- 2 months ago
As the Israel-Iran conflict enters day eight on Friday, Tehran has launched 35 missiles at Tel Aviv. Iran also claimed that it would not discuss the future of its nuclear programme while under attack by Israel.
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00:00Good evening, hello and welcome. You're with the news today. This is your prime time destination. News, newsmakers, talking points. The big talking point, is this Iran's supreme leader, Ali Khamenei's last stand? Is this Khamenei's last stand or is the West underestimating Iran? What will happen in Tehran next? We'll have experts from Washington, from New Delhi, from the Gulf states joining us on the news today.
00:26Also, will we ever get the full truth to what happened to AI-171? The black box holds the key. All that and much more as always on the news today. News without the noise. Let's get you the nine headlines.
00:41Iran targets the port city of Haifa in North Israel. Tel Aviv claims several targets struck in Tehran, including Iran's Center for Research and Development of Nuclear Weapons Project, as the war continues to escalate.
00:57U.S. moves 30 military jets to West Asia. Fueled tankers and bombers being moved to European bases. Deployment despite White House claim that Trump will decide on strikes only in two weeks.
01:14Weeks before the Air India crash, Parliament panel flagged aviation security funding. Report says budgetary allocation of 35 crore rupees for security infrastructure and accident investigation capabilities was insufficient.
01:32Prime Minister Modi says he declined Donald Trump's invite to Washington, D.C. for a meal together. Instead, asked the U.S. President to visit the land of Lord Jagannath Odisha. He makes the statement in Odisha.
01:50Kerala Congress clarifies on not inviting Shashi Tharoor for the by-elections. Says Tharoor was in the list of star campaigners. Tharoor had claimed he was not invited by the top brass.
02:02Congress infighting out in the open over a housing quota row in Karnataka. Congress MLA warns a Mantri's PA says will expose corruption. Karnataka government hikes 5% in minority housing quota.
02:20Sun TV family feud gets bigger. Long-simmering inheritance dispute turns into a full-blown legal confrontation.
02:27Dayanidhi Maran serves a legal notice to his brother Kalaniti accusing him of fraud.
02:35Pakistan's big admission of Operation Sindhu Damage Park. Deputy Prime Minister admits India hit key bases like Noor Khan. Says India caught Pakistan off guard.
02:43Yasha Swit Jaiswal continues his magical run in test cricket. Sets the tone with a brilliant hundred on the opening day of the first test against England in Leeds.
02:55The story that's breaking on the news today, tonight, this Friday night, Iran has launched 35 missiles now at Israel in another barrage.
03:14Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu today visited an Israeli Defense Force intelligence base.
03:22Iran claimed on Friday that it would not discuss the future of its nuclear program while under attack by Israel.
03:28Remember, America has been putting pressure on Iran to come to the negotiating table.
03:33Clearly, though, the war therefore escalating all the time, 35 missiles launched by Iran, Israel hitting back and targeting establishments close to nuclear sites.
03:46I want to go to our correspondent at the very latest, Shivani Sharma joins me from Tel Aviv.
03:51Shivani, presumably you're the hub of all the action taking place.
03:56Give us a sense of the mood in Tel Aviv at the moment, a city which has been the worst affected by those missile strikes.
04:09Rajdeep, I'll try to show the pictures because pictures speak louder the words.
04:14And here, this is the area which has been hit by an Iranian missile right in the place.
04:22This happens to be the financial hub of Israel.
04:25You see, this is the building that was hit yesterday by a rocket that came in from Iran.
04:31This whole area was hit severely.
04:34And these buildings, which are the offices of multiple companies, this happens to be the most busiest area in Tel Aviv.
04:42But here you see the roads are deserted, Rajdeep.
04:45This is severely affected.
04:47You see, where the rocket had hit yesterday and to a place across the road, it happens to be around 70 meters.
04:55Rajdeep, but these buildings, they've been hit in a severe manner.
04:59See, this is the building that has been broken.
05:04This whole area is now deserted.
05:06There is nobody inside these buildings now.
05:09The police has been sitting here and nobody is allowed to move closer to this area.
05:14So, this is just one building like this, Rajdeep.
05:18There are several others.
05:20I've been here since morning and I've been trying to reach more places, talk to people.
05:25And people say that certainly the lives are impacted.
05:29They are not coming out.
05:30They want to stay protected in the zones where they can just reach out to the shelters in no time.
05:35Because there have been sirens all day.
05:38And sometimes they are going to the shelters 10 times a day.
05:42So, this is the kind of situation you can see this.
05:45This road happens to be one of the busiest roads in Israel, close to Tel Aviv, in normal days.
05:52But this is deserted now.
05:54You hardly see people out here.
05:56Only those who have some very important work, they are coming out.
06:00And many of them are also in transit, leaving to the places which are more protected.
06:05In fact, today morning, there was a hit at Haifa.
06:09That's been told at Siba also.
06:12And when I came here, immediately after that, there was a siren sounded.
06:16We went to a shelter and right then, again, there was an attack.
06:20We could hear the explosion, though this was a place quite far away.
