Google Cloud Speech-to-Text API (Chirp) + Gemini 2.5 Flash Non-Thinking. Treat it as a searchable index of what was broadcast, not a quotation record.
00:00:21We didn't know for the first few months where the children were. They kidnapped the children at night.
00:00:24They kidnapped them from inside the house. They kidnapped them without any warrant, without
00:00:28any warrant, aunt. And my relatives were almost
00:00:31daily from this court to that court, from this
00:00:35hospital to that hospital, forensics. For several days,
00:00:39they were at the door of the Dolatabad prison. A BBC Persian exclusive report
00:00:43on the controversial case of Esfahan's Shohada Square
00:00:46on World Day against the Death Penalty.
00:00:49The gallows are still around the necks of the protesters. We speak with
00:00:53a human rights activist and ask why the process of dealing with
00:00:57energy cases is about
00:01:07concessions to the Kremlin. Zelensky says that lifting
00:01:11the ban on Russian gas oil sales prolongs
00:01:14the war. Trump says Ukraine needs
00:01:18new leadership for peace. An MP from Ukraine
00:01:21is our guest to talk about the implications of the US President's decision
00:01:24for Kyiv. Iranian reactions to the US
00:01:27Secretary of State's speech
00:01:30in Greece. Could the resistance of the Athenians
00:01:33against Xerxes' army be
00:01:36a modern allegory? The Iranians plundered
00:01:39the temples, burned the shrines,
00:01:43and razed the Acropolis. And despite
00:01:47the escalation of Saudi
00:01:47airstrikes and the expansion of clashes
00:01:53around the Bab el-Mandeb strait, the Houthi rebels in Yemen once again targeted
00:01:56Riyadh International Airport. 60 minutes live
00:02:00from BBC
00:02:15in London. Iran is facing
00:02:18multiple crises, from the uncertainty
00:02:22of an unfinished war with America to being caught
00:02:26in the grip of economic pressures.
00:02:30Meanwhile, every week, news is published about the issuance of death
00:02:34sentences or executions, which are mostly related
00:02:38to the protests of December 2023. Protests that were brutally
00:02:41suppressed, leaving thousands dead. In one of these cases,
00:02:45known as Shohada Square in Isfahan, 16 people were accused.
00:02:4810 of them were sentenced to death by the lower
00:02:51court. This case was formed in connection
00:02:55with the killing of a member of the Revolutionary Guard and a homeless
00:02:59citizen. In the past year, Iran has witnessed executions
00:03:02that are rare in the last half-century. Why does the government
00:03:06behave this way in wartime and under crushing economic
00:03:09pressures? First, we go to Maryam
00:03:13Afshan, who has prepared a special report on this matter.
00:03:16Today is the World Day Against the Death Penalty.
00:03:20Tell me more about my research. You see, Jamal, this
00:03:23case is a very complex and full
00:03:27of ambiguities and many question marks. It is
00:03:30both for public opinion
00:03:34and for families whose loved ones
00:03:38are currently in prison. As you said, 16
00:03:41people are accused in this case,
00:03:45and 10 people have been sentenced to death,
00:03:48including a very young girl.
00:03:52Another thing about this case is that there are two sisters who are
00:03:55both twins.
00:03:59And I think they are 20 years old, very young.
00:04:02Taraneh and Romina Rahimi, Taraneh has been sentenced
00:04:06to death and Romina to 26 years
00:04:09in prison. Then there are three brothers,
00:04:12Milad Ali Mehrdad Buyiri,
00:04:16of whom Mehrdad has been sentenced to death and the other two brothers to
00:04:19long prison terms. There is also
00:04:23another young girl named Setayesh Saedi, who I think
00:04:26is 18 or at most 19 years old, in this case.
