United States took any such action, it would not end at that, and we would be infora would not end at that, and we would be in for a very, very long period of turmoil, which is not in british interests. It is time for britain to stand up in favour of british interests in stability and that means not endorsing the united
states current position. Would you agree that donald trump has made a huge miscalculation by carrying out this assassination, and should allies of the us and the eu, is there a place for them to get involved . I think there must be a level of exasperation with the United States because the tensions which we see originated in part with the wholly unjustified, illicit american rejection of the iran Nuclear Agreement and the action that they have taken against the economic, the legitimate economic interests of European Countries and the uk, and it is time for us to speak more openly about the fact that the United States is not always a good ally of the United Kingdom in the middle east. Of course, there is a place for the European Union and britain, russia and china, because in accordance with the un charter,
it is everybodys responsibility when International Peace and security is a seriously challenged as it is at present. That is what the United NationsSecurity Council was set up for. We know that iran never acts directly and it is the threat of its proxies that many people are concerned about. How easy is it to control them when it comes to International Diplomacy within the middle east . These socalled proxies sometimes act at the behest of iran, but very often they do not. For example, we are told that the 50s are backed by iran but the fact is iran advocated against the ta keover is iran advocated against the takeover in sa naa is iran advocated against the takeover in sanaa many years ago. This is a genuine problem because as the commander of the Iranian Revolutionary guard said yesterday, there is the point the possibility of independent action by
those, and there are many of them, they are notjust those, and there are many of them, they are not just the creatures those, and there are many of them, they are notjust the creatures of iran, who resist the american agenda for the middle east, and in which american support for israeli ta keover of american support for israeli takeover of territories which do not belong to them, that still plays a part, so these complex interactions and this complex set of problems cannot be dealt with one by one simply as crises, there has to be a more comprehensive effort to get at the roots of instability in the middle east and that means naming names when we have to, naming names, for example, about the turkish invasion of northern syria, about the saudi action in northern yemen, about the uae action in libya. There are many bad actors, including the United States, and some of the things that it does. Ambassador, just to finish, if you still had
borisjohnson as your boss, what would be the first thing you will be telling him as he returned from his festive break . I am glad he has had a holiday because he has had a hard time. Although i do not support many of his policies, we clearly want a Prime Minister with a clear head in his current circumstances and i expect we will hear from him in parliament on tuesday, but i would reiterate, the point i have already explained, a multilateral approach is long overdue. We have lost opportunities after previous worst to put in place better security arrangements in this volatile part of the world. Wars. Although it is difficult and there is much distrust, that should be a resort note to supplement immediate de escalation activities. Thank you for your time. Thank you. Australias Prime Minister has
warned that the bushfires emergency could last for months. Scott morrison announced the creation of a Recovery Agency to help those whove lost homes and businesses. There are fires around the country, but amongst the worst are concentrated in its most populous state, New South Wales. Some rain has brought a little relief, but not enough to extinguish the flames. Phil mercer reports. The damage inflicted by australias bushfires is immense. Lives have been lost while a growing number of homes and businesses have been ruined. Trapped by the fires under ominous orange skies, people in eden in New South Wales have sought to escape by sea. There is stress, fatigue and fear. Cooler conditions and some rain are helping the firefighting effort, but the danger is far from over. Many blazes continue to burn and the land still smoulders. This long bushfire crisis
is inflicting deep scars on australia, and theres no end in sight. Lives have been turned upside down. In kangaroo valley, ken stewart lost his home to the fires that raced through this part of New South Wales. Hes lucky to be alive. Next minute, i looked up. I didnt see any flame. I saw this great white ball of fire. Thats all i can describe it, as just a white hot ball of fire. I had to drive up that driveway and, by the time i got up to our bottom gate, the entire driveway was lit up with fire on both sides. Parts of sydney have also been threatened. The fires are an unpredictable enemy. No one knows for sure when, where or if they will strike. Australia is fighting back, but its impossible to tell when the battle will be over. Phil mercer, bbc news,
kangaroo valley. The headlines on bbc news hundreds of thousands of people take to the streets in iran to mourn the assassinated military leader, general soleimani. President trump warns the us has a list of 52 targets that will be hit very hard if iran decides to retaliate. The Iraqi Government has summoned the Us Ambassador over the airstrike which killed the general. The australian Prime Minister warns that the bushfire emergency could last for months. 2a people have now died since the crisis began. The deputy chairman of the panel reviewing the hs2 High Speed Rail project says hes found overwhelming evidence that its costs are out of control. Lord berkeley suggests it will take £108 billion to complete the network,
double the initial estimate. Hs2 limited says its determined to deliver value for money. Lets speak now to Daniel Cochlin from the Northern Powerhouse partnership, who joins us from salford. What do you make of Lord Berkeleys comments . I think he was part of an independent review set up by the government to investigate hs2 and how effective it would be. For whatever reason he chose to leave that process and reduce this somewhat patchy and one sided report we are talking about today, it is another example of the north being told by a london ba