iran does not have a nuclear weapon iran is not threaten its neighbors iran has not started a war with any of its neighbors israel on the other hand has hundreds of nuclear weapons and unlike iran refuses to sign a nuclear nonproliferation treaty does not allow. inspectors into its country so there's not really a nuclear menace or a nuclear danger from iran and so what is the cause what's the cause of the crisis of the artificial crisis the real goal is the united states government has embarked on a course of extreme economic aggression against iran with the hope that by creating economic suffering economic isolation economic misery that part of the population will rise up or become disenfranchised with the government so that the u.s. can do as it has in history carry out regime change they deny that the us denied that it's trying to carry out there was a change in iran right i mean we have to take that with a very very big grain of salt because we know that since one nine hundred seventy nine the united states refuses to have relations with the islamic republic of iran why is it becau

intelligence officials say they penetrated iran's nuclear program, and iran is at least a year or more away from building a weapon. many outside experts agree. >> we don't think they'll break out and build nuclear weapons this year. we are talking about something off in the future. >> reporter: israel says iran could pass the point of no return toward developing a bomb within months. israel is on alert against iranian terrorism, after three explosions in bangkok tuesday and attacks on israeli diplomats in india and the former soviet republic of georgia monday, all blamed by israel on iran. >> this looks like iranian retaliation for killing of iranian scientists associated with their nuclear program over the past two years. >> reporter: scientists most experts believe were killed by israel despite denials. u.s. officials have been shuttling to tel aviv pleading with israel to not attack iran, even as american warships play cat-and-mouse in the strait of hormuz, the choke point for 1/5 of the world's oil. today homeland security secretary janet napolitano told congress that the u.s. know

only if you would if you were absolutely transparent and open and a iran has not been well iran's and if you may go back to gilbert if i go back to gilbert in brussels iran's nuclear program is the most inspected program in the history of the i.a.e.a. what do you think about all of this here gilbert if i can say with you in brussels i mean is this it there's a drumbeat to worry respective of what the i.e.e.e. i i e a has to say about anything because most people say the last report was just a recycled one of the one before go ahead. but i think this is the fourth off the mark the issue has moved on the issue of relations with iran has moved on considerably from the strictly strict starting point of its nuclear ambitions. know what were side issues have become the central issue that is the economic warfare being being entered into against the iran be ratcheting up sanctions with a certain word a certain point the quantitative element becomes a qualitatively different relationship and becomes an exercise existential threat to iran we're approaching that point and the the he issue of its

the bomb blast in thailand happened as confrontation between iran and israel intensifies over iran's nuclear development. their bid to find out more about those who believe to be responsible. >>> turning to mirimar, a european commissioner has wrapped up a three-day visit saying the eu may lift sanctions if further steps are taken towards democracy. european commissioner for development held talks with mirimar's president and pro-democracy leader. he later told reporters in bangkok on tuesday that he was optimistic about mirimar's progress. >> it is a process going ongoing. >> meanwhile, campaigning for elections has begun in earnest on the outskirts. nhk world followed the noble laureate as she appealed for support. opposition leader has began campaigning. she visited the consistency on saturday. her first official campaign appearance in the district she hopes to represent. >> the most important thing is to create new jobs for people who are unemployed. if you believe in us, i promise to implement this without fail. >> she'll definitely win. >> we believe that she will improve our l

on iran is to say that iran has to demonstrate its purely peaceful intentions that's the wording in the signals that it's all is that it was there always i am relieved that he's out of the entrance. i had to that it was a report of why it is that important why the ear did not and has not said that it n. is making it up on the ear said are you saying he wouldn't have violations it has meant it has many violations the question of violations is not making the bomb the question of violations is it safeguards agreement the whole point of the. peace now to gain tourist things. only if you would if you were absolutely transparent and open and a iran has not been well iran's and if you want to go back to gilberto if i go back to gilbert in brussels iran's nuclear program is the most inspected program in the history of the i.a.e.a. what do you think about all of this here if i can stay with you in brussels i mean is this it there's a drumbeat to worry respective of what the i.e.e.e. i and i eighty eight has to say about anything because most people said the last report was just a recycled on