00:04:30We are talking about children who are very young,
00:04:34most of them were born in
00:04:37'84, '85, '86. That means they
00:04:41could be your children and mine, and such heavy
00:04:44sentences, so rushed and full of
00:04:47ambiguities, in a situation where as soon
00:04:50as they were able to come to court, they said that they were forced
00:04:54to confess under torture. This
00:04:57really fuels concern about
00:05:01what is happening in Iran's courts. Now we
00:05:05can watch the report together first. Esfahan 19.
00:05:08People of Iran, maintain your unity.
00:05:12Esfahan, the protests of December 2023.
00:05:14One of the bloodiest protests
00:05:18in Iran.
00:05:20Thousands killed and injured, thousands arrested.
00:05:23Dozens executed and many others facing death
00:05:27sentences. The case of Shohada Square in Isfahan
00:05:30is one of the judicial cases of these protests.
00:05:34BBC Persian, by examining documents from this case
00:05:37and interviewing several informed sources,
00:05:40has found that 16 people
00:05:42in this case face charges including
00:05:46enmity against God, aiding and abetting enmity against God,
00:05:49destruction of public property under the guise of enmity against God,
00:05:53assembly and collusion, and propaganda against the system.
00:05:56The Esfahan court has issued death sentences for 10 of these
00:06:00individuals and heavy prison sentences for the
00:06:03others. For Taraneh Rahimi, Navid Elyasi,
00:06:07Abolfazl Dadgostari,
00:06:09Mehdi Mansouri Hasanabadi, Ahmadreza.
00:06:32Most of them were born in the 80s. Young girls
00:06:35and boys were all arrested in February in their homes.
00:06:39One of the most important ambiguities of the
00:06:43case revolves around the killing of two people:
00:06:46Abbas Kamrani, a security officer, and another,
00:06:49who is referred to as a homeless person without mentioning
00:06:52his name. The accused were mostly employees
00:06:56of shoe stores in Shohada Square in Isfahan, and
00:06:59some of them had not even seen or known each other before.
00:07:03There are many questions and ambiguities in this case.
00:07:07BBC interviews with informed individuals and sources close
00:07:10to the families indicate that these sentences were
00:07:14based on forced confessions. Taraneh and Romina Rahimi
00:07:18are twin sisters, 20 years old, and Taraneh is facing a death sentence.
00:07:22For the first few months, we didn't know where the children were. They kidnapped
00:07:25the children from their home at night. They kidnapped them without any warrant,
00:07:28without having any warrant. My aunt and my relatives
00:07:31were almost daily from this court to that
00:07:35court, from this hospital to that hospital, forensics.
00:07:37For several days, they were at the door of the Dolatabad prison,
00:07:41and they were not given any answer. No one would answer.
00:07:45The question was, are my children here or not? No one would answer.
00:07:48They even gathered behind Dolatabad prison
00:07:52and got no answer. Those days were very painful
00:07:56until my aunt's family
00:07:59was able to go and see the children, and that was also
00:08:02painful. She couldn't believe the physical and mental state of these children
00:08:06she had seen. She hadn't recognized them,
00:08:08she didn't know, she hadn't understood that these were her children until
00:08:12I spoke to her or my aunt had written a heartfelt note saying that
00:08:16I have these children from my whole life,
00:08:20I don't want to see all the effort they put into living for these children,
00:08:23one at the gallows and one for 25 years behind bars.
00:08:27It is very painful. Mehrdad,
00:08:30Ali, and Milad Buyiri, three brothers, are among the other
00:08:34defendants in the case. The family had no news of the children for 90 days.
00:08:38They kept going to Dolatabad prison. They were told that the children were there
00:08:42and no one could touch them. Mehrdad was in solitary
00:08:46confinement for about 50 days, and Ali and Milad for about 30 days.
00:08:50They were forced to confess to the murder of an officer.
00:08:53But none of them agreed. On the 50th day, they put two
00:08:57videos in front of Mehrdad and told him he had to choose between being the one who
00:09:00killed the officer or the one who destroyed the signboard. Mehrdad,
00:09:04out of fear of choosing between bad and worse, said that he had torn down the signboard,
00:09:08while later he told his family that he had neither torn down the signboard nor seen anyone killed there.
