What Is Trump’s Endgame For War In Iran?

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Hello!

So, do you remember a few months ago

when the Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth in the U.S.A

renamed his job to be the Secretary of War?

Well, now he's got a war as the U.S. and Israel

continue to attack Iran in a really quite big way.

And today we heard from Pete Hegseth,

as he gave the world an update.

My generation of veterans carried the names of brothers

who never came home.

Brothers butchered by Iranian-backed roadside bombs

and well-armed militias,

thousands of our own.

We didn't start this war,

but under President Trump, we are finishing it.

Yes, so we will tell you more about what the Americans have been saying

about their trying to achieve in this military action.

We'll also tell you a lot more about how Iran has been

launching counterattacks against its neighbors

and also a big change in the UK's position in this conflict.

That's all coming up on this episode of newscast.

And we're going to be pumping out episodes throughout the week

on this enormous story for the world.

And if you never want to miss one,

then click on subscribe.

And whenever they're recorded,

they will be then up there on your device ready for you to listen

with all the best analysis we can muster at the BBC.

So here is the latest episode of newscast.

Newscast.

Newscast from the BBC.

Fat boys live in the classroom doing avar in lessons.

I was the toppled tail in the class.

Can I have an apology, please?

I trust almost nobody.

That daddy has to sometimes do strong language.

Next time in Moscow.

I feel delulu with no salulu.

Take me down the Downey Street.

Let go have a tour.

Blimey.

Hello, it's Adam in the newscast studio.

And all this week we're going to be joined by a friend of the podcast

on panorama.

It's Jane Corbin.

Hello again, Jane.

Hello.

And Lee's to set us here.

Hello, Lee's.

Good to join you.

Adam and good to see you again, Jane.

And you, Lee's.

Now, before we do the analysis,

which I know from you two will be excellent.

Just a little slice of life in covering this war.

Jane, just before we started recording,

your phone started glaring.

Just explain what that was.

That is the Israeli rocket siren device.

It tells you that rockets are incoming.

And it's been going off nonstop, obviously, since Saturday.

And yeah, it goes off all the time.

Normally I have it on silent.

But for some reason it broke through even

that I've put it on silent.

And it tells you where they're coming,

how many are coming, roughly which area.

And it's extraordinary in terms of the numbers.

And that's obviously referring both to rockets and missiles,

but also to drones, which they call hostile aircraft

on the, on the app.

And is that just on your phone from previous trips there?

Or do you have it as a sort of journalistic tool?

Both, sometimes when it's really too much.

And especially at night, you know, obviously take it off.

But, you know, there has been a huge amount going on in Israel.

And it's important to know.

And it's important to attempt to, you know, keep tabs on it, really.

And Lee's.

That brings the BBC slogan of live the story

to a whole new level.

Yeah. Wow.

Keep yours on.

No, I did when I came to Laskin, but then I took it off.

But, but it is amazing because you'll be reminded,

especially when it's a big one.

And also, Lee's talk about living the story.

I think this is the first time I've seen you face to face

since you were actually in Iran, four nights ago.

How does, how does that work in your brain,

covering this military action now,

but thinking back to just being there on the ground so recently?

Well, on a personal level, then, you know,

some of the people that I met there, work there,

they're on my mind immediately.

I'm saying, you know, whatever,

but whatever you report about this,

this is individuals that you know and journalists that I know.

So just how are you?

Are you, are you safe?

And did you get a message on your, on your mobile

about the Revolutionary Guards warning you not to go into the streets?

And so it's, it's much more vivid in your mind.

So I came back and I still have a much better understanding,

I think, of the mood of the mood in Iran,

very much a country at the crossroads.

Because, of course, and we're seeing this in these,

the reaction to the Supreme Leader's death,

there are those who revere him as a religious leader.

They, they're, they've been in the streets

with these outpourings of emotion.

But there are also many who revile him.

And they've been taking to the streets,

mostly in the dead of night where they feel they're safer,

just to celebrate.