iran with. an agreement an understanding with the iranians that they will not become nuclear. and that they will be reintroduced into the family of nations from which they have been virtually expelled in recent months. under terms which will also take into account some of their interests and some of the anxiety is how possible is this option i think is very possible because i think the international pressure which is being building up in recent months is beginning to have serious effects inside iran on the economic side on the moral side from the outside. and i think that the basic interest of the people in charge in iran put it that way is to maintain the position to maintain power do you think you run poses an existential threat to israel. in the region. i am on record as repeatedly saying that i don't think there is such a thing as the existential threat to israel because i think it is really strong enough to protect it so to take care of itself and i think that ultimately it's not in the pow

he called iran the world's greatest exporter of terrorism. israeli officials made it clear they believe iran orchestrated attacks against diplomats. the same bombs used in india and georgia were found in the bangkok apartmented rented by three iranians. tehran denied the accusations, even though officials vowed the aven avenge for the assassination of iran nuclear scientists, attacks it blames on israel. it is part of what many now call a covert war between the two countries, triggered by iran's nuclear ambitions. there is a heightened state of alert here in israel and israeli embassies around the world. the real concern is that softer targets could be hit, places like jewish centers and synagogues outside of the country. israel will likely not retaliate yet, said this terrorism expert. instead officials have issued this warning to tehran. >> you are exposed. we know you are responsible. we can take it for now, but we won't. >> reporter: it is just the latest warning in recent weeks. this was a publicized military exercise last month. israeli

what to do next about iran? the international community is again dealing with a recalcitrant to iran, a country refusing to prove to u.n. inspectors that is in a building a nuclear bomb. >> the team from the iaea has returned empty-handed from iran after being denied access to top nuclear officials or suspected nuclear sites. there are reportedly plans for new talks between iran and the u.s., britain, france, germany, russia, and china. but israel has also not ruled out a preemptive strike on iran's nuclear facilities. to talk more about that, i am joined in the studio by a member of the german institute for international and security affairs, the swt. thank you for talking with us. why did iran agree in the first place to meet with these inspectors that it was not willing to meet demands? >> i do believe that iran wants to show its principal willingness to call -- to cooperate with the international committee and international organizations. it wants to show that it is not completely and entirely isolated. it w

regarding iran and the western hemisphere, you know, obviously, iran facing these very effective sanctions and their aggressive enforcement is becoming increasingly desperate, looking for friends wherever they think they can find them. and they're not getting the kind of response. on you referenced, our analysis of what happened is that it fell very far short of what the eiranians hoped for. that said, we are concerned about the activities of hezbollah. we continue to monitor the situation closely. we will take appropriate action to counter any threat that may arise. we are aware of and concerned about allegations that some latin american drug trafficking organizations are linked with hezbollah and iran. we've not found information to verify a lot of the allegations. but, of course, the recent incident concerning the attempted assassination of the saudi ambassador is a very large question mark and wakeup call. we're continuing to look for direct links and we're engaged very extensively with our partners in the hem is sphere. both to educate them about the dangers posed by iran and hezbolla

>> we can't invade iran, right? sorry, iran. i want to pronounce it right. anybody who know what's they are talking about from an intelligence perspective says as lonesome as they are, they are all about the cost benefit approach i keep hearing about. and it is bad they are getting the nuclear weapon, but if israel were to strike it is in the bank for about two years. even if we at full capacity were to destroy everything they have nuclear making wise, they are still going to be in action enough to get back to the program with a lot more devotion. and what if we do destroy iran. the rest of the middle east is not going to be, okay. >> they don't want iran to have nuclear weapons anymore than israel does. for them it is a three-fer. they get to criticize and eliminate iran's nuclear weapons and the price of oil goes up. >> iran is not going to attack anyone. >> i don't think anyone -- i don't think anyone is talking about annihilating iran. there is talk about taking out their nuclear capabilities. >> everybody has said that. >> about uh. >>> lating them? tak