00:09:11They only had a picture of Milad standing in a shop with his hands in his pockets.
00:09:15They told him that his apprentice had made a Molotov cocktail and he was guarding him so he could throw
00:09:19it at the officers. They also pressured Ali by threatening his mother.
00:09:23When he said he hadn't done anything, they told him his case couldn't be
00:09:26empty. Finally, they forced him to write that he had thrown
00:09:30stones at the officers. One in the East Square and one in Shohada Square.
00:09:34In the end, Mehrdad was sentenced to death and 11 years in prison for
00:09:38enmity against God and destruction of public property, Milad to 36 years in prison,
00:09:41and Ali to about.
00:09:45An informed source close to the case told us:
00:09:48The court process was completely unfair.
00:09:51When the children said in court that they had been tortured,
00:09:55the judge, instead of investigating, threatened them and said,
00:09:59"They taught you these things." Even those who had court-appointed lawyers
00:10:02raised the issue of torture. The case is full of contradictions.
00:10:06The forensic doctor's letters have also been tampered with. In court, it was said
00:10:09that Ahmadreza Saeedi has cognitive problems. It has
00:10:12affected his decision-making ability, but in the case
00:10:16file, it is written that he is completely healthy. The case
00:10:19photos are also blurry, and the only evidence is the confessions
00:10:22that were said to have been taken under torture, which is also full of contradictions.
00:10:26Lawyers complained to the Revolutionary Guard intelligence
00:10:29about the torture claims. In court, the judge accepted the children's
00:10:33confessions, but when one of them wanted to testify about what he had seen
00:10:37or known, he silenced him. Once Milad said,
00:10:41"I didn't do this." The judge asked, "Do you have a witness?" And Abolfazl
00:10:45Dadgostar said, "I am a witness." The judge started insulting Abolfazl. Or
00:10:49for example, Ahmadreza said he had been waiting all the time
00:10:52for the interrogator to come so he could speak. He was hopeful
00:10:56that in court, someone would finally listen to him without beating him.
00:10:59The judge asked him, "Didn't you speak in front of the interrogator?"
00:11:03And he said, "No, I didn't say anything. The interrogator came and shocked my testicles and neck."
00:11:07Then I realized that this interrogator was torturing me.
00:11:11It is in the case file that Taraneh had a knife. Then
00:11:14during the interrogation, they gave Taraneh a knife, and under forced confession,
00:11:18she said, "Yes, this is my knife." In court, the knife they showed
00:11:22was completely different from the one in the interrogation that Taraneh had.
00:11:44informed us that the families of these prisoners have been severely harassed
00:11:48and insulted many times during these months.
00:11:52He spoke about the days and months of wandering of the Buyiri family
00:11:55to find news of their sons. He said: Once the mother
00:11:58of the boys sat for hours at the door of the interrogator's room, hoping to
00:12:02get an answer, and as soon as the interrogator heard the names of the Buyiris,
00:12:06he said, "I don't want to answer you." For a whole week, they would go from 7 am to 2 pm,
00:12:10hoping someone would give them an answer, and nothing. At the court,
00:12:13they were told, "You are bastards. Your children are also bastards."
00:12:16From February 4th to April 24th,
00:12:20this family had no news of their sons. They didn't even know
00:12:23if the children were alive or dead. The first time the family was able
00:12:27to see the children, they were shocked, so much so that three of them had shrunk.
00:12:31They said they just looked at each other. They were all in very bad condition.
00:12:35Then they held a sham trial on the 22nd, 23rd, and 24th
00:12:38of July. The children's defenses were not taken into
00:12:41account at all in that court. Based on those forced confessions,
00:12:45the children were sentenced. No weapons were seized from any of them,
00:12:49nor was there any connection to the killing of the officer. A video of Mehrdad from 10 years
00:12:52ago was included in the case file, showing him with a knife.
