US launches fresh strikes on Iran as Trump warns Tehran it 'better behave' | BBC News — Transcript

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1. 0:00The US has launched another wave of
2. 0:02strikes on Iran. Earlier, President
3. 0:04Trump threatened to bomb Iranian
4. 0:06critical infrastructure such as bridges
5. 0:09and power plants next week if Iran does
6. 0:12not return to talks.
7. 0:14In the latest wave of strikes, US
8. 0:16Central Command said it had hit dozens
9. 0:18of targets near the Strait of Hormuz as
10. 0:20it tries to stop Iran from being able to
11. 0:23threaten cargo ships using the vital
12. 0:26shipping lane.
13. 0:27Iranian state television said Iran had
14. 0:29fired missiles and drones at targets in
15. 0:32Kuwait, Bahrain, and Jordan.
16. 0:34Iran has threatened to block further
17. 0:36trading routes in the region. Here's
18. 0:40President Trump on his latest move.
19. 0:43>> We were doing
20. 0:45really well with Iran. The Islamic
21. 0:49Republic of Iran is not happy right now.
22. 0:52Uh should have been done 47 years ago.
23. 0:55Should have been done at least during
24. 0:56the 47-year period.
25. 0:58And it wasn't. Other presidents didn't
26. 1:00do what was right. They should have done
27. 1:01it a long time ago. Would have been much
28. 1:03easier.
29. 1:04And we uh
30. 1:06They want to settle so badly. They don't
31. 1:08like what we're doing.
32. 1:10And they do want to settle. We'll find
33. 1:11out whether or not we settle with them
34. 1:12or we just finish it off.
35. 1:15>> Well, I spoke to Aman Mahmoudian, who's
36. 1:17a research fellow at the Global and
37. 1:18National Security Institute at the
38. 1:21University of Southern Florida to get
39. 1:23his take on what's going on at the
40. 1:25moment in the Gulf.
41. 1:27>> What we are facing right now is the
42. 1:30semi-operational collapse of the Iran
43. 1:33and United States memorandum of the
44. 1:34understanding. It is not formally dead,
45. 1:37but on an operational level it seems to
46. 1:39be the collapse. Specifically speaking,
47. 1:41if you look at the latest development
48. 1:44and we have witnessed that the United
49. 1:46States is expanding the scope of its
50. 1:50strikes against Iran. Up until today or
51. 1:53yesterday, most of these strikes were
52. 1:55limited to the southern shores of the
53. 1:57Iran. But today Iranian at least
54. 1:59reported that the American strikes at
55. 2:01the Khorramabad and also some provinces
56. 2:04in central Iran. And local resource
57. 2:07sources been arguing that they have
58. 2:09heard
59. 2:10anti-air defense
60. 2:12activities in Tehran in the capital. If
61. 2:15we put all of these together, despite
62. 2:17the fact that those are strikes in the
63. 2:19central provinces were performative
64. 2:22shots by the United States to only
65. 2:24deliver a message or were actually a
66. 2:26strike against the positions of the
67. 2:27Iran's in those areas. This is an
68. 2:30expansion of the escalation. And we are
69. 2:33right now at the crossroads. One choice
70. 2:36that both our parties have ahead of
71. 2:38themselves is to continue with their
72. 2:40strikes. United States are strikes
73. 2:41against the Iran and Iran are strikes
74. 2:44against the US base or US allies. As the
75. 2:46Iran so far attacked Kuwait, Jordan, and
76. 2:50it seems
77. 2:51and some reports also suggest in other
78. 2:53areas.
79. 2:54And this would evidently escalate and it
80. 2:58might lead to the resumption of the war.
81. 3:00The other path it would be that the both
82. 3:02parties need to find go back to the
83. 3:05memorandum of understanding to the
84. 3:06negotiation with which would require
85. 3:08Iran allowing the shipments
86. 3:11transformation through the Strait of
87. 3:13Hormuz and United States halting the
88. 3:16strikes and leaving lifting the blockade
89. 3:19on the Iran.
90. 3:20I think the coming days would show us
91. 3:22better that which direction they are
92. 3:23going to choose.
93. 3:25>> Yeah, in the meantime, what is the
94. 3:27fallout?
95. 3:29>> Well, in the meantime, there are signs
96. 3:31that it seems to be positive. You know,
97. 3:33Iran
98. 3:34a couple hours ago have released one of
99. 3:38the individuals who have dual
100. 3:40citizenship of the Iranian and American
101. 3:41have been detained by the Iranian
102. 3:43government since December.
103. 3:45While it might sound like a minor
104. 3:48incident, it is actually if we look at
105. 3:50the pattern of the diplomatic talks
106. 3:52between Iran and United States. It's a
107. 3:54good sign. In past during the President
108. 3:56Obama when Iran and the United States
109. 3:58were concluding the negotiations over
110. 4:01the nuclear matter which resulted in
111. 4:03Iran's nuclear deal, we have witnessed
112. 4:05the similar actions from the Iranian
113. 4:07releasing the US citizens and other
114. 4:09Western citizens being captured by
115. 4:11themselves.
116. 4:12It shows that at some level Tehran has
117. 4:15the willingness to de-escalate. And
118. 4:17President Trump it seems to have a
119. 4:19positive reaction to it. He said that he
120. 4:20appreciate United States of America
121. 4:22appreciated that. And he seems to be
122. 4:24involved in that specific matters
123. 4:26because the lawyer of that individual
124. 4:28has mentioned that without the President
125. 4:30Trump's support that individual wouldn't
126. 4:32have been released. So that's a good
127. 4:34sign. This shows that there are talks
128. 4:36that happening behind the scenes and
129. 4:38those talks are positive. However, on a
130. 4:40military level, what we are facing is a
131. 4:43growth of the strikes from each sides.
132. 4:47And what is right now ahead of us is
133. 4:49that basically we are moving backward.
134. 4:52We are regressing toward the day before
135. 4:56the conclusion of the memorandum of
136. 4:57understanding because the Strait of
137. 4:59Hormuz seems to at least by Iranian
138. 5:01being shut down, the naval blockade been
139. 5:03restored by the United States, the
140. 5:05sanctions are back, Iran's attack
141. 5:07against the Arab nations it has a
142. 5:09started it, United States strikes
143. 5:11against Iran not only has started it but
144. 5:13is expanding toward the center of the
145. 5:15Iran which is alerting side. So we are
146. 5:18officially a day at the day before the
147. 5:20conclusion of the memorandum of
148. 5:22understanding in my mind which is a
149. 5:24massive diplomatic
150. 5:26setback for both sides.