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20261102 143000 UTC
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[00:00:24] The headlines: I can say that
[00:00:26] we have now reached a two-day plan.
[00:00:30] Tehran declares readiness to open the Strait of Hormuz in
[00:00:34] 48 hours. Mohsen Rezaee spoke with Putin.
[00:00:37] Beijing said it supports Iran's right to self-defense.
[00:00:40] A wave of criticism
[00:00:42] of the attack on the Qatari gas tanker in the Persian Gulf. The Revolutionary Guard claimed to have targeted
[00:00:46] 11 vessels in the past
[00:00:49] 9 days. Controversy
[00:00:52] in Michigan.
[00:00:57] One day before the midterm elections in the US, a Democratic representative
[00:01:01] supported the Republican candidate over the Arab-American
[00:01:05] candidate of her own party. An Italian makes history
[00:01:09] in Formula 1 racing.
[00:01:39] Monday, November 2.
[00:01:42] Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi said that
[00:01:46] as a result of ongoing talks with Qatari mediators,
[00:01:50] Iran's proposed seven-day plan has now been reduced to two days,
[00:01:53] so that if the US meets Iran's conditions on the first day,
[00:01:57] the Strait of Hormuz will be opened on the second day.
[00:02:00] On the other hand, in continuation of Tehran's diplomatic efforts, the Secretary of
[00:02:04] Iran's Supreme National Security Council spoke by phone today with the Russian President,
[00:02:08] and his deputy also met with the Chinese Foreign Minister. Simultaneously with these
[00:02:11] developments, however, several other commercial ships
[00:02:15] were targeted in the Persian Gulf. One of these
[00:02:18] vessels was carrying Qatari gas, and the attack on it
[00:02:21] has been met with widespread condemnation.
[00:02:25] Kasra Naji reports.
[00:02:27] What were the bilateral consultations?
[00:03:00] The talks are ongoing, in any case. The issue is a complex
[00:03:03] one, or rather, I should say, the issues are very complex,
[00:03:06] and the passage of time, given
[00:03:10] America's actions, has added to the complexities.
[00:03:14] You cannot talk about the Strait of Hormuz,
[00:03:18] be concerned about insecurity in the Strait
[00:03:21] of Hormuz, but still continue the economic
[00:03:24] siege of Iran and
[00:03:27] put aside everything that you accepted
[00:03:31] in the Islamabad agreement and expect
[00:03:34] Iran to unilaterally accept
[00:03:38] commitments. In
[00:03:40] America, these are the latest words of President Donald Trump.
[00:03:44] The only reason we're not finishing the job immediately
[00:03:48] is because I want to do them a favor. I want to try to save many lives.
[00:03:52] They're sitting there doing nothing. Eventually, at some point, we have to deal
[00:03:56] with them with an iron fist.
[00:03:59] Iranian newspapers today are busy preparing public
[00:04:02] opinion inside Iran. It has been said that in case
[00:04:06] the war resumes, it will attack not only targets in the region,
[00:04:09] but also beyond. Some countries in the region
[00:04:12] have, unfortunately, I must
[00:04:16] say, some of them have even encouraged the Americans
[00:04:20] to attack Iran.
[00:04:22] I hope that they too have learned their lessons.
[00:04:26] The best way is for friends in America to
[00:04:30] warn against a new war starting, because
[00:04:33] we are forced to defend ourselves. China,
[00:04:37] with its close ties with Iran, is concerned about the consequences
[00:04:41] of such a war for the region and the world. This meeting today
[00:04:44] between the Chinese Foreign Minister and the Deputy Secretary of Iran's Supreme
[00:04:48] National Security Council in Beijing. China is expected to
[00:04:51] soon send a special envoy of the President to Iran and
[00:04:55] the region. China wants the Strait of
[00:04:58] Hormuz to return to the pre-war arrangements.
[00:05:01] In Tehran, days of anticipation are combined
[00:05:04] with concern and anxiety about the start of another war,
[00:05:08] probably after the outcome of the US midterm
[00:05:11] elections. Tomorrow. Kasra Naji, BBC.