00:13:13Multi-hour trials, sometimes with less than 15 minutes
00:13:17for the defendant to defend themselves, confessions that, according
00:13:21to reports, were obtained under torture, formed the basis
00:13:25for the issuance of harsh and death sentences.
00:13:28According to Javaid Rehman, the special rapporteur on human
00:13:31rights in Iran, even the defense lawyers in these cases
00:13:34have faced threats, intimidation, detention, and disbarment.
00:13:38When the right to a defense and a fair trial is taken
00:13:42from the accused, concern for the lives of the detainees
00:13:45is more serious than ever. Maryam Afshang
00:13:49is still with us. Maryam, the examples
00:13:53you researched,
00:13:56we were somewhat aware of them, they have been
00:13:59reported, but many times we know
00:14:03that things have happened, but there is not much
00:14:06information about them, or getting information is
00:14:09very difficult. Jamal, you made a very
00:14:12important and correct point. Even this report,
00:14:15which contrary to our usual process is relatively long,
00:14:18doesn't even show the tip of the iceberg
00:14:22about this case, which is a controversial
00:14:26case that has made noise. In fact,
00:14:30we are dealing with families who have been wandering
00:14:34for months and don't even know if their loved ones
00:14:37are alive or dead. And they are looking
00:14:40everywhere for them, while at the same
00:14:44time, these children are in prison
00:14:47and being tortured to extract confessions from them.
00:14:51Then, on the other hand, families are constantly
00:14:55under pressure, under threat, as Javaid Rehman
00:14:58has said, and our own research shows
00:15:01that they are used as a tool to pressure the prisoner.
00:15:05They are tortured in front of the prisoner
00:15:08to get confessions, and these are families who don't even dare to speak.
00:15:12Furthermore, we are talking about very ordinary people
00:15:16who are not political activists and do not have the tools
00:15:20and means, and they don't know where to go
00:15:23to look for a lawyer. Here I say that
00:15:26if they ever want to, the doors of the BBC
00:15:30are open, and we are here to report
00:15:34their story and what is happening.
00:15:37On the other hand, we are dealing with lawyers
00:15:41who are constantly threatened. Their license to practice
00:15:44law is revoked. They themselves are constantly
00:15:48going to court under heavy sentences so that they do not report
00:15:51and do not accept these cases at all. And
00:15:55there are many cases where even the prisoner
00:15:59and the accused did not have access to a court-appointed
00:16:03lawyer. This is a series
00:16:06of events that constantly tarnish these cases,
00:16:10and accurate and correct information does not come
00:16:14out. And on the other hand, as you
00:16:16yourself said, in two nights, thousands of people were killed,
00:16:20according to the Islamic Republic and its officials, over 3,000
00:16:24people, and now we have statistics that show much higher numbers.
00:16:27And it seems that from the very first moment,
00:16:31the order was to kill the protesters, and now
00:16:34exactly the same thing is happening in the courts.
00:16:39Just without being very hasty,
00:16:42without actually being clearly explained,
00:16:46death sentences are issued. On the other hand, when thousands
00:16:50of citizens have been killed and there is still no
00:16:53court for the perpetrators and commanders of the mass
00:16:57killing of protesters, we see that, for example,
00:17:01in this very case, it is said that an officer named
00:17:04Abbas Kamrani and another person who was a homeless person,
00:17:08even the name of that homeless person is not mentioned in this
00:17:11case file. In any case, we are talking about human lives,
00:17:15and that homeless person should also have a name, and we should know
00:17:18who we are talking about. I want to say that
00:17:21it is very difficult to report and reach
00:17:25the truth and reality of what is happening in Iranian
00:17:28prisons and Iranian courts. We just, as you said,
00:17:32sometimes wake up in the morning and a name comes up that
00:17:36someone has been executed, and there isn't even a picture
00:17:40of the executed person, let alone more information
00:17:43and details of the case. Thank you, Maryam
00:17:46Afshang. Mahmoud Amiry-Moghaddam,
00:17:49Director of Iran Human Rights Organization, is with us from
00:17:53Oslo, the capital of Norway. Mr. Amiry-Moghaddam, when
00:17:56a human life is at stake, a full investigation should
00:17:59be carried out. It seems that in cases related
00:18:03to the December protests, there is a lot of haste.