and europe who are sanctioning iran. you know it will achieve i guess peace of mind that iran may not be able to develop a nuclear weapon but you know frankly our options may be very very limited as far as that goes i mean higher or oil prices ironically are good for rahm right and they're terrible for the u.s. economy i mean these kinds of headwinds have been one of the reasons you alluded at the top of the show to high median incomes in this in parts of this country but overall median real incomes are back to where they were in the one nine hundred ninety s. absolutely a big reason a big reason for that have been these sky high oil prices i mean or used to trade at twenty dollars a barrel i mean yes it's down from one forty one fifty but it's still over one hundred dollars a barrel and we may be looking at four five dollars price gasoline this summer so you know high oil prices are exactly what this country doesn't need at this point and ironically will help the middle east including iran so then dr williams i'm going

iran is more -- >> israel will destroy iran? >> they have 200 to 300 nuclear weapons p if the iranians develop and build a bomb, i don't think they're going, to but if they do, israel will put those 200 weapons on a hair trigger. i don't believe the iranians are as nuts as everybody else says. they haven't fought anybody since when, john? >> go ahead. >> and if the israelis do attack, it doesn't end the threat. >> no. >> it postpones it. and in the meantime, you have iran retail eighting with all kinds of terrorist attacks, the set-up you showed. that's what the hint of what they can do. and that can rapidly get out of hand and certainly affect us in this country as well. >> even if there was a nuclear response by israel, or nuclear attack, iran will continue to have a mass of conventional army that -- and they will have the public fervor for some kind of action hostile action against israel that will be immense. there's that consequence too. and they will have a conventional military, a big one. >> yes. but let's face it, you j

to prevent war with iran anything that this president is trying to do he's been hit hard by. basically you know whose allies in congress and in the right wing establishment so now israel is going as far as to say that if and when they launch an attack on iran that they're only going to give the us twelve hours notice so not too much notice there with this statement does this suggest that war with iran is even closer than expected i think we need to be careful you know when when israel is engaging in this sort of public rhetoric. is maybe not what we need to be as concerned as when they go silent you don't necessarily want to project that you're going to engage in these strikes right before you do them because it makes it less likely that they're going to have any degree of success so i think a lot of this is about putting more of that pressure on the president really feeding his opponents a lot of the tools they need to say this this president is not standing with israel they have this spat over iran and i would just point out that you know obama has done more than any of his

reserve in iran they threaten iran routinely so if the west arrives with less than the maximum position and with a clear statement that they no longer wish for the destruction of the iranian government the iranian regime then they may be room to talk. very interesting they're not just not just about action sometimes it might entails a way of thinking that's changed all across the west the director of international studies at trinity college well hundreds of people in valencia spain many of them students and teachers have packed the streets protesting cuts to the education system by the government they're also angry about harsh and brutal tactics used by police there at previous rallies when dozens were down and about forty arrested spain is facing an out of control deficit and despite many across the board cuts is slated for many more in the realm of forty billion euros or fifty three billion dollars r t correspondent sara firth is in valencia spain where some of the hardest hit people and programs are being cut she brings us a look at yet another place where a weak economy is prompting

defiant iran taunting the west iran is calling it a major achievement its nuclear program scientists have loaded nuclear fuel rods into the core of a research reactor tehran is fueling its centrifuges with nuclear fuel and that is stoking fears that the rogue state is indeed one step closer to an atomic bomb is this another step potentially on a round road to potentially making nuclear weapons it is certainly a step down the road towards a nuclear weapon escalating nuclear tensions with iran this morning president mahmoud ahmadinejad is shown supposedly loading nuclear fuel rods into the tehran research reactor but it is a huge source of pride for iran but should it be a source of worry for the west iran has blue stick missiles with a range of about one thousand miles obviously putting israel well within reach this is iran doubling down on moving down the path towards a nuclear weapon is this sounding familiar something jogging your memory maybe just rewind about ten years replace nuclear weapons with weapons of mass destruction or place iran with iraq there are quite a few eerie sim