And there's been celebrations here in London as well

in the Iranian communities.

And we can talk a bit more about that in a second.

But Jane, this is a sort of moment

where you want to have a big atlas open in front of you.

So you can sort of point to all of Iran's neighbors

because the big theme of the last 36, 48 hours

has been Iran's counterattacks and striking their neighbors.

Yeah, and everybody said before that this risk,

the regional war, and it's amazing how quickly we've got there.

They've hit, I think, eight different countries.

And obviously Cyprus as well, British base in Cyprus.

So all of those countries, all of those leaders are drawn

in Willie Nile, and they're pretty angry about it.

They're pretty outraged that they who took no part in the strikes,

which were carried out by Israel and by America.

Nevertheless, got back in kind very quickly.

And I think Bahrain was hit very badly to begin with.

You obviously see what's happened in Dubai

where a lot of British people live and go on holiday.

And right across the region in Iraq, in Erbil, in Saudi even,

all of those countries have been hit by Iranian missiles.

And it's so interesting on social media.

You can see videos that are clearly AI generated

of gleaming skyscrapers in those places on fire, obviously fake.

But then the next thing you see is a video of one that is real.

These places actually being hit genuinely.

This is a moment, not just for Iran, but for the entire region

before and after a moment.

Iran has now changed forever.

So has the region, including countries,

particularly the wealthy Gulf monarchies who have their whole model,

politically, economically, security is based on being the perception

that they are a safe haven.

They're a safe harbor from the kind of tensions and turmoil

which have racked the rest of the Middle East.

Come and spend your dollars here, invest here, come and be a tourist.

Now you can imagine, I would imagine, and when this is all over,

you'll see big billboards in the underground.

People saying, come back, come back.

And once your image is shattered, it will take time.

It will come back in time.

But what has also been shattered is the diplomacy

and the new relationships that Iran had built up with Arab leaders.

And they had been at daggers drawn for decades.

But in recent years, Arab leaders realizing that regional issues

need regional solutions and the Saudis and the Emirates and Qataris.

Well, Qatar and Oman have always had relations with Iranian leadership.

But whenever there was a crisis, the foreign minister of Iran,

Abbas, that actually could pick up the telephone

and call all of these Arab capitals and those leaders

had been working around the clock, either on the telephone to President Trump

or racing to Washington to say, don't embark on another destructive war.

The consequences will be huge.

And now those same leaders are turning their fire against Iran

and saying, why are you hitting us?

It's so much, so much is literally burning in this moment.

And it's literally burning for those countries

which are the source of great energy for all of us.

So a gas plants been hit in Qatar, oil refining has been hit in Saudi.

And that's an incredible shock to the system to them,

but also to all of us because the Straits of Hormuz,

that very strategic waterway through which vast quantities

are both gas and oil flow is effectively closed.

And I think the shock that's being felt in those countries

which are producing that energy, that this could have happened,

that Iran could have done this is really unprecedented.

Although it's interesting reading about all the workarounds

these countries are using to try and get their oil and gas out

by other means, so maybe actually the shock to the oil price

might not be as dramatic as it might initially appear.

No, and I think the shock to the gas price

has actually been bigger than the shock to the oil price

and that there will be a way around it.

And I believe that today some ships did pass

through the Straits of Hormuz, Chinese, for example.

And so maybe the shock will, as you say,

there'll be a workaround and some will feel

it's worth the risk of moving through.

But tanker, insurance, no one's going to be able to get insurance

and no one's going to want to take the risk

when you're carrying such precious cargo.

And of course, the big issue is, for a few days,

perhaps, that people can get through this.

But what about if it goes on and on?

This is really a measure of this phrase that we use

in covering conflicts of this coming chain has,

of course, covered many asymmetric warfare.

How do you take on the might of the most powerful army

in the world, the United States, and the assets of Israel,

including its staggering intelligence gathering,

capabilities, and Iran had warned.