00:18:07The necessary precautions are not taken. Why should
00:18:10this be the case? Yes, greetings to you
00:18:13and the viewers and Ms. Afshang. Look,
00:18:17even though for the past 19 years
00:18:19we have been following
00:18:22death penalty cases and executions daily,
00:18:25as was mentioned in the report, unfortunately,
00:18:29these cases that were mentioned
00:18:32are not rare in the judicial system of the Islamic Republic.
00:18:36But still, every time we hear
00:18:39about them, it is shocking.
00:18:42You see, in the Islamic Republic, we do not
00:18:46have an independent judiciary.
00:18:49The goal of the judiciary is not to implement
00:18:52justice, but rather
00:18:55to preserve the system. The expediency of the system
00:18:59has the highest priority.
00:19:02And currently, after
00:19:05the December protests, the Islamic Republic is experiencing
00:19:09one of the biggest crises of its existence. It doesn't
00:19:13know what will happen the next time there is a protest,
00:19:16and based on the experience it has gained in these 47 years,
00:19:20it knows that
00:19:24intimidating people and
00:19:26actually instilling a sense of helplessness in people
00:19:30through executions, through these forced
00:19:33confessions, and death sentences that are issued and executed,
00:19:37has been able to maintain power, and unfortunately,
00:19:41they continue this pattern. Look, the Revolutionary Courts
00:19:45are not courts;
00:19:48they are a continuation of the same repressive organs. We have
00:19:52heard this many times over the past 19 years
00:19:55that it seems that when a defendant is brought
00:19:59to the Revolutionary Court,
00:20:02the decision has already been made,
00:20:05meaning there is no connection
00:20:09with the documents or with the claims of
00:20:12the accused. Mr. Amir-Moghaddam,
00:20:16you mentioned that they want to create fear and terror to push
00:20:19back the protests. But is it not possible
00:20:23that the opposite approach will cause anger
00:20:26and further fuel public dissatisfaction and actually
00:20:30have the opposite effect? Look,
00:20:32in the long run, this method will
00:20:36not work at all.
00:20:40It seems that those who have this
00:20:43philosophy and pursue this policy
00:20:47do not think long-term, but rather
00:20:50think about buying time. It is true that
00:20:53no system can continue solely
00:20:56based on intimidation, but currently, it seems
00:21:00that the Islamic Republic actually has nothing else
00:21:04to offer the people. When thousands, or perhaps
00:21:07hundreds of thousands, millions of people
00:21:11come to the streets, instead of even responding
00:21:14to one percent of their demands,
00:21:18the government responds in the streets with
00:21:21violence and killing, and after that,
00:21:25to prevent protests, there are
00:21:27death sentences. This
00:21:30is not the first time, but we have a very
00:21:33fundamental crisis, even if
00:21:37they want to change their policy, we have
00:21:40a system, in fact, a judicial crisis,
00:21:44a crisis of the judicial system in the Islamic Republic,
00:21:47which, if we want the situation to change,
00:21:51this system must change completely, meaning
00:21:55an independent judiciary where
00:21:59judges, instead of reporting to political
00:22:02leaders, should report to the people, they should
00:22:05think about justice, they should be able
00:22:09to, as mentioned in the program, they should be able
00:22:12to hold government agencies accountable. This
00:22:16is the job of the judicial system, but here,
00:22:18on the contrary, the only thing they do is
00:22:22to teach a lesson to the young people of Iran who went to the streets.