06:24So, lives are impacted, certainly.
06:26And the situation seems to escalate with each day.
06:31Rajdeep.
06:31Okay.
06:32Shivani Sharma joining me there from Tel Aviv, telling us how sirens are there virtually every few hours.
06:38People going into bunkers.
06:40So, clearly taking no chances, given the nature of the attacks of the Iranian missiles.
06:47I appreciate you joining us.
06:48And stay safe there, Shivani Sharma.
06:50Now, remember, as the war between Israel and Iran is entering its eighth day, one figure is key to the endgame in West Asia.
06:59He's styled as an Ayatollah, the supreme leader in Iran, and he has been in power in that country since way back in 1989.
07:09For the West, his days are numbered, and it's only a matter of time before Iran sees a regime change, according to the West.
07:16But is it that easy to depose the longest-serving head of state in the Middle East?
07:22Is the West making the cardinal sin of underestimating Iran and its supreme leader, Ali Khamenei?
07:29Take a look at our special report.
07:35In 1981, a young Ali Khamenei kissed the hand of Iran's then-revolutionary leader, Ayatollah Khomeini.
07:42A loyal foot-soldier of the revolution, Khamenei would rise, not just through faith, but also by force, to become supreme leader by 1989.
07:58Over the next 35 years, Khamenei transformed Iran into a regional powerhouse,
08:07through proxy militias, ballistic missiles, and nuclear brinkmanship, all while crushing dissent at home.
08:18Protest movements were met with batons.
08:21Women demanding freedom, labelled foreign agents.
08:25A surveillance state watched over by clerics and commanders.
08:28After the Hamas attack on Israel in October 2023, Khamenei's axis of resistance started to unravel.
08:40Hamas weakened, Hezbollah's command decimated, Assad ousted, and now Israeli missiles striking deep within Tehran.
08:50The 86-year-old cleric, once seen as a grandmaster of regional strategy, is on the defensive, yet defiant.
09:05They should not think they struck and it's over.
09:08No, life will become bitter for them, without a doubt.
09:12Khamenei still commands loyalty from the Revolutionary Guard, wields thousands of missiles, and for now controls a nuclear program.
09:25If Iran thinks he will go quietly, it may be mistaken.
09:29If any government, among the Islamic nations, in any way, or under any excuse, supports the Zionist regime,
09:40whether by normalizing relations, blocking aid to Palestine, or justifying the crimes of the Zionists,
09:47they should know that an eternal shame will hang over their history.
09:50So far, Iran has launched its largest ever missile barrage at Israel.
10:00But the show of force may only underline its isolation.
10:07The world has underestimated Iran before.
10:11It would be unwise to do so again, even as the walls seem to close in on the supreme leader's final chapter.
10:18We are a report, India Today.
10:24So let's raise the big question.
10:27Ayatollah Khamenei's future.
10:29Will Iran see a regime change as Israel appears to be claiming it will?
10:36Why is a regime change in Iran not so easy in the first instance, to give it some context?
10:40Remember, this is a very robust, theocratic system that has resisted external and internal pressure for decades.
10:50They fought a nine-year war with Iraq and survived.
10:54They've survived a long period of isolation from the world and yet continued.
10:58There's the loyalty of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards.
11:01They work on fear.
11:02Let's be clear.
11:03This is a regime where fear also works along with faith.
11:07Faith and fear work together when it comes to Ali Khamenei and the clerics who rule Iran.
11:14Nationalistic sentiment has been fueled by anti-Iran rhetoric of US and Israel.
11:20So there is that core sense of Israeli pride, Iranian pride which will come in.
11:26And Khamenei hopes to benefit from that.
11:28Remember also, there is no real opposition in Iran over these years.
11:32A very fragmented opposition that has been unable to challenge the regime effectively all these years.
11:39And there is the regional influence through proxies in the so-called axis of resistance.
11:44Yes, they weakened Hezbollah, Hamas, Houthis.
11:48But the truth is that Iran remains a central player in the Middle East.
11:54That's the question I want to ask.
11:56Will there be regime change in Iran?
11:59It's a question that could affect even this part of the world.
12:02Barbara Slavin, fellow at the Stimson Center and author, joins us.
12:06Thanks very much, Barbara, for joining us.
12:07Let's go straight to that question.
12:09How easy do you believe it is for the United States and Israel
12:13if they were to work in tandem in the weeks ahead to bring about a regime change in Iran?
12:19Well, first of all, thank you for having me.
12:21I don't think it's that easy.
12:24And I think we have to understand that Ayatollah Khamenei, yes, he is the supreme leader of Iran,
12:30but he presides over a regime that has many members, many constituents,
12:38that operates through a kind of consensus.
12:41He's not Saddam Hussein, you know, he's not a one-man band in the way that so many dictators
12:49and potentates in the region are.
12:51He is replaceable.
12:53If the Israelis carry out threats or the U.S. carries out threats to assassinate Ayatollah Khamenei,
13:00he will be replaced.
13:01And he's 86 years old.
13:03So there has been a succession plan that has been there, I'm sure, for many, many years.