[00:05:14] Nafiseh Kohnevard, our senior correspondent for Middle
[00:05:18] East affairs, is with us from Beirut. Nafiseh, well, there's a lot of talk
[00:05:22] about the discussions and negotiations mediated
[00:05:25] by Qatar. Mr. Araqchi also said that
[00:05:28] if an agreement is reached, they might open the Strait of Hormuz within
[00:05:32] 48 hours. Is there any difference
[00:05:35] compared to the past? Jamal,
[00:05:38] here,
[00:05:41] the discussion is about Qatar's
[00:05:44] weight. You yourself have followed it many times. When
[00:05:48] negotiations were taking place
[00:05:50] between the Taliban and the US, which ended
[00:05:54] a US military presence after 22 years,
[00:05:58] there, and effectively extended a hand of friendship
[00:06:01] to a group they were fighting, there's such an image
[00:06:04] of Qatar that its capability is superior to
[00:06:08] other mediators in the region, be it Pakistan
[00:06:12] or Oman. What I hear from diplomatic sources is that
[00:06:15] Oman also has some weight, but
[00:06:18] for example, many in the region believe
[00:06:22] Pakistan could not play that role well.
[00:06:25] Apart from that, apparently in these
[00:06:28] negotiations, every sentence that is spoken is also
[00:06:32] recorded in writing, something that was interesting to me
[00:06:35] was that apparently regarding Pakistan, there was more exchange
[00:06:39] of words and sentences, which led to
[00:06:42] many contradictory statements from both sides
[00:06:45] later being published in the media about what message was actually
[00:06:49] exchanged through Pakistan. Alongside this view that
[00:06:52] now if Qatar can, it can.
[00:06:56] There is an atmosphere
[00:06:59] of concern and a negative outlook
[00:07:03] dominating the region. As Kasra also mentioned, many in
[00:07:06] Iran are worried. That worry is exactly felt
[00:07:10] very easily here
[00:07:12] in the region, and I am hearing this from various sources
[00:07:16] that in fact, the perception is
[00:07:20] that unless a miracle happens and Qatar succeeds
[00:07:24] in establishing an agreement,
[00:07:26] otherwise, war is at the door. Well,
[00:07:30] when we talk about war, Iran is not alone. There are groups
[00:07:34] that are considered allies of Iran. How likely
[00:07:37] is it that these groups will indeed participate more than
[00:07:41] in the past in a coordinated movement with the Iranian
[00:07:45] government?
[00:07:49] Jamal, what caught attention in the region's
[00:07:53] media these past few days
[00:07:55] was Mr. Mojtaba Khamenei's message. That sentence he said about
[00:07:59] the unity of the fronts. Well, this was widely reflected
[00:08:03] in the region, and it was understood
[00:08:06] that he is effectively sending this message, like his father,
[00:08:10] who had said that this war will be a regional
[00:08:13] war. Now, he's sending a much clearer message that all
[00:08:17] fronts will enter together,
[00:08:20] meaning all those fronts or groups
[00:08:23] known as the "Axis of Resistance" will all
[00:08:26] enter together, or well, in this
[00:08:30] field, they will help each other in sequence. This
[00:08:34] perception exists, but which group will enter
[00:08:38] first, or if they will all enter simultaneously, this is a
[00:08:40] question. In fact, it's a million-dollar question, because here,
[00:08:44] with all that is
[00:08:47] being said in the media, no one still knows what Hezbollah's reaction
[00:08:51] will be. The channels to the main military
[00:08:55] decision-making branch of Hezbollah seem to have
[00:08:59] been cut off in a way. Hezbollah officials or
[00:09:03] representatives have not been told anything through mediators
[00:09:06] such as France or other voices, even Spain, who have been sent
[00:09:10] with direct messages.
[00:09:12] evidence
[00:09:19] In Iraq too,
[00:09:22] shows that the situation is similar. All these groups
[00:09:26] are essentially preparing because there is a reality
[00:09:29] that there is also a compulsion, because
[00:09:32] all these groups know that if the Islamic Republic
[00:09:36] of Iran becomes weaker or collapses,
[00:09:39] then these groups will not be able to
[00:09:43] stand. But which group will enter first
[00:09:47] is unclear, because last time everyone thought that the Houthis
[00:09:51] would enter first. The Houthis were the last group to actually
[00:09:54] enter this battle, and Hezbollah
[00:09:57] entered the battle first, and you were in Israel,
[00:10:01] so you probably heard that they are preparing for
[00:10:04] a widespread war, even with Hezbollah, because their assumption is that
[00:10:08] Hezbollah will inevitably enter this field.
