Original Broadcaster Captioning (Enhanced). Treat it as a searchable index of what was broadcast, not a quotation record.
00:00:10Live from Washington. This is
00:00:12BBC News. The US Senate passes a
00:00:15a sanctions package aimed at helping helping Ukraine by cutting off funds
00:00:19funds to Russia. It now faces a vote
00:00:20vote in the House of Representatives. Representatives. Thailand's Prime
00:00:24Prime Minister pledges new gun laws laws after a 14-year-old student
00:00:27student shoots dead. Six people at
00:00:29at a school after killing two of
00:00:31of his grandparents. And in an exclusive
00:00:34exclusive interview with BBC Newsnight, Newsnight, Hunter Biden sheds light
00:00:38light on his father's health and and decision to run for a second
00:00:42second term against Donald Trump.
00:00:53Helena Humphrey. Good to have you with us. We begin with some developing developing news from Ukraine. The
00:00:57The capital, Kyiv, is under attack attack from ballistic missiles. Russian
00:01:00Russian missile attacks have become become an almost nightly occurrence, occurrence, with Ukraine saying that
00:01:04that it lacks enough air defences defences to intercept them. Earlier,
00:01:08Earlier, Russian strikes killed three three people in the Kyiv region,
00:01:12region, including a child, according according to the local governor.
00:01:15governor. Meanwhile, here in the the US., the Senate has overwhelmingly
00:01:18overwhelmingly passed a sanctions sanctions bill against Russia. It
00:01:21It aims to choke off the country's country's economy and bring an end
00:01:24end to the war in Ukraine. Well, Well, the legislation targets major
00:01:27major buyers of Russian oil and gas gas and imposes additional sanctions
00:01:31sanctions on Russian leaders and and oligarchs. The measure, which
00:01:34which was championed by the late late Senator Lindsey Graham, still
00:01:36still needs to pass the House of of Representatives where it may face
00:01:40face some resistance. Now that's that's largely because of a provision provision in the bill that would
00:01:44would give President Trump the ability
00:01:46ability to impose tariffs of up to
00:01:48to 100% on countries that are major major consumers of Russian energy.
00:01:52energy. Lindsey Graham's sister, sister, South Carolina Republican
00:01:55Republican Senator Darline Graham Graham and Richard Blumenthal, the
00:01:58the Democratic senator from Connecticut, Connecticut, are among lawmakers
00:02:01lawmakers voicing support for that
00:02:03that bill. An emotional day in a
00:02:06a very exciting day for me. Russia
00:02:08Russia has waged war against Ukraine
00:02:11Ukraine for far too long. And this this bill assists President Trump
00:02:14Trump and his noble efforts to bring bring it to a close. This legislation
00:02:18legislation was deeply important important to my brother Lindsey,
00:02:21Lindsey, and I am grateful that this
00:02:22this bill has achieved such a wide
00:02:25wide coalition of support. He believed believed that this was the most consequential
00:02:29consequential piece of legislation legislation that he had ever led.
00:02:33led. Vladimir Putin is watching in in Moscow. I'd like to thank Lindsey
00:02:36Lindsey Graham is watching as well well and proud of what we've done,
00:02:40done, because today we send a message
00:02:42message to Vladimir Putin, you will
00:02:45will not win this war. Time to come
00:02:48come to the table for peace. Your
00:02:51Your economy already on its heels
00:02:55heels is going to be throttled, even even decimated. Ukrainian President
00:02:59President Volodymyr Zelensky has has thanked US senators for passing
00:03:02passing the sanctions bill. Meanwhile, Meanwhile, Russia has seized tens
00:03:05tens of thousands of homes across
00:03:07across regions of Ukraine that it it has illegally annexed since its
00:03:11its invasion of the country. The The Russian government told the BBC
00:03:13BBC the scheme is part of the legal
00:03:16legal framework for integrating the the reunited regions into the Russian
00:03:19Russian system. Well, the BBC has has analysed hundreds of publicly
00:03:23publicly available documents detailing detailing how occupying authorities
00:03:26authorities are taking away Ukrainian
00:03:28Ukrainian homes. BBC Verify's Olga
00:03:30Olga Robinson has more. Ihor Ivashchuk
00:03:35Ivashchuk hasn't seen his home in in the Ukrainian city of Mariupol
00:03:38Mariupol for years. The evangelical evangelical pastor fled the city
00:03:41city in September 2022, shortly before
00:03:44before Russia illegally annexed the the region. He hasn't been able to
00:03:47to return since. In his absence, absence, Ihor says a man in military
00:03:51military uniform turned up on his
00:03:54his doorstep. He asked what kind
00:03:56kind of housing it was, where the the owner was, what documents there
00:04:00there were and things like that.