13:09We also have the question of not just the government bureaucracy,
13:13but the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, the IRGC, which is really the backbone of the regime.
13:19And although the Israelis have decapitated the IRGC, it is a big organization,
13:26and I think 150,000 members, it will be able and has, as we've seen,
13:32been able to respond to the Israeli strikes by retaliating and causing significant damage
13:38and loss of life in Israel.
13:41So, no, I don't think regime change is something you do like that.
13:45That said, these attacks have exposed the vulnerability and the failures of the regime
13:53in a really graphic way.
13:54Their inability to foresee them coming to protect their elite and also the policies
14:02that they've espoused, which have motivated the Israelis to do this in the first place.
14:08You know, I just want to play a graphic, Barbara, on this big question that we posed.
14:12Is the West and Israel underestimating Iran?
14:16Factor number one, Iran's military is formidable in asymmetric warfare.
14:21You cannot deny that Iran has a large pool of missiles.
14:25They're not quite, therefore, like the Houthis, Hezbollah, Hamas,
14:28that have relied on Iran's funding.
14:31Factor number two, thousands of ballistic missiles and drones still exist in Iran's arsenal.
14:36Factor three, Iran is a very large country, economically resilient through, of course,
14:40its exports, especially oil that it's tried to non-West allies.
14:44Strategic ties with Russia and China provide tactical backing.
14:49And the fifth factor, proxy groups that expand Iran's regional influence in mid the Middle East.
14:54The sixth factor, end facility, nuclear facilities in Natanz, Fordo, which are,
14:59Fordo is underground, resilient to external strikes.
15:02The reason I put these factors up, Barbara, there was there's a belief that we saw Saddam Hussein's
15:07regime crumble when the United States joined the war against terror in the early 2000s.
15:14Is Khamenei going to be like Saddam, someone who the Americans can take out?
15:20Well, as I said before, you know, he may be killed in a missile strike somehow,
15:24although I'm sure he's well underground and protected at this point.
15:28But there are others who would step in.
15:30It's a large country.
15:31It has 90 million people.
15:33So, you know, and the United States is not invading Iran.
15:37There will be no boots on the ground.
15:40This is an air war.
15:41And no war has ever been definitively won or lost based on airstrikes.
15:46I mean, if you look at the U.S. experience with Iraq, there were many cases where the U.S.
15:52bombed Iraq, bombed facilities and so on.
15:54And it took a U.S. invasion by ground forces to eventually get rid of Saddam Hussein, despite
16:01economic sanctions, all the pressure that was put on Iran during the 1990s.
16:06So, no, this is not how regime change will happen.
16:09But there is deep anger and unease in Iran over the conduct of their foreign policy and
16:17their military policy over the nuclear policy, whether it was worth it to spend blood,
16:24and treasure on this program, that it seems quite obvious that the West and Israel are
16:29not going to allow Iran to maintain.
16:33The question we all have is whether Iran will still be able to covertly develop a nuclear
16:38bomb.
16:39India should know something about that.
16:41Certainly, it's likely that they have moved material and equipment to undisclosed locations.
16:48And that, of course, would be the ultimate irony, that Israel bombs Iran to get rid of
16:53the nuclear program.
16:54And that causes Iran to develop a bomb.
16:57You see, you mentioned briefly that there is an element of unease, unrest, with a regime
17:04that's been in power for almost half a century.
17:07Ayatollah Khomeini came to power, 79, we're in 2025, so that's 46 years.
17:11Do you believe that if there was the slightest opportunity that the people of Iran had, would
17:17they want to see the clerics who have ruled them for these four and a half decades go?
17:23Or do they still have a lot of support on the street, given the fact that faith and fear,
17:29as I said earlier, coexist today in Iran?
17:31I think the regime is incredibly unpopular.
17:35And if they ever had real elections, it would be gone in a heartbeat.
17:39But for it to fall while a foreigner, a foreign power is attacking the country is very different.
17:47And you've seen, even from Iranian dissidents in the West, that there has been a kind of
17:52rallying effect against what is seen as attacks that have gone way beyond the nuclear and military
18:00infrastructure that have hit apartment buildings.
18:02You remember the Israelis used to be famous for their sort of surgical assassinations.
18:07They would catch one man on the street.
18:09Now they're bombing apartment buildings in order to kill university professors, and they're
18:15killing lots of civilians.
18:16So this has caused, obviously, a big response.
18:19The other question is, what comes next?
18:20If you get rid of the Islamic Republic, what follows?
18:24Is it better?
18:25And one fear that Iranians have is that the real Israeli game plan is not regime change,
18:31but destabilization and fragmentation, that the Israelis want Iran to collapse, that they
18:37want pieces of it to fall off, that they want ethnic minorities to rise up, that they can't
18:43bear the thought of a powerful Iran, no matter what its government.
18:47So I think we should be fairly cautious about predicting, A, regime change, and B, what would
18:52follow?
18:52You know, you mentioned what would follow, because we saw with Saddam Hussein, when he
18:58fell, for a while there was complete chaos in Iraq.