00:22:26And in this case that you mentioned, you see, they arrested
00:22:29these people. Now, some of them might have been present
00:22:33there, some of them worked there, but it doesn't matter
00:22:36who they are. Usually, they are people
00:22:39who are usually among the weaker
00:22:42strata of society. These people must
00:22:46set an example for the people through execution. And most
00:22:50of the executions that have happened are in this way. Thank you,
00:22:53Mahmoud Amiry-Moghaddam, Director of Iran Human Rights
00:22:57Organization, from Oslo, the capital of Norway. The US President
00:23:01has said that Ukraine needs a new president to end the war
00:23:05with Russia. He accused Volodymyr Zelensky of deliberately
00:23:08fueling the continuation of the war and ignoring
00:23:12US requests to stop attacks on Russian refineries
00:23:16and oil facilities. More, Mr. Zelensky described
00:23:20the US decision to suspend part of the sanctions on Russian
00:23:23diesel exports as weak and a gift to Vladimir Putin. European
00:23:27allies of Ukraine also supported Mr. Zelensky's position.
00:23:31Donald Trump, in defense of his decision, said: This agreement
00:23:34helps reduce the price of diesel, which has significantly
00:23:38increased since the beginning of the war with Iran. Siavash Ardalan reports.
00:23:41The US midterm elections are approaching. The price of
00:23:45gas, which is the backbone of American agriculture
00:23:48and transportation, has risen so high that it has taken
00:23:52away sleep from the Republican Party. Donald
00:23:54Trump is trying every possible way to control
00:23:58the price of gas, including through the Kremlin.
00:24:01He victoriously announced to American
00:24:05voters an agreement to receive gas from
00:24:08Russia. Also, today,
00:24:11Russia agreed to sell us millions of barrels of gas,
00:24:15which we desperately need right now. Thank you very much.
00:24:17Russia is to be partially exempted
00:24:21from US sanctions so that it can sell some of its gas.
00:24:24This comes at a time when a delegation from the US
00:24:28Congress is in Ukraine to assure the government
00:24:31of that country that it should not doubt American support.
00:24:34We would like our visit
00:24:37to be a sign of our strong support in the Senate
00:24:40and the House of Representatives for Ukraine. Voices that
00:24:44were stifled by the announcement of buying gas from Russia.
00:24:47Volodymyr Zelensky, the President of Ukraine,
00:24:51says this is a gift to Vladimir Putin. Exactly what
00:24:55kind of gift? What does America give to Russia
00:24:58in exchange for ignoring its own sanctions?
00:25:01The Russian government has preferred not to say anything
00:25:03for now.
00:25:06I said what I wanted to say. The American
00:25:09side will provide more explanations itself. So far,
00:25:13no details of this transaction have been released by the US
00:25:16or Donald Trump. He only said an hour ago: Ukraine
00:25:20must find a new president for itself. But he
00:25:24has shown how far he will go to control
00:25:27the consequences of the war with Iran and the Strait of Hormuz crisis
00:25:31and ensure his party's victory in the elections. Whether
00:25:35it's an agreement with Europe to release some of its diesel reserves,
00:25:38or a promise to give 5,000 dollars to American
00:25:42voters, or this promise that there will be no conflict
00:25:46with Iran before the election, his agreement with Russia
00:25:49comes at a heavy price, according to those
00:25:53who are upset by this move by Donald Trump,
00:25:55including in the US Congress, which had just approved
00:25:59new sanctions against Russia last week.
00:26:02Every barrel of oil that Russia cannot sell, every dollar
00:26:06that Russia does not make, makes its job of killing
00:26:09Ukrainian civilians harder. These
00:26:12are the results of Russia's attack on Ukraine today.
00:26:15Russia's war machine has not stopped.