to the west iran remains committed to threatening u.s. interests in the region through its support to terrorists and militant groups, including in iraq and afghanistan, while it remains committed to strengthening its naval, nuclear and missile capabilities. i ran can close the strait of hormuz, however, the agency assesses iran unlikely to initiate or intentionally provoke a conflict. iranian ballistic missiles in development could range across the region and central europe. iran's new space launch vehicle demonstrates progress toward a potential ibcm. iran today has the technical, scientific and industrial capability to eventually produce nuclear weapons. while international pressure against iran has increased, including through sanctions, we assess that tehran is not close to agreeing to abandoning its nuclear program. in iraq they assess baghdad security forces will maintain current security levels this year despite manning shortages and overly centralized command and control. despite perceptions and a need for logistics and tactical c

and israel needs iran. >> it has been decades since iran and israel have been friends. it could be many years yet before the hostilities of sides. >> staying in the region, syria 's president has announced a referendum on a new constitution said to be held on february 26. >> the constitution would allow a multi-party system. washington has dismissed the reports saying that assad is making a mockery of the syrian uprising. revenues of the referendum did nothing to ease the violence in the country, though. the syrian army continued its clashes with anti-government forces in homs. this and verify and amateur footage is said to show a pipeline burning. members say syrian fighter jets selby -- shelled the area, but the assad regime blamed what it called terrorists. the government has started a major offensive in many areas across the country. there are reports that elite army units have stormed the district near central damascus. one city in the border of turkey has also been the center of clashes. these pictures are said to show tanks that moved in on tuesday. activists rep

have they said that you want to have a pipeline from from iran to india. well it was a settlement you could have it so there are some things that could be put on the table in a discussion the biggest thing i think would be if the israelis were to come up and say that look we are worried about your retirement we think you might use a bomb against us how about a swap we drop and do away with our military nuclear weapons and you stop all the enrichment and it's saudi arabia egypt turkey all the others they agreed that commitments we will have no regrets but we have no reprocessing that is what you call a nuclear weapon free zone for the middle east and i think that's where the aim should be but if i mention that today they would laugh at me well this is the point i mean i let me just play devil's that with you for a minute that is one view nuclear free zone but as you say at the moment there wouldn't be this crisis if there wasn't the perception that iran is heading towards getting a nuclear weapon so some people have said that well perhaps it might be a good

nuclear program things may not be so simple if if israel attacks iran it will not stop iran forever from getting nuclear weapons the only postpone it for a relatively brief amount of time the. installations are too diverse and far flung to destroy affectively israel does not have u.s. poured white house secretary advisor was in israel warning against a move on iran saying it was better to wait for tougher sanctions to take effect in the coming months but mines may already be made up i think one of the things to create this aura of inevitability is to shut them up to shut up opposition at home and of course to convince the united states and europe that this is an inevitability it's going to happen don't oppose it in fact why don't you help us out there is a question mark however over whether israel has what it takes to carry out their mission i doubt with the we have the capability. of creating the images to the extent of the mediating the program and even if israel's military prowess will allow it to carry out a strike on underground facilities in iran chances are it won't and there

because the shah of iran was one of our guys it's not ok for the iran to have nuclear weapons no and islamic republic. there's more on iran at our website as washington get to news pressure in tehran over its nuclear program u.s. plans to take the country from a financial group that would hurt its oil sales could in turn have blowback consequences put on our dot com for the details. syria's president bashar al assad has ordered a referendum on a new constitution to be held in eleven days according to the country's state run news agency is could put an end to the one party rule of the president's bath party enshrined in the current constitution you know this man came amid reported violence in the cities of homs and hama some of the fiercest in the months long arrest artie's marie if an ocean has more. but they did for the people's referendum on the country's new constitution has been announced on wednesday it is expected to be held on the twenty sixth of february in eleven days the syrian government has been working on the draft for this new constitution for quite a while now and it h

