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00:04Hello, welcome. I'm Kasia Madeira. This is the Iran War Today. Our daily briefing bringing
00:10you up to date with all you need to know on day 51 of the U.S.-Israel war with Iran.
00:16So over the next 15 minutes or so, we'll get the very latest from our teams across the world.
00:21We're going to be live with our correspondents in Washington and Jerusalem. We're going to
00:26start with some of today's key developments. President Trump says a U.S. team is heading
00:31to Pakistan for talks with Iran, but he's again threatened to strike Iranian power plants and
00:36bridges if a deal isn't reached soon, saying, no more Mr. Nice Guy. Security's tight in the
00:43Pakistani capital Islamabad, but Iran is yet to confirm if they'll participate in the talks.
00:49The U.S. president also accuses Iran of violating the ceasefire by continuing its blockade of the
00:55Strait of Hormuz. An Iranian official calls for him to lift the foolish American blockade
01:01on Iran's ports. And we'll have the very latest from inside Iran with the BBC's chief international
01:07correspondent, Liz Doucette. I think the only bit of light in this dark is that behind the scenes and
01:14this war of words, the mediators are still exchanging messages. And in Lebanon, the ceasefire there is
01:22allowing authorities to continue work to repair infrastructure in the south of the country.
01:31So we're going to start with the news from President Trump that a U.S. delegation is heading
01:36to Pakistan on Monday for Iran negotiations. And as we've become used to, this news came from the
01:43president in a post on his Truth Social account. In his message, he didn't say who'd be taking part
01:49in the U.S. delegation. But he did say it was time for the Iran killing machine to end. And
01:56he again
01:57urged the Iranians to make a deal, posting, we're offering a very fair and reasonable deal. And I
02:03hope that they take it because if they don't, the United States is going to knock out every single
02:08power plant and every single bridge in Iran. No more Mr. Nice Guy. Well, speaking to ABC News,
02:15Mike Walsh, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, denied that the threat to hit infrastructure
02:21from President Trump could amount to a war crime. This is just a ridiculous argument we've heard
02:28in the media and from the Iranians and frankly, from some lawmakers here at home.
02:37Well, President Trump also accused Tehran of a total violation of the ceasefire agreement in
02:43the Strait of Hormuz. There's no traffic sailing through the strait, which is under an effective
02:48blockade by both Iran and the U.S. Now, you'll recall until the war, one fifth of the world's oil
02:54and gas normally passed through Hormuz. Iranian state media showed pictures of vessels near Larrak
03:00Island. The Iranian Revolutionary Guard says its forces have today turned back to oil tankers
03:06sailing under the flags of Botswana and Angola. On Saturday, several vessels said that they were
03:13fired on or hit by projectiles near the narrows. Well, Iran has also accused the U.S. of breaching
03:20the truce agreement with its naval blockade. Here's the Iranian parliamentary speaker.
03:27We even stated it to them explicitly. We will close the Strait of Hormuz and we will certainly
03:32pursue war. We will utilize all our tools. In this way, we were able to impose our will and our
03:38demand.
03:40So, let's get the very latest. Let's cross over to Washington, our North America correspondent.
03:44Simi Jolaosho joins us live. And Simi, lots of fighting talk from both the Trump administration
03:49and also we heard from the Iranian side there. When it comes to the negotiations,
03:54what do we know? Who's going and what do they hope to achieve?
04:00In terms of who's going, well, the BBC has been told that the Vice President J.D. Vance will be
04:06leading these talks alongside Special Envoy Steve Whitcoff and President Trump's son-in-law
04:12and senior advisor Jared Kushner. In terms of what they're hoping to achieve, well, we know
04:17the key demands by the U.S. is firstly for the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz and a permanent
04:23end to Iran's blockade there. Secondly, constraints on Iran's nuclear program, including them giving
04:31up their enriched material, dismantling all their major nuclear enrichment facilities.
04:37And thirdly, an end to Iran's funding of its proxies, including Hezbollah in Lebanon.
04:45Now, the U.S. has framed these talks as a final, sort of final diplomatic off-ramp before a potential
04:52return to a full-scale regional war. And when it comes to the potential of these negotiations
04:59not getting anywhere, we heard that really strongly worded threat from Donald Trump.
05:05Yeah, President Trump has again dialed up his rhetoric, saying that he could knock out all
05:11of Iran's power plants and bridges. He even said that it would be his honor to do what has to
05:18be
05:18done. There have been concerns from legal experts here that this could constitute a war crime. But
05:24what we're seeing out of the U.S. is the naval blockade remaining in place. We're seeing
05:30additional sanctions being imposed. And then these threats from President Trump on civilian infrastructure.
05:37It's clear that the U.S. is continuing to apply pressure, economic pressure on Iran into a deal.