19:03There's also a belief that the opposition is simply not strong enough in Iran.
19:06Most of the opposition activists have either fled the country or have disappeared.
19:13There are huge questions over human rights violations, so the fear factor.
19:16But the truth also is that a lot of close aides of Kamini have been either assassinated or
19:22taken out, or he finds himself, some believe, isolated.
19:27Do you believe that there is, as you said earlier, a succession plan in place?
19:33Who will replace Kamini in the worst-case scenario for Iran?
19:36Well, it could be another Ayatollah, it could be his second son, Mojtaba, any number of clerics
19:45in the so-called Assembly of Experts, which is the body that is nominally charged with choosing
19:50the Supreme Leader and supervising the Supreme Leader.
19:53It could be a military commander, someone whose name and face are not familiar to us.
19:58So, you know, I think it's very hard to speculate.
20:02But Iran is pretty tough, and as you pointed out, it's very large, and people will hunker
20:07down and, you know, get through this.
20:09I think a bigger question is, how long will Israel keep this up?
20:13You know, when will Israel run out of missiles?
20:17How long will the United States continue to support Israel in this campaign?
20:22Will it, you know, go on forever?
20:24This is not like Russia-Ukraine.
20:26I mean, I think there is, there's going to have to be some sort of end to this, because
20:31I don't think that Israel can sustain, certainly not at this tempo, can sustain a war like this.
20:39So, final question, a quick answer, Barbara Slavin, how do you, if you were to, if you were
20:44to put a pundit's hat on, do you believe the regime will survive, or is it its last stand?
20:51I think in the short term it will survive.
20:53I think in the long term, no.
20:54Okay, short term, it will, you're saying, will survive in the long term.
21:00Now, how long is long term, is the big question, Barbara.
21:04In the long term, we're all dead, as they say.
21:07That's right.
21:08Your guess is as good as mine.
21:10Okay, thank you very much.
21:12Barbara Slavin, joining me there from the Stimson Center, someone who's tracked Iran very, very
21:17closely.
21:17I appreciate you joining me.
21:19I'm now turning to someone who's seen widely as India's foremost expert on the Middle East,
21:24has served there as ambassador in several countries in the region.
21:28Talmiz Ahmed now joins me.
21:30Appreciate your joining us, Talmiz Ahmed.
21:33How do you see, you might have heard the Western political commentary that suggests that Iran
21:38is clearly on the back foot.
21:40Ali Khamenei, the supreme leader at 86, facing a battle for survival, that this could be the
21:46last stand of the clerics who've dominated Iran's politics for half a century.
21:49Do you agree that this is Khamenei's last stand?
21:52We can describe this commentary with one word, absolute rubbish.
22:00There is an intense hostility towards Iran in large sections of the American media and some
22:07European media as well.
22:09This dates back to the Islamic revolution in 1979.
22:13Also, it is very heavily influenced by the Israel lobby and by Israel itself.
22:19There are also very strong political lobbies in this regard all across the Republican Party
22:26and also some sections of the Democratic Party as well.
22:30So there is a broad political consensus in the United States that is actively hostile to the
22:37Iranians.
22:38Actually, what we have seen over the last seven days of the of the conflict is that actually
22:45Iran has done rather better than what the Israelis and their people had expected.
22:51We have been told by Netanyahu that we command the skies and we have carried out massive
22:57bombardment at will, etc.
22:59Actually, the response of Iran and the massive shower of missiles has really shaken the Israeli
23:05public opinion.
23:06At the same time, Israel has not been as successful as it had thought it would be with regard to
23:13the nuclear facilities.
23:15All the reports indicate that the damage so far has been superficial.
23:20It is because of this that a desperate Israel has now turned to the Americans and is extraordinarily
23:27anxious that the Americans should now join the war on their behalf and actually carried
23:33out the and carry out the damage that they could not do.
23:37So it is really a very mischievous Israel that has initiated this conflict, which now wants
23:43to broaden it and bring in the Americans on their side.
23:47With due respect, Talmiz Ahmed, you're saying the Western political commentary suggesting that
23:52Iran is finished is nonsense.
23:54But let me counter that with say, look, the top commanders of the Revolutionary Guard have
23:59been killed in the Israeli attacks.
24:01Several nuclear scientists have been killed, close aides, political advisors of Mr. Khamenei,
24:07who is now 86, have also been killed in different attacks last year and this year.
24:12The leader is not getting any younger.
24:15Do you therefore not accept the fact that you've got a supreme leader in Iran who is getting
24:22increasingly isolated and he is the one who is getting desperate?
24:25I think this is the way in which there is an attempt being made to seduce Donald Trump into
24:34the conflict by by holding out this temptation that we are so close to regime change.
24:43We just have to do a little bit.
24:45But this kind of rubbish we have heard from Israel and pro-Israel elements in the West for
24:50the last 20 years, they've been predicting the fall of the Islamic regime so frequently
24:56that it is now become boring.
24:58They have been successful in killing a large number of people.
25:03Obviously, the Iranian security apparatus has been has been porous and has been found wanting.
25:09But since when did a country collapse because a few people at the top were killed?