no bombing in iran sixteen u.s. intelligence agencies agree there is no evidence that iran is building nuclear weapons but israel steps up pressure with continued threats of a military strike. zone tightens its belt greece saved from the brink of collapse at the cost of massive new cuts while students in spain lash out against their own lack of funding. two pm in moscow i met treasurer bring you today's top stories and a look back at the week's news here on r t beginning in syria where millions of people across the country are expected to have their say on a new draft constitution the referendum that promises a multi-party system comes amid ongoing violence with most opposition groups valuing to boycott the ballot but as an ocean reports from damascus some hope the vote could bring about the end of the conflict. ballots instead of bullets mess demonstrations and violent protests have been rolling across syria for almost a year. the syrian government is now calling for the people to shape their future together by tak

now iran has thrown more fuel on the fire. national security correspondent jennifer griffin is following developments from the pentagon. >> after the u.s. defense secretary signaled during a trip to nato headquarters in brussels that israel is likely to strike iran this spring, the supreme leader of iran described israel as a cancer that needs to be cut out. iran's president, meanwhile, watched the launch of a small iranian satellite into space, amid israeli reports that iran is working on a missile designed to reach the united states. all of this a day after israel's defense minister barak, said in a major policy speech that now is the time to strike iran's nuclear program. he switched to english to make his point to an international audience. >> later is too late. >> later is too late. fox's judith miller was at the speech in israel. >> i feel based on everything i heard that a decision has not been made and that had a decision been made, no one would be speaking as freely as they have been to me this past week. what's going

we read the report and it does not say that iran is making a bomb, but it does say that iran is rapidly expanding its nuclear activity and we consulted experts today including scientists and forler wens inspect inspectors. they say iran has tripled its enrichment of uranium since last year. they also say tehran continues to block inspectors from getting inside a key nuclear facility. and the report says that 19 .8 kilograms of natural uranium metal is still unaccounted for. the u.s. responded today. it was a scathing response. there is confusion. there is something really important we want to point out and we'll get to that, but first, the iranian side of the story. just a short time ago, i spoke to a nuclear scientist and began by asking him about the ramped up production of enrich eed uranium. >> i'm proud to say we will continue without interruption. of course we have to make nuclear fuel for tehran's reactor since nobody give us the fuel and this reactor has to produce radioizer for hospital. millions of pashlts need this -- his support i'm proud to say is clean bill of health. excl

i was in iran when military bases started blowing up in iran as well, which everybody in iran blamed mossad back then, way before nbc had a program on it. o it was assumed this the israelis were doing it. >> and the israelis have not exactly issued stern denials of their culpability. you have the mossad saying, i won't say what we did, but i'm not losing any sleep over it. >> and the people who live in iran, they have grown up in iran, they don't travel all the time, they don't think of someone working on the nuclear program as someone who's working for the regime or working for the ayatollahs. they don't think of a bomb being an ayatollah's bomb. they think of these as ordinary people who went to universities, studied, have jobs, wives. so when they get blown up, it really affects popular opinion inside iran. and it's not a good thing. apart from the moral aspect of it, it's not even good in terms of what the iranian public opinion is going to be toward u.s. or israel. >> can i ask you this question? i know you were going to say something, but as someone who's in the state departmen

and iran and israel and that is says that israel may strike iran within months but why would they want to make those kinds of statements what would be the u.s. position and is and is any of what we're hearing about iran's nuclear program even true and he's going to join us to hash it all out the jobs numbers came out for the month of january and the news was pretty good official unemployment went down to eight point three percent real unemployment down to fifteen point one percent so do we see any trends of forming here richard s. going to help us break down all those figures and florida's republicans are looking to privatizing prisons in the state so we can speak to an experience of the young turks about why this is a no good horrible idea we're not all that morphy tonight including a dose of happy hour but first take a look what the mainstream media has decided to me it's. all right so once again we hear this horrible drumming sound it's getting louder and louder especially after report reported statement by secretary of defense leon panetta that he believes there is a very strong li