05:44But these threats raises the stakes considerably, especially at a moment where the ceasefire
05:51and these negotiations are appearing quite fragile.
05:57They are indeed. Simi, as always, thank you so much. Simi Jola Osho, thank you.
06:01Well, the Pakistani capital is again being placed in lockdown in preparation for these negotiations.
06:07Our correspondent Caroline Davies is in the capital, Islamabad.
06:11Even before the President's post on social media, we were starting to see this across many of the
06:16streets in Islamabad, barbed wire stopping the roads. And you can see here that there are also
06:21police. We've seen army and also paramilitary groups, the rangers, stopping these roads. Islamabad
06:27police have also said that they are stopping heavy vehicles coming into the city. And as we were driving
06:32around, we saw a lot of traffic as many of those main entrances into the city were closed. Here you
06:37can
06:37see this road, which is one of the main central roads, arterial roads in Islamabad. It's been entirely closed
06:43off for about a mile. At the other end is the diplomatic center of the city. Down there as well
06:49is the hotel where these talks were taking place last weekend. And we know from this morning that
06:55guests there were being told that they needed to vacate the hotel. So already a lot of expectation.
07:00Now this confirmation from the President that talks will be taking place, but still waiting
07:04for more details about exactly what that entails. So what's the mood like inside Iran as the days tick
07:11down towards the end of the two week ceasefire between the US and Iran? Well, our chief international
07:17correspondent Liz Doucette is in the Iranian capital Tehran. Now she's reporting on condition that none of
07:23her material is used on the BBC's Persian service. These restrictions apply to all international media
07:29organizations operating in Iran. And Liz says that the only bit of light is that mediators are still
07:36exchanging messages. It's hard for people here to be hopeful. They're living day by day. We've been
07:43here just a few days and, you know, try to put yourself in their shoes. They lived through a war
07:49last
07:50year. They've lived through five weeks of a devastating war where missiles slammed into this capital. And we've
07:56been seeing some of them, even though the US and Israel said they were only targeting military sites.
08:01They did crash into homes. Civilians were killed. Iranians are also living under that near total
08:08internet blackout, which is now one of the longest in history. So they have no sense as to when their
08:14own lives are going to improve. In fact, prices, which were high before the war, are even higher now.
08:22This is being decided by leaders, which they may or may not support, and by great powers far from Iran.
08:31They just, they're not optimistic that this ceasefire is going to hold. So that means how can they be
08:37hopeful that this war will end and a deal which will benefit them will be agreed. There are Iranians
08:44who go out in response to their government's call to support the government, to show signs of defiance.
08:51Of course, they're among the government supporters. They will condemn President Trump. There are others
08:56who I have to say that we've met are deeply disappointed. We went to one neighborhood here
09:02in Tehran where a large stretch of the street had essentially been wiped out. The target had been
09:07a building, which was just a gaping hole. No one in the neighborhood could say that it was a military
09:13attack. They said that only civilians had been there. They hadn't seen any military activity. And the
09:19graffiti on the wall said Trump's help has arrived. Death to America. And the owner of a building,
09:26which had also collapsed with the force of that blast, said President Trump said he would send help
09:32to the people of Iran. Is this the gift he wanted to give to us? So people have very, very
09:38different
09:39views. I suppose there are some who are still hoping that out of this, something good will come. But right
09:45now,
09:46it's very hard in what many would say would be the darkest days in modern Iranian history,
09:52very uncertain times, very hard for them to see any kind of way out.
09:57Lise Doucette in Iran. Now, in Lebanon, the shaky ceasefire remains under pressure. The Israeli
10:05defense minister, Israel Katz, says that the IDF has been instructed to, in his words,
10:10use full force in Lebanon should Israeli troops face further threats. The 10-day ceasefire, which came
10:17into effect on Thursday, is allowing authorities there to continue their work to reopen and repair
10:22infrastructure in the south of the country. The Lebanese military says it has fully reopened a
10:27road linking the city of Nabatial with the Hardali area and had partially reopened the Burj Rahal-Taya
10:34bridge. Well, let's cross over to Jerusalem. My colleague Nick Beak joins us live. So Nick,
10:40just talk us through the warnings coming from Israel Katz.
10:45Hi, Kasia. Yes, we know that the Israeli government didn't want this ceasefire and public opinion
10:51suggested that most people didn't as well. And so ministers have been in an awkward position where
10:56they promised that the fight against Hezbollah would continue until the communities, particularly
11:01in the north of the country, were safe. But then, of course, they had to basically accept this ceasefire
11:06because President Trump told them to do so. So what we've been seeing is this very tough language from
11:11ministers, including Israel Katz, the defence minister, saying that the full force will be used
11:16by Israeli soldiers if they are faced with threats. And if you look at the wording of this 10-day
11:22ceasefire, certainly according to the way the Americans have presented it, the Israelis are able to
11:28shoot and take action if there is a threat there that they perceive to be imminent or future. And it
11:34doesn't look like there's any monitoring or oversight at all. And in places they say that they are
11:38continuing to take action. Worth reminding ourselves, of course, there are five divisions of the Israeli
11:43army still in southern Lebanon. That's thousands of troops. Indeed. So a volatile situation when it
11:50comes to what is happening on the ground in Lebanon. Bring us up to date given the uncertainty of this.