25:14All of us at some level are dispensable and everyone who is eliminated is very quickly
25:21replaced.
25:22What Israel does by by killing these top leaders is to gain some plus points with their domestic
25:29opinion.
25:30They like to show to them how great we are.
25:33We could penetrate everywhere.
25:34But that has never changed the scenario.
25:37The Israelis have been at war with Hamas for the last 30 years, have killed a lot of Hamas
25:43leaders, but they have never been successful in eliminating Hamas.
25:47And exactly the same thing will now operate.
25:50You remember when the Americans had attacked Iraq and they finally killed Saddam Hussein,
25:56they eliminated large sections of the Iraqi armed forces, and then they were bottled up
26:02in Iraq for the next 20 years.
26:04So I'm not particularly impressed with this kind of showmanship.
26:08You know, you're calling it showmanship against Talmiz Ahmed.
26:11Are you telling me, therefore, you don't believe that there will be a regime change,
26:15that Iranians themselves, the people of Iran, are hankering for change after 46 years of
26:20complete control, first by Ayatollah Khomeini, then by Ali Khomeini, that there are instances
26:25of human rights violations against women in particular.
26:29You don't seem to believe that the people of Iran will now revolt and that will ensure
26:35regime change.
26:36There was an attempt at the regime change in its early years, when the Western powers and
26:46some Gulf states had encouraged Iraq to attack Iran.
26:51Nearly a million people were killed in that war.
26:53It lasted eight years.
26:56The Islamic revolution got strengthened rather than weakened.
26:59Now also, who has done this kind of opinion poll within Iraq to constantly keep on saying
27:08the Iranians are going to rise up, the Iranians are disgruntled, the Iranians are going to do
27:13this or that?
27:14No one in the West, given the kind of rubbish that you see in their media, no one in the West
27:19actually knows Iran or wishes to know Iran.
27:23Iran is a very substantial, a very old and a very complex country.
27:29And the Iranian people or everyone has said that they are an extraordinarily nationalistic
27:35people and they despise external intervention in their political order.
27:40Therefore, I reject out of hand any of these loose suggestions coming from interested Western
27:47parties that Iran is at the verge of collapse.
27:50None of that is going to happen.
27:52In fact, Iran has given an extraordinarily good account in terms of the attacks that
27:58it has launched at Israel and the Israelis are seriously worried and seriously wound
28:03founting.
28:04I mean, they have been found wanting.
28:06You know, but let me push you again, Mr. Ahmed.
28:09The truth also is, let's not deny this.
28:11This is an intensely despotic regime.
28:13It is seen to be tyrannical, as I said, towards women in particular.
28:17It's seen to have never observed human rights.
28:19There have been assassinations, disappearances.
28:21And therefore, there is a feeling that people are just waiting.
28:24It's a volcano waiting to explode.
28:26And if Iran is fully isolated in some ways, like its proxies like Hezbollah and Hamas are
28:32defeated or on the back foot in such a situation, even the Russians and Chinese are distancing
28:37themselves from Iran.
28:39The world is changing according to this Western narrative.
28:41None of this is true.
28:45None of this is true, not even slightly.
28:48What the Western powers hate is that countries that had been formally colonized by them or placed
28:57under their influence now are sources of resistance to imperialism.
29:03We are today at the cusp of a new order, an order that will see the empowerment of new
29:09middle powers, Iran amongst them.
29:11There is an intense hostility from Western sources, particularly the Americans who now see
29:18their hegemony threatened.
29:20And therefore, they are willing to say anything, do anything in order to ensure that their hegemonic
29:27order is not disturbed.
29:29Where China and Russia are concerned, they are part of the challenge to the old order.
29:36They are very supportive of Iran.
29:39They obviously there is no one who wants to get involved in a military conflict.
29:44There are no such alliances that they used to be in the 19th century, which made that assassination
29:50into a world war.
29:52But you will see that once this conflict is over and regardless of the damage that Iran is
29:58sustains, there will be a greater impetus towards a new world order than we have seen so far.
30:05You know, but tell me, Zahmat, you know the Arab world better than most.
30:09The Arab world, Arab leaders across countries like Saudi Arabia, UAE, Kuwait, Bahrain, these
30:14countries have had a very difficult relationship with Iran in the past.
30:18There's the Sunni, Shia angle.
30:19What role do you see them playing?
30:21Do you see the Arab world also isolating Iran the longer this conflict continues or just
30:26the reverse?
30:27There is a very deep seated concern all across the Gulf and in West Asia in general about
30:37the emerging Israeli military hegemony.
30:42No one likes to see that.
30:44Up to now in West Asia, you had a balance of power, an effective balance of power.
30:50There used to be quarrels from time to time, but they used to be contained.
30:53What Israel is now doing, largely due to the domestic compulsions of Netanyahu, is to break
31:01all norms and rules and to go as far as possible as it can in wreaking damage and destruction.
31:08But there is no strategy.
31:09What does the Israeli want?
31:11As far as I can understand, the Arab world is very deeply concerned about this monster
31:18that has emerged in their midst.