00:04:03that. His house is among more than
00:04:06than 34,000 homes that are being being seized by Moscow installed
00:04:09installed authorities across four four occupied regions of Ukraine.
00:04:12Ukraine. The BBC has analysed hundreds
00:04:14hundreds of official documents published published since 2024. This is how
00:04:18how the process works. Moscow installed installed officials first declare
00:04:22declare properties as having signs signs of being ownerless. They then then require the Ukrainian owners
00:04:26owners to obtain a Russian passport
00:04:28passport and prove ownership in person, person, all within just 30 days.
00:04:32days. If Ukrainians fail to do so,
00:04:35so, their homes are declared ownerless ownerless transferred to the local
00:04:39local authority and can be reassigned reassigned to someone else. Mariupol
00:04:42Mariupol has seen most of the seizures. seizures. The city was bitterly fought
00:04:45fought over in the early days of of the invasion, and thousands of
00:04:48of people fled more than 14,000 homes
00:04:52homes and properties here have been
00:04:54been labelled ownerless and are being being seized. And it's not just a
00:04:58a local initiative. It has the personal
00:05:01personal endorsement from President President Putin, a law he signed
00:05:03signed in December last year formalised formalised the process allowing the
00:05:07the properties to be given or temporarily temporarily leased to Russian citizens
00:05:11citizens only. Experts say this appears
00:05:13appears to be part of the wider efforts
00:05:15efforts to russify the occupied regions.
00:05:17regions. The Russian government told told us this scheme established procedures
00:05:21procedures for managing residential residential property whose owners
00:05:24owners cannot be identified or contacted.
00:05:28contacted. Igor says he doesn't know know if someone lives in his home
00:05:30home now, but still hopes to see
00:05:34see it one day. For me or my family, family, the question is where we
00:05:38we will live to see that time. I
00:05:40I would like to. Ukrainians we spoke
00:05:42spoke to say it's not just homes homes they're losing but their memories
00:05:46memories and heritage. Olga Robinson,
00:05:49Robinson, BBC News. Police in Thailand Thailand say that a 14-year-old student
00:05:53student killed at least eight people people in gun attacks at his home
00:05:56home in school on the outskirts of of Bangkok. The Thai Prime Minister
00:06:00Minister said the teenager killed killed his grandparents and five
00:06:03five teachers before taking his own own life. Thai media later reported
00:06:07reported that a school student had had died from their injuries. Well,
00:06:10Well, at least 30 other people were were injured in those attacks. These
00:06:14These are some live pictures that that we have showing the exterior
00:06:16exterior of the school in Bangkok. Bangkok. And despite strict gun laws
00:06:20laws that punish illegal firearm firearm possession with up to ten
00:06:23ten years in prison, Thailand has has one of the highest rates of civilian
00:06:26civilian gun ownership in South East
00:06:28East Asia. It is estimated that 40%
00:06:3140% of guns there are possessed illegally.
00:06:34illegally. Well, turning now to the the UK, where there has been a new
00:06:37new development in the investigation investigation into the murder of
00:06:40of the former Conservative Minister Minister Ann Widdecombe. British British counter-terrorism police
00:06:44police say that they are reopening reopening an investigation into an
00:06:47an attempted burglary that happened happened last year after they identified
00:06:50identified a new line of inquiry inquiry that may be relevant. The
00:06:54The BBC understands this refers to to an incident at Nigel Farage's
00:06:58Farage's home in south London, which which the reform UK leader previously
00:07:02previously described as a lit incendiary
00:07:04incendiary device being pushed through through his letterbox. Ann Widdecombe,
00:07:07Widdecombe, a prominent member of of the reform UK party, was found
00:07:11found dead at her home last month.
00:07:13month. The Spanish government has has introduced controls at its borders
00:07:17borders for travellers arriving from
00:07:19from Italy as a row over migration migration continues to escalate.