11:58Yeah, well, it's a really dangerous picture there, Kasia. Certainly for some of the one million
12:02people who were displaced in the past six or seven weeks, and they've been trying to get back to their
12:07homes. We know that some people have been going over bridges that are being partially restored
12:11in places. The Israelis blew up nearly all the bridges. Well, in fact, they said all of the
12:16bridges that linked the south with the rest of the country, because they said Hezbollah were using them
12:21to bring fighters and weapons over. So it is dangerous there. We know that a UN peacekeeper was
12:27killed over the weekend. Two Israeli soldiers have been killed as well. The Israeli military says that
12:33it's going to some communities and blowing up houses because they've been used in the past
12:37by Hezbollah. At the same time, Hezbollah saying that they are abiding by this ceasefire. They want
12:43it to continue. They say they're going to show maximum cooperation with the Lebanese government.
12:49The government, though, has actually come under a lot of criticism for being involved in this deal.
12:54So I think it is a precarious situation. It is a ceasefire, which by nature is pretty fragile.
12:59And tonight, Prime Minister Netanyahu was talking about what's happening in Lebanon,
13:03but also he's looking to the wider picture with Iran. And he said the fight is not over.
13:09Nick, as always, thank you very much for giving us that bigger picture there as well. Nick Beaker
13:13there joining us live from Jerusalem. So when it comes to the bigger picture,
13:18what chance do any peace talks in Pakistan have? Will Iran even go to them? And could we see
13:24the Strait of Hormuz opening? Well, we're joined by Siavesh Adalan, senior reporter for BBC Persian.
13:31Let's start with those talks. Do we even know if Iran is going to take up the offer and go?
13:38We don't. There's been no official confirmation by Iran whether they're going to these talks or not.
13:43If anything, we've had reports from domestic news agencies affiliated with the heartliners in Iran saying
13:50that the Iranian team will not go to Pakistan and will not partake in these talks. And the reason
13:56they cite for it is that the U.S. has violated, in their words, this ceasefire because of continuing
14:02on with the naval blockade. So the question really remains, has a decision been made to go? And they're
14:09just driving a hard bargain by not confirming it. Has a decision been made not to go? Or whether they're
14:15still thinking about it? Because on the other hand, there's also this deep, deep mistrust of U.S.
14:22intentions. Some in Iran are even thinking that this whole talks, this talk about negotiations is a
14:30deception, is a ploy to let the Iranian team go there and then assassinate them somehow or escalate
14:36the war or carry out a surprise attack. Because as you know, Iran was in the midst of talks twice
14:41when it
14:42was attacked by America and the U.S. So it's very, very confused picture at the moment. We're waiting
14:49any moment now. It could be if the talks are held, they'll be on Tuesday. So we have till tomorrow
14:55to
14:55receive any official confirmation as to whether Iran will go or not.
15:00So you paint really a picture of deep, deep mistrust within the regime itself then. How is the situation
15:08there? Are you seeing, are you witnessing any rifts? There is a rift, but let's not give too much
15:14credence to it. There's not a rift within the decision-making circles because the Iranian position
15:19has been consistent fairly and very, you know, they've been to the point, they haven't deviated
15:24from their initial positions. But there are many hardliners, especially these pro-government crowds
15:31that are taking to the streets every single day since the war began, filling the streets in Iran,
15:37demanding that the Iranian authorities and negotiators do not, you know, concede to the U.S.,
15:44that they not accept a ceasefire, that they continue this war to the very final end, thinking
15:49that Iran has the upper hand and is in a position to really dictate the terms of an agreement. They
15:55are
15:56the ones who are literally, you know, pouring scorn on some of the negotiators, some of the tweets
16:01that Iranian negotiators post about the possibility of a ceasefire, the possibility of opening the
16:07Strait of Ormos. They are saying, don't do that. And if you are counting on us for our support to
16:13come
16:13out of the streets and back you up, we won't do this if you concede too much to the Americans.
16:20An incredibly complicated situation. Siavash Adalan, my colleague from BBC Persian, as always,
16:24thank you very much for just talking us through and giving us the bigger picture.
16:28Thank you so much on what is day 51 of this war. So whether you're joining us on YouTube,
16:35TikTok, sounds, radio or television, thank you so much for your time.
16:38We're going to be back around the same time tomorrow with the Iran war today.
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