31:19They fear that the balance of power has been broken.
31:24And now they will look at new balance, new sources of alignments among themselves and
31:29with external powers.
31:31And I believe China and Russia will be very major players in this scenario as soon as the
31:37conflict is done.
31:38So you don't see Talmi Zahmed, Iran rushing to sign a deal or strike a deal with the United
31:45States on the nuclear issue, desperate to end this conflict.
31:48You actually seem to believe Iran is ready to take the Israeli blows and if anything, escalate
31:53the conflict further.
31:54Am I correct?
31:56I think Iran would like to do a nuclear deal.
32:00Do recall they did this deal 10 years ago in good faith.
32:04They abided by all the terms of the deal.
32:07It is the United States, specifically Donald Trump, influenced heavily by Netanyahu, who abruptly
32:13withdrew from the deal.
32:14Much of what has gone wrong in West Asia is due to this single act.
32:19But then the Israelis don't want any any rapprochement, any engagement between the Iranians and
32:27the Americans.
32:27They want to constantly have this bogey of Iran, first about a nuclear weapons program and
32:34then about regime change.
32:36These are, for example, the nuclear weapons program.
32:38Consistently, American sources have advised their government and the international community
32:44that there is no weapons program.
32:47And constantly, Netanyahu has said over the last 15 to 20 years that they are one week
32:53away from a bomb.
32:54They are two weeks away from a bomb.
32:56They are 10 days away from a bomb without adducing any shred of evidence in this regard.
33:02Now he has picked up the bogey of regime change just to seduce Donald Trump into the conflict.
33:08Now, Donald Trump is a complex personality and we cannot predict which way he will go.
33:14He could go like we thought two days ago that he is now ready for war.
33:18And now he has told us yesterday he is not ready for war.
33:21He wants to give diplomacy a chance and is willing to wait for two weeks.
33:25He is very unpredictable.
33:27But the fact is that as of now, Netanyahu's gambit has not been successful.
33:34My final question then in conclusion, just to help our viewers understand Ali Kameeni,
33:38this name that is making the headlines every night, Iran's supreme leader.
33:43Do you believe he is, as the Israelis portray, a modern day Hitler who must go?
33:49Or do you believe he is someone who in his own way is very popular and has transformed Iran?
33:54Who really is Ali Kameeni the devil or is he a hero for Iranians?
34:02None of this has any basis in reality.
34:06Iran has made numerous attempts at engaging with the Americans and with the Western communities in good faith.
34:15It has suffered a lot at the hands of the West.
34:19And the best example in this regard is the Iran-Iraq war.
34:22And yet after that, the Americans inflicted upon them the dual containment when they had nothing to do with the Iraqi occupation of Kuwait.
34:33All of these negative influences have come from Israel.
34:38Israel has been a major presence in the councils of the United States.
34:42And it has built up movements in its favor.
34:45Recall here in the 1990s and the early part of this century, you had the Neocon movement,
34:51a very powerful cabal of intellectuals who used to uphold Israel's interests over the interests of their own country.
34:59This kind of name calling to refer to Kameeni as Hitler, only because Kameeni is an Iranian patriot.
35:07But can the Israelis or anyone deny that under him there have been so many overtures for dialogue and conversation on serious subjects?
35:16Do recall here that after 9-11, the best friend the Americans had in the region were the Iranians.
35:24They were the ones who guided them with regard to the targeting of Al-Qaeda leaders.
35:29And they expected that they would get something in return.
35:33In 2002 and 2003, there were 16 rounds of dialogue between the Americans and the Iranians in Geneva
35:41in order to manage matters relating to Iraq after the collapse of the Saddam regime.
35:48And this was called off by the Americans because the American diplomats were terrified
35:53that their political establishment would get to know about it.
35:57At that time, the Bush regime was very robustly influenced by the Neocons.
36:02Even after that, you have the nuclear agreement.
36:05Did the Iranians withdraw from the agreement or was it the Americans?
36:09And then the Americans imposed upon Iran some of the most severe sanctions that can be imposed on another country
36:16for no fault of the Iranians themselves.
36:20This Iran has been subjected to extraordinary privation, extraordinary violence,
36:27extraordinary name-calling.
36:29It is not a normal country because of this.
36:31And yet it has survived.
36:33It still wants to engage with the Americans.
36:35I would say to you that they would be happy with a deal with the Americans.
36:40They've had five rounds of dialogue and that they were going to have the sixth round
36:45when the Israelis attacked.
36:47Talmiz Ahmed, for giving us that comprehensive view, a kind of big picture view of Iran
36:56and why we should not underestimate Iran, I appreciate you joining us.
37:01We've made this effort to bring you two sides of the story.
37:05If you see Western narratives, it's completely one-sided.
37:08Our attempt is to get all sides to the story.
37:10We had the Israeli foreign minister yesterday.
37:13Today, we had leading voices on Iran.
37:15I appreciate Talmiz Ahmed joining me.
37:17Just to remind you, at 10 p.m., another top guest joining me, Ashley Tellis,
37:21will tell me exactly what Donald Trump is up to.