00:26:18The Ukrainian government is distressed and worried,
00:26:22the US Congress is stunned, the Strait of Hormuz
00:26:25remains insecure, and American voters are
00:26:29waiting for a drop in gas prices. Analysts have said
00:26:33that the amount of diesel that Russia is supposed
00:26:37to sell to the rest of the world in this agreement is so small
00:26:40that it does not exceed a few days of domestic
00:26:43diesel consumption in the US. Perhaps the US-Russia agreement
00:26:46will ultimately turn out to be an agreement that not only
00:26:49does not reduce gas prices, but also incurs a heavy
00:26:53political cost for Donald Trump and the Republican Party.
00:26:57Siavash Ardalan, BBC. Marinous Pourziai,
00:27:00our reporter from Washington, is with the program.
00:27:03Marinous, it was mentioned that just a few days ago, a delegation
00:27:07from the US Congress was in Kyiv. They said that we will help
00:27:11Ukraine, but now Mr. Trump says that Zelensky
00:27:14should step aside and a new president
00:27:17should come so that he can make an agreement with Russia.
00:27:21Jamal, it seems that Mr. Trump
00:27:24is getting used to changing governments to achieve his goals,
00:27:28and after Venezuela and after
00:27:31Iran, where he has not yet reached
00:27:35his goal regarding Iran, he thinks that by removing
00:27:38leaders, by eliminating leaders,
00:27:41he can implement the policy he wants
00:27:44in that particular country. In Ukraine,
00:27:48we are now hearing that after the announcement
00:27:51of the agreement he made with Russia, and the dissatisfaction
00:27:54and criticism that is strongly seen in Europe
00:27:58and among Democrats, and also among some Republicans,
00:28:03he has turned this criticism into the main issue,
00:28:07which is the leadership of Ukraine, and not in America.
00:28:11And on the other hand, according to what I heard
00:28:14Mr. Trump say today, it seems
00:28:18He came and said that
00:28:21the issue of gas in Iran is due to the attacks
00:28:25of Ukraine on Russian refineries, and
00:28:29whatever America told Ukraine to do any attack you want,
00:28:32but do not damage Russian refineries,
00:28:35but Mr. Zelensky did not agree
00:28:39to listen to these words, according to Mr. Trump, and it caused
00:28:42American farmers to suffer from the increase in diesel prices.
00:28:46That is, the case of the Iran war and its impact
00:28:50on the fuel, energy and gas market in
00:28:53America, which has led to a high level of dissatisfaction among voters,
00:28:57is being put aside and all
00:29:00the blame is being placed on
00:29:32like Nebraska, there was a lot of pressure on Mr. Trump,
00:29:36and the
00:29:39issue of freeing up diesel reserves in
00:29:42Europe also came from there. Republicans here had told Mr.
00:29:46Trump to stop diesel exports like Russia,
00:29:49which Mr. Trump has not yet done.
00:29:53Many economists say this will be to the detriment of the country's
00:29:56and the world's economy, and now he has gone
00:30:00to negotiate a diesel agreement with Russia,
00:30:03but the reaction we see from serious
00:30:07Republican figures like even the representative
00:30:10Senator of Nebraska currently is that this
00:30:13response, i.e., an agreement with Russia, is a wrong response to
00:30:17the diesel problem in America, and if Mr.
00:30:19Trump wants to solve the fuel issue
00:30:23with Russia, it should be after the end of the Ukraine
00:30:27war, and he should not strengthen
00:30:30the Ukraine-Russia war machine with this action. This is the position we
00:30:34are hearing from Mr. Trump's party members. Manouchehr Pourzayai,
00:30:38our correspondent in Washington, thank you.
00:30:39Oleksiy
00:30:43Goncharenko, Ukrainian parliament member and head of the Migration
00:30:46and Refugee Committee in the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council
00:30:49of Europe, is with us from Ukraine. Welcome to the program, Mr.
00:30:53Goncharenko. First, I wanted to ask you about
00:30:57the