As Jane mentioned, I was really taken,

when I interviewed the Deputy Foreign Minister,

Majid Talk to Ravanshi.

And I said, if there is, if a war is unleashed,

will you regard it as existential?

And he said, yes, well, if we do,

if we do regard it as existential,

it would be a different kind of war.

And then I pressed him, well, what would happen?

What would be so bad?

And he said, I don't want to get in

to what an existential war would look like for us,

because it would be a very bad situation,

not just for us, but for the entire region.

And there, I mean, when you have the attack,

the first wave of attacks, early on Saturday morning,

and they acted on intelligence,

and they were able to kill,

not just the supreme leader, the very top cleric,

Ayatollah Ali, M&A,

but the top four security chiefs,

and possibly more as well.

President Trump is claiming they've killed 48 leaders,

military, and all through those different ranks that we've seen.

And I think, you know, he's right.

It is in it was.

It is an existential threat to Iran.

When you're hitting it at that level,

and killing so many people at once.

But from looking at the coverage around the region,

okay, it's scary for those countries,

it feels like an act of aggression.

But actually, most of the missiles,

most of the drones aren't getting through.

So I'm just wondering, has Iran thrown everything they've got

at its neighbors,

and actually the threat is going to recede from now on?

Or, I mean, it's a speculation, I realize.

Well, Israel has said today that it's claiming that it's hit

underground facilities where ballistic missiles,

and missiles are being built.

We don't know, but the general consensus seems to be,

this will go on for as long as there's ammunition on both sides

to throw at each other.

And Iran has, we know, large stocks,

and of course, of the Shahed drone,

which has been a game-changer in Ukraine,

and is proving to be so here,

and huge waves of these drones are being used already.

And they have enormous industrial facilities,

as I understand, underground to produce these Shahed drones.

So we can only suppose that that is going to carry on

for some times, days, if not weeks.

It's always as interesting that you mentioned,

you pointed at a very important point.

And this is both the strength and the weakness,

not just of journalism, but, of course,

eyewitnesses, is that if you look on the internet,

you will think Dubai is on fire,

because the fire at the palm,

I've seen messages put on social media people saying,

what are you guys talking about?

This instability, the fires in Dubai,

the rest of the city is fine, etc.

But in our very much our social media world,

people just see the images which dominate,

and they do think about,

I'm apparently one of the big questions people are asking

on Google is it's safe to go to Dubai.

And Dubai, the Emirates,

don't want that question to be asked.

So you can see a big divide between people

who are there, maybe on holiday,

or on honeymoon, or visiting,

who want to get out as soon as possible,

and people who've made it their home,

saying actually more relaxed about it.

Right, we're recording this episode of newscast,

it just got 20 past five on Monday afternoon,

just before we sat down,

we heard some remarks from Donald Trump at the White House,

and watching them with Katrina Perry.

Hello, Katrina.

Hi, Adam, how are you?

Forgive the Mary Poppins moment,

I'm here with the umbrella,

because it's just started snowing

outside the White House right now, this moment.

Always extreme weather in DC.

And so this was meant to be a ceremony

that was rewarding kind of military bravery,

so veterans,

but inevitably it became the first chance to hear

from Donald Trump about what he actually wants to achieve here.

Indeed, it is still a Medal of Honor ceremony,

and as I'm speaking to you now,

the President is awarding those medals of honor.

They're being awarded posthumously,

so it's the the sons,

mostly so far of deceased veterans

who are being awarded those medals.

But this was the first time

that President Trump has appeared in public

since giving the authorization

for those strikes on Iran,

which started in the early hours of Saturday morning,

as it was here in the East Coast, just 1.15 AM.

So we hadn't seen him in public,

we hadn't had an opportunity to have him sort of answer questions live.

As we're recording our point out,

he still hasn't done that,

because the layout of where this is happening in the East Room,

the reporters in the correspondence

are quite a distance back from the President,

and it is quite a sort of solemn gathering.

So I do expect that my colleagues

will try and share questions at the President,

but I think it's probably unlikely

that he can even hear them and choose to answer them.

But he did address that situation in Iran,

which is what so many people were looking for him to do,

because there's a sense here

that he hasn't really explained

the justification sufficiently for the significant level of danger

that he has committed the members of the US military to at this point.

So he said he wanted to give an update on Operation Epic Furious.

They're calling it.

He said it was very much still ongoing,

this large-scale combat operation in Iran.

And he gave sort of the rationale for that.

He said Iran was refusing warnings from the US

in the wake of Operation Midnight Hammer at last June

to cease its nuclear weapons capability.

Now, he did also suggest that as he saw it,

there was an imminent threat

that Iran would have nuclear weapons capable of being launched from Iran

and striking the US.

He said he felt that would happen soon.

Now, we should say that his own intelligence agency

has previously put that information to say that position

is many, many years away,

but nevertheless, this is what President Trump is saying

is part of his rationale for explaining this.

He said that he was trying to reach a deal

through negotiations with them,

but he felt that Iran just wasn't interested.

He said he thought a deal was agreed

and then they stepped back from it.

He thought another deal was agreed

and they stepped back from it again.

So he felt he was left with one option only

and that was this campaign of military action.

And he said he wanted to lay out the objectives that he had.

And this was the part I think where he's very much trying to speak

to a domestic US audience who are looking

for what are those objectives.

He said they want to destroy Iran's nuclear capabilities.

He wants to annihilate Iran's navy.

He said they'd already sank ten ships.

He said he wanted to ensure that Iran would never have a nuclear weapon.

And he said he also wanted to ensure

that the Iranian regime could not continue to arm and fund

as he put it its terrorist armies

beyond their borders,

referring to the proxies there that you've been discussing.

And again, he said we had a deal and they backed out

and he realized I just can't have a deal with these people.

So that's kind of how he explained it

that he didn't want there to be a threat to the American people.

Will that be enough to satisfy those who don't support

what he has launched the US and the US military into

but we'll have to wait and see?

And Jane, when we were watching this on the TV outside the studio

that one of the things you jumped on straight away

was this very elastic timeline?

Yeah, he said, he said I've always said from the start

it'll be four to five weeks

and then he said but we're ahead of schedule

which presumes that it could be as long as four to five weeks

but if I've decided it's going well,

we might make it shorter than that.

And I thought that was interesting

because that gives some flexibility

but it doesn't leave anybody any the wiser as to how long this is going to last.

And Lisa in terms of the war aims if we could call them as grandly as that

it was four things, wasn't it?

It was taking out Iran's ballistic missile system

it was taking out the nuclear weapons program

it was taking out the navy

and it was stopping Iran's proxies its allies

causing chaos in other countries in the region.

What did you make of the big four?

It's interesting and if Katrin is still with us

I thought that Peter Hegseth, the Secretary of Defence

or he would call himself the Secretary of War

when he gave his remarks earlier today

he said this is not about regime change

but we have changed the regime.

What did you make of that, Christina?

Yeah, I thought that was a really key line

Lisa, I'd agree with you there

and he said this is not a so-called regime change war

again using that word war which is quite controversial

here in the U.S.

And I suppose this is the gets to the crux of the issue

of what is President Trump's grand aim here

notwithstanding that he laid out those four objectives

but he has repeatedly called for the Iranian people

to take back their country

but yet they don't want regime change

they're more laying the conditions for regime change

it would seem and this is the problem of trying to find out

what is the end goal here and I don't think we're any clearer on that

from what the president said or indeed what Secretary Hegseth

and the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff

said earlier on today and again a very very fluid

timeline Secretary Hegseth saying earlier it could be two weeks

it could be four weeks it could be six weeks

it could be basically whatever the president

decides it could be

And I think that they've had a catcher on

am I right they've had advice from within

from within the security establishment

that this isn't easy that it is not going to necessarily result in a change

regime it is not going to result in the conditions for the people to rise up

and take take over as they've been urged to by President Trump

and I think they're getting that message or they have done

right from within from the CIA and from others who who obviously are

well informed but still the decision was made

to carry on although they and to go for this although

there was no sure far way out of this even from their own advisors

and you just again President Trump who we now know in this second term

how he can change his mind from one day to the next I was reading

some of some of you may also have seen it he had a six-minute interview with

the New York Times and in that six-minute he went from

regime change to talking to the government

to saying that what happened in Venezuela where military action was just

took out Nicholas Maduro the president he described that for

Iran as the perfect scenario so what are we to make of that what is it

is it what he said in his eight-minute speech is it what he said today

not mentioning regime change is it is he still musing

about what the what the warm aim is which must be could be so distressing

for people where you are especially for lawmakers who feel

they should have given him authorization to embark on a

w-a-r exactly I mean there are two legal issues here there's the domestic

legal issue and then there's the question of international law how you act

preemptively in self-defense which isn't a concept that exists in

international law but here domestically Republicans and Democrats

generally unified in their approach or their view that you know Iran is a

threat on some level to the U.S.

imminent or otherwise and that you know some sort of action is justified

but the point of debate is that the president has done this unilaterally it's

very clear in the U.S. Constitution that the only people who can issue a

declaration of war are the members of Congress and it has to be passed through

there it isn't for a president to do now

president Trump isn't the only president who has tried to sort of go around

Congress in this and take unilateral action

in this way but it is causing a lot of tension here

members of Congress do like to be consulted now we know the Secretary of

State Marco Rubio did speak to the gang of eight in advance of these strikes or

at least seven of the eight that being the top leadership within both parties

on Capitol Hill but when you listen to what Secretary Dan Kay or Chairman of

the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Dan Kayn said today he said they were

30 days kind of ready for this operation so this has been something in the

mix for a long time and speaking to members within the military who know

about these things say that the preparation would have actually been

months for a mission like this which as of now is

airstrikes being launched from aircraft and also some missiles being

launched from Navy ships as well the president talking the Secretary

talking earlier about being engaged with the Iranian Navy right now

but military experts would say if you really want regime change that there

has to be some sort of grand level operation as well and they

don't see that the conditions exist for something like that in Iran so

there's this great confusion of there not being the official sort of legal

standing for what's happened but actually what is the endgame what is the point

of all of this in the president's mind and least just explain about how it is

that Iran is run and who has power that would make it so hard for even half

the country 40 million people to rise up and get a new kind of country out of it

just explain why that would be sort of a goal well for us those are

dangerous to go out into the streets people have been sent a message on their

on their telephone saying don't don't go into streets and if you do you'll be

met with an iron fist and you'll be regarded as a collaborator and even when

we were there when when the security forces were expecting there to be more

protest you had the Vasigee which are these volunteer militia on their

motorcycles revving around the squares and looking at people and it felt

really ominous basically saying we're watching you

and I sent a message to a friend and tear on this morning and he said

I was stopped three times last night coming home at makeshift checkpoints by the

elite Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps so people know how dangerous it is to

go out into the streets and there's to pick up the idea of the Venezuela

option let's say that can you really just I hate this again the decapitation take

out one leader and then find a way to work with the other individuals in the

structure of course in Venezuela's javismo you know the predominately

left-wing radical radical philosophy of the government in charge

Iran is completely different there there's been this discussion in recent days

well could we work with someone could we work with Ali Laryjani who's the Secretary

of the National Security Council who's playing a bigger role yes he is regarded as

being more pragmatic but an individual cannot take over what is a layered system

politically religiously ideologically security you haven't in you haven't

Iran not just the armed forces but you have the elite Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps

which is actually a huge organization and and start into the country yes economic interests

they have schools they have hospitals they are part of the structure of Iran there's no way

that they are just an elite security force and they're they're they're full-maned they were set

up in 1979 because the new leaders didn't trust the army they thought they were elements

still loyal to the Shah their mandate is to preserve and protect the Islamic Republic

and it's widely believed that we there's a new the new leadership is now a three-man

leadership council but behind the scenes even in the selection of the successor when that comes

is the IRGC this one by this acronym will play a deciding role because they will want to know

who's going to be in charge at this moment this a moment of existential threats so it is possible

it's possible that a new supreme leader will emerge who is more on let's say more of a reformist

or there will still be a leading cleric and that elements within the Islamic Revolutionary Guard

Corps for pragmatic reasons could see a way to perhaps you know work you know because the

supreme leader was known for his hostility toward Israel and the United States deeply suspicious

of any contacts with the West especially the United States even though he authorized his teams

to negotiate with the United States it is possible that could take but it's not going to be easy

or swift or at least I'm going to interrupt you because I've just had a message saying you're

meant to have been on the news channel for about five minutes ago so I feel I should maybe

let you go but I'm just asking and Jane knows this a little very well there's this phrase

that the revolutionary leader Ayatoll Humane used in 1988 when he agreed grudgingly with great

bitterness to a ceasefire because he realized that the it was existential that the survival of the

Islamic Republic against Iraq Iran was isolated he had to he said I drank from a poisoned

chalice has that moment come again that they will drink from a poison chalice right now they are

fighting a battle to survive Lisa I'm going to let you go there's lots of demands on your time so

thank you very much for giving us your time it's so good to see you too I was going to say that

we know that in that strike on Saturday one of the key people in the defense area that was

killed was the leader of the IRGC this is elite force at least was talking about but you know

we also know that after the 12-day war and last June when there were the initial strikes on Iran

by Israel and America Hamanay the Supreme Leader worked very hard to put in place more layers of

people who could take over if these very top military officials were killed so we know that's

happened and we also know as I covered this in in great detail that when Qasim Soleimani who

was the great IRGC leader was killed by Donald Trump in his first term by a drone another leader

quickly arose to head the IRGC and Trump himself is saying how evil in Trump's words they are so

this did not affect the way that the IRGC operated and I don't think the killing of their present

leader on Saturday will make a difference because by now there will be somebody else heading that

and they have such a vested interest the IRGC in this network of patronage in the country in terms

of the money they make the economy that they're bound up with and all of that in society as

as Lee said it's a very layered thing and Katrina can we just talk for a couple of minutes about

UK US relations and all of this because initially Kirsta Amar said that he'd refuse to give

the American military permission to use bases that they have either in the UK or in British

territory abroad like Diego Garcia, subject of many episodes of newscast over the last couple of

years. Donald Trump then gave an interview to the telegraph newspaper on Monday morning where he

basically told off Kirsta Amar for doing that but almost exactly the same time Kirsta Amar had

changed his position and he now said he was going to give the go ahead to the Americans to use

British bases because it was now a matter of kind of self-defense for Britain because British

nationals and British allies were being attacked by Iran. What's your take on just what all of that

adds up to on Monday evening or at least Monday evening for us in the UK Monday lunchtime for you

in Washington? Yeah it's a very it's a very kind of fascinating one isn't it particularly when

you listen to what Kirsta Amar said in the House of Commons earlier on Monday you know he was talking

about how his weekend has been basically that he had faced this decision of going in with the US

in Israel at the outset on these offensive strikes and he had decided against that and said again

in that speech of the House of Commons that he doesn't support what they're doing he doesn't

support regime change by the air he questioned the legal standing in fact for what the US is doing

here but he said it had then become apparent when he looked at the sort of as you say the self-defense

element here in a request had come from the US to allow them to use UK bases that he now felt

that was in the best interests of the UK and crucially of the UK citizens he said he were in the

region about 300,000 UK citizens in the region and he feels that these bases are needed to help defend

those people against the Iranian retaliatory attacks but it's clearly been a lot of sort of

soul-searching has been involved for the Prime Minister over those few days he was being criticized

for sitting on the fence here essentially wasn't he but then with that speech in the House of Commons

very firmly laying out where he is and it's in a different place to what we're hearing from Donald

Trump about where he is and where the mission for this is and if it is to be as President Trump said

earlier four to five weeks that's going to make for some very very sticky and tricky conversations

between Kirsta Armour and Donald Trump and many other allies who want to stand alongside the US

but who just don't support the initial bases at least for what we're seeing here.

President Trump has expressed his disagreement with our decision not to get involved in the

initial strikes but it is my duty to judge what is in Britain's national interest

that is what I've done and I stand by it. Katrina I'm going to let you go because I know there's

lots of demands on your time as well but thank you very much for chatting to us today.

Okay talk to you and bye. And Jane what was the point?

Yeah I mean just picking up as Katrina said you know this goes on to four or five weeks.

We know what happens you know terrible things happen in terms of civilians being impacted.

I mean we've seen it we've seen it in Israel in Bateshamesh when 30-something people were killed

we've seen it most of all in Iran itself where a school was hit in Minab in the south

and school children died over 50 apparently and I think the death toll at the moment according

to the Iranian red crescent is 550 people so we know that there will be missiles that will go

astray and hit schools and hit civilian targets which makes all these decisions made by political

leaders very very fraught because what happens then if if a missile belonging to a you know

this come from a British plane or an American plane or it hits a civilian target as we've seen

in Iran and that the hitting of that school has caused enormous shock and anger in Iran and

actually in the region. And I mean this sounds a little bit parochial and there was no loss of

life here but the the Iranian drone strike on the RAF base in Cyprus RAF Akhratiere which even

though it's on the island of Cyprus that is British territory British sovereign territory

and the government was saying today that that drone strike they think was launched before the

government in the UK changed its mind about what support to provide to all of this so they're not

saying it was retaliation by Iran for kind of coup starmer upping the ante a bit but you can

already see that's now sparked off a side conversation about well how badly defended is that base

and actually is starmer weakened defense because he presides over a system where a British

a very important British base can be almost taken out of action very quickly by the Iranian

yeah and I mean spinning off into all sorts of different political I mean obviously going

back to the school that was hit in Iran it has to be said that the likely target was a revolution

regard naval base which is close by but you know this is what happens you know the the targets

in military and the casualties are often civilian so we would like to get your questions throughout

the week because I'm sure you've got loads and people like Lisa and Jane and Katrina are standing

by to answer them so email us newscast at bbc.co.uk or you can WhatsApp us on zero three three zero

one two three nine four eight zero and actually do you know what Jane I've got a question

on my own I might just land you with now I hope I can answer it well we can break through on

it together or we can just watch Lisa on the news now see if she can answer it on a ride or

meet you yes she got to that studio very very quickly and it's the it's back to and when Trump

was talking about the four things he's sort of targeting and why was one of them the Iranian navy

so I've got used to over the years that the Iranian nuclear negotiations were about enriching

uranium so you could make a nuclear bomb or not whether it was about ballistic missiles so rockets

that could be fired over long distances also Iran support for grips that hezbollah who were

causing chaos in in in other countries why do we think that the Iranian navies become such a

big deal well he has said a lot about the fact that he first of all he said nine Iranian

navy ships have been destroyed today it's gone up to ten he's just announced that I suppose

it's because there is this big floating flotilla of American ships in in in those waters and they

are susceptible to we know that the Iranians have for example I believe underground underwater drones

we know that they operate high high speed boats with explosives those are specific to the Islamic

republican guard and there they can be very difficult very very dangerous so I think he's

probably thinking about the threats to the American navy and the flotilla that there is there

which is why the Iranian navy has become number three in the in the four targets

excellent analysis on the spot um Jane come back against tomorrow please

looking forward to it thank you very much and that is the situation as it looks across the region

at five forty five on Monday the second of March and that's it for this episode of newscast

as Jane has promised should we back again tomorrow with another one with me bye bye newscast

newscast from the BBC well thank you for making it to the end of another newscast you clearly

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