37:24He's the other key figure in this Israel-Iran conflict.
37:28That's coming up.
37:29But first, of course, let's turn to my other big story.
37:32It's been eight days since the Air India Flight 171 crash
37:35that claimed more than 275 lives in Ahmedabad.
37:38Since then, there have been many questions and countless theories being floated.
37:43But the answer to all of them could lie in the aircraft's black box,
37:46which was recovered earlier this week.
37:49But if the past is anything to go by,
37:52we've often seen that these reports do not make the light of day.
37:57What could happen in this instance?
37:59Could the black box be the answer to all that is expected
38:04in finding out just what happened to AI-171?
38:10Joining me at this moment is another special guest.
38:13Guy Greton is Associate Professor Aviation and the Environment
38:17at the Cranfield University.
38:19He's an aeronautical engineer.
38:20Appreciate your joining us, Mr. Grattan.
38:24You've looked at various investigations in the past.
38:27Do you believe that the black box will offer all the clues
38:30given that both the flight data recorder and the black box are there
38:34that will ensure that we will know what happened to AI-171?
38:40I think it's very likely, yes.
38:44The two recorders, the flight data recorder or FDR,
38:50should tell us what happened to the aeroplane
38:53and equally critically, the cockpit voice recorder or CVR
38:58should tell us what the crew thought was happening to the aeroplane
39:02and any actions that they took.
39:06So whilst, of course, the analysis of all of the wreckage
39:11is equally important,
39:13I think that these two boxes will provide the most critical clues
39:20in understanding what occurred in this awful tragedy of Ahmedabad.
39:27Of course, there is a, you know,
39:30the belief is that the black box itself
39:33may need to go to the West, to America,
39:37for further decoding.
39:39Do you believe that it's only in America
39:41that we will know what happens to a black box?
39:44Is this not something that, in your view,
39:47every country has enough of expertise and research
39:50to decode the black box?
39:52Not every country, certainly.
39:55But Britain, France and America
39:58certainly all have that capability.
40:01And India has been creating that capability itself
40:04with Indistan Aeronautics at Lucknow.
40:07So I believe that part of the debate that's going on right now
40:12is whether the Indian facility is yet mature enough
40:16to be able to do this work
40:17or whether it needs to come to one of the Western facilities.
40:22And clearly, if it comes over here,
40:26then the Indian authorities will need to maintain
40:29absolute security over it
40:31because it's so critical and important to India
40:34to get this right.
40:35So I find that unsurprising
40:38that there has been a bit of a delay.
40:40However frustrating that is for everybody
40:42in learning what these devices have got to tell us.
40:47What apart from the black box holds the key?
40:50You mentioned the frustration with the delay,
40:52but it's not just the black box, is it?
40:55What else could hold the key
40:56to what happened to flight AI-171?
40:59Well, the wreckage itself.
41:01And so the Indian AAIB will have been relocating
41:09all of the parts of the aircraft to a secure facility.
41:12They will be inspecting everything,
41:15understanding the damage.
41:17And in particular, they're going to be looking
41:20for anything that shows signs of damage
41:23that may have occurred before the crash.
41:26And if they find anything that shows signs
41:29of pre-crash damage,
41:31then that is also going to be very important evidence
41:34as to the nature of the accident.
41:37One final question, Mr. Gratton.
41:39What role do Boeing and GE Aerospace play
41:42in an investigation like this?
41:43Much at stake for Boeing in particular.
41:46How do you, as investigators,
41:48manage potential conflicts of interest
41:51given the enormous commercial stakes involved?
41:55So this investigation is being led quite rightly
41:58by the Indian AAIB.
42:00However, Boeing obviously understand the 707
42:04better than anybody in the world.
42:07General Electric understand the engines
42:09in that aircraft better than anybody in the world.
42:11So having them there advising the AAIB
42:15is massively enhancing to their ability
42:20to do a competent investigation.
42:23However...
42:24Would they accept the investigation findings
42:27given their own conflict of interest involved?
42:30Well, the way the AAIB report
42:34is likely to be issued in due course
42:37is it will conclude what is believed to have happened.
42:41But then it will go on
42:43and it will provide recommendations.
42:46And those recommendations
42:47are intended to prevent
42:50any future similar accidents.
42:52So one hopes that GE and Boeing
42:58and for the matter,
43:00the rest of the world's airlines
43:02operating the 787
43:03will read very carefully
43:06and accept those recommendations.
43:09But until that has happened,
43:11we can't actually know
43:12what their actions will be.
43:14I'm going to leave it there, Guy Grattan,
43:15for explaining to our viewers
43:17what lies ahead for the investigators,
43:20the challenges,
43:21and the role of the black box
43:22and the flight data recorder.
43:23Thanks very much
43:24for joining me here on the news today.
43:27Okay, let's turn from there
43:28to our ground report tonight.
43:30Monsoons, floods,
43:32wreaking havoc in several parts of the country.
43:35Here's a look at what's been happening.
43:37Incessant rainfall over the past 48 hours
43:39has brought Jarkhand to its knees.