the bomb blasts in thailand happened as confrontation between iran and israel intensifies over iran's nuclear development. all eyes are now focused on investigations being conducted by thai authorities in their bid to find out more about those believed to be responsible. reporting for nhk world, bangkok. >> investors are worried that will won't be enough oil from iran. iran state run media said that the country would stop all exports to six nations including greece italy and spain and then sent crude oil prices surging on wednesday. for the first time in a month. but the market calmed down after the iranians government denied exports to the eu.it has not yet the ban will come into effect in july. iran has been looking for ways to hinder the eu economies. >> and keeping ana close eye on what measures iran will take to deal with the oil embargo. the euro zone is expected to finalize a bail-out package. >> they had planned to meet but decided to postpone it saying greece needs to satisfy all conditions before receiving more financial support. after the conference call, the prescribe of -

charge against iran and every new statement that iran makes about its nuclear program it's wise i think to just remember only a few years ago two thousand and six when the iranians were actually talking to the european three the u.k. germany and france sitting down to negotiate the iranians were actually offering to limit the number of centrifuges to three thousand or less that is a deal that if the united states and the europeans would have leapt at it would have avoided this kind of crisis at that point the united states was not willing to support the deal and it was not willing to give that element. that the iranians demanded which was a security guarantee the europeans wanted it the bush administration refused and how can you have any serious talks with iran without really talking about a security guarantee that is of the essence of the deal that has to be made right well i mean you know you talk about sort of the rhetoric coming out of the mainstream media and even from our own politicians and the assumption is or the portrayal of the iranians is always as these you know irrational

and north korea north korea immediately got a nuke iran iraq immediately got invaded in iran. which one do we want. well you when you look at these countries as if they're all the garden of eden look at how they are not seeing their own people i'm not i mean how can they be rational actors when there's a there's a long way should we be in in somalia should we be invading burma's you know what he wants to invade we just want to protect ourselves that's all we want to do but what i think we're doing and i think that's what president obama's doing the whole battlegroup to the straits of hormuz to say you know if you decide to block this we will take you out we have nuclear submarines there we have battleships there we have preparing for war no wonder no obama obama i would say obama is using the military might of the military to say hey listen it's a deterrence measure you bring our ships they're like oh well they brought their ships or that means if there is an option to go to war we can do that the president also has said that every options on the table he's never taken an opti

joined by iran's interior minister. lot larger it's possible thank you for your time mr stone is that they were talking several days after the e.u. introduced oil sanctions against iran and i know the iranian leadership has responded by saying the sanctions would do move home to your advantage iran mean you're still since iran gets seventy percent of its revenues from oil do you have any fears about negative social reactions including strikes as people may lose their jobs do you take this somehow into account in your work or to. these speculations are new to our country and our government or the power of the people all around ruling bodies or in power as a result of popular voting therefore our government and are all for it is a completely popular and our people have participated in all areas and spheres of our life from the very start of the revolution therefore as i've said there's nothing new about these talks which are actually quite outdated and irrelevant you know nonetheless they keep speculating on this matter o

the iaea will visit iran next month, but the supreme leader of iran, ayatollah khomeini, says that veil threats if actualized by the united states will come at a price. the u.s. military threats against us are to their detriment and a real was will harm them 10 times more. the more they threaten us, the more harmful it will be for them. they should know and of course they know that in return for such war threats and oil embargo threats, we have our own threats to make, me, if dee >> he's the holiest of the eamons. >> do you think that's worrisome? 72 it's anticipated. there's nothing surprising about that. i don't think he has quite the backup to support what he is saying. >> why? >> why? because there's no doubt they have to be aware and that they are taking a very, very big gamble with going ahead with nuclear weaponry and this is -- there's no mystery. this is being predictable for a long time. >> this is a much higher level of escalation on iran's part, his saying that. >> they've been saying that in different forms for quite a while. >> not at that level. not at the level of the im