[00:10:13] Thank you, Nafiseh Kohnevard, our senior correspondent for
[00:10:16] Middle East affairs, from Beirut.
[00:10:20] Aaron David Miller, senior scholar at the Carnegie Endowment for International
[00:10:23] Peace, and former US State Department official who advised
[00:10:27] both Republican and Democratic parties on Israel's negotiations with Arab
[00:10:31] countries, is with us from Washington. Mr. Miller, welcome to the program. What do you think?
[00:10:35] Many say that these midterm elections,
[00:10:38] compared to past ones, are very important for the US,
[00:10:42] given what's happening in the White House.
[00:10:46] What is your assessment?
[00:10:49] We can say
[00:10:50] with confidence that the Democrats will take
[00:11:12] the House of Representatives, and there will be
[00:11:15] a very clear path for them to also take the Senate.
[00:11:19] Only twice in the past 100 years
[00:11:22] has a president in office
[00:11:26] been able to see another party take over.
[00:11:29] So there's no doubt
[00:11:32] that this administration is heading towards a complete
[00:11:35] defeat. But how big this defeat will be,
[00:11:39] especially when it comes to foreign policy,
[00:11:42] these are two completely separate issues. In a situation where
[00:11:46] even if the Democrats take the Senate, they can, for example,
[00:11:50] conduct investigations at certain levels
[00:11:53] regarding the policies
[00:11:57] of the current administration, but in the current situation where these
[00:12:01] conflicts that we are involved in, that the US
[00:12:04] is involved in, I don't see
[00:12:07] a very big impact
[00:12:10] on those. One is Russia and Ukraine,
[00:12:13] the second is the US and Iran, and the third
[00:12:17] is the Israelis and Palestinians in Gaza or
[00:12:21] other places. The issue
[00:12:24] of creating policy and
[00:12:27] action without congressional approval
[00:12:30] has been done before, not just in this
[00:12:34] administration, but in previous administrations. Most
[00:12:38] of the administrations I worked with were Republican, and
[00:12:41] sometimes some of them were
[00:12:43] Democrats.
[00:12:46] This Congress can shut down,
[00:12:50] and the Supreme Court can
[00:12:53] also shut down, but never does a president's
[00:12:56] work shut down. It's a job that works 24/7.
[00:13:00] Based on international
[00:13:03] laws, domestic laws of
[00:13:07] the US, and the
[00:13:09] nuances that exist
[00:13:12] in Congress, I very much
[00:13:16] doubt that even if
[00:13:19] the administration loses both houses of Congress,
[00:13:22] this will have a very
[00:13:25] big impact on US
[00:13:29] foreign policy. I say this
[00:13:32] especially with regard to
[00:13:35] the current situation between Iran and the US. This is very true.
[00:13:39] Well, Mr. Miller, but we know that Congress has the budget
[00:13:42] in many areas. With the money it can
[00:13:46] provide or not provide to the government, it can put pressure on
[00:13:49] the government. And besides that, Mr.
[00:13:53] Trump has placed great hope
[00:13:55] that in this
[00:13:58] election, even if he loses,
[00:14:01] it won't be a heavy loss. If your prediction comes true,
[00:14:05] will the American
[00:14:07] people and public opinion not put more pressure
[00:14:11] on Mr. Trump than before regarding the
[00:14:15] war with
[00:14:15] Iran?
[00:14:22] No, I don't think so, because this president
[00:14:25] doesn't answer to anyone and doesn't
[00:14:28] respond to anyone. The Iranian regime is making
[00:14:31] a fundamental mistake if it thinks that
[00:14:35] these midterm elections are going to stop this president.
[00:14:39] No, that won't happen. Everything that
[00:14:42] is being agreed upon through these mediators
[00:14:44] now, the result will
[00:14:47] be known anyway until
[00:14:49] people go to the polls tomorrow. I think
[00:14:53] the duration of this conflict, which has now
[00:14:57] passed 8 months,
[00:14:59] is that it's so big that it can't just be
[00:15:02] abandoned. I don't think the president is under
[00:15:06] much pressure,
[00:15:08] but an ordinary president could
[00:15:12] be like that, but this president is not a normal and ordinary
[00:15:15] president. Now,
[00:15:18] the situation is very different.
[00:15:21] Diesel prices have become much more expensive, but
[00:15:25] none of this seems to have changed
[00:15:28] his calculations about the war. A war in which,
[00:15:32] after all, to some extent,
[00:15:35] the US
[00:15:38] army has managed to somewhat open the energy route.
[00:15:41] I'm not saying it's back to normal.
[00:15:45] No, it's not normal. It costs $3
[00:15:48] per barrel to be able to bring
[00:15:52] oil out of there,
[00:15:55] and also consider the fragility of this
[00:15:58] infrastructure that is there. In any case, what Iranian
[00:16:02] drones and missiles are creating, I don't think.
[00:16:06] Perhaps the military situation
[00:16:19] will reach a point in the next
[00:16:23] few days where he will
[00:16:25] want to withdraw, but I think he doesn't want to step
[00:16:29] aside right now unless it's a victory.
[00:16:32] Thank you very much, Mr. Miller. Aaron David Miller, senior
[00:16:36] researcher.
[00:16:40] One of the most sensitive and controversial US election races is the fight for
[00:16:44] a Senate seat from Michigan. Polls show the two rivals,
[00:16:47] Democrat and Republican, neck and neck. On
[00:16:50] one side of this race is a Muslim Arab-American who has
[00:16:54] been nominated by the Democratic Party, and from the US President to
[00:16:58] his fellow party members, many have criticized him, some believing it stems
[00:17:01] from Islamophobia. Our correspondent, Sam Farzaneh, is in
[00:17:05] Michigan.
[00:18:15] are either Arab-American or Muslim. Muslims
[00:18:18] in Dearborn are concerned about the increase in Islamophobic
[00:18:22] views. Even someone like Mike Hashem, who was
[00:18:25] working on Mr. Trump's election campaign just two years
[00:18:29] ago.
[00:18:31] I was born here. My mother has been here for over 36 years. She
[00:18:35] traveled to different states and...
[00:19:07] Arabs and Muslims who voted for Mr. Trump in the last round, because they
[00:19:11] thought he would keep his promise to end the war
[00:19:15] in Gaza and Lebanon, are now upset
[00:19:18] and want to make up for their vote two years
[00:19:21] ago.
[00:19:24] President Trump made a promise and did the exact opposite. He
[00:19:28] dragged us into another endless war, this time with Iran. He
[00:19:32] can't run again, but I won't vote for him or
[00:19:35] anyone he suggests.
[00:19:38] Like anywhere else in the US, economic issues have also caused
[00:19:42] many Dearborn Arabs to turn their backs
[00:19:45] on Republicans. The result of the war
[00:19:49] in the Gulf, due to the war in the Persian Gulf, transportation costs have significantly
[00:19:52] increased. Fuel costs have doubled.
[00:19:55] The rise of Abdul Sayed among Democrats
[00:19:59] who had volunteered to run for the Senate seat
[00:20:02] from Michigan caused many Muslims and
[00:20:06] Arabs in
[00:20:37] who said they didn't trust Democrats, and that Abdul's name
[00:20:41] is Islamic, and here I had to come and say that he was born
[00:20:44] and raised in Detroit, and I talked about his
[00:20:46] record. Tuesday's election
[00:20:50] might determine the fate of the US
[00:20:53] Senate, but at the same time, it's also a good test
[00:20:56] to see if a Muslim can win
[00:21:00] votes from the entire state in a state that's neither
[00:21:03] very liberal nor very conservative.
[00:21:07] Sam Farzaneh, BBC,
[00:21:10] in Dearborn, Michigan. Bahman Kalbasi, our correspondent from
[00:21:13] New York, is with the program. Bahman, Mr.
[00:21:17] El-Sayed, or Abdul El-Sayed,
[00:21:20] has faced some trouble more or less
[00:21:23] one day before the election. Perhaps
[00:21:26] this trouble stems from the very competition that Sam referred
[00:21:30] to in his report, the intra-party competition among Democrats over who
[00:21:33] would be the party's candidate to compete with the Republican
[00:21:37] candidate. And this competition, which lasted several
[00:21:40] months, ended with Abdul El-Sayed narrowly
[00:21:44] defeating Haley Stevens, a member
[00:21:47] of Congress. And Ms. Stevens benefited
[00:21:51] from several million dollars in aid from the Israel
[00:21:54] lobby. Mr. Sayed, on the other hand, is a critic
[00:21:58] of Israel and US support for Israel, and as a result, this became one of
[00:22:02] the vital and main issues of this competition.
[00:22:05] And after that intra-party competition, after Abdul
[00:22:08] El-Sayed was elected, many expected
[00:22:12] Ms. Stevens to come out, because after all, party
[00:22:15] members rally behind their candidate after the intra-party
[00:22:19] elections. To do so against the rival team, and Ms.
[00:22:23] Stevens did that. That is, at the beginning, she said we'll put intra-party differences
[00:22:26] aside, I support Mr. Sayed. But
[00:22:30] in the past week,
[00:22:32] differences escalated over an advertisement that a
[00:22:36] third group had published, which again criticized Israel. Ms. Stevens
[00:22:40] got angry and said Mr. Sayed must condemn
[00:22:43] this advertisement, even though
[00:22:47] Mr. Sayed's campaign had nothing to do with this ad. But in any case, this
[00:22:50] disagreement caused Ms. Stevens to, in these last 24 hours, not only retract
[00:22:54] her previous support, but also go
[00:22:57] and support the Republican candidate, Mike Rogers.
[00:23:00] She went to a church in person and supported
[00:23:04] him, and this became a bombshell news story, and
[00:23:08] its impact will now be that many Democratic leaders,
[00:23:11] even those who didn't have a very good relationship with Mr. Sayed, including
[00:23:15] Chuck Schumer, the Democratic leader in the
[00:23:18] Senate, who is also Jewish, have strongly condemned Ms.
[00:23:21] Stevens for retracting her support for
[00:23:24] Mr. Sayed. But the question remains: in this race that is so
[00:23:28] close, will Ms. Stevens' decision
[00:23:31] and those who might be "inspired" by her
[00:23:35] to vote for someone else change
[00:23:38] the election results or not? Polls show Mr.
[00:23:42] Sayed is ahead, but these polls have been wrong in many
[00:23:46] cases, or their margin of error has been such that it's possible
[00:23:50] either side could ultimately win. In any case, for this reason,
[00:23:53] Michigan was already in the spotlight before these events
[00:23:57] of the past two days. Now, after this news of Ms. Stevens' change
[00:24:00] of heart, it has fundamentally become the main
[00:24:04] Senate race that everyone will be watching from Tuesday
[00:24:08] night until the early hours of Wednesday to see who wins.
[00:24:12] Well, besides the struggles and competitions in Michigan,
[00:24:15] what is the overall prediction? Briefly,
[00:24:18] please.
[00:24:23] In the House of Representatives, it seems almost certain that
[00:24:26] Democrats will win, although that can't be said
[00:24:30] for sure until the last vote is counted. But in the Senate, the race is
[00:24:34] close, and the average of the polls shows that Democrats have the upper
[00:24:37] hand. For example, this morning, the New York Times, which is considered
[00:24:41] a reputable polling organization,
[00:24:44] said they have the upper hand in these seven states where the race is
[00:24:48] close. But we must
[00:24:54] wait until Tuesday evening, when all the votes are cast, before the final
[00:24:57] election results are known, given the bitter memories that Democrats have
[00:25:01] from polls. Then the counting will begin to see which polling
[00:25:04] institution was closer to reality. Thank you very much,
[00:25:07] Ahmadi, our correspondent in
[00:27:02] competed in a mountain climbing race.
[00:27:06] Here, Mount Tai, one of China's most
[00:27:10] famous mountains. About 90
[00:27:13] teams with their robots participated in a competition to climb
[00:27:16] thousands of stairs.
[00:27:20] Some robots even carried eggs
[00:27:22] or watermelons along the
[00:27:25] way. The main course of this race
[00:27:29] included more than 3,000 stone steps and was
[00:27:33] about 3 kilometers and 900 meters long.
[00:27:36] The elevation difference between the start and end of the course was about 600 meters.
[00:27:40] Climbers usually complete this route in two hours, but
[00:27:43] one of these robots managed to complete the same route in just 43
[00:27:47] minutes. Thank you for joining us for this news segment.