43:41Continuous rain has triggered a sudden rise
43:44in water levels of most rivers in the state.
43:46In Kunti, several people left stranding on the river,
43:50thankfully rescued in an operation
43:51coordinated by local authorities and NDRF.
43:54Jarkhand, Jamshetpur, the most affected.
43:56The entire city flooded due to heavy rain.
43:59City's Asiana Woodland Society,
44:00located on National Highway 33,
44:03completely submerged.
44:04The Tata Ranchi Highway has been shut.
44:06In neighbouring Bengal,
44:08a flood-like situation now being seen
44:10in Arambagh and Khanakul areas
44:12of the Hooghly district.
44:13Water overflowing from the Dwarkeshwar River,
44:15entering residential areas
44:17and flooding several homes.
44:19The Shilawati River in Bengal's Bakura district
44:21is also overflowing.
44:22The overflowing river has submerged
44:24multiple ridges,
44:25cut off communication
44:26on the Bakura-Jhagram State Highway.
44:29Sudden and heavy rainfall
44:33flooding the pilgrimage route
44:35and leaving thousands of devotees
44:37trapped en route to the revered
44:38Purnagiri Shrine in Uttarakhand's Champawat.
44:42However, the stranded devotees
44:43safely evacuated by the SDRF
44:45in a dramatic rescue operation.
44:48Heavy rainfall causing significant damage
44:50to road infrastructure in part of Mumbai.
44:52Large potholes now being seen
44:54in Vadala's JJ Bridge.
44:55Visuals on your screen show
44:57a deteriorated road surface
44:58posing as always a serious risk
45:00to commuters and vehicles.
45:03Heavy rains continuing to last
45:04several districts of Himachal Pradesh.
45:06Vehicular movement
45:07on the Dharamshala-Hoshiarpur National Highway
45:10came to a halt after a landslide.
45:12The Kangana bus stand also flooded
45:14due to the incessant rain.
45:20Okay, let's turn to tonight's fact check.
45:23The claim is Iranian women
45:25are now defying the regime
45:26amidst the ongoing Israel-Iran conflict.
45:30The fact is,
45:30the videos that you are often seeing on this
45:33predate the ongoing Iran-Israel conflict.
45:36They are not recent.
45:37So if you catch such videos
45:39about women now defying
45:40the Iranian regime,
45:42please think of them
45:43as old videos.
45:45No new such videos
45:46have emerged
45:47while the conflict is on.
45:50Okay, let's turn from there
45:52to our good news today story.
45:53In a world often driven by greed,
45:55one moment of kindness
45:56has captured the hearts of millions.
45:58A 93-year-old man,
46:00that's right,
46:0093-year-old man
46:02from Maharashtra's
46:03Sambhaji Nagar
46:03who begged on the streets
46:05to save for a mangal sutra
46:07for his wife
46:07found an unexpected gesture
46:09of compassion.
46:11Here's the story
46:11from Chhatrapati,
46:13Sambhaji Nagar.
46:14On a pilgrimage to Pantarpur,
46:2493-year-old Nivruti Shinde
46:27and his wife Shanta Bai
46:29made a quiet stop
46:30at a jewellery store
46:31in Chhatrapati,
46:32Sambhaji Nagar,
46:33carrying dreams,
46:35love
46:35and a bag full of coins.
46:36Nivruti had saved
46:401,120 rupees,
46:43every rupee collected
46:44by begging outside temples
46:45and at traffic signals
46:47over a month
46:48just to buy his wife
46:49a gold-plated mangal sutra.
46:51The shopkeeper
47:05Nilesh Kivansara
47:06of Gopika Jewelers
47:08was moved.
47:09Instead of charging
47:10the full amount,
47:11he took only 20 rupees,
47:1310 rupees from each
47:14and gave them the ornament
47:15worth nearly rupees 3,000.
47:21Local say Nivruti
47:42begs in the harsh weather
47:43sleeping outside temples
47:45just to give his wife
47:46some dignity.
47:47In their weathered hands,
48:11a symbol of devotion
48:13and fidelity.
48:14In a jeweler's heart,
48:16an act of grace.
48:17Together,
48:18it is the kind of humanity
48:19that shines brighter
48:21than gold.
48:22Bureau Report,
48:23India Today.
48:29Good to see.
48:30Jai Maharashtra,
48:31Jai Bharat.
48:33At 10pm tonight,
48:34I'll be joined
48:34by another leading voice
48:36who understands
48:36Donald Trump
48:37better than most.
48:38That's at 10pm
48:39with Ashley Tellis.
48:40But my image tonight,
48:42President Draupadi Murmu
48:43getting emotional
48:44as the students
48:45of the National Institute
48:46for the Empowerment
48:46of Persons with Visual Disabilities
48:49extended birthday wishes
48:50to her with a song.
48:53That's the president
48:54getting careful.
48:55It's our image of the day.
48:57Stay well, stay safe.
48:58Good night, Shubhra 3.
48:59Jai Namaskar.
49:00Happy party collectively,
49:13Happy party is a studio.
49:17Happy party.
49:21Happy party.
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