00:07:22escalate. Madrid says that it will will temporarily impose controls
00:07:25controls at internal borders, ports ports and airports from midnight
00:07:29midnight to. Well, Spain has been
00:07:32been angered by Italy's response response to the sudden influx last
00:07:35last week of tens of thousands of of Moroccans into the Spanish North
00:07:38North African territory of Ceuta.
00:07:41Ceuta. Italy promptly imposed border border restrictions on travellers
00:07:44travellers from Spain and today said said that it intended to keep them
00:07:47them in place for at least another
00:07:50another week. Hunter Biden, the son
00:07:52son of former US President Joe Biden,
00:07:55Biden, has defended the controversial controversial presidential pardon
00:07:58pardon granted by his father in an an interview with the BBC's Newsnight.
00:08:02Newsnight. He said that he feels feels like the most privileged person
00:08:06person there is, while acknowledging acknowledging that people would find
00:08:08find it unfair. The former president's
00:08:10president's son also spoke candidly candidly about his father's cancer
00:08:14cancer and his own battle with addiction. addiction. Well, Hunter Biden also
00:08:17also said that he did not advise advise his father to run for a second
00:08:21second term against Donald Trump. Trump. He spoke to BBC Newsnight
00:08:24Newsnight presenter Paddy O'Connell.
00:08:26O'Connell. Did you advise him to
00:08:28to run again? No, I did not because
00:08:33because what was it like for you
00:08:35you explaining this love and respect,
00:08:39respect, watching the 2024 presidential presidential debate, where were you,
00:08:43you, Hunter, when your father failed
00:08:44failed to complete a sentence on
00:08:47on prime time television during a
00:08:51a presidential election campaign?
00:08:52campaign? Where were you watching
00:08:55watching that? I was alone in. I
00:08:58I wasn't alone, I was at my house house in here in California, and
00:09:02and I was watching it. And I always always like to if I'm not with him,
00:09:05him, to be able to watch alone. And
00:09:08And so I was alone in a room with with the TV and I was watching it.
00:09:12it. And like everybody else, I was
00:09:14was shocked. I could tell as soon soon as my father came out that something
00:09:17something was wrong. I've never seen
00:09:20seen him with a kind of the hundred
00:09:22hundred yard stare that he had and
00:09:26and you know, everybody has their their questions, you know, of. But
00:09:30But the reason that we know about
00:09:32about that is not because Joe Biden
00:09:34Biden wasn't on TV or in public a
00:09:38a million and a half times before before and after. The reason that
00:09:41that was so shocking is because it it had never happened before, and
00:09:44and it hasn't happened since. And
00:09:47And so I can't necessarily explain explain it. I have theories about
00:09:50about it. I have theories about the the fact that he had travelled as
00:09:53as much as he did, and he was taking
00:09:55taking Ambien, I believe, which they they I'm positive they gave him when
00:09:59when he was going back and forth
00:10:01forth from Asia. I think he had flown
00:10:04flown I think, eight different legs legs in a three week period of time.
00:10:08time. But regardless, these are just just theories of mine. I also know
00:10:11know that he obviously had cancer.
00:10:13cancer. Whether it impacted him or
00:10:15or not, he had by nine months later later he was diagnosed with stage
00:10:19stage four prostate cancer and stage stage four metastatic bone cancer,
00:10:23cancer, none of which we knew. But
00:10:25But my reaction to it was that I I was as shocked, I think, as anyone
00:10:28anyone who knew Joe Biden was. Well,
00:10:32Well, now on BBC News, my colleague colleague Annita McVeigh has an in
00:10:34in depth look at the day's developments
00:10:37developments in the US Iran war with with our recorded programme, the
00:10:40the Iran War. Today. Hello, I'm Annita
00:10:48Annita McVeigh and this is the Iran Iran War. Today our daily news briefing
00:10:52briefing bringing you up to date date with all you need to know from
00:10:55from the last 24 hours in the US
00:10:58US war with Iran. Let's start with
00:10:59with some of today's key developments. developments. Tensions escalate in
00:11:03in the Red Sea, Saudi Arabia and and the Iran backed Houthi rebels
00:11:07rebels continue their blockade of of one another as 11 people are injured
00:11:11injured in a suspected Houthi strike
00:11:13strike inside Saudi. Meanwhile, Saudi Saudi Arabia signs a defence agreement
00:11:17agreement with Turkey and Pakistan, Pakistan, saying an attack on one
00:11:21one of them would be seen as an attack
00:11:23attack on all three. Reports from from Iran say the country's leaders
00:11:27leaders have drafted a bill to regulate regulate traffic in the Strait of
00:11:30of Hormuz. We'll assess what the the options could be to reopen that
00:11:34that vital waterway. Donald Trump
00:11:36Trump again dismisses reports of
00:11:38of dwindling US munitions stockpiles stockpiles and again insists the
00:11:41the war with Iran is close to being
00:11:44being over. I think it's going in
00:11:46in pretty soon. I don't think they
00:11:48they can go much longer. We begin
00:11:55begin with one of the deadliest days days in recent years between Saudi
00:11:59Saudi Arabia and the Houthis in Yemen, Yemen, as control over shipping in
00:12:02in the Red Sea leads to fresh strikes.
00:12:05strikes. 11 civilians were injured injured in a Houthi attack on Saudi
00:12:08Saudi Arabia's border region of Najran.
00:12:11Najran. The attack comes two days days after the Houthis said they
00:12:14they had carried out a drone strike
00:12:16strike on Najran Airport. Houthi
00:12:19Houthi attacks in central Yemen also also reportedly killed at least 30
00:12:2330 Yemeni government troops who are
00:12:25are backed by Saudi Arabia. Tensions
00:12:28Tensions have escalated in recent recent weeks after the Iranian backed
00:12:30backed group announced a naval blockade blockade in the Red Sea and attacked
00:12:34attacked Saudi tankers and oil facilities. facilities. Riyadh has responded
00:12:38responded with strikes on military military sites in Yemen. And don't
00:12:41don't forget that Red Sea is one one of the world's most important
00:12:45important shipping routes. Since Since the war started, Saudi Arabia
00:12:48Arabia had been using the Red Sea
00:12:50Sea to export oil, bypassing the
00:12:52the Strait of Hormuz. Let's speak speak to our security correspondent,
00:12:56correspondent, Frank Gardner. And And Frank, you spoke to us earlier
00:12:58earlier in the week about the Saudi
00:13:00Saudi Houthi conflict being a second
00:13:02second front in the US Iran war. war. Give us your thoughts on the
00:13:06the escalation that we're seeing.
00:13:09seeing. Well, this is a case of old old scores being settled to some some extent because Saudi Arabia
00:13:13Arabia went to war with the Houthis
00:13:16Houthis in March 2015 after the Houthis Houthis had taken over the whole
00:13:20whole country or most of it. They They tried to reverse that takeover.
00:13:24takeover. They fought for seven years,
00:13:26years, a bitter war against the Houthis, Houthis, mostly bombarding them from
00:13:30from the air. But they had ground ground battles as well. The Saudis
00:13:34Saudis completely failed to dislodge
00:13:36dislodge the Houthis. An estimated
00:13:39estimated 370 thousand people died
00:13:41died in the ensuing conflict through
00:13:44through displacement, hunger and
00:13:46and air strikes. There was then a
00:13:51a ceasefire since 2022, but basically basically the plaster has been ripped
00:13:53ripped off. This wound and they're
00:13:55they're at each other's throats again.
00:13:58again. Partly prompted by Saudi Arabia
00:14:01Arabia bombing Sanaa airport to try
00:14:03try to stop a plane landing from
00:14:06from Iran. And the Houthis are in,
00:14:09in, although they are in charge of of the poorest Arab country, they
00:14:13they are in quite a strong position, position, rather like Iran. They're
00:14:17They're militarily weak but strategically strategically strong because they
00:14:20they sit right next to the Bab el el Mandeb Strait the choke point
00:14:24point at the southern end of the the Red Sea, as you mentioned there. there. So they're able to threaten
00:14:28threaten shipping and they have indeed, indeed, they say, targeted eight
00:14:32eight Saudi tankers, which makes makes it very difficult for Saudi
00:14:34Saudi Arabia to get its oil to market. market. It can't go through the Strait
00:14:38Strait of Hormuz or it's very difficult difficult and dangerous to export
00:14:40export it that way at the moment
00:14:43moment because of the Iran-us conflict, conflict, it was exporting it through
00:14:46through the Red Sea from Yanbu, further
00:14:48further south. That's now difficult.
00:14:50difficult. So this is going to impact
00:14:52impact the global economy as well well as making life difficult for
00:14:56for Saudi Arabia. Meanwhile, Frank, Frank, we've seen Saudi Arabia sign
00:14:59sign a defence pact with Pakistan Pakistan and Turkey, which essentially
00:15:02essentially says an attack on one one is an attack on all. How significant
00:15:06significant is that? Well, on paper paper it is significant, but I think
00:15:10think this may turn out to be largely largely performative. Saudi Arabia
00:15:13Arabia loves forming big international international alliances. I remember
00:15:17remember it with a huge fanfare in
00:15:19in 2016. It announced some big Islamic
00:15:22Islamic nations, a sort of Islamic Islamic Nato, and we went down to
00:15:25to Saudi to inspect a big sort of
00:15:28of parade with people abseiling from from helicopters. Nothing came of
00:15:31of that. This particular pact. It
00:15:34It is significant because these are
00:15:35are three important countries. Pakistan
00:15:39Pakistan has mediated with some degree
00:15:41degree of success, although not ultimately
00:15:44ultimately successful between the the US and Iran. It signed a defence
00:15:47defence pact already with Saudi Arabia Arabia last year, and it's a nuclear
00:15:50nuclear armed state. But there's there's no suggestion in this pact
00:15:54pact that Pakistan would make its its nuclear warheads available to
00:15:57to Saudi Arabia. Likewise, Turkey
00:15:59Turkey has got a huge army, the second
00:16:01second biggest in Nato after the the United States. But again, there
00:16:05there is nothing in this defence defence pact signed very symbolically
00:16:09symbolically in Mecca that actually
00:16:11actually obliges these countries countries to come to the aid of another
00:16:15another one if attacked. And Saudi Saudi Arabia is being attacked from
00:16:18from both sides, from Iranian backed
00:16:21backed militias in Iraq and Iranian Iranian backed Houthis in Yemen.
00:16:24Yemen. So the test of this alliance, alliance, whether it's worth anything
00:16:28anything more than the paper it's it's written on, will be if Saudi
00:16:31Saudi Arabia is attacked, are they they going to do anything? OK, Frank,
00:16:34Frank, thank you very much. Frank Frank Gardner, our security correspondent.
00:16:37correspondent. Well, let's turn to to the Strait of Hormuz. It's been
00:16:40been days since Iran and Oman said said they'd reached an agreement
00:16:44agreement on the exact shipping routes routes commercial ships could use
00:16:47use to transit the vital waterway. waterway. And that agreement is yet
00:16:51yet to be published. But let's just just take a moment to look through
00:16:53through what's been proposed so far. far. So we've got a series of graphics
00:16:57graphics of maps for you to show
00:16:59show you the various options. Currently Currently there are three distinct
00:17:02distinct routes. First of all, we
00:17:05we have the northern corridor. Now
00:17:07Now this is approved by Iran and
00:17:09and mostly within their own territorial territorial waters. As you can see
00:17:13see here, Tehran has asked ships ships to use this route since mid
00:17:16mid June, giving them greater oversight
00:17:19oversight and control of marine traffic
00:17:21traffic in the strait. Then you have have the southern corridor. Now this
00:17:25this route is approved by Oman as
00:17:29as well as the International Maritime Maritime Organisation. It's also also backed by the United States
00:17:32States and would see ships transit transit through the territorial waters
00:17:36waters of Oman and the UAE. You can
00:17:38can see here much closer to the shore
00:17:42shore of Oman and crucially, away
00:17:44away from Iranian waters. And then
00:17:47then you have the two shipping lanes
00:17:49lanes that were in use before the
00:17:52the war with inbound traffic transiting
00:17:54transiting via a more northerly route
00:17:56route closer to Iran's coast. So So here and then outbound traffic
00:18:00traffic moving back out to the Gulf Gulf of Oman on a path closer to
00:18:04to the coastlines of the UAE and
00:18:07and Oman. Early reports in Iranian Iranian media suggest that this could
00:18:10could be the basis of the new Iran
00:18:13Iran Oman agreement. But of course
00:18:15course that is yet to be published. published. Well, Donald Trump has
00:18:18has again repeated his claim the the war is close to being over. Just
00:18:22Just days after he called off an an attack which he said would have
00:18:25have been greater than anything seen seen since World War II. We've also
00:18:29also heard from the President in in the last 24 hours addressing extensive
00:18:32extensive reporting, both here at
00:18:34at the BBC and across the American American media that suggested the
00:18:37the war with Iran has severely depleted
00:18:40depleted US weapons stockpiles. Here's
00:18:42Here's what he told reporters. We
00:18:45We have certain types of munitions munitions which are very. They may
00:18:49may not be as accurate. They may may not be. You know, they're not
00:18:52not as elite. We have elite two,
00:18:55two, but we're watching that very
00:18:56very closely. But we have certain
00:19:00certain types which are very powerful
00:19:01powerful and very good. And we have
00:19:04have an unlimited supply. And so
00:19:07so we're in great shape. But with
00:19:09with that being said, we always want want more. We have to have more.
00:19:13more. We have other things maybe maybe come up, maybe come up and and maybe don't come up. Hopefully
00:19:16Hopefully nothing else does come come up, but we're in very good shape.
00:19:19shape. We have literally massive massive amounts of ammunition. Well,
00:19:22Well, let's speak to our Washington Washington correspondent Daniel Bush
00:19:26Bush Daniel. What exactly is the
00:19:28the US strategy at this point? Well,
00:19:31Well, the strategy has not seemed seemed to change all that much. President
00:19:34President Trump is insisting that that if he wants to, he can step
00:19:37step up attacks militarily against against Iran at any time, then backing
00:19:40backing away, claiming a deal is is at hand right now. Washington
00:19:43Washington and the White House in in particular are really keeping keeping a close eye on these talks
00:19:47talks between Oman and Iran to see see what comes out of that, and it
00:19:50it will present a major challenge challenge for President Trump if
00:19:54if those two countries agree to some
00:19:55some sort of a fee or tolling system
00:19:58system for shipping through that that route, that is something that
00:20:01that the administration has said said categorically should not happen
00:20:05happen is against international law, law, and they may have to accept
00:20:08accept that as a concession or a a compromise to get shipping through
00:20:12through the Strait of Hormuz fully fully reopen and move one step closer
00:20:16closer to some sort of a longer term term ceasefire with Iran. And at
00:20:19at the same time, President Trump
00:20:21Trump is addressing these reports reports about munitions shortages.
00:20:25shortages. And yesterday telling telling reporters at the White House
00:20:27House on the one hand, that the munitions munitions stockpiles are in good
00:20:30good shape. But it was telling that that he did say that certain munitions munitions and he didn't specify which
00:20:34which ones are, quote, a little bit
00:20:36bit tighter. So as perhaps a small small acknowledgement from the President
00:20:39President that indeed the US is facing facing some shortages as this war
00:20:43war goes on for months and months. months. And Daniel, how much pressure
00:20:46pressure is the President under domestically domestically to cut a deal that ends
00:20:49ends the US involvement in this war.
00:20:52war. That pressure is going up day day by day because with each passing
00:20:56passing day and week, we're coming coming closer and closer to the mid-term
00:21:00mid-term elections in November. For For months now in the United States,
00:21:02States, polls show that a majority majority of Americans disapprove
00:21:05disapprove of President Trump's handling handling of the war. That includes
00:21:08includes some Republicans and crucially, crucially, a lot of independent voters
00:21:12voters as well. This is a losing losing issue politically for the
00:21:15the Republican Party. And Republicans, Republicans, in fact, have been pressing pressing the White House to pivot
00:21:19pivot away from the war to talk about about the economy, to talk about
00:21:22about other issues. But President President Trump has no choice but but to continue to address this.
00:21:26this. So from the President's perspective perspective and his team, they've they've been looking for a way out,
00:21:30out, a way to wind down this conflict. conflict. Now for the last two months.
00:21:33months. Plus, there is nothing at at hand. But the longer this goes
00:21:36goes on, the more pressure, especially especially after the August recess
00:21:39recess when Republicans and Democrats Democrats come back and campaigning campaigning gets into full swing,
00:21:43swing, there will be even more pressure pressure on President Trump to get get a resolution and get it quickly.
00:21:47quickly. OK, Daniel, thank you very very much. Daniel Bush. Well, let's
00:21:51let's end with the latest from inside
00:21:53inside Iran after yesterday's reporting reporting that the country's intelligence
00:21:56intelligence ministry had arrested arrested 21 people over alleged links
00:22:00links to Israel's Mossad intelligence intelligence service. Well, with
00:22:02with me now is BBC Persian special
00:22:05special correspondent Kasra Naji Naji Kasra. Talk to us about what
00:22:08what we know about these arrests arrests and what life is like for
00:22:11for people inside Iran at the moment. moment. What do we know about that?
00:22:14that? We know very little about these
00:22:17these 21 people. We know that they they were arrested by Iran's intelligence
00:22:21intelligence ministry in southwest southwest of the country. This is
00:22:24is an area of Iran which is bordering
00:22:27bordering Baluchistan in Pakistan.
00:22:29Pakistan. And there's a history of of insurgency there these days. The
00:22:33The Iranian authorities are very very concerned that Iran's enemies,
00:22:37enemies, like the US., Israel and
00:22:40and others might want to fan the
00:22:43the flame of insurgency in that part part of the world. So these kinds
00:22:47kinds of reports of arrests sort sort of fits into all that. At the
00:22:51the same time, there is almost a
00:22:54a paranoia that there are a lot of
00:22:57of collaborators with Israel, particularly particularly after this past year
00:23:01year or so when we have seen Israel
00:23:06Israel killing top officials in Iran
00:23:09Iran with precise targeting. So the
00:23:11the general feeling is that there
00:23:14there is a lot of collaboration collaborators
00:23:16collaborators with Israel and this
00:23:19this kind of news items and announcements
00:23:22announcements are designed to warn
00:23:26warn people against collaborating collaborating with Israel. And then
00:23:29then Kasra looking at the big picture
00:23:32picture here, there are back channel
00:23:34channel contacts, conversations going
00:23:36going on between Iran and the United United States. So from the Iranian
00:23:40Iranian perspective, what are the the chances of the two sides, you
00:23:43you know, getting back to sitting sitting down together, perhaps getting
00:23:47getting back to that memorandum of of understanding that we heard about
00:23:50about a month or so ago? I think
00:23:52think it will happen sooner or later later because both sides want to
00:23:56to go back to the negotiating table. table. Both sides know that they
00:23:59they cannot win this war militarily.
00:24:01militarily. There's no answer to to this really. And they have to
00:24:04to sort of sit down and negotiate.
00:24:07negotiate. So that's the what is is happening is that there are two
00:24:10two channels. One is between Oman
00:24:12Oman and Iran talks going on with
00:24:15with the Americans involved in this
00:24:17this to open the Strait of Hormuz Hormuz as you were just reporting.
00:24:21reporting. And the second channel
00:24:23channel is the back and forth of
00:24:25of messages between the US and Iran Iran through the Pakistanis, the
00:24:29the one the second channel is basically
00:24:31basically for going back to the memorandum
00:24:34memorandum of understanding, but but probably not exactly the same
00:24:37same thing because it was very vaguely vaguely worded and it was open to
00:24:41to all sorts of interpretations.
00:24:43interpretations. Maybe they will
00:24:45will be discussing a new version
00:24:49version of that memorandum of understanding, understanding, but nevertheless keeping
00:24:53keeping the main, main, main concessions,
00:24:56concessions, main points in there. there. So these two things are going
00:24:59going on at the same time. But the the first channel, I'm not sure they
00:25:03they are as close to achieving some
00:25:07some kind of a deal yet. Iranians
00:25:10Iranians are very optimistic. Americans Americans are very optimistic. I
00:25:14I don't see Omanis being very optimistic
00:25:16optimistic the way that you were
00:25:19were just explaining that. The bottom
00:25:21bottom line of that was basically
00:25:25basically if Oman allows Iranian
00:25:29Iranian oversight on how what happens happens in the southern part of the
00:25:33the Strait of Hormuz, this is sort
00:25:34sort of goes against the sovereignty
00:25:37sovereignty of Oman. And I'm not
00:25:39not sure whether Oman is is ready
00:25:42ready to accept that from the Iranians. Iranians. OK. Difficult to fix. Kasra
00:25:45Kasra thank you very much. Kasra
00:25:48Kasra Naji BBC Persians special correspondent correspondent and whether you are
00:25:51are joining us on YouTube sounds sounds or TV. Thanks very much for
00:25:55for your time. And that's it for
00:25:57for this edition of the Iran War.
00:26:00War. Today.
00:29:55you are. Business on BBC